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WINTER READING CHALLENGE

Click on the icon for the link. It's not really a contest, but Trish is giving away a $25 Amazon gift certificate to one participant!
You need to read her original post so you know what to do, like sign Mr. Linky with a direct link to your post once you've had a chance to make a list of the books you intend to read between January 7 and March 17, 2008. Also, As an added incentive, she will be sending one lucky participant a $25 gift certificate to (where else?) Amazon.com. she'll do a random drawing from the names of everyone who posts both an initial list by Monday, February 11, 2008 and a post about their results at the end of the challenge. The drawing will be held Monday, March 17, 2008 sometime in the evening. The winner's name will be posted after the drawing. :)

You can read my book list here:  Winter Reading Challenge: My Books 2008

MAMA ARCHER GIVEAWAY

Also, MamaArcher is having a giveaway!  To enter, leave a comment. If you want a second entry, please post about his on your blog & link back to this post. Please leave a second comment HERE with the url of that post. The last day for entries is February 3rd. The winner will be announced on Feb. 4th. Good luck & spread the word! She is offering the following book:

 blessings!

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What exactly does homeschooling mean? Does it mean at schooling at home all day? Or for the school hours the public school system sets? Does it mean out of public school and instead schooling at home? Is it a locational thing? Can a family homeschool on the road?

These are all things I have heard mentioned in homeschooling circles and spoken about myself. I don't know if there is a clear-cut answer in all cases. Some families homeschool very well traveling the states or the world, keeping their family strong and teaching their children as they go. For some families, that would be a monumental disaster.

I used to think I could homeschool our children whether we were home or not...

READ THE REST at Seeking Rest in the Ancient Paths: Are You Home-Schooling?

blessings~

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The Homeschool Blog Awards polls are open for voting. I hope you will take time to go and vote for your favorites. Have you been there to see how many of your friends are in the nominations or perhaps, if you are in the runnings?

Perhaps you have been to the HSBA site and noticed some of the original nominated blogs have been removed from the Awards' running. Yes, that's true. Yours Truly, as well as Amanda and Jocelyn and other great homeschool blogger moms who author the HSBA blog have removed ourselves voluntarily in the light of  - well - whatever you want to call it. Read about it on the HSBA site in the Legal Update.

Originally, as I stated in a previous blog, HSBA was started "because we were not likely to get noticed by mainstream blog-award-givers. Spunky’s first year of the Homeschool Blog Awards were a complete success. Not only did quite a few homeschool bloggers get a much deserved pat on the back for their “labor of love”, but all of us were able to join together as a group - no matter what type of homeschooler we were - and learn about all the talent among our ranks. Some of us met new bloggers, made new friends, and found new blogs to read that continue to inspire us to be better homeschoolers."

As gifts were donated to the winners as prizes, this caused division to form and bloggers who neither wanted the Christian prizes (read Vision Forum) nor did they qualify as family-friendly bloggers, started blogging dissension and commenting as they could to put the HSBA in a bad light. I read some of the comments, and some were valid and non-judgmental, but most were just nasty and unwarranted temper-tantrums.

The HS Blog Awards are supposed to be a 'fun' recognition. We are trying our best to make it just that and keep it that way. I understand the need for laws to keep impropriety out of mainstream contests and giveaways, but I have a lot more faith in the homeschool community than to think such divisions and laws are necessary. We should be different. We are trying to 'buck the system' and raise our children differently, without government interference. There is definitely a division between Christian Homeschoolers and those who are not, but the homeschooling community we are a part of is a tight-knit community. We are different in the fact that we support each other and lift each other up and the homeschool blogging circles I belong to are no different. We are happy for each other when we "win". We give things to each other. We pray for each other. We get to know each other and each others' families. It is like we are neighbors. What has been said to tarnish and tear-down the HSBA is just plain wrong and selfish. Period.

Would I have loved to win? You betcha'. We aren't a high-society wage family. It would have been nice to win any of the gifts in any of the four categories I was nominated in. But, when it came right down to it, it was worth more to me to make the choice to let God take care of that and stay the course in helping the HSBA Team.  Amanda and Jocelyn, who are 18 and 16 respectively, gave up their chances to win some really nice prizes in their categories. But, they were determined to stand behind the HSBA team too. I'll tell you, it has been a lot of late and extra hard work, but it has been one of the best character-building times in their lives. I am thankful for that. Very thankful.

As Dawn put it: "It is so sad that it’s come to this, that there are people in this world so offended by moral decency (the family-friendly requirement) that they’ve turned the awards into a controversy that resulted in the elimination of the people who cared enough to keep it going in the first place."

Rachel - The Milk & Honey Tea-House (Best Cyber-Buddy Blog 2007 category) and LucyLillie -THE Raspberry Pixie Muffin (Best New Homeschool Blog category) are not Authors on the HSBA, so they are still in the running. Vote for them! Voting ends December 15, midnight, Pacific Standard Time.

If you would like to read more of what the team has to say about the blogging dissension in the past few weeks surrounding the Homeschool Blog awards, here are a few more links:

Dawn *Thoughts on The Homeschool Blog Awards
Sprittibee *Contest News and Heartfelt Thanks
Jocelyn *HSBAward Update

blessings!
Jacque

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There are a lot of ideas about homeschooling and homeschool families and especially homeschool moms that are completely unfounded and almost pure opinion. If you are a homeschool mom, you know what I mean.  If you are a Christian homeschool mom, perhaps you are unaware that we, as a whole, are viewed as 'holier than thou' women by many of our fellow moms and even fellow believers.
I was recently told in a comment  a common belief about homeschoolers:
(mockingly) "But do you teach them about God? Yes? But do you teach them modesty and to only ever wear skirts and keep their hair long and never to tweeze, shave, color, or otherwise enhance her beauty? You do? But do you homeschool them? You do? But what curriculum do you use? Oh, do you UNschool them?  NO ONE can live up to the impossibly high standards they (us homeschool moms) seem to have set. Of course, they claim to be imperfect, but do they really see themselves that way? Or are they just a teensy bit more godly than the rest of us?"

