My Daybook: 15th March, 2020

Outside my window… 

as I begin writing this post it is dark outside, I’m the first up and all is quiet, though I can hear the horses breathing outside the window, I’m an early morning person so I’m most productive now

I am thankful…

for my new, super fast internet! Doing cartwheels here as it is an incredible difference. We were on an upload speed of 0.25mbps! 🙁 it truly was impossible, I reached a breaking point and we have ditched the Telstra ADSL1 after 27 years! and have now gone to the Optus 4G Tower and we are receiving on average upload speed around the 12mbps mark. That’s still not what we were told we would receive which was 20-25mbps but hopefully that can be resolved, maybe. Yes we do have serious concerns involving the 4G technology, all those waves pulsing out are a risk and not enough is known about the risk, the same technology as as mobile phones which concerns us. We’ll have to put some practical considerations into place, considering purchasing a metal box and turning off when not in use, though the latter is hard as we have adult children in the house who do access the wii fii frequently throughout the day, so we may have to change habits

I am thinking…

about the upcoming Online Australian Homeschooling Summit. It starts on March 23rd and I’m going to be talking about Creating Booklists for your Literature Based Education, I’m rather  excited to be sharing this with you and I’ll be walking you through step by step on just how to create a booklist and where to find resources and inspiration. My second workshop thrills me even more, Homeschool Grads Have Their Say wherein I interviewed a panel of 6 homeschool grads, aka our adult children, and they talked about their experiences of homeschooling, what they are doing after Graduation and their advice for homeschool parents. This one is solid gold, a totally unbiased opinion of course 😉 but their camaraderie and comfortableness on camera was just brilliant.  Looking forward to ‘seeing’ you there, as we will all be quarantined by then we will no doubt be appreciating the ability to still be able to attend a Conference.  If you haven’t heard my previous Summits I’ve gathered them together for you in the ‘Speaking’ tab above.

Learning all the time…

we started strong this Term, I was so proud of them all. Jem was reading his assigned readings late into the night, the teens were working hard, and by the end of the first day Bass for plans to be changed to set him up with more independent work. The beginning few weeks were terrific, and then we began battling heavy summer colds and coughs still linger for some, life opportunities arose; a homeschool excursion, the visit of the Relics of St Therese and book sales all in one week. The next week we had an extended family gathering with PC’s family far away in Kiama and a couple of days in Sydney. As we’ll be self quarantining this week, it’s time to hunker down and dive back into lessons strongly, bonus of homeschooling means the Corona virus won’t disrupt our children’s lessons

Celebrating the liturgical year……

it’s Lent, there are three pillars of Lent; prayer, sacrifice and almsgiving, so we’ve made a renewed commitment to praying the Rosary. So far we’re doing pretty well, we’ve ‘pegged’ it to; tea, Rosary, computer time and that’s given us a rhythm. Then there are the individual ‘what I’m giving up’ and ‘what I’m working on’ doings, as always the children astound me with the tough sacrifices they choose and carry out. No cereal all Lent, no tomatoes…they are most creative and committed

From the kitchen…

the plan is plenty of juicing this week, I’m determined to be rid of the coughs that some of the children just can’t shake, it’s been weeks, and no it’s not the Corona virus they had it before and it’s different symptoms. This List comparing the Corona virus, cold and flu symptoms is really helpful. Overall the basic foundations of our diet are good, but the fact that the coughs have lingered for weeks makes me realise that we need to add even more fruit and vegetables for their nutritional boosting, so juicing it is. Thinking we need to boost our health to lesson the chances of catching the Corona virus, another way to protect our vulnerable.  The price of fruit and vegetables at the moment though are so expensive but then good health is important as is setting children up for life with healthy nutritional habits

