We began with a road trip that I nicely timed for the early morning so the boys would sleep through most of it. They didn’t. Oh well. We finished listening to Matilda read by Kate Winslet. I listened to a podcast. We stopped for the traditional McDonalds breakfast. We began listening to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe which I had borrowed from the library. I missed the exit because I was so enthralled. One quick U-Turn later and…
My son loves to play games and this term we have made it part of our daily rhythm. When we move from Morning Time to Tablework we transition with one (or two or sometimes three) quick games. It has been wonderful. He also loves to choose a game from his shelf in free time. Games are some of the most useful tools for teaching thinking and logic skills, but also for honing character traits such as patience, perseverance and graciousness….
Today I am honoured to introduce to you Tneal. Tneal is a second generation Australian homeschooler. She, herself, was homeschooled as a child and now is homeschooling her own children. I have known her since we were kids and her family was the very first homeschooled family I ever knew. I thought they had a pretty wonderful life! They certainly had a positive influence on me. Now Tneal and her husband are homeschooling their own children. When I arrived, slightly…
It’s time for another instalment of our Real Australian Homeschools Series. I have been so encouraged and inspired by the stories so far and I hope that you have been too. Today I would like to introduce you to Penny. Penny and I met through the Facebook community Early Childhood Homeschool Australia, a new group that Penny began for sharing and discussing homeschooling our young children in particular. As we shared our stories in the group we realised how very…
My son’s face is smudged with chocolate. He’s smirking with joy and pride. Why? Because we have been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It began, like many of our read alouds, with the movie (we prefer the Gene Wilder version). At the moment this is working well for us because he loves the story, knows the characters and is excited to read the book. The book has been delightful. Roald Dahl is a wonderful storyteller and his stories are…
Did you know that we can walk to our local library? It’s at the end of our street. How wonderful is that! As an adult I never really used the public library that much. Just an occasional book here or there. Mostly I used my college library for research or bookshops and my Kindle for books. Since having kids, and moving so close to the public library I have been challenged to fully take advantage of this wonderful, FREE, resource….
Welcome to another instalment of Real Australian Homeschools. I am having so much fun putting this series together and have been meeting some wonderful homeschool families in the process. If you missed last week’s interview with Anthony Coafield, a homeschooling Dad who runs Living Book Press, make sure you check it out and enter the GIVEAWAY. Today I am pleased to introduce you to Rachel. Rachel is one of my dear friends and a local homeschooling Mum. She is a…
Mr 4 and I have been keeping a Nature Journal together. The aim is to help develop observation and curiosity. I want him to look deeply at creation and see its Creator. I could spout off all the different birds, animals and plants that he can identify, but that would detract from my purpose in keeping the journal. It is not to accumulate facts, but to wonder. Often we focus on one particular plant or animal for quite some time…
Welcome to our second instalment in the Real Australian Homeschools series! I hope you were as encouraged as I was to read Carol’s lovely story last week. If you missed it, you can find it here. Today, I am so excited to introduce you to Anthony Coafield. Anthony is quickly making a name for himself across the globe with his wonderful business Living Book Press which is putting hard to find living books back into print, right here in Australia….
Welcome to our first instalment of Real Australian Homeschools. I am so excited about this series! I have some wonderful guests lined up who are going to give us a little glimpse into their homeschool. I hope you find them as inspiring and encouraging as I do. Our first guest is the lovely Carol. I was fortunate to hear Carol speak at the Mum Heart Conference in June. She speaks from years of experience with a refreshing humility and openness….