I contend that we know that we are not perfect. We struggle with our health, with finances, with loss, with our attitudes. We are not who a lot of people think we are. I have lived with this type of opinion for as long as I can remember. And, it is ok with me now. I am not yet content with who I am, because I am still working on it, but I am content to be a homeschool mom of 8. I am content to have people stare and ask stupid questions like, "Are those kids all yours?"  "Are you done now?"  "How do you do it?"  "I couldn't stand to be home with my kids all day - and I only have 2!" Ok, maybe they aren't stupid questions, just stupidly asked. Tactlessly asked.
I know I am not sitting at home, waiting hand and foot endlessly 'like a doormat' or someone who stays home because 'I am not smart enough to do anything else' ... yeah, *you* try to organize and run this household, hehehh.

People act like it's ok to offend homeschoolers and large families, but, by golly, don't offend someone who doesn't want more children. Don't project your opinions on them. That is judgmental. And, don't force your beliefs on them, though they may do that to you. People also act like you must be rolling in the dough and have absolutely no other problems because your children will sit and be well-behaved in a restaurant and, well, you must be rich to afford all of those children. Or, you just do not understand about the real world. I mean, how could you? You don't shop and get gas and drive in the real world... Like we just fell off of the first spaceship back from Mars.

I know homeschool moms. We are all normal people. We have broken lives and great lives. We have children who are terribly sweet and don't back-talk, and we have children who shun our ideals. We have great health, and we have family who live with illness and even die from it. We are people. We may think differently. We may have to defend our ideals and reasons we homeschool, but we are human beings.

Have you heard of The Old Homeschoolhouse Minute-To-Minute e-newsletter?  The MTM newsletter that I just found in my inbox, that reveals that "Yes, A chronically ill mom can homeschool." The answers and encouragement for this mom come from homeschool moms who are battling and homeschooling with auto immune disease, disabling depression, very long bouts with pneumonia and numerous lung/sinus ailments, chronic headaches, pain, and muscle fatigue, and the list goes on. 

We are real people. We band together to encourage each other, yes, of course. That does not mean we think we are better than anyone. And, I think everyone pretty much thinks they are doing the right thing... or at least the best thing. I mean, who would intentionally do the worst thing for their family and children?

Ok, well, that's food for thought. I'm sure everyone has an opinion on this, because, we all have opinions on everything, don't we? Go on over to Home Where They Belong and join in on the discussion. My Keep Their Hearts post is the topic, but the commenting has moved to Deb's post and Tia posted it on The Front Porch, so there are homeschool moms commenting on this topic there too.

blessings!
Jacque

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There are so many wonderful blogs to choose from in each category. We are going to have to choose who to pick for what!!  I have already gone to a few friends' blogs today and saw the HSBA Nominee Icon. Looks great.
I was going to list those whom I already read or am friends with, but instead, I  think I will do it category by category, because I would like to look at those I do not know too. I know I haven't met all of my favorite bloggers from the Awards last year, but I did meet some, and it will be fun (if I get the chance) to meet other like-minded homeschool mommas, etc.!

Here are 2 categories:

Best Homeschool Mom Blog

Along the Narrow Path
A Path Made Straight
By Sun and Candlelight
Cottage Blessings
Eclectic Education
Especially Heather
Here in the Bonny Glen
Higher Up and Further In
HsKubes’ Haven at Home
Janne’s Jabberwocky
Just Some Stuff
Large Family Mothering
Less of me ~ More of Him
On Our Journey Westward
Our Homeschool and Other Such Happenings
Preschoolers and Peace
Riverbend Prep
Robin’s Egg Blue
Sand Between My Toes
Seeking Rest in the Ancient Paths
SoCalVal – Just 4 Homeschool Families
Sprittibee
Studeo
The Thinking Mother
Training Hearts

Best Homeschool Dad Blog

A Father’s Academy
Arby’s Archives
Doug’s Blog
Duckabush Blog
JackLewis.Net
Sometimes I’m Actually Coherent
The Mango Times
Walden’s Wits

CONGRATULATIONS!!! To all of you who were nominated! Really. I wish you the best. And, to Heather and the HSBA crew... you all did a lot of work, and dodged many bullets. Even Amanda had some mud slung at her.. (I probably have, too, by now! we just haven't found it yet.) But, thank you thank you thank you. You are a very special group of ladies and friends.

Thank you for nominating my Homeschool blog! I have been nominated in these categories:
Best Homeschool Mom Blog
Best Unschooling or Eclectic Homeschooling Blog
Best Encourager Blog
Best Nitty-Gritty Homeschool Blog

I told the ladies on the HSBA team that had I not been nominated that would be fine. I mean, I blog for a couple of reasons: 1) to keep a journal of my thoughts and our lives, and 2) to encourage other homeschool moms. However, it *is* nice to be nominated.  I do know that my girls nominated me, and I am not ungrateful. Of course. :)

My girls were also nominated in these categories:
Amanda:Best “Live What You Believe” Homeschool Blog; Best Teen Gal Blog

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