Jewish Homeschooling Blog Carnival #5: not-quite אדר/Adar, 5771

Welcome to the VERY serious Adar 1 aka Not-Quite-Adar Edition of the jewish homeschooling blog carnival!!!

Past editions:

• #1: Cheshvan 1, 5771
• #2: Kislev 1, 5771
• #3: Teves/טבת /Tevet, 5771
• #4: שבט/Shevat, 5771

Lest you think it’s REALLY Adar – it’s not.  And just as a reminder that it’s NOT Adar, and therefore, NOT time for merriment, silliness and drunken frivolity, I will be including occasional clip art images here which reflect only the utmost dignity, somberness and sobriety.  Thank you.

day-to-day

alpidarkomama shares a very welcome update on how the current school year is going with Learning Update - Secular Studies over at Learning al pi darko.  Sounds like it’s going amazingly well!

Here’s my recent rant about textbooks right here at Adventures in MamaLand with The Myth of Ability, and How Textbooks Drag Education Down – boy, do I sound paranoid! 

Lest you think mine is the last word, though, Regina at Jewish Home Education offers a little advice of her own in My take on workbooks.  She and I seem to think a lot alike, and think about much of the same stuff – maybe the stuff that’s on all our minds, like the Great Expectations we all share for our homeschooling journey?

This is the season of stir-crazy if there ever was one, and it seems like some of us are LOSING IT!!!  You know what I’m talking about.  I did it just this morning (not proud of this, mind you).  Staying Afloat, at And miles to go… has five kids, including one with autism, and humbly admits I lost it yesterday.

If you’re feeling cooped up and maybe some days thinking, “I can’t stand my kids!” you’re not alone… but imagine doing it all with triplets.  Join Miriam over at Tripletly Blessed, er, I mean Inspired Imma, for I Needed That.  Don’t worry – everything turns out okay for mama and girls!  While you’re over there, please help her out by recommending your very favourite blogs, homeschooling or otherwise, at I Need Your Help!

Lest you think I’m wallowing in February negativity, check out Blessing my Kids, with a Twist over at The JewishMom.com Blog.  Even those of us who are blessed to spend time with our kids all day, every day, can learn something from this easy lesson.

Learning Jewish

Too early for Purim, you say???  Not at Jewish Home Education, where, with Purim thoughts, ideas and projects, Regina explains what works for her family, and shares a Purim suncatchers craft idea!

Meanwhile, over at Lionden Landing, Michelle explains to her daughter how this year gets an extra month in A Very Special Rosh Chodesh.  There’s a beautiful connection with the musical scale, but I’ll let her explain it to you… :-)

Hey, I bet you’re all wondering why I haven’t included the usual flood of wise and wonderful posts from Avivah over at Oceans of Joy… right?  That’s because she’s been super-busy, away in Israel visiting her dd at seminary – and bringing a surprise (though her dd wasn’t surprised at all) right along with her in I’m in Israel – and a surprise! 

Shira Hochheimer offers some really valuable professional tips for learning Chumash with beginners over at her blog Parsha Cakes (yes, there are tons of cake ideas there, too!) in Teaching Beginning Chumash.  She even has a PDF to download with her technique – SO helpful, in my case, for the future!

Also teaching Chumash is arijess over at Homeschool Chumash, only in this post, she’s dealing with the realities of a “screamy day.”  In my own home, it’s usually the big kids who are screamy, and the little kids who just get weepy… but sometimes do great work anyway, like in this post:  Narration Through Tears.

And I guess, while I’m on the subject of Jewish Learning, I have also been wondering, in Torah from the Goyim,  why non-Jews have such excellent “Bible” workbooks, lapbooks, and other resources for homeschoolers, while we, the folks who brought the Torah to the world, have My First Parsha Reader.  Oh:  it’s also about my temptation to cave and actually buy some of these slick, lovely-looking resources.  What do you think???

creativity

Hand-me-down boots???  Yuck, right?  But it was no problem over at Growing Up Creative!    See how tali’s daughter handled it in Hammy Down Transformation!  (don’t blame me if you end up wanting a pair yourself)  And while you’re over at her blog, why not start a new tradition with this great birthday coupon box gift idea??

In case I was wondering how to measure my kids’ learning and responsiveness to their fine-arts curriculum, such as it is, I figured it out last week in Dance, Dance, Revolution.    There’s even a video!

Hmm.  Not seeing a ton of creativity – is everybody asleep this month?  Or at least, I wasn’t seeing much creativity until I came across this post from Shady Lady at Unschooling Royalty.  You don’t have to be unschooling to know that learning can happen anywhere – as she reveals in Bathroom Supplies.

fuelling the learning

I can’t help throwing in one or two food-related posts each month, and this one is relevant because it’s also a CRAFT – Extraordinary Cookies – an easy, Shabbat-fancy, food-related craft your eleven-year-old twin daughters can do!  Or at least, Rivki’s daughers can, over at Kosher Cooking for Ordinary People, a fun blog that’s new to me this month.

learning styles

decemberbaby helps demystify Montessori at sweet & crunchy.  Post your questions there and she’ll no doubt give them all her attention from the little island in the sun where she’s spending the next month unschooling her kids on the beach.  Jealous much???

Speaking of Montessori, Mommzy at Jewish Homeschool Blog is leaning that way herself as she looks at what works for her kids and the transience of homeschooling techniques in Homeschooling 101.

Around the Web:

Now, I’m not saying I wish I could send my kids to school… but if they DID go to school, CELC Room Daled in Bayside, NY is the kind of place I’d love them to be.  Not a homeschool blog as such, but there are often lots of creative Jewish learning ideas posted, along with lots of pics of happy, creative kids.  Here’s their Shabbat song!

Finally… since it’s MY carnival, I get to blog about MY agenda!  Well, I had to share my excitement about three cloth diapering articles this month at Kosher on a Budget.  First, from Mara, Cloth Diapers 101: Misconceptions, Methods & Money.  Then, guest bloggers Tamar, of In Our Small Garden, joined the chat with Cloth Diapers 201: BumGenius & Beyond and Rivki from Life in the Married Lane, who contributed Cloth Diapers 201: Prefolds & Covers.  I’m just so happy to see some buzz in the Jewish world about how we cover our littlest homeschoolers’ bottoms!!!

That concludes this edition.  Please remember to hold any signs of merriment until the end of the month when the REAL Adar will commence.  Thank you.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of jewish homeschooling blog carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Important:  I’m tired!!!  If you’d like to host a future issue, please email me:  Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com to offer.  Offers of lasagna also happily accepted.

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