The William Harris Homestead

A Bit of News & Worthy Reads

~ shelli ~ 4 Comments

boys at harris homestead

My Own Worthy Read

I’m excited to share with you the news that I have an article and photographs published in the Spring 2013 issue of Georgia Backroads magazine.  If you’re a local Georgia homeschooler, you may be interested in picking up a copy because my article is a good lesson in Georgia and American history.  Titled “Rogues Road Landmark:  The William Harris Homestead,” I give readers a glimpse into the history of the beautiful William Harris Homestead (pictured above) in Monroe, Georgia.  If you haven’t visited the homestead and you want to, don’t hesitate to e-mail me and ask about it!

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My worthy reads are rather skimpy because we’ve had some illnesses in the house, and I’m plum tired of reading about homeschooling in the media. It’s so much of the same stuff. But I have found some great blog posts and a few other worthy reads to share with you.

Homeschooling

Psychology: Homeschooling offers viable option for many – CapitalGazzette.com – Happy to see this positive and detailed article about homeschooling.

Old Earth, Young Minds: Evangelical Homeschoolers Embrace Evolution – The Atlantic

Ask The Taxgirl: Do Homeschooling Expenses Qualify As An Educator Expense – Forbes – Short answer, no.

Homeschool Writing with Patricia Zaballos – FIMBY – Two of my favorite homeschooling bloggers bundled together in one post! Seriously, this is a good overview of Patricia’s advice about writing, and if you like it, you may want to see her new series on her blog, Become a Writing Mentor to Your Child, Part 1

Science and Inquiry – Avant Parenting

German Homeschoolers fight for asylum in U.S. – Aljazeera

Homeschooling Resource

Mazes, Free Printables, Easy to Hard – krazydad – My boys have been into mazes lately, and my husband found this great resource for finding mazes for all levels.

Parenting

My daughter realized I’m going to die – The Cultivated Mother – Kimberly is a homeschooling mom, but I felt this very moving post fit under parenting.

Finding the true path to happiness – Project Based Homeschooling

Educating and Raising Boys

How to Help Boys – Blogging ‘Bout Boys

Picnic at the William Harris Homestead

~ shelli ~ 2 Comments

The other day I took my boys for a picnic at the beautiful William Harris Homestead in Monroe, Georgia.  It’s something that I don’t do nearly enough.  I have written before about my connection to the Homestead.  It’s also a place that I love to photograph, and I’m planning to do a another round of photos soon with my new camera.  I posted more of these pictures on my photo blog, if you care to see them, but I thought I’d put a few here because the Homestead is a wonderful place for homeschoolers (or anybody!) to visit.  It is a wonderful way to learn about life in the 19th century, and it’s open to the public on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month from 10-2p.m.  You won’t want to miss Heritage Day either.  It is coming up on September 24, 2011!  Click here for more information about that.

The flowers are just stunning at the Homestead right now!

My eldest son was too busy picking green beans for me to take his picture, but my youngest was “trapped” in my viewfinder when he climbed into this big, wooden crate!

Homeschool Field Trip to the William Harris Homestead

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The William Harris Homestead is near and dear to my heart.  It was my great aunt’s vision to restore her husband’s family’s ancestor’s farm and use it for heritage education.  Due to her hard work, it is on the National Register of Historic Places, and now over 40,000 school children have toured the Homestead.  It boasts a log house, smoke house, salt house, corn crib, barn, cemetery, and natural spring.  Everything sits in its original place.  It’s such a peaceful and beautiful place.

A few years ago, I spent some time photographing it, and I also organized a homeschool field trip there in 2010. The field trip at the Homestead is fabulous.  Here’s a description:

“Take a tour through the William Harris Homestead to learn about the lives of Georgia’s early white settlers in the 19th century.  The Homestead is on the National Register of Historic Places, and it boasts a log house, barn, smoke house, cemetery, natural spring, and other out buildings that are standing in their original places. Participants will be divided into four groups and rotated through four units as follows 1) log house with spinning wheel/loom demonstration, 2) the cellar, candle-making, herb garden and cemetery, 3) a Civil War interpreter will talk about daily life as a soldier, and 4) natural spring, a talk about the Native Americans who inhabited the area at the time, and a hay ride.  Participants will also view a live, sheep-herding demonstration!”

You can read more about the field trip and my experience organizing it in the column I wrote for the Barrow Journal.  Click here to read that. And if there is any homeschooler out there interested in participating in one of these field trips, be sure to e-mail me at writetospabis (at) gmail (dot) com.

But you don’t have to participate in a field trip to see the Homestead.  It’s open to the public on the first and third Saturdays of the month from 10-2pm. It’s just a 45 minute drive from Athens, located near Monroe, Georgia.