Fussy Needs Your Homeschooling Opinions!

Help me all you Fabulous Mommies & Homeschoolin' Hotties.

I have three questions. You have all the answers.

1- Who inspires you?

  Remember when I bragged gloated celebrated mentioned that the wonderful Shannon (Phat Mommy) has let me take over and re-launch her in-hiatus supa-fab site Homeschool Hacks?  I am neck-deep in the ins and outs of planning, learning and polishing the bloggy silver. I hope to re-launch the last week of January.

I want the site to be fun and informational. I love the 'Hack" theme. Who doesn't love Lifehacker and Parenthacks? Homeschool Hacks is a brilliant theme! Thanks, Shannon.;)

One new direction is to have a featured author each day. The famous and too wonderful for words, Melissa Wiley (Here in the Bonny Glen), and the fabulously smart and funny Nan (The Well Drained Mind) are both on board. I am just too thrilled for words about those great ladies.

There are hundreds of wonderful Homeschooling Bloggy Mommies, and I am searching out the authors who have inspired and helped so many of us. Who do YOU love?

2- What would you love to see on Homeschool Hacks?

Wonderful authors, fun ideas and lots of handy links -what else could you ask for? Lots, I hope.

I want to combine useful information, inspirational authors, humor and fun. I hope to follow in the steps of ParentHacks and have y'all email me your handy tips & ideas. I will write up my favorite ones daily and send out some linky-love to you and your blog. Cool, eh?

What would you like to see more of? Personal stories, daily links to great articles, crafty ideas for your kids, tips on 'juggling it all', videos of dancing monkeys?

OK, maybe not the dancing monkeys. I was just testing to see if you were still paying attention! ;)

3- Should I include fun tips, links and cheap psychological tricks (hee, hee) to make family life easier?

Homeschooling or not, we all need help raising our little monkeys! There's always discipline issues, mouths to feed, laundry to ignore. What about non-homeschool related posts and tips to make life a little easier? Good idea?

So help a Homeschoolin' Mutha out!

Who do you love? What do ya want? You ask, I'll deliver!

Feel free to either leave a comment or email me directly. I can't wait to hear your ideas.

Love, Fussy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My wonderful friend, the super classy and understated blogging rock star, Meredith (Like Merchant Ships) so gently urged me recently to occasionally write a short post without all the photos. She so kindly told me that I was funny and could do a post with just words. I just love her to pieces!

I tried Meredith, but I was weak, I can. not. post. with. out. eye-candy! ;)

Who can resist a little icanhascheezeburger? ;)

This post is part of Works For Me Wednesday!

Comments

[AbsolutelyBananasa]

A post without pictures? NO NO NO NO NO. I have to "gently" disagree.

[motherofbun]

Congrats on your new endeavor. And I LOVE the new design. How pretty, pretty.

As for homeschooling bloggers... Will have to think on that. Although we send our son to public school, the intent has always been to also do some homeschooling on the areas he needs more help in/areas of his interest. So am eagerly awaiting your ideas.

[Summer]

I've got to nominate Doc from Doc's Sunrise Rants and Dana from Principled Discovery. those are two awesome homeschooling bloggers that need their brains picked.

As for the other questions, yes to everythign. including the dancing monkeys. With top hats even!

[Karla ~ Looking Towards Heaven]

no advice here, sweetie.

but i love the froggy!

[Meredith from Merchant Ships]

Well, I can hardly complain, especially since I've been averaging 3 photos per post lately myself!

Girls, I gotta tell you, you're not seeing the whole Mrs. Fussypants behind all these animal photos! She has a big ole brain and even better sense of humor in person : )

[Jennifer's luvin' Fussy]

We want pictures! We want pictures!

I'm looking forward to that homeschoolin blog! Those cheap psychological trics sound great!

