Modern Homeschool Today

Does this have anything to do with homeschooling? Not really. But I just wanted to share a story about my precious daughter. When we fell pregnant with our first child in 2005 I had a dream: literally. In this dream I saw four generations of women in my family standing on the land near my grandmothers home. I saw my grandma, my mother, myself and a little girl and I heard God say her name was (let's just say 'Pinky'). So I started buying pink things in preparation for this 'little girl' I believed that God had promised me. When I went for my first ultrasound at 12 weeks I asked if they could tell what it was. It was a boy. I cried - not because I was disappointed but because it wasn't what I expected. But that's okay, perhaps it had just been a 'dream' and we all have vivid dreams when pregnant. 1st birthday cake In 2006 my firstborn son was born. In 2007 my second son was born and then in 2008 we were pregnant again. Thi...

Look at my unsocialized homeschoolers at their swimming class! This is just one of the weekly activites my homeschoolers do. We love this class and we love the boys swimming coach. He is great with kids although they occassionally struggle with his dry sense of humour - makes me giggle though! This swimming class was organised by a parent who approached a swim center to see if they would offer a class during the day for homeschoolers. Although it costs the same as a regular swim class we are so happy it fits in to our schedule and we don't have to compete with the after school crowds! The coach is also happy for my 3 year old to splash around while the boys participate in their class. This is great because he thinks he's part of it too! My boys love their homeschool swimming class!

We are always looking for ways to supplement our hands-on learning with online learning in our homeschool. But let's be honest, there are so many different programs available these days and they can get quite expensive especially when you have to pay for multiple children. The computer is an important part of our homeschool day as I often set up one child on the laptop while working 1:1 with the other. So, what are the benefits of study ladder ? Supports all curriculum areas Study ladder includes 10 different subjects including music and art. You can also set up learning tasks in any subject by school grade level which can helpful when trying to gage what level your homeschooler might be compared to their peers. The fact is covers a range of subjects also means you are not paying for numerous subscriptions - this is a one stop shop! Family subscription Study ladder uses a family subscription so you don't have to pay for each child. You can include...

This is my family as pictured in an article on homeschooling in the Adelaide Advertiser. We look happy don't we? Laughing with joy as we learn together. It's true. We are happy. In fact, very happy to have the opportunity to be homeschooling. However, this recent article pointed out that the current rise in home education is not due to parents recognising homeschooling as a valid way to educate a child but because so many troubled children are being kicked out of school. Apparently, there are hoards of unhappy parents being forced to homeschool their children because the department of education no longer wants them in their system. My response is this: I've met lots of homeschoolers and interact with many online and I have never once encountered one who homeschools because the department kicked their child out of school - not even one. I'm not denying these families exist but they are clearly the minority. Many troubled children display troubled behaviors b...

When my son attended mainstream school we would rush through our morning routine which often involved frustration and tears - especially when we were running late. After school he would come home tired, irritable and some days, sad. I didn't get to see the best of him and I missed that. I missed him. But it wasn't all about me. He missed me too - I'm sure. A teacher with 30 other children to care for couldn't replace a 'mum' and I'm sure he, like most kids, had days where he would have rather been at home. Our experience with mainstream school wasn't a disaster, it just wasn't ideal. We made the decision to homeschool part way through Term 2 of 2012 as I felt I could provide a more optimal learning environment for my son at home. People thought I was crazy. People still think I'm crazy.   We live in a culture that often views children as an inconvenience - exhausting and bothersome little people that we need to get away from. Th...

Believe it or not I'm quite strict about how much popular culture enters my home. I carefully consider what is good for my kids, what is unlikely to do any harm and what has the potential to send a message that contradicts our value system. My verdict on angry birds is that it's a harmless bit of fun. My boys LOVE angry birds and they have many of the games on the ipad and android. Although I don't encourage a lot of computer game time due to their addictiveness - they do get some game time over the weekend and angry birds is their game of choice. My boys also have 2 sets (yes, 2) sets of the angry birds real life game  which they LOVE. They don't actually play the game but use all the pieces to create elaborate structures and knock them down. They have also been improvising with similiar toys they can use in their structures such as uno stacko blocks. Given that angry birds can be used to teach physics and elements of structural engineering, it's a posi...