COH- Week 129

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Week 129
Let’s Go To The Movies!

The Theatuh, the Theatuh - what book of rules says the Theater exists only within some ugly buildings crowded into one square mile of New York City? Or London, Paris or Vienna? Listen, junior. And learn. Want to know what the Theater is? A flea circus. Also opera. Also rodeos, carnivals, ballets, Indian tribal dances, Punch and Judy, a one-man band - all Theater. Wherever there's magic and make-believe and an audience - there's Theater. Donald Duck, Ibsen, and The Lone Ranger, Sarah Bernhardt, Poodles Hanneford, Lunt and Fontanne, Betty Grable, Rex and Wild, and Eleanora Duse. You don't understand them all, you don't like them all, why should you? The Theater's for everybody - you included, but not exclusively - so don't approve or disapprove. It may not be your Theater, but it's Theater of somebody, somewhere.

- from All About Eve

We are a movie family. The images, the direction, the entertainment, the education, the creativity… we are drawn to all of it. Movies like Ghandi and The Last Emperor reveal to us amazing people, places, and eras. Finding Nemo and Big Fish open doors to discuss the intricacies of relationships and family. Rebecca and Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? have plots and characters revealed as much by lighting, camera angles, and editing as by dialogue. Magnolia reveals the dark side of humanity and the beauty of grace. And some films, like Duck Soup, Singin’ In the Rain, and Batman Begins, are just plain old fun. Every movie should be enjoyed for whatever it is… an escapist comedy, a revealing documentary, a breakthrough drama. Not every movie is educational, but we can learn something from every movie.

Our family has yet to find an experience, characteristic, or emotion for which there is not an appropriate movie quote. I have decided that in this Carnival of Homeschooling, I will put this theory to the test. Enjoy the wonderful posts of our fellow educators, then on an upcoming, sweltering summer afternoon, escape into the air conditioning and enjoy a movie. Most libraries carry feature films and documentaries that you can check-out for free. There are also many movie theaters across the US offering free or inexpensive family movies through the summer. Here are a few:

Regal’s Free Family Film Festival

AMC’s Summer Movie Camp

Malco Theaters Summer Film Fest

Marcus Theaters Kids Rule Summer Film Series

Cinemark Summer Movie Clubhouse

Not sure if a movie is right for you or your kids? Check it out on the website Kids-In-Mind. They have a wonderful rating system and include descriptions of any scenes that parents may find objectionable so that parents can decide if a given movie is right for their kids. Also, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) is a great resource for plot summaries, release dates, cast information, director information, ratings, and you can also learn what movies are in production or due for release in the near future.

Enjoy the carnival!

~~~~~

So this is like a clue in a real murder case? Kew-el!

- from The Silence of the Lambs

Tiffany, at her Natural Family Living Blog, shares about some recent field trips they took… and one included investigating a crime scene.
~~~~~

You. Are. A. TOY! You aren’t the real Buzz Lightyear! You’re a… Oh, you’re an action figure! You are a CHILD’S PLAYTHING!”

- from Toy Story

On his blog Sharp Minds, Alvaro reviews the book The Power of Play: Learning That Comes Naturally by Dr. David Elkind.
~~~~~

Honey, there’s a spider in your bathroom the size of a Buick.*

- from Annie Hall

What’s the largest insect in the world? Find out from Katrina over at, where else, What is the Biggest…?

(* Yes, I know that spiders aren’t insects, but quoting movies is not an exact science, it’s an art… sometimes an abstract, indirect one.*grin*)
~~~~~

I do have a test today…. It's on European socialism. I mean, really, what's the point? I'm not European. I don't plan on being European. So who cares if they're socialists? They could be fascist anarchists. It still doesn't change the fact that I don't own a car. Not that I condone fascism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, "I don't believe in The Beatles, I just believe in me." Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off people.

- from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Looks like Bueller and OverwhelmedMom have something to discuss. Are standardized exams really necessary?
~~~~~

Yes I love technology
But not as much as you, you see
But I still love technology
Always and forever.

- from Napoleon Dynamite

Now that the price of iPhones has come down, Christina Laun shares some tips on how to maximize their use as a library and research tool. You can find her article at College@Home.

A post at On Living By Learning uncovers the benefit YahooGroups can be to homeschoolers.

Technology can have a down side as Timothy at Sometimes I’m Actually Coherent points out in his post Minds Like Steel Traps- For The Wrong Stuff.
~~~~~

You’re right, I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars *next* year. You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I’ll have to close this place in… 60 years.

