The Carnival of Homeschooling is up at A Pondering Heart. I haven’t read any of the articles yet but if you do come back and tell us your favorite!

Also, the Charlotte Mason Carnival is all about narrating- so your assignment will be to go read an article ONCE then come back here and narrate it. It’s hosted at Simply Charlotte Mason.

I found mention of a site for homeschoolers called Homeschoolers Like Us. It’s a “social network web site”- has anyone used this site? What do you think of it?

We went on a field trip to see how grass seed is cleaned.

This very nice, funny and informative man took us on a tour.

(Click on thumbnails to enlarge. The thumbnail tends to cut off some of the photo.)

The dirty, right out of the field, seed is put into large storage rooms. Here the kids are feeling it.

These are screens that the seed goes over in one of the processes to clean it. The seed must meet certain standards- I believe it has to be 98% clean – before it can be sold. Every batch is tested before it’s bagged.

On the second of three floors we saw some seed going over a screen.

On the top (third) floor we got to feel the insides and outsides of drums used to filter out the dirt.

Here he is explaining how this machine works.

We walked back down the three flights of stairs and went over to see how the seed is bagged. I’ll show those pictures another day. Stay tuned!

I am totally stealing that blog title but I am going to direct you to where I found it. It’s at a blog titled “Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers”- I just love that name! There is a picture of kids wearing tee shirts with that on them- you can find out how to get your own at that site too. But, while you are there, check out this post- titled “How Do You Know?” How does one know what level your child is reading on? Curious? At the end of the post there are two links to simple tests you can give your child at home.

If there is someone in your life who is a little, shall we say, concerned about your child’s education then you can breezily say “Oh, Junior is in 2nd grade but his tested reading level is the 11th grade.” Or you can use the tests to see progress- sometimes we lose sight of the little gains that are being made. It’s not about reading on a certain grade level but learning to read so that it is a love and a pleasure to the child in years to come.

It’s the time of year again when the question comes up- “Do we have to notify the Education Service District (ESD) that we are homeschooling this year and how do we do that?”

In order to answer that question, I’ll provide a few links. In the “Link” section of this page you will see one for the Umatilla Morrow ESD. That link will take you directly to their homeschool page. They have what information is needed for a letter and also a handy form you can fill out and mail in. Their address is there also.

Confused about when you have to inform them? The Oregon Department of Education provides that information on their home school page. The pdf is titled “Oregon Guidelines for Home Schooling- Questions and Answers“.

Another site that also explains Oregon requirements is this one at OCEANetwork.org.

I found some interesting reading out there in Internet Land- here are some links:

To get you thinking about “Back to School Planning” (did I just hear a big groan?) here is the Charlotte Mason Carnival- Back to Schooling Bash at On Our Journey Westward. There are a great many articles for you to sort through and I’m sure you’ll find something of interest, even if you aren’t following the Charlotte Mason method.

What makes a bad homeschool day? Guilt Free Homeschooling examines that question in an appropriately titled post- What made this a “bad” homeschool day? There are some ideas worth thinking about in this article.

Finally, Why Homeschool highlights an article that examines the question “Why Homeschoolers threaten our Cultural Comfort” and points us to a post by Judy that contemplates the question further in “Judy responds to why many hate homeschoolers.”

Go check them out and come back and tell us what you think.

We recently had an air show here in town, sponsored by the Pendleton Air Museum. It came at the end of the bi-annual Advanced World Aerobatic Championship that was held here too. Pilots came from many different countries to compete and the United States was well represented.

The weather was great and there was spectacular flying to be seen!

The FA18 getting ready to take off. It was very loud as it sat warming up it’s engines and doing system checks. It did a low fly over.

(Click on thumbnails to enlarge.)

This plane went cork screwing up, hung in the air…

and came straight down!

The winner of the World Aerobatic competition, Rob Holland, is finishing up a heart here.

It was a great way to spend an afternoon and I saw many homeschool families enjoying themselves.

I have heard that there is a homeschool curriculum store in College Place, Washington.  It sells new and used curriculum.  I didn’t know that it was there.

Here is the information that I have:

Lamplighter Countryside Store

374 S.E. Highland Park Drive

Call for directions: 509-525-8143

M-Th 1-5

Friday 10-2

A Google Map.  I can’t guarantee that it is accurate.

Go find it, then come back here and tell us all about it.

Wonders never cease. I figured out how to put the sign up form on here.

There are two pages to this form- the second page is the bylaws. You can print it on the back side of the membership form, if you want. Be sure to read them.

Most of the form is pretty standard. One of the items that is on there is asking what curriculum you are using. Just give us a general idea. The main reason we ask this is so we can put it in our directory so if someone has a question about a certain curriculum they will have a go-to person for answers.

If you have more kids than lines- continue on another sheet of paper.

It’s on the forms page. Print it out and mail it in. We look forward to having you join us!

The June 10th edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling is up at The Common Room!

Check it out to see if you are a “typical” homeschooler or to learn how the brain works.

During the winter months, when everyone is tired of being cooped up in the house, and when it’s too cold to meet someone at the park, PHSA organizes Rec. Days at the Recreation Center (next to the Pendleton Library on Dorion Street).

The Rec. Center charges an hourly fee so PHSA gives members the option of participating. Each family pays an additional fee for the 3 month session. This fee varies depending on the fee that the Rec. Center charges. The Coordinator schedules as many days as possilbe, depending on how many families sign up. Time and day of the week are varied according to the Rec. Center’s busy schedule. Each signed-up family attends when they can.

The Rec. Center has equipment for volleyball, basketball, floor hockey, and many other activities for all ages. Sometimes we do organized games, and sometimes the kids just play while the parents talk.

When the weather turns nice again, the group meets weekly at one of the local parks. These times run from the spring through the summer and into the fall.