Hosted this week at Dewey’s Treehouse.

“When I recently expressed to an acquaintance that I was struggling with balancing everything, she asked me what had happened to my Wonder Woman costume. I promptly told her it was a wrinkled mess under my bed, along with everything else I can’t find.”– “Confessions of a Not-So-Super Homeschool Mom,” posted at Hearthside Homeschool Reviews…and More!

For those of you struggling to even find your superhero costume, much less iron it or fit into it, this week’s Carnival of Homeschooling is for you.

How do you know you’re a homeschooling superhero? Read more…

Via Miller-McCune Online Magazine

At the start of this year, in Tennessee, a funny thing happened to Uwe and Hannelore Romeike, members of a German family that sought asylum in the U.S., based on what they said was persecution by the government in a stable, modern, democratic European country. A U.S. court granted it.

A federal immigration judge in Tennessee found that the Romeikes were at risk of persecution by German authorities because they wanted to home-school their kids. Now Uwe and Hannelore can raise their five Christian kids in Morristown, Tenn., not far from Knoxville, instead of facing fines or fearing a knock on the door from German cops. Read more…

Via momlogic.com. Another reaction to the GMA reports on unschooling.

Sandra: Unschooling is home schooling, but it’s not school at home. Not all home schoolers recreate school’s schedules, lessons and tests. Some families have book reports and other things that have to do with management of large groups. It’s as though they’ve brought the assembly line home for just one child, or a few children.

Some people home school because they think schools teach too much and aren’t controlling the kids well enough. Some people home school because they think schools teach too little and control too much. I don’t mind my kids learning things schools fear to teach, or having choices in their lives. Practicing on small things gave them knowledge and experience when they were old enough to practice on larger things.Some families home school to limit their children’s access and freedom. For us it’s the opposite. Read more…

The boys at Kodak

My kids went to work with me today at Kodak. They look forward to this day every year (even when I worked elsewhere). At Kodak, they get have cool pictures taken, try new photo kiosks and make take-home photo projects. It’s a great event.
I’d love to hear about your homeschoolers and their day at work with mom or dad. Leave a comment!

I know it’s a bit late in the day but today also happens to be Take your Kids to Work day so I’ve been a bit busy. Here are a few posts related to earth day from fellow homeschoolers:

• Earth Day Exploration 2010-04-22 via Layers of Learning
• Today is Earth Day… 2010-04-22 via Faith and a Full House…
• Nature walks in the city 2010-04-22 via Eclectic Homeschooling
• Earth Day Rap 2010-04-22 via Consent Of The Governed
• Greening Up Your Homeschool 2010-04-21 via The Secular Homeschool Community

And also, here’s one that’s not from a homeschool blog:

• The DIY Genius of the Original Earth Day via Wired Science
  

Hosted this week by Home Spun Juggling where she lets us have a peek behind the cartoonist’s desk.

Welcome to the Carnival of Homeschooling: The Cartoonist’s Desk edition!
For this carnival, I thought I would let everyone take a peek over my shoulder as I draw my comic strips for this week. This is a long one, so grab your tea or coffee and make yourself comfortable!

Inspiration.
Where do I get my ideas? Life! My comics start with the day to day adventures I experience. I often remember anecdotes that happened several years ago. Although some may not have been funny when they happened, I’ve learned to see the humor in these old crises. As Carol Burnett said, “Comedy is tragedy plus time.” Read more…

The Original story form ABC Good Morning America:

Here is a follow-up on viewer reaction:

Via Womans Day, again based on the ABC report.

Out of 56 million school-age children, 1.5 million are homeschooled and at least 100,000 are believed to be unschooled. According to ABC News, unschooling is an “unorthodox approach to homeschooling that does not focus on formal classes, set curriculum or tests.” In other words, it’s a homeschooling system that lets kids choose their own interests; if they want to know something, they’ll figure it out for themselves.

The radical method of school and parenting is expectedly controversial; when the story broke on ABC yesterday, their message boards lit up with comments from concerned viewers. But the educational movement, if you will, is an acknowledged practice. (Homeschooling rules vary from state to state; in Massachusetts, unschooling parents are required to report to local school authorities once a year.)
Read more…

Viewers React to Education Method via ABC News

A couple who practice “radical unschooling” said their hands-off approach to education and child-rearing is about exploring the world and living on principles, and is not “anything goes.”
The Biegler family explains its decision to let their kids educate themselves.

Christine Yablonski and Phil Biegler appeared live on “Good Morning America” today to defend their controversial education method, which prompted an overwhelming response from viewers.

“There’s a huge difference between having no rules and having arbitrary rules,” Yablonski said. “We live in a world of principles. The principles of trust, honesty and respect. That’s how we make all of our decisions. It’s not anything goes. We are instilling proper values, good values in our children.” Read more…

There has been a sudden barrage of reports on unschooling in the last 2 days because of an ABC Good Morning America story. Here’s one reaction via ParentDish.

But when unschooling works, Darr-Babson tells ParentDish, it can work magnificently.

“It enables children to focus what they’re interested in,” she says.

A growing number of parents are unschooling their children. ABC News reports there are 56 million American children in traditional schools, with another 1.5 million being homeschooled.

Of those, according to the network, about 10 percent are unschooled.

Unschooling is not homeschooling. In homeschooling, children get the same structure, discipline and curriculum they get at school. They just get it from their parents.

Darr-Babson explains that unschooling has no rules. It is all organic. Read more…