Carnival of Homeschooling, Week 7

Or…Valentine's Day Love

Be Mine
Chocolate covered cherries and big pink hearts,
A dozen red roses and handmade cards,
A heartfelt love song and a cuddly teddy bear,
A beautiful poem and flowers in your hair,
Here are a few ways just to say, "I love you!"
Dearest friend, I can't help but wonder, Will you be mine?
I want you above all others,
Be my Valentine.
~ by Canaan

Since the Carnival of Homeschooling is coming out on Valentine's Day, I thought I'd go with the theme of Love. The featured poems are chosen from the Valentine Poems submitted by homeschooled children for the Homeschooler's Writing Club.

Love of learning

Valentine Poem
Kisses are red,
Hugs are pink,
writing a Valentines poem
is harder than you think!
~by Whitney VanDerMeer

One of the benefits of homeschooling is that children tend to develop a love of learning, a natural curiosity to explore and dig deeper into the world around them.

Joanne talks about that in her Love of Learning post over at A Day in Our Lives blog. She was able to witness the spark return to her children's eyes, after being out of school for about a year. Now that her children are 'free to learn,' they're learning all about horses and the solar system, and learning Italian.

Angela at Mother Crone's Homeschool shares how following the rabbit trails can lead to the best learning experiences.

Over at Homeschool Math Blog, Maria encourages you to share the Math in Your Life with your children so that they see that math is useful and normal, and not just a school subject that you can forget or even hate.

Homeschool Mami shares their jouney as they study African-American history in honor of Black History Month.

Love of Learning at Home

Valentines
Valentines are red and pink and white
They are a pretty sight
The white is lace
It makes you give an embrace
The red and pink is pretty paper
and I will love you forever
~ by Layne Paubel

Homeschooling isn't only about book learning. It's a way of life and encompasses all aspects of life.

In Honor of St. Valentine, Captain Mom concentrates on what she loves about having her children at home. She shares the joys and freedoms they're enjoying as a homeschool family.

To answer the question, what to do if your child thinks he wants to go to public school, Dana of Principled Discovery reflects on the reasons they began homeschooling in the first place.

At Dewey's Treehouse, Mama Squirrel wonders how to include all the good things that don't fit neatly into the school subjects.

In honour of Valentine's Day, Coffeemamma presents '14 Things We Love About Homeschooling!' With #14 being Pajamas, tea, and bare feet- 'nuff said ;-) ... it's a fun list.

Harvey and Laurie of Trivium Pursuit Online answer a reader's concern titled "Interesting Behavior." It's wonderful that this child will be able to receive attention from loving parents that are willing to spend the time to help him work through his challenges.

Love of Virtue

Valentine's Day
Heart
Pink, Red
Tender, Caring, Befriending
Happiness, Joy, Peace, Hope
Love
~ Alissa

Whether you "celebrate" Valentine's Day or not, Amy at Dandelion Seeds suggests ideas for Teaching the True Meaning of Love to children of all ages.

Janine Cate writes about how homeschooling helps children express themselves in positive ways. She shares about an encounter while purchasing Easter dresses, having to weed through 'the typical trashy, transparent, too short styles' to find modest styles for her girls.

Our choice to homeschool our children allows them the opportunity to practice the values we are teaching, while still Under the Shadow of our wings. Angela of My Happy Homeschool witnesses her son making the right choices even in the face of peer pressure.

My daughter, Julee, writes in her Homeschool Daze Blog about the Amazing Changes she's seen since she began implementing ideas from Large Family Logistics. It's nothing magical, just happened to be what she needed at this time. It really has been amazing to see the children learning to work together.

Headmistress at the Common Room shows how books can be used for character education in Horrible Warnings & Bad Examples: Why We Need Them. That's some title!

Approaching their 12th anniverary of homeschooling, Ron and Andrea of Atypical Homeschool have posted a he said/she said conversation about what they've learned over the years. Ron offers 12 Keys to Homeschooling, one key he learned for each year of homeschooling. Andrea writes about the Top 12 things *she* learned homeschooling.

Love of Family

My Little Sister
I have a little sister who likes to play with me.
When ever I draw a picture she always appears to me.
I love my little sister, she's so dear to me.
She makes me laugh and full of glee.
~ by Dylan Tee

Another benefit of homeschooling is family unity and closeness.

Tammy of Blessed to be Homeschooling dedicates her Valentine entry to her darling son for his 10th birthday. Join in as she talks about his strengths some of his struggles, his talents and what a gift from God he is to all who know him.

