FREE Curriculum Reviews E-Book from TOS

My blog has moved! Please read this whole article (and get the link for your FREE download) at MY NEW BLOG URL! Don't forget to re-follow me over there please!

Summer Fun From A to Z (a Molly review)

I've mooooved! Remember? Please check out this fabulous product at my NEW BLOG.

Travel Kits: A Simple Way to Bless Others (review)

I've moved! To read about TOS's fabulous and very creative ideas for making Travel Kits, hop on over to my other blog. Remember to follow me OVER THERE, too!

The Importance of Community

My blog has moved! To read this article, please visit my NEW url here. Remember to re-follow the new link please!

This article appeared over in the Heart of the Matter Online community a few weeks ago. The picture above is me (on the left) and a friend from college who also homeschools. We met for a much-needed girlfriends' weekend a few months ago.

Super-Duper Giveaway

Remember how I promised y'all I'd have a big, super-duper giveaway today? Remember how I said I had moved my blog to a new URL (in order to streamline my online presence)? Well, in order to find out what the big, super-duper giveaway is, you have to VISIT MY NEW BLOG and re-follow me over there. You have until Wednesday (July 14) to enter (over there).

Also, for a little while, I'll continue to post article titles and reminders so you can read my posts at MY NEW BLOG. Pretty soon, though, I'll just post a permanent "moved" sign.

TOS Homeschool Review Crew Announcement & Weekly Blog Walk

            

Drum Roll, please! I haven an announcement: I have joined the TOS Homeschool Review Crew after a year's hiatus. Check back regularly throughout the 2010-2011 school year for helpful reviews of middle and high school curricula and general homeschool products. I'm excited to see what TOS has in store for us this year!

Talk a leisurely stroll through some of my fellow crew mates' blogs. Here are 10 to visit this week. Enjoy!

1. King Alfred Academy

2. Confessions of An Organized Homeschool Mom

3. Curriculum Reviews from Oak Creek Farmhouse

4. I Can't Decide

5. My Life on A Taffy Pull

6. Losing My Tale

7. Made in His Image

8. Serenades and Solace

9. Our Village is a Little Different

10. SisterTipster's Tell'n It!

PLEASE remember to re-follow (or follow for the first time!) my NEW URL. Big giveaway coming next week on the new site only!

Alternatives to Traditional Portfolios

Pretty please remember to re-follow my new blog url! Also remember the totally cool giveaway coming next week only for my new blog followers (on the NEW blog).

Here's today's Heart of the Matter offering:

By now, most of us have heard the party line about the why and the how of assembling traditional portfolios for our homeschooling students. But, some things just can’t be flattened or captured in a photograph. What do we do with large canvas paintings? What about performances by the future ballerina or actor? How do we best showcase the culmination of thousands of hours of practice for our classical pianist?

We use a professional artist’s portfolio for large-scale art projects and we create an electronic portfolio for videos, audios, and multi-media presentations. This is my daughter’s artist’s portfolio. It is the smallest size I could find at a local art supply store (because I’m cheap!), but it has done the trick. I paid less than thirty dollars for it on sale. This will allow you to showcase over-sized drawings, paintings on canvas and other mediums, and other art projects. For a teen who wants to go to art school, an artist’s portfolio is a must.

Here are some links to help you decide which size/brand is best for your artist:

• Blick Art Materials
• Rex Art
• Adorama
• Amazon

For musicians, if you can afford to do so, set up time at a professional recording studio in order to get the best results. If you can’t afford that, buy cables to connect the instruments or microphone directly into the computer. Several free programs are available online for download that will enable you to record, mix, and save music into different types of files. The quality of the recording is almost as important as the quality of what is actually being recorded, especially if your musician is planning on using these as college entrance auditions. Dancers, actors, and filmmakers can record their performances and dramas directly onto computer files. Again, be sure the sound quality is superb. Also be wary of poor lighting conditions and outside distractions while you’re doing the actual filming.

With an electronic portfolio, students can control who sees which content. They can create CDs to send to people and even create several different CDs with unique recordings as needed. If the files are stored online (securely, of course), students can refer anyone they wish to that website to view its contents. Another benefit of creating an electronic portfolio is that a lot of information can be stored in a small amount of space. It is portable and can be available to more than one person at the same time.

Here are some links that detail the electronic portfolio process:

• Wikipedia
• Google tools web map
• Step-by-step process (list and mind map)
• Education World

The more our high schoolers are involved, the more they will take ownership of their portfolios. Besides, teens will probably come up with ideas that we would never have imagined. Enjoy the process and be creative.

Q4U: What creative ideas have you implemented in the portfolio process? Please share them with the rest of us.

Homeschooling 101

 

Are you considering homeschooling, or are you curious and simply want to know more? What if you were offered a commendable, complimentary class on homeschooling taught by experienced educators that included hands-on tools for your personal use? The course is called Homeschool 101 . . . Would you like a front-row seat?

The Old Schoolhouse® is thrilled to share this FREEresource with you--a digital supplement to the Schoolhouse Expo . . . The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine's Homeschool 101 Supplement.


REMEMBER: PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE hot-foot it over to my new url and re-follow me over there. I'm sorry that's inconvenient, but pretty soon I'm going to discontinue posting at this url. Also, next Monday I will post a fab giveaway, but only over at the new url. Thanks :-)

New URL For My Blog! IMPORTANT

OK, this is take two. I'm changing my blog url to http://www.bethanylebedz.blogspot.com. I'm keeping the name the same: Confessions of an Organized Homeschool Mom. I tried this last week and it flopped as far as my followers go. So, I'm asking all of you to pretty please click on the link above and re-follow me. I'm so sorry to inconvenience y'all, but I promise I'll make it worth your while. I'll host a really FABULOUS giveaway sometime in the next few weeks, but you have to follow my new url. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!