-from Citizen Kane

A little, impromptu lesson on supply and demand from Rose who’s Learning At Home.

There is a great post at Money Blue Book on teaching your college-bound kids about credit card use before they leave home and find their college mailbox filled with offers for easy credit.
~~~~~

It must be tremendously interesting to be a schoolmaster, to watch boys grow up and help them along; to see their characters develop and what they become when they school and the world gets a hold of them. I don’t see how you could ever grow old in a world that’s always young.

-from Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Kim at the Buckeye Blog reminds us that children grow in many ways. How do your children grow?

Renae at Life Nurturing Gifts shares her daughter’s discovery of her gifts.
~~~~~

You know, the best prize life that life offers is the chance to work hard at something worth doing. That’s Teddy Roosevelt said that, not me.

-from Bridge to Terabithia

David at SelectCoursesBlog.com shares some tips on how to keep your study skills razor sharp.
~~~~~

Oh! The theme I've been waiting for all my life. Listen to this sentence: "A Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time". Poetry. Sheer poetry, Ralph! An A+!

- from A Christmas Story

In his post, Taking Back Teaching: A Forgotten History, Clay (Beyond School) reviews the history of the grading system and its effect on education.
~~~~~

While my father prayed earnestly to God to protect commerce, I would offer up secretly the proudest prayer a boy could think of: Lord, make me a great composer. Let me celebrate Your glory through music and be celebrated myself. Make me famous through the world, dear God. Make me immortal. After I die, let people speak my name forever with love for what I wrote. In return, I will give You my chastity, my industry, my deepest humility, every hour of my life, Amen.

- from Amadeus

Attention all Catholic Homeschoolers in New England! Mary, at Mum2Best7, wants you to mark your calendars for the 2009 New England Catholic Homeschoolers Conference. You can find more information here.
~~~~~

Behind of each of these books, there’s a man. That’s what interests me.

- from Fahrenheit 451

Going back and re-reading a classic homeschooling text may be just the boost you need if you are feeling burned out at the end of another school year. Barbara Frank got her second wind after reading some Gatto. How about you?

Adso of Melk at Lorem Ipsum encourages us to go ahead and enjoy “dangerous literature”… and lots of it.

It’s time for summer reading lists again! Denise at Frugal Homeschooling shares some great reading lists, by genre and age group, that you can take to the library to get your kids started on their summer reading.

Need some help organizing your summer reading program? Check out Kathy’s post Our Summer Reading Program at HomeschoolBuzz.com.
~~~~~

You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it.

- from On the Waterfront

Elisheva, over at Ragamuffin Studies, sends out a warning to all homeschool parents not to inadvertently send the message to your students that not achieving immediate success is equivalent to failure in her post IRD Second Week: Immediacy and the Ghost of Failure.
~~~~~

Grandma said when you come on something good, first thing to do is share it with whoever you can find; that way, the good spreads out where no telling it will go. Which is right.

- from The Education of Little Tree

Kevin provides an overview of the three primary learning styles over at M4K Homeschooling & Education.
~~~~~

The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.

- from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Have you incorporated interactive maps and oral histories into your homeschool studies? Pop on over to An (aspiring) Educator’s Blog and see how it can be done.

Visit Sarah’s blog Small World and take a look at her impressive American History unit studies, complete with book lists and hands-on activities.

In Kim’s Play Place you can find Kim's recommendations for preschool Montessori activities: first year primary (age 3).
~~~~~

There has to be a mathematical explanation for how bad that tie is.

- from A Beautiful Mind

Need to exercise your brain? Try to solve The Mosaic Tile Mystery over at Let’s Play Math!

A Division Bead Board can be a helpful tool for teaching your student division. A semester’s to a year’s worth of bead board lessons are available from Rebecca at Little Homeschool on the Prairie.

Kerri at Psalm 1 Homeschool shares lesson plans associated with the book One Grain of Rice by Demi.
~~~~~

You see, boys forget what their country means by just reading 'The Land of the Free' in history books. Then they get to be men they forget even more. Liberty's too precious a thing to be buried in books, Miss Saunders. Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say: I'm free to think and to speak. My ancestors couldn't, I can, and my children will. Boys ought to grow up remembering that.

- from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Henry at Why Homeschool gives the heads up to be alert on June 23rd. That’s when the California Court of Appeals will hear arguments for and against homeschooling in the state of California.