I am creating…

a huge database of Australian books, I’m so thrilled this is finally happening! This project has been many months in the making, actually years when you consider the content.  Finally stepping out and beginning the database was the impetus to deal with our internet issues and change providers as creating a database on an upload speed of 0.25mbps was unsustainable. It’s been a huge learning curve; I purchased a plugin and learning just what it can do, coding the various functions and dealing with customer service all takes time. The slow internet added to the time load but I feel that I’m now swinging along. I currently have nearly 30 pages and nearly 400 books and I’m adding regularly, there are lots of other plans on the drawing board too besides lists of books, but for now one step at a time, first more books 🙂

I am working on…

letting readers know about the Online Summit, it’s unproductive to bring all these fantastic presenters together to offer 30 workshops if no one actually knows it’s happening. So I’ve been trying my hand at writing newsletters to my subscribers, yet another learning curve, btw have you subscribed? If not the forms in the footer, also be sure to grab yourself a copy of my free bonus, How to Recognise a Living Book, also in the footer and on the landing page. I’m also working on dusting off the blog and writing more consistently, I’ve a pile of posts languishing in drafts so it’s time they were set free, I’ve missed this space

I am going…

after reading various letters circulating from Australian immunologist doctors I’m realising we shouldn’t be going anywhere. The Corona virus is here and it is deadly and we need as a Community to protect our vulnerable and slow the spread, so plans are to hunker down and not venture out unnecessarily

I am hoping…

to get some early morning runs in, yes I know I said I’m hunkering down but early in the morning I have no contact with anyone. I’ve been hovering at 99 parkruns for a couple of weeks now! last week I had a foot injury, this week I was unwell, though I guess next week we may not be going anywhere anyhow, theoretically next week should be my 100th but who knows what a week will bring, so here I wait on the verge of 100 Parkruns

I am praying…

• that we can slow the Corona virus, for the health of all and in particular the vulnerable and the medical practitioners, for the souls of those already lost and for their families, for everyone impacted by ripple effects
• our children, I have various intentions for each one
• My sister and her fiance who are marrying the Sunday after Easter. Please keep them in your prayers, not only for their upcoming marriage but their Honeymoon plans had included going back to her fiance’s country, El Salvador for a second Wedding reception, then onto America to visit more of his family and then a cruise, obviously that all won’t be happening now. One does not expect a pandemic to affect your Wedding

I am pondering….

Communion on the tongue vs on the hand. Our Bishop has suspended Communion on the tongue due to the Coronavirus, as have many around the world, but when you read this I’m not convinced that Communion on the hand is any safer. I share: The Archdiocese said that it had consulted two physicians regarding the matter, one of whom was a specialist in immunology for the State of Oregon. “They agreed that done properly the reception of Holy Communion on the tongue or in the hand pose a more or less equal risk. The risk of touching the tongue and passing the saliva on to others is obviously a danger however the chance of touching someone’s hand is equally probable and one’s hands have a greater exposure to germs.” Perhaps for now Spiritual Communions might be more Prudent

I am reading…

I haven’t been able to settle to reading anything for ages, nothing worth mentioning anyhow, I’ve been like this for awhile and as a huge reader it’s rather strange. At least I’m improving, there was a short period where I couldn’t read anything, perhaps my brain just short circuited

I am listening to……

perhaps considering my reading ‘block’ I should really get back into listening to podcasts, starting with Modern Mrs Darcy’s What Should I Read Next, I think I need a “little literary matchmaking”

I am hearing…

the sky is now lighter and the silence of the early morning is broken by the sounds of a couple of the children who have awoken, as I type a couple of my brothers call in for a video chat. In the last few months my siblings have started a new family ‘tradition’ wherein one will start a fb call to the whole group and next thing we have siblings, their spouses, our mum and nieces and nephews all chatting away. Several different conversations all at once, it’s pretty chaotic, just like a family gathering only with technology interference. With only two brothers calling in we can actually have a conversation and I listen to them talking about the genetics of Hi-Line chooks, one brother recently purchased some. We then move on to paralysis ticks as another brother’s foal is currently ill due to a tick. Interesting conversations…it’s not often I have a conversation with only the eldest and youngest brother

I am struggling…

to get my head around accepting the changes that my Approved Person wants me to do in the future regards my Homeschool Registration plans. I understand what she is saying