Modern Homeschool Today

Last week we went for a scenic drive in the Adelaide hills to a little town called Gumeracha. This is one of my favourite drives as the scenery is just so beautiful - but if you're driving try not to take too much notice as the roads are very windy. We visited the big rocking horse which you can enter and climb to the top. Hubby took the three boys who all climbed right to the top - even my three year old had a go!  There is also a small wildlife sanctuary that you can enter for FREE! You have the option to buy some 'feed' for the animals. We spent just under an hour in there meeting the kangaroos, peacocks, chickens, alpacas, goats, sheeps, ducks and talking cockatoos! The boys loved it! Although DS7 wasn't too sure about the alpaca! We then had a look around the toy shop and the boys loved 'peeking in' and seeing the carpenters making the toys out of wood. Most of the toys stocked at this toy shop are made on site and they also sto...

I first heard about the Life Of Fred on the Rockpool Homeschool Forum . It was suggested to other homeschoolers as a math resource for kids who found maths boring or were difficult to engage. We use Singapore maths as our maths curriculum. Singapore maths i s a complete curriculum and we love it. My boys have maths brains and I want to make sure they continue enjoying it so I try to make maths as fun and engaging as possible. We have loads of maths manipulatives and games but I wanted to find something that got them thinking about maths in a 'real' way. So I decided to buy the first book in the Life Of Fred series to see what is was like. The Life Of Fred is a maths curriculum that is written like a chapter book with pictures. Each chapter contains a story about Fred with some maths lessons thrown in. It concludes with some practical application where you read out a series of questions and kids write the answers in a blank notebook. Each chapter builds on the know...

When I first looked into homeschooling I was confused by 'styles'. What did they mean style? Wasn't homeschooling just well, homeschooling? When we were considering home education as an option, mentally I found the fact there wasn't a "This is exactly how you do this" guide to be a challenge. It was difficult to know where to start and easy to be anxious that I was going to get it wrong! Now, I realise this is one of the benefits of homeschooling. We don't have to teach our children the same way and we certainly don't have to replicate the mainstream school environment at home. Most homeschoolers teach children essentially the same things but in a way that flows from individual value systems, family life and children's learning styles.  We often follow our children's lead. What difference does it make if a child learns about the butterfly life cycle when they are 4 or 10? As long as they learn this at some point in their education ...