[Shannon Miller]

Ooo, ooo! Pick me! Pick me! I nominate Dawn from By Sun and Candlelight! She is sooo thinkative:)
And I have to add that I really think it's unfair that Fussy and Meredith get to meet and hang out and I'm stuck way down here with no bloggy girlfriends! Anybody up for a trip to Georgia?

[Kathy in WA]

Great idea! I can't believe it's been so long since I've been by your blog. Love the new look.

Heart of the Matter is a new homeschooling online magazine I've just discovered.

www.heartofthematteronline.com

Several of the editors are from a big homeschooling eloop I'm been a part of for years now.

I like the idea of hearing about great books people enjoy, curriculum that is engaging AND educational, household/routine tips that really work, and more.

Dh and I write a
Tuesday Tips for Parenting on our blog which is fun to do.
www.edgren.com/wordpress Duckabush Blog

Looking forward to seeing what else people suggest.

[risingrainbow]

The important thing about eye candy is it's there to draw readers in. It doesn't make any difference how well you write, if those who just happen to click in don't stop long enough to read it. The eye candy helps to get their attention long enough to read a few lines to find out you do write well.

So that's my two cents' worth, which translates to never, never exclude the pics. Make them work for you.

[Elizabeth]

Well I think it would be neat to see someone blog about homeschooling with little ones and maybe an area to tell about great homeschool products (For example I LOVE Leap Frogs Alphabet DVD, if you are into an educational DVD to entertain the 2 year old while you try to do MATH with 3 kids and would rather the toilet paper stay on the roll - if you are into that sort of thing!)

I love the Classical approach but seriously is it just me or there not enough hours in the day, so a blogger who could put it into real perspective would be wonderful. I've read the Well Trained Mind so I know how to do it, but my days only came with 24 hours, too bad we can't supersize them.

I also have VERY active kids so I would love to know if any other mother lets her children do jumping jacks while trying to memorize the times tables. Anyway, I guess just a real down in the trenches with you kind of homeschool blogger would suit me just fine. Thanks!

[Karen]

I love all the homeschool ideas. As a former HS family I'd still be interested in reading this. We may venture into this world again with our baby.

[Anglophile Football Fanatic]

We aren't really quite school age yet over here, but I would certainly love any advice and suggestions you have about how to handle a monkey boy...and I'm sure Ms Fuss has lots of know how in that dept!

[Tamra]

I've been a lurker for several months now... But I check your blog almost daily and love it! I found it on a day you had posted about the "Gentle Art of Ruling One's Husband" and loved it so much I passed the link on to all my friends. We are going through a marriage study right now, and it fit perfectly and lent some humor to it all.

I am a home schooling mom of 5, and expecting another baby in May. We use a Charlotte Mason/Waldorf mix.

I have a website that is a mix of family life, home schooling tips, funny stories, etc and since it is an election year I have gotten into politics a bit.

There is a page I did about how we homeschool, and many collections of writings. I don't know if you'll find any of them useful, but I'd love to be a part of what you're doing.

Thanks and keep rawking,
Tamra
www.klaty.com
Anyways,

[Lady Why]

1. OK, who do I love to read??? That's such a hard question! I have a few favorites that aren't necessarily authors - but really are! First is Lynn Bruce from http://beehive5.blogspot.com/; Cindy from www.dominionfamily.com; Donna Jean Breckenridge from http://libertyandlily.blogspot.com/. I also like Cindy Rushton and the Trivium Pursuit people. And Steve and Teri Maxwell are fabulous too!

2. I'd love to see crafts that pertain to specific topics. Such as, a colonial craft to go with my colonial studies for a second grader. I don't know if you could organize such a thing in such a specific way, but that would be great!

3. I'm all about managing the home and organizing so I love to read things that help me in that area. Recipes are great too!

[Secret Agent Mama]

I'd definitely visit!
Personally, I'd like to see more art ideas for the elementary ages.

[Jenni]

I second Heart of the Matter. Since I'm only doing 1st grade and Pre-K this year, I haven't really read many homeschool blogs. I do have some great resources as far as curriculum and basic advice.

