G'Day, mate. Care for a lolly? We enjoyed lollies today during our study of Australia. The kids got a kick out of learning some Aussie lingo. Australia Day is celebrated on January 26th each year to honor the day that Captain Arthur Phillip landed at Port Jackson and claimed Australia for the British.

• Australia Printables
• Aussie Lingo Printables

This weeks Homeschooling Carnival is up over at janice-campbell.com. Janice shares a wintery theme with the submissions. Enjoy your visit with Janice and other homeschool bloggers.

The next carnival will be hosted at Amy Bayliss. Send in your submissions by Monday at 6 p.m.

I received the cutest email obviously from a student in distress:

"I go to school, but do you think you can can homeschool me online by sending me email messages and I will send them back...please, please please, please, please."

My response:

"I wish I could homeschool you, but that's not how it works. Your parents do the homeschooling. You should talk to your parents if you'd like to be homeschooled. I don't know your situation, but one parent would have to be home and do the teaching.

If homeschooling doesn't work out, let me encourage you to do your best in school. I know it's hard to imagine now, but honestly, your life will be better later on if you do what you need to do now. Even if you have to stay in school, talk to your parents and share your concerns and frustrations with them. I'm sure they love you and would welcome the chance to help you do well.

Good luck to you. Let me know what happens."

I enjoy hearing from students. I really would homeschool this child if I could, but homeschooling other people's children falls under tutoring and not homeschooling and is a whole different ballgame legally. Each state has laws governing homeschooling and tutoring, so if you wanted to do something like this, you'd have to check the laws for your state.

Do you homeschool other people's children? What requirements do you have to fulfill to do so legally in your state? How does this work for you and for the students? Share your story.

I am excited to announce the 2012 About.com Homeschooling Readers' Choice Awards. The Readers' Choice Awards showcase the best products, features and services in dozens of categories across all of About.com. Although the Readers' Choice Awards Competition is in its 5th year, this is the first year that the About.com Homeschooling Site will be participating!

Starting at 12:00 A.M. EST on January 18, 2012, I will be accepting nominations in the following categories:

• Best Homeschooling Blog
• Best Mobile App for Homeschoolers
• Best Homeschool History Resource
• Best Homeschool Math Resource
• Best Homeschool Phonics Resource
• Best Homeschool Science Resource

Nominations will be accepted from January 18, 2012, until February 15, 2012. Readers are free to nominate their favorites (even their own product or site) and encouraged to promote the Readers' Choice Awards to their community.

Voting will take place from February 22 through March 21 with winners announced March 30, 2012. There's no prize -- just the bragging rights that come with getting recognized by the readers of one of the biggest networks on the web. Finalists and winners will receive a badge that they can place on their website and use in other promotional material.

If you're not already a subscriber, sign up for About.com Homeschooling newsletter and receive ongoing updates about this year's Readers' Choice Awards.