Ode to Homeschool Blogs

When I began homeschooling, there were only a few places I could go to learn about other homeschooling families. I had subscriptions to The Moore Report and The Teaching Home; my favorite parts of both were the letters from other homeschooling families that described their lives. I could not get enough of that stuff! It was comforting to know there were people like us out there somewhere. I got lots of ideas for activities and resources from those letters.

Fast-forward twenty years. Now there are not only scads of wonderful homeschool magazines out there, but there are blogs! I love blogs by homeschooling parents because they're real. People are on their best behavior in a magazine article, but a blogger will admit to you that she spent this morning locked in the bathroom crying because of exhaustion or PMS, while her still-pajamaed children watched DVDs. She'll ask people to pray for her because she needs more patience with her kids lately, or because there isn't enough money left at the end of the month. And she'll rejoice that her son learned to read or her daughter made dinner all by herself. You, of course, will rejoice with her; that victory is all the sweeter because you were there for her hard times.

That's why I regularly share links to the weekly Carnival of Homeschooling. Where else can you get up-to-the-minute reports on what's going on with homeschooling families? This week's Carnival, put together by Mom Is Teaching, is extra special, because it is the 100th edition. As always, there's lots of good stuff there.

I've been so busy lately that I neglected to mention last week's Carnival. (I hope you know you can always go back to a carnival; all you need is the link.) Last week's carnival was so good! It included a post from April about how homeschooling on a single income can actually make you more financially secure, a post from a American homeschooling single mom living in France who shares frugal tips for movie buffs, and ChristineMM's post about children with a sense of entitlement, as illustrated by the school bus of today. No, I did not give you links to those posts...you'll have to go to last week's Carnival and find them yourself! :)