The 231st edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling

At the end of May and beginning of June you can't miss being invited to a music or dance recital. The recital is the culmination of a year or decade of work in one of the arts and many homeschoolers are part of the crowd in the audience as well as the talent up on stage. Our children are in the midst of recital mania with the girl's ballet recital last week (actually 3 shows) and piano later this week.

For our 7 year old Maggie this is her first experience with recitals and I can easily compare her to a homeschool mom finishing up her first year teaching the kids at home. She is so excited that she reminds me of someone walking into her first homeschool conference seeing all the vendors hawking shiny new editions of workbooks in every subject, art videos, sheets of music, vintage books, fancy manipulatives, CDs for learning about the great composers, and more lesson plans than one person could use in a lifetime.

At Mary's first piano recital she was completely overwhelmed and wanted to walk out, but her teacher calmly took her by the hand and led her up to the stage. She sat and played her piece beautifully and has been confident at every performance since. During that first year of homeschooling we all felt a little intimidated by the sheer volume of options and the occasional worry that they were missing something. But sometime during the year we realized that something great was happening at home with our children and our confidence was restored.

Shalynne presents Homeschooling Criticism posted at Wonderfully Chaotic.

Amy gets her children ready for the new addition to the family Preparing for the DLM* posted at Hope Is the Word.

Jessica presents Blessings posted at Teachable Moments.

Krystal at Lips That Speak Knowledge shares that the freedom to school anywhere is one of the many benefits of homeschooling.

Fred Lee presents Art Helps To Relieve Anxiety From Asthma posted at Healthcare Hacks.

For the older girls (and boys) recitals are not quite old hat, but they know the drill: get ready, help the little kids, and perform with a 100 watt smile. The homeschooling moms I compare them to are the ones with a few years teaching under their belt. They know they can't do it all, they have found what method and materials work for each of their children. They give advice to the newer moms and shrug off the criticism of anti-homeschoolers such as, "your child will be unsocialized" or "you can't possibly teach your own kid enough to get into college.

Pamela presents Tar Pits posted at Blah, Blah, Blog.

Jenny gives us an invitation to join up with the Learning Never Stops photo challenge each Saturday at Home is Where You Start From.

The Legacy of Home reflects on family worship time.

Musical Mary's Musings shares with us some ideas on writing friendly letters.

Beyond Silver and Gold asks us to join in the discussion about the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling.

Lara shares some wonderful marine sights in Trip to the Coast posted at Texas Homesteader.

Dana worries and prays for one of her children in Parenting in the dark posted at Roscommon Acres.

Renae organizes her home with Chore Buster posted at The Curriculum Choice.

Linda presents Homeschooling Myth #3: Mom Needs to Be a Teacher posted at PARENT AT THE HELM.

The high school seniors who perform intricate dances in synchronicity that rivals an Olympic team or play classical musical pieces which sound like they should be played at Kennedy Center are the homeschool equivalent of the most experienced moms. They have graduated children from high school and college and know that homeschooling has served their children very well. They have a wisdom that only comes from many years of sitting at the kitchen table quizzing on the multiplication tables, helping diagram complex sentences, teaching how to write footnotes, making trigonometry easy to understand, and giving hints on how to remember the order of the elements. They could sit on Good Morning America and explain their philosophy of education without breaking a sweat.

Alejandra presents Teenagers Starting to Drive posted at A Guide to Raising Great Kids.

Beverly shares ideas for homeschool graduation at About Homeschooling.

Kris presents WUHS Top Picks: High School posted at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Arby presents a follow-up to last week’s post concerning homeschool criticism. This post invites more readers to respond. Educating Our Children: A Question for All Parents posted at Boarding in Bedlam.

For those with teens, Chrysalis shares her take on a book, Men are like Waffles, Women are like Spaghetti.

Barbara makes me laugh with Nobody Told Me Homeschooling Would Cause So Much Clutter.

Henry shares some more reasons to homeschool from Why Homeschool's blog archives.

Alasandra presents Public School is a lazy parent’s idea of education posted at Alasandra's Homeschool Blog.

ChristineMM presents Fall 2010 Homeschool Planning In Progress posted at The Thinking Mother.

And as a special tribute to all our fallen soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines on this day after Memorial Day, Jessica presents Empty Spot at Our Table posted at Teachable Moments.

With enough practice and perseverance our little dancers and musicians graduate from simply jumping around on stage in a tutu or playing Hot Cross Buns to performing in Swan Lake or playing Intermezzo, Op. 118 #2. With enough patience we moms can grow in experience and skill as well.

Happy recitals everyone!