Modern Homeschool Today

I went to a lovely private school from prep through to year 12. I loved high school but primary school was a different story.  I'm strong-willed and independent and a little feisty. I think a lot and question things. I also get bored if I'm not challenged and I like to daydream. My personality and temperament did not mesh well with the small conservative Christian school I attended. Just recently, I had the opportunity to meet with my old primary school principal. Did he remember me? Oh yes. How could he forget? As we chatted he said, "I always knew you would be successful. You were just too big for such a conservative school. It wasn't a good fit for you." Another person encouraged me by saying "Isn't amazing how all those weaknesses we saw in you turned out to be strengths?". Beautiful words. But how I wished someone had said that to me at the time. All I remember from primary school was being labelled a troublemaker, diffi...

Yesterday was DS5's first official day of homeschooling after he graduated from kindy on Thursday and turned 5 in August. It was a day that once again confirmed to me and the kids that homeschooling offers us a lifestyle that is just, well, fun! The morning began with a circkidz workshop. This was organised by the homeschool network. About 25 children met together to engage in different activities like trampolining, trapeze and tightrope. The staff worked beautifully to both encourage and challenge the kids to take risks and develop their physical skills. DS5 was one of the younger kids but has such a positive attitude. How I wish I could be more like him! He just persists and keeps trying even though he was one of the younger, smaller kids there and some of the tasks were quite challenging. We went home for lunch then it was back out for some homeschool swimming lessons. This was DS5's very first swimming lesson and once again I was just so proud of him as despite b...

I don't really know how you teach compassion. I believe some children in their little personalities and temperaments are more compassionate than others. Toddlers who are highly sensitive seem to grow into more compassionate children and adults. However, it is such an important character trait that it can't be something we just leave us to 'nature' to build (or not) in our children. Children learn from us The other day I found out that one of my friends had cancer. I heard the news and in complete devastation burst in to tears. The kids were in the room. My eldest became concerned and asked me why I was crying. I told him that I felt sad that my friend was sick because it would mean life would be really hard for her for a while. He looked at me and said "It's nice you're crying for your friend". I love my kids!  Similarly, my boys have seen me stop to help someone or talk to someone who might be perceived as a bit um, weird. One of my so...

One thing I've found challenging with homeschooling is keeping my just turned 3 year old occupied. He is well aware that he is not doing the same thing as his siblings and will throw a tantrum once he realises. He needs his own work to do and that means I need to be more prepared and organised to make sure that he isn't missing out or feeling a bit neglected. When I'm disorganised DS2 ends up watching more TV than I'm happy with or pottering around the house getting into mischief. Just last week he indulged in a chocolate milk with the entire can of drinking chocolate while I was busy doing maths with the other boys. There are so many benefits to homeschooling but idle toddlers is most certainly not one of them. So here is an example of a simple matching game. It's actually teddy bear bingo that I picked up at an op shop a few years ago for about $1. Hooray for op shop bargains! There are so many ways you can use this game either as a ...