March Blog Round-Up

So, in the interest of keeping the blog more concise, I'm going to just keep all the blogs I find each month to one post per month.  If you write a blog about your family and you are a Jewish homeschooler, please send me a link (in the comments below)!

I've had Jewish Home Education saved for quite a while now, thanks to this post, which is an overview of homeschooling philosophies and their relationship to Jewish homeschooling.  Although I don't agree with her outlook on Unschooling (my homeschool philosophy of choice), I did enjoy reading her post.  Regina is a mother living in Israel.  She writes, "I am passionate about education and particularly about Jewish education that can take place in one's home. Home and education are themes that are very central to Judaism. I am a big believer that parents should play a key role in their children's education. In this blog I share my thoughts and ideas on education, parenting inspirations and other related topics that interest me and might be of interest to other Jewish parents."

I feel sort of silly with this next one... because I don't have anything to write about it.  I'm sure there was a post I liked, but I can't remember!   But join Shady Lady over at Unschooling Royalty to learn a bit about how unschooling works in real life!

Now here is a blog I really enjoyed reading a lot!  Homeschooling, farming, Jewish life... what a great combo!  Everything I'd love to do.  Frum Philly Farmgirl writes about herself: "I am Lover of my Beloved, Imma to my three blessings, a dreamer of dreams and maker of my home. I have homeschooled now for about 13 years and it is our way of life. I am a preschool teacher, doula, childbirth advocate, Jill-of-all-trades, Mistress of none and aspire to someday become the local village Wise Woman."  Philly Farmgirl: Adventures in Homeschooling, an older homeschooling specific blog, also written by her, may hold some interesting reading as well.   Neither of those blogs is actually current because... she's moved on to new things at her current blog, Village Wise Woman.  Although not homeschool related, she's written some interesting posts on herbal remedies, being a doula, and life in general.

Over at Learning Al Pi Darcho is another blog about a homeschooling family.  Dean and Kerith write about their family goings-on, including homeschooling of their four children.  They sum up the direction of their blog thus: "This blog was started to describe our journey to Ethiopia to adopt two children. Now it has expanded to include our whole life - Judaism, homeschooling, frugality, cooking and the fun of being a family."

Tiny Torah by Sweet & Crunchy

A very talented local-to-me mom, of the blog sweet & crunchy, created this toy Torah, which I thought was amazing when I saw it last summer at a little-kids Shabbos party.  Not exactly homeschooling related, but I think this would be a great toy for little homeschoolers!

Check out her blog post about this project (and also check out how she built her own toddler bed).

The Torah In Haiku

Is Ed Nickow a man of few words?  It would seem so.  He writes Haiku poetry on the Parsha at his blog, The Torah In Haiku.  A talented poet, he's also published The Haggadah in Haiku.

Here is a sampling of his prose... click over to see the complete haiku for this weeks parsha.

Moses asks of G-d:
Since I’ve found favor with You
Show me Your Glory

G-d says “no can do”
Man shall not see Me and live
I can’t show My face...click here for the rest

Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective

Balashon is a fascinating blog written about the etymology of Hebrew.  A great resource for learning Hebrew, or studying the Parsha.   You can also follow this author's language detective work via Twitter (don't ask me how to use Twitter... I've only read about it so far) here. 

"On this site I investigate Hebrew - Biblical, Talmudic, Medieval and Modern - including slang; related languages like Aramaic, Arabic, Akkadian and Yiddish; and how foreign languages like Greek, Latin and English have entered Hebrew - and how Hebrew has affected those languages as well.

I discuss the meanings of words, with a focus on etymology."

Homeschool Chumash

Meet an observant Jewish mom who's been homeschooling for 12 years!  Her eldest is now in high school, but she continues to homeschool her younger children.  Join her as she writes about her family's daily activities, triumphs and struggles in learning Chumash together.

She writes, "I am an Orthodox Jew and I've been homeschooling for twelve years. Teaching chumash is one of the most important subjects, and one of the most challenging. We care so much that our children love Torah. v'shinantam l'vanecha. We want so badly for them to have the skills and the ability. Skills work is a particular challenge for homeschoolers, who have not accepted boredom as a fact of school. Or should I say it is a challenge for the mom/teacher..."

Do you think you worry more about your child's learning skills (for Jewish subjects, I mean) than you would if they were in school?  Are these skills something you actively teach, or do you focus on a love of learning and teach those skills as a result?  Leave a comment with your perspective or experiences.

Parsha 4 Kids

Here is another great resource for learning parsha with kids.  Betty Ann Ross tries to bring Torah out of the school context and into everyday life.  If that's not applicable to homeschooling, I don't know what is!  In her own words,

"I am a Jewish educator who is passionate about helping students see Jewish wisdom as integral in helping us make meaning of life in the world in which we live. Jewish thinking is too valuable to be cooped up in a school setting. It needs to be part of everything we see and do. It needs to be the lens through which we view the world. IT NEEDS TO BE IMPORTANT!!"

Parsha 4 Kids: Easy-to-understand Parashot conversations created with the help of kids like you

"TORAH is filled with a lot of things - stories you may already know, like Noah and the Flood, and people you have probably heard of, like Moses.

Torah is also filled with ideas - big, meaningful ideas that are important within the Torah and also in your life. This is your chance to think about some of these BIG IDEAS, and to ADD YOUR VOICE to the voices of other kids who are thinking about some of these same things."