In No Better Time than Now, Patricia of Pollywog Creek Porch shares how they are grateful for the flexibility of homeschooling and for being able to show love to her parents while they could.

Nobody likes to be sick, but it's often a time when families pull together. That's just what happened for the folks at Twice Bloomed Wisteria. Valentine's Present is the story of the stomach flu, what they learned through it, and, ss an added bonus, a Sugar Cookie recipe is included.

Love of Romance

What is Love?
What is love?
Love is not just a hug or kiss.
It is something that comes from
the heart and soul.
Love is what Valentines Day is all about.
~ Caitlyn Harvey

Homeschooling can make it a challenge to stay close romantically if you let it. It's easy to get all caught up in the kids and neglect your relationship. Be sure to make time for each other.

At Dad's Corner, Steve shares several "Promises to Keep" they have made as a couple that have helped to keep them together. Maybe there are some that you might want to adopt.

Tales from the Bonny Blue House brings you A Great Love Story. It is the nitty, gritty life and sanity sustaining sacrifices that make a great and enduring love story.

Young Love

A Girl's Valentine Dream
Some like chocolates, some like hearts
Some like sweet or sour tarts
But me, I'm just longing for
Someone who I can be sure
Will just totally ignore
All the other girls but me
And I will be
His one true sweetie!
~ by Liesa

Courting is becoming more popular in the homeschooling world.

Daryl at HE&OS directs us over to On Courtship, an article by Tom Heinen at JS Online. This article gives a bit of a history leading up to the growing interest in courting. It is a good read and very well done.

That brings us to The History of Valentine's Day from Tami's Blog. Tami shares the history of Valentine's Day with us then talks about how their family celebrates Valentine's Day to take the focus off boyfriend or girlfriend, since they are of the courtship mindset.

Love of Adventure (& mud)

Valentines
Flowers, hearts, and a bee buzzing a lovely tune.
Now the flowers are blooming and the hearts are loving too.
~ by Eli Aldinger

Well, homeschooling is an adventure in itself, but our best homeschool memories are filled with adventurous outings, science experiments gone awry or lackadaisical days in the backyard.

Queen of Carrots has an amusing story about The Glories of Mud reminiscing her childhood and the fun that was to be had in the mud. She has to be a bit more creative to transfer her love of mud to her little one since they live in an apartment.

The Imperfect Homeschooler looks back on A Valentine's Day Tradition that her family still enjoys…remember - two cookies sheets, not one!

Mother Tenn at School@Home shares about their great homeschool event, Digital Photo Mall Scavenger Hunt. She provides the directions, rules and a sample scavenger hunt list to create a similar experience for your own group.

Love of Friends

Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day is coming,
The pink hearts and decorations are stunning.
I make cards for a friend,
into the mailbox to send.
We'll have a party that day.
We'll eat treats and play.
~ by Abby

I Can Get by with a Little help from My Friends talks about the uncertainty new homeschoolers may face during the middle of the school year. It also talks about the stages new homeschoolers go through and offers encouragement to seek veteran homeschool friends for help "Through it All."

Spunky takes a look at her participation in homeschool support groups over the years. She doesn't particpate in one on a regular basis anymor eand wonders if this is common among "veteran" homeschoolers.

Love of...Controversy?
Ahhh, The politics...

"The only true gift is a portion of yourself." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Blue Hearts
Two blue Hearts lying apart...
they may never meet,
they may never laugh,
they may never cry.
They will always wonder...
what it could be like if these two blue hearts would be togther as one.
For if they knew what the other was waiting for
maybe the other would cry out and say, "Im ready come find me".
Two blue hearts lying alone,
crying apart,
for they will never know.
~ by Katherine

Cross Blogging invites Springfield residents to participate in Legislative Day on March 29th.

A claim was made on another blog that Homeschooling is Treason. Bruggie Tales explains in Is Homeschooling Treason? that the problem isn't homeschooling but a fundamental difference in core beliefs about the individual, family and society.

It was fun putting the Valentine's Day Carnival of Homeschooling together. I want to wind it up with one more poem…

Doggie Valentine
I have a lab named Shady
She acts like a lady
She is a fine pooch
Who loves to smooch
I rub her tummy
Feed her treats so yummy
Thank you, God for making her mine
She is my special Valentine.
~ by Jena

Happy Valentine's Day!

If you enjoyed this week's Carnival of Homeschooling, spread the word!

Next week, the carnival will be held at Home Education & Other Stuff. If you are interested in participating, submit your post.