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Family Read Alouds

Family Read Alouds

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“I’ve come to realise something that both delights and relieves me: reading aloud with our kids is indeed the best use of our time and energy as parents. It’s more important than just about anything else we can do.” Sarah Mackenzie I’m currently reading Sarah Mackenzie’s new book, The Read-Aloud Family, and have been convicted, yet again, on the power of reading aloud to our children. Reading aloud builds memories together. It creates a shared language of stories and characters….

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How to Encourage Your Child to Fall in Love with Books

How to Encourage Your Child to Fall in Love with Books

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My son is falling in love with books. It’s glorious to see. Recently, he has been seen walking around with his nose in a book. A sure sign of love! Another time, he was seen reading by night light for at least two hours after he went to bed. A third sign was seen when, at the shops, said child was heard to remark, “I’d rather have a book.” The final piece of evidence was provided by the innocent question,…

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The 2018 Planning Post

The 2018 Planning Post

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Happy New Year! I’m writing this a few weeks late because I have been enjoying our Summer holidays and have been busy swimming, doing puzzles, reading and playing games. It has been very relaxing and refreshing. I have also planned and prepared for our upcoming homeschool year. Originally, I thought about writing a post describing my planning process. I even typed it out. To be honest though, it was as disconnected as the thoughts in my head. I guess that’s…

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Review: Everyone a Child Should Know

Review: Everyone a Child Should Know

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My husband came to me one day to tell me about this book he had seen in an email. “It looks great for the boys,” he told me. Little did he know the book was already on my wishlist. You just know it’s going to be a good fit for your family when both parents think it’s a good choice. When I was asked to review the very same book I will admit, I squealed with joy. It was meant…

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Christmas Gift Guide for Homeschool Families

Christmas Gift Guide for Homeschool Families

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Christmas is fast approaching. My Facebook news feed is filling with countdown announcements. Only 8 weeks until Christmas! Oh my! I like to do the bulk of my Christmas shopping (gifts and special food) in October and November. I find it makes the Advent season in December more relaxed and focused if I’m not stressing about coming up with gift ideas, postage times or our budget. We have lots of fun and meaningful Advent traditions and I find that having…

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Burgess Books

Burgess Books

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I feel like I’m a bit late to the party on this one. Thornton W. Burgess. The Burgess Books. What a treasure. I had heard great things about the author’s works, but I had not had any luck finding them at the local Salvos or Lifeline Book Fair and hadn’t got around to looking them up online (pretty silly, since I now realise they’re very cheap!). I do have The Burgess Book of Animals (printed by Living Book Press) but…

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Curriculum Reflection: Targeting Maths

Curriculum Reflection: Targeting Maths

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As the year is drawing to a close, I wanted to reflect on some of the resources that we used this year and to jot down my thoughts on each of them. I thought I’d start with our maths curriculum since it has been the most consistently used resource for our first year. This year we have worked through Targeting Maths 1. We started it after realising that preschool maths books were way too easy and boring for our son….

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The Ultimate Guide to Audiobooks (Plus – Getting the most out of your Audible Subscription)

The Ultimate Guide to Audiobooks (Plus – Getting the most out of your Audible Subscription)

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I love reading to my boys and am always a little hesitant to give up that role to audiobooks. It’s always worth it though. The stories are loved, and we get to listen to more books! Mostly we listen in the car. We are in the car a lot. We are often driving around on adventures, visits or errands and most of our drives are between 30-60 minutes. This is the perfect amount of time to listen to podcasts, have…

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Home Education Australia

Home Education Australia

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If you are currently homeschooling in Australia, planning to homeschool in Australia, considering homeschooling in Australia or even just curious about homeschooling in Australia, then you need to check out the work of the HEA. Home Education Australia (HEA) is a volunteer run organisation which aims to “encourage and promote the practice of home educating in Australia and to provide members with benefits which would be difficult to obtain by individuals or smaller groups.” What a wonderful mission. The HEA…

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City Adventures – Exploring Sydney and Surrounds with Young Children

City Adventures – Exploring Sydney and Surrounds with Young Children

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On our very first day of homeschool, we went on an adventure. We’ve continued, heading off on an adventure almost every Wednesday since. I don’t make other plans for Wednesdays. I don’t schedule appointments. I don’t plan errands. Wednesdays are set aside. Wednesdays are for Adventures! Adventure Shirts Having a day set aside for adventures means that we actually go on adventures. I have to take them. They’re expecting it. My son goes to bed excited on Tuesday nights because…

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