Modern Homeschool Today

 My children have been captivated with the Easter story this year which truly warms my heart. They have asked so many questions and something is stirring within them. My 7yo became quite emotional when we talked about Jesus suffering and said, "Wow, God must love us A LOT!". I stumbled across this simple Easter idea on Pinterest  for making Resurrection buns to teach part of the Easter story. Each part of the recipe symbolises a part of the Easter story. I got the idea from this website but I've adjusted the recipe for Australians here. Ingredients 8 Large White Marshmallows Melted butter (or butter alternative like nuttelex) Cinnamon sugar 2 Sheets of puff pastry The marshmallow represents Jesus - perfect and pure and without sin (white). You dip the marshmallow into the melted butter to symbolise the embalming oils they put on his body. Then you dip the marshmallow into the Cinnamon sugar which represents the spices that they use to ...

One of the benefits of homeschooling is the opportunity to help shape our children's character. In fact, one of the points from our own homeschooling mission statement is that I desire....     To build strong character in my children believing that good character is more important than academic success        Children are not born with a set of values and beliefs about the world - they are taught. This means they do not always naturally become kind, patient, content and diligent - they need to be guided, gently corrected and encouraged to embrace the kind of virtues that God desires within us. I find this a challenge with my incredibly spirited, strong-willed children (yes, all of them fit this description). I have often allowed myself to feel discouraged and disappointed in their behavior rather than see it as an opportunity to teach and shape their character.  Another benefit of homeschooling is that we can encourage these vir...

We found out about Artventure through another homeschooling family who recommended it. So, what is it? Artvenutre is a series on online videos which give step-by-step instructions for kids to create works of art at home.  Each artwork is linked to the Australian National Curriculum and the instructions are really simple for kids to follow. I admit I was cynical but my boys LOVED it. The first time I set them up with the laptop to watch the online lesson they spent 2 hours creating works of art. My 7 year old is very creative and is always making things, writing stories and drawing picutres so I expected him to enjoy it. My 5 year old however, is very academic and I've never really seen him explore his 'creative' side. But since doing artventure regularly he has gained confidence in his ability to create beautiful artwork and has been using the techniques he's learnt to create pictures spontaneously. The above masterpiece was created by my 5 year old son. ...

Today we went to the kids fringe festival in Adelaide. The boys had an opportunity to make an African mask and an instrument. They also got their faces painted which they loved. My 3yo enjoyed correcting people when they said he made a 'cute fish' because of course he wasn't a fish, he was spiderman. They also took part in a cooking class and made chocolate balls with kinderchefs. My boys even loved the creepy clown. The strange thing was I actually remember this exact clown from my own childhood...surely he must be 100 by now? Even my baby girl managed a smile despite the heat and humidity! I love our days out together!

I have been really excited about trying out All About Spelling with my 2 boys in our homeschool - especially my 5 year old. Today we had our first All About Spelling lesson. The boys really enjoyed it and although my 7 year old rolled his eyes when I pulled out the phonograms - he participated and discovered that in fact, he didn't know everything and wasn't aware that 'A' also makes the 'ar' sound.  So far I am super impressed with the curriculum. It was quite time consuming to set up but once it was done I realised that all that laminating, cutting and sticking was worth it as the program was all ready to go! I really like the fact that it uses 'steps' - not lessons. This means you can spend as much time as you need on each 'step' until it is mastered. This gives you the freedom to work at your own pace and not feel pressured to get through a certain amount of lessons per week. Some curriculum do my head in when they try and ...