Heather, in her Notes From a Homeschooling Mom, points out that one of the big lessons to be learned from the recent court decisions and debate in California is that we homeschoolers need to be educated and well-versed in our own state’s homeschooling laws and know our rights.
~~~~~

Vanessa: Your parents are probably wondering where you are.
Juno: Nah… I mean, I’m already pregnant, so what other kind of shenanigans could I get into?

- from Juno

Most of us try putting it off as long as possible, but The Thinking Mother shares the importance of having “the talk” with our kids and encourages us that we’re more scared of talking than our kids are of listening.
~~~~~

Batty: It’s not an easy thing to meet your maker.
Tyrell: What could he do for you?
Batty: Can the maker repair what he makes?

- from Blade Runner

Create your own zoo exhibits with inspiration from Christina at Home Spun Juggling.

Dana at Principled Discovery shows us that the education found in “educational toys” can come not just from playing with them but from making them.

Need some summer craft ideas? Pop on over to How To Me and learn how to dry a rose that you can include in your craft project or botany lesson.
~~~~~

Mad Hatter: Would you like a little more tea?
Alice: Well, I haven’t had any yet, so I can’t very well take more.
March Hare: Ah, you mean you can’t very well take less.
Mad Hatter: Yes. You can always take more than nothing.

- from Alice in Wonderland

The Tea Party Girl shares some of her family’s more cultured field trips (aka vacations) in her post Tea Party Girl’s Top Tea Moments on the Road.
~~~~~

If you just learn a single trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.

- from To Kill A Mockingbird

All homeschoolers are used to hearing the homeschool stereotypes. Cherish at Faraday’s Cage is Where You Put Schroedinger’s Cat provides an opportunity for homeschoolers to share their reasons for homeschooling and show the true diversity in the homeschooling community.

Want to see the comments spurred by Susan’s educational discussion on her blog The Expanding Life? You’re in luck, she’s arranged them into a more conversational format in her post An Educational Conversation.
~~~~~

Hmm, difficult. *Very* difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind, either. There’s talent, oh yes. And a thirst to prove yourself. But where to put you?

- from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Celeste at Life Without School Blog shares the dangers we can encounter when we categorize ourselves by homeschooler type (unschooler, classical, etc) in her post Homeschooling and the Sorting Hat.
~~~~~

I was thinking about some very deep things. About God and his relation with Irving Saks and R.H. Levine. And I was thinking about life in general. The origin of everything we see about us. The finality of death; how almost magical it seems in the real world, as opposed to the world of celluloid and flickering shadows.

- from The Purple Rose of Cairo

At An Evangelical Dialogue on Evolution, guest author Douglas Hayworth shares the difficulties of the evolutionary creationist homeschooler trying to find useful and intellectually challenging curriculum and makes an appeal to other homeschoolers to share what resources they have found.
~~~~~

Just a minute - just a minute. Now, hold on, Mr. Potter. You're right when you say my father was no businessman. I know that. Why he ever started this cheap, penny-ante Building and Loan, I'll never know. But neither you nor anyone else can say anything against his character, because his whole life was - why, in the twenty-five years since he and Uncle Billy started this thing, he never once thought of himself.

- from It’s a Wonderful Life

After celebrating Father’s Day this past weekend, Phil at A Family Runs Through It has an important reminder for us: dads are homeschoolers, too!
~~~~~

Cheating on a quiz show? That's sort of like plagiarizing a comic strip.

- from Quiz Show

Many of us are in the process of ordering our curriculum for next year. But don’t buy when you can get it for free? Jennifer of Little Acorns Treehouse is giving away some of her gently used curriculum in a week of giveaways. Register to win today.
~~~~~

We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

- from Dead Poet’s Society

The tips over at Learn English for Free can help you avoid clichés in your writing.
~~~~~

Sell crazy someplace else. We’re all stocked up here.

- from As Good As It Gets

Katherine at No Fighting! No Biting! shares notes from a lecture at a recent homeschooling conference concerning managing the chaos that can occur when homeschooling many children at many different grade levels.

~~~~~

That’s it for this week’s carnival of homeschooling. Next week, the carnival will be at Dewey’s Treehouse. For information on how to have your post included in the Carnival of Homeschooling, check here.

Have fun stormin’ the castle!

Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!

(Oh, and yes, my history of things going wrong when I host the carnival continues… severe thunderstorms and power outages this time. And when I finally was able to post- I worked off-line and on my battery during the storm- none of my links worked. *sigh* I wonder what’s in store for next time.)