Life Nurturing Education

Rocking in a worn, overstuffed recliner comatose from late nights with an infant, my brain clung to reality, but tears flooded resolve. My life was no longer my own. I was exhausted trying to keep my previous pace.

Would I ever rest again? Would I ever finish another project?

To finish this article and discover my conclusions, please visit Heart of the Matter.

While reading Archimedes and the Door of Science to my son, my eyes drooped and words slurred. A question seeped in through the fog about the universe and solar system.

Startled awake by laughter, my answer floated back as I regained consciousness,

You need a password to enter the universe.

Wish I knew the magic word. Coffee has failed me. Do you think sleep will work?

Man of Sorrows

Today I planned to announce my article at the Heart of the Matter. I wish I could. Instead of my thoughts about getting projects done, a touching tribute has been posted for a little boy who lost his life last night.

Watching my children play, I imagine the wrenching ache. Tears dribble down my cheeks, and a song whispers,

We can say goodbye with hope
‘Cause we know our goodbye is not the end
And we can grieve with hope
‘Cause we believe with hope
There’s a place where we’ll see your face again

May the Drews family find hope and peace as they crawl through this valley of shadows. Please join me in praying for them.

Texas House Bill 67 calls for August 26th to be celebrated as Women’s Independence Day. It was on this day in 1920 that the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution became a law, which guaranteed women the right to vote.

Welcome to the Carnival of Homeschooling- Women’s Independence Day edition! Please join those of us in Texas as we remember the dedication and sacrifice made to advance the liberty of women.

One Hundred Years Towards Suffrage will serve as a partial outline. It gives a glimpse of the long, watchful fight of individuals longing for equality and freedom for themselves and their neighbors.

1776- While John Adams attends the Constitutional Congress, his wife writes to ask him to “remember the ladies.”

Many parents are remembering the first days of school.

• At Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood, The Kids Are Ready.
• However, not all the mothers are. Sprittibee shares a poem written The Night Before School Starts…
• On Wisdom’s Path says, “Welcome Back Class!“
• Why Homeschool presents Sorta Kinda the First Day of School.
• Professor Mom gives advice for aligning the reality of homeschooling with your vision of a peaceful home in Your Year in Preview: Starting the School Year Off Right.

1821- Emma Willard founds the Troy Female Seminary in New York, the first endowed school for girls.

Reading is foundational to education.

• The Expanding Life tells us about a wonderful way to read a poem a day: 180 Poems
• Works in Progress shares how reading in the evenings has solved two problems in Family Reading Time.
• Homeschooling Kiwi Style has a simliar idea and includes a list of books they are Reading Aloud.

1839- Mississippi passes the first Married Woman’s Property Act.

The computer is a piece of property that can be helpful in education.

• ChoosyHomeschooler Blog tells about an amazing free tool for children to learn 3D computer programming. It’s called Adventures with Alice.
• Day by Day Discoveries found a computer game for Canadian history and shares her excitement in History Doesn’t Get Much Cooler Than This…
• At The Homeschool Blog Awards, Dawn reminds homeschoolers that they can receive discounts for educational software in her post Better Blogging: Educational Discount Software.
• Home Educate in the Sunshine State shares 5 Reasons Homeschoolers Should Switch to Macs.

1852- Lucretia Mott writes Discourse on Woman, arguing that the apparent inferiority of women can be attributed to their inferior educational opportunities.

Today educational opportunities abound.

• The Earthly Paradise found iTunes U to be a free, high quality source for educational materials.
• Little Acorn’s Treehouse shares another online resource Waiting to Be Discovered: Primary Level Artist Appreciation- A Free 36 Week Art Curriculum. 
• The Sojourner has been Watching and Learning from the Olympics.
• Faraday’s Cage is where you put Schroedinger’s Cat uses physics to find a person’s weight on each planet in the post Planet of Youth.
• Barbara Frank shares her thoughts on the plethora of choices offered to homeschoolers now in Cacophony of Curricula. 
• Maybe her ideas will help answer Cyberschool Kids Are Cool question, “How do you do it all?” asked in Trying to Get it All Done.

1866- Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony form the American Equal Rights Association, an organization for white and black women and men dedicated to the goal of universal suffrage.

Homeschoolers have goals in lessons and life.

• Living Life Between the Trees expounds on the goal of using Leading Ideas in lessons.
• A Simple Walk shares Homeschooling “Preschool” Plans.
• While Homeschooler Savvy is working on plans for The Classical High Schooler.
• Mama says…. writes her Obligatory School Planning Post.
• The time that has elapsed shares plans for the new school year, too.
• My Home Sweet Home shares lots of good ideas in the post Keepers at Home planning meeting.
• Dr Mommy Home School Tips has advice on Homeschooling Children of Different Ages.

1872- Susan B. Anthony is arrested and brought to trial in Rochester, New York, for attempting to vote for Ulysses S. Grant. At the same time, Sojourner Truth appears at a polling booth in Grand Rapids, Michigan, demanding a ballot; she is turned away.

