COH #177 - Take me out to the ball game

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to the 177th edition of the Carnival of Home Schooling. Today's theme Baseball.

Before we go any further please join me for the singing of the Star Bangled Spanner. (I have the music playing and the lyrics below so you might as well sing.)

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Play ball!

Since this is my first time hosting the carnival, that makes me a rookie. Perhaps like these major leaguers I will hit a home run on my very first at bat.

Batting leadoff Cristina presents Two Cakes Down, One to Go posted at Home Spun Juggling. It is a reflection of how on her daughters 16th birthday, how little himeschoolings she has left with her. While stopping by the sight, take some time to see some of her comic strips. As a cartoonist she really takes the cake.

As it turns out I am going to see the White Sox play tomorrow. My beloved team has lost 5 in a row as this carnival begins. Lately, the team has been winning when I've been in attendance. But that was not always the case. A few years back, I wrote a humorous piece on how poorly the Sox played in games I attended. It gave me a bad case of Cell Shock.

U.S. Cellular field is a relatively young stadium opening in 1990. The oldest stadium currently in use is Fenway Park home of the Boston Red Sox since 1912. Wrigley Field home of the Chicago Cubs opened 2 years later. The newest stadiums opened in New York this year; one for the Mets and one is the new home for the New York Yankees.

Speaking of which, ChristineMM presents A Parenting Tip for Those Raising Independent Persons posted at The Thinking Mother. She even has a story about attending a recent Yankees game. Way to Theme Christine. Way to Theme.

Behind every great baseball team is a great manager. It once was common that as a player aged, he would transition into a player manager. Don Kessinger who spent most of his time with the Chicago Cubs finished his illustrious career as a player manager of the Chicago White Sox.

A home school parent is a type of player manager. Teaching "the game" to the next generation. The next few posts deal with some of the managerial aspects of homeschooling beginning with Richele Baburina presenting Managing Chores posted at Barefoot Voyage.

Kevin presents Teaching the Autistic Homeschooler posted at More4kids Homeschooling.

Erin presents Getting it all done, well, enough of it anyway posted at Delighting in His Richness.

Amy Roberts presents Raising Arrows: Declutter Me posted at Raising Arrows.

Prior to the game beginning the managers submit their lineups for the game. Joy Miller presents her line-up in Our Spring Term Curriculum posted at Five J's.

Managing the game is important, so is maintaing the field. Shannon (groundscrew for this ferstival) presents How Does Your Garden Grow? posted at Song of My Heart.

When I attend tomorrow's White Sox game I will be taking all 3 of my children. (1 for the first time) It should cost me a pretty peeny right? Not as much as you'd think. Of the 30 major leauge ball clubs 90% have some sort of kids club. The majority of these clubs offer free tickets to elected games as part of the membership. There is generally amembership fee (usually 10 or 20 per child). 4 of the teams including the White Sox have some level of membership which includes free tickets at no cost to join. So, I still have to pay mega bucks to park? Nope, with public trans the 4 0f us will travel round trip for less than $10.00. Before you ask about outrageous concession fees, I am able to bring 1 bottle of water for each person into the ball park and food in as well. That's what I call fun on a budget.

In the middle of baseball season they take a break for the All Star Game. Lara DeHaven presents her own all star team in Our Favorite Books for the 2008-2009 School Year posted at Texas Homesteader.

The Chicago Cubs are famous for their famous double play combination Tinker, Evers and Chance. Reading and writing make a great home school double play, as talked about in the next several posts.

Barbara Frank of Barbara Frank Online has a great way to help your children write clearly and concisely.

Meaghan Montrose presents 5 Ways to Encourage Young Children to Read posted at TutorFi.com.

~Kris~ presents Great Tools for Teaching Reading posted at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Susan Gaissert presents Reading Aloud is Alive and Well posted at The Expanding Life.

Runners have to stay on the bases and the basepaths or else they will be tagged or called out.

The following folks "tagged out" ideas they found off base:

Alasandra presents Homeschooling in nothing like creationism posted at Alasandra's Homeschool Blog.

Henry Cate need an umpires ruling. Read What are they measuring?
at Why Homeschool? to help him out.

Bring out the pink bats.

Major League Baseball recently started celebrating Mother's Day by having the players use specially made pink bats at Mother's days games. To that end, Becca presents On Making your Child Feel Loved posted at Inspiration for Mothers . Com.

Billboards near the bleachers.

Baseball games are a great way for businesses to advertise. Many companies have brought naming rights for the stadiums themselves. Others just buy advertisements on the programs or around the ball park. A few of this weeks submissions were somewhat prmotional in nature and I thought I'd run them here as the "products" may be useful to home schoolers.

Bridget Verhaaren presents The Literate Mother » About posted at The Literate Mother.

Kelly Sonora presents Usability.Edu: 25 Incredibly Useful Usability Cheat Sheets & Checklists posted at Designer City, USA.

Speaking of promotions, Beverly Hernandez of Beverly’s Homeschooling Blog (About.com)wants to remind us of the Subway Sandwich Make It Happen! Contest.

As we near the end of the carnival it's time for the seventh inning stretch. At Miller Field in Milwaukee they play the Beer Barrel Polka, but at most other venues they stick with Take me out to the ball game. It amazes me that the song was written by someone who had not been to a ball game himself at that point in his life.

While many ball parks are completely enclosed, there are still many where rain outs can really mess with their schedule. Last year the White Sox had to make up a rain game against the Detroit Tigers after the season ended. It was a must win game for the Sox as they needed to win to force a tie for their division. In Treasure Trove Katherine of No Fighting, No Biting would not allow a field trip to be rained out. Instead she went to a military exhibition in downtown DC which netted her many school supplies and a chance to learn hands-on about land mines, guns, and parachutes.

Speaking of traveling, Brenda presents Is There a Northwest Passage? posted at The Tie That Binds Us.

This brings us to the end of our ball game. I'd like to commend the fine efforts of those who filled out our roster today. Please exit the carnival in an orderly manner. The next carnival is being hosted by The Common Room. Click here for submissions. I know it's not a magnet, like the ones they give out at the ball park, but here is a schedule of upcoming carnivals.

Next Time: No Nuts.