I like all of your ideas. What I'm interested in may not interest another reader, and I can always skip links I don't want to read. I think the more interests you cover the better.

The only specific area I really need help in is covering more than one age at a time and scheduling.

Perhaps I could start by getting off the computer at 9am??

OK, I'm done.

[Emily R]

I don't home school, but I sure would like those dancing monkey vids, please.

[Elizabeth]

Bar none, Robin at: http://manymeadows.blogspot.com is my biggest homeschooling motivator! She is REAL and she's experienced a lot! I know her in real life and I've met her grown children (she has seven children, with the two teenage boys the only ones left at home). Her children are successful adults and her advice is just amazing!

[Science for Children]

I think any homeschool advice you can give would be wonderful!

[Michelle]

Yo Fussy! I say any kind of advice you can give moms to help them is great. We need all the help we can get. BTW, I just tried to email you but the link thingy did not work. I just "tagged" you. Sorry but it was a tag for "weird and random" facts, so I thought of you.
Seriously, I want to know as much about Homeschool as I can. I see it in our future.

[HRH]

I homeschool and think what I need most is the page of dancing monkeys. Or any other diversion, resource, minute vacation that will keep me from losing perspective and strangling the little scholars. I like the whole idea of the website and hope it has the same light, fun attitude as your blog which seems to be lacking in a lot of homeschool resources.

[Alicia]

Yes, yes, yes! I totally agree! Dancing monkeys help me get through the day! Homeschooling moms with a sense of humor need comic relief! I do not blog as yet, but my favorite homeschool website, Waldorf Homeschoolers, has disappeared. If you could hunt down Kytka Jezek, she is amazing and full of ideas. I most love the day to day advice of women in the trenches. One particular difficulty of mine is balancing the needs of 4 children, 2 not yet of school age. I can't wait to see what you come up with, Fussy! And I haven't missed your big brain behind all the photos and silliness; it takes a smart woman to combine smarts and fun!

[Amy W]

I really enjoy popping over to Little Acorns Treehouse [http://littleacornscds.blogspot.com/]. I love the webquests she puts together for her students.
I'd love to see some how-to's on lapbooking and unit studies.
And 2nd the idea of having crafts that go along with themes- like colonial etc. A spot light "Day in the Life" might be interesting too- just what does a typical school day look like at your house?
I can't wait for the unveiling!

[Nesting Momma]

"cheap psychological tricks (hee, hee) to make family life easier?" I'm all about this post away....

resources and links from a variety of HS groups..I tend to be eclectic and too cheap to spend a fortune on curriculum

funny's from fussy....

[Sarah is Ok]

I am new to your site and to homeschooling (first week), so my suggestions may not mean much given that I don't know what the heck I'm doing! But that's kind of my point. I'd like to see personal stories and lots and lots of idea, especially about the very beginning. I have been online searching for all kinds of tips and have found a lot of great info, but I'd love those stories about just getting started (you know, those people who will kindly say, "don't worry, you'll panic, you'll reconsider, you'll stress" and whatever other brilliant things they might say.

[Debbie P.]

I just found your blog tonight (from Rocks in My Dryer) and just my luck that I now have hours worth of new blogs to check out from your comment section! I am a new blogger (but not a new mother or HSer, having 11 children and 22 yrs of HSing behind me) - and will be back to glean from your expertise :)
- Debbie
http://cheaperbythebakersdozen.blogspot.com/

[cyndy]

I just found icanhascheezburger.com the other night at work, and it kept me entertained all night long. And, laughing maniacally so that my co-workers were frightened. Does it get any better than that?!

[Donna(mom24boyz)]

I love Tiany's blog, Less of me more of him--also check out my blog--not for homeschool hacks--I am a newbe! But I have started a "Teaching Tips Tuesday" with Mr. Linky, hop on board and share some tips! I know I need them!