Homeschoolers have reason to continue. 

• Learning at Home wonders why parenting isn’t in the Olympics? It is certainly rigorous enough. Parenting, Olympic Style has its rewards.
• Principled Discovery examines Homeschool Stereotypes vs. Public School Realities.
• The HomeSpun Life also looks at public school in 3 Degrees of Education: Part 1.
• Nerd Family was surprised by what the words of Adam Smith on Public School.
• Another surprise awaited at the library. It left the brew*crew adventure Livid in the Library.
• Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers shares tips on measuring a child’s academic process in How Do You Know?
• Garden Goose loves to see self-motivated learning: Learning “outside the box”…musings about Home Schooling.

1876 to 1879- Lawyer Belva Ann Lockwood is denied permission to practice before the Supreme Court. She spends three years pushing through legislation that enables women to practice before the Court and becomes the first woman to do so in 1879.

Practice and determination are needed to master subjects.

• Nerd Family Things found Frugal Homeschooler: Preschool Printables.
• The Homeschool Classroom says, “Practice Spelling: Yes, It Really Can Be Fun.”
• Frugal Homeschooling shares a Math Caching Game in which students solve mathematical problems to find hidden “boxes” on the Internet. Each box reveals clues to the location of the next one.
• Walker Homeschool Daze also enjoys using Video games.
• Mixing Home Business and Home Schooling discovered that rich people are hiring private tutors to teach their children at home and shares about it in Outsourcing Meets Homeschooling.

1878- A Woman Suffrage Amendment is introduced in the United States Congress. The wording is unchanged in 1919, when the amendment finally passes both houses.

Words and writing capture the homeschool experience.

• Beverly’s Homeschool Blog has a nice idea, Tablecloth Records Mementos of Busy Homeschool Year.
• Happy to be at Home has thought about Naming Your Homeschool.
• Home Spun Juggling wonders,  “What’s in a name? That which we call homeschooling…” in Home Spun comic strip #257.
• Life On The Planet enjoys having a Word of the Week. Find out this week’s word in She’s Back!
• The Daily Planet presents Homeschool Memoirs: All About You!
• Perhaps, you would like to start a blog to record your homeschool memories. Blog Writing Course presents If Your Can Read This, You Might Have Been Homeschooled
• And while your blogging, Alasandra’s Homeschool Blog Awards reminds us If You Want to Share Give the Author Credit.

1916 Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first American woman elected to represent her state in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Many homeschoolers are involved in government.

• Corn and Oil discusses the history of laws regarding vaccinations and registrations in the post Illinois homeschooling makes measly news.
• Spunky Homeschool examines the same issue and asks if the government has the authority to require all parents to immunize their children in Compelled to Immunize.
• My Domestic Church helps homeschoolers prepare the informational outline required in notification regulations with her post, A little Tip for Ohio Homeschoolers.
• Life Without School is starting The Homeschool Grassroots Advocacy Guide to assist individuals in protecting our homeschooling rights.

1917- Women’s suffrage passed in New York State.

Homeschoolers cast their votes for a few books.

• The Thinking Mother reviews But What About Socialization?
• Melissa’s Idea Garden says The Imperfect Homeschooler’s Guide to Homeschooling is excellent.
• Welcome to my brain.net recommends the book No Mirrors.
• Percival Blakeney Academy shares Activity Guides for State Books.

August 26, 1920-  Nineteenth Amendment ratified. Women are allowed to vote in the United States of America.

A century of struggle with the idea that all individuals are created equal resulted in victory. Truth is marching on.

I look for the day…when the only criterion of excellence or position shall be the ability and character of the individual; and this time will come. Susan B. Anthony

Thank you for participating in the carnival. I hope you find helpful information and a bit of inspiration.

The next Carnival of Homeschooling will be at HomeschoolCPA. Please submit your articles via Blog Carnival.

Thank you for the responses to my questions about motivation. If you haven’t already, please join the conversation. We haven’t solved the issue yet, although I’m not sure we can. I’m realizing motivation is a heart issue not changed with dollars, games, or sticker charts.

I will write more on the topic after I review the series at Principled Discovery, beginning with Motivation Defined. Dana discusses a helpful article by Carole Adams entitled The Christian Idea of the Child. (pdf) My copy will have marginalia after an exciting event.

I’m hosting my first Carnival of Homeschooling on Tuesday! Please consider submitting a post. You may do so by emailing CarnivalOfHomeschooling@gmail.com by Monday night at 6 p.m. with the following:

• Title of Post
• URL of Post
• Name of Blog
• URL of Blog
• Brief summary of the post
• (Write “carnival” or “submission” in the subject field of the email.)

Or use the form at Blog Carnival here.

If you haven’t participated in a blog carnival before, Henry Cate has a good introduction. Also, be sure to visit this week’s Carnival of Homeschooling at Janice Campbell’s blog.

I look forward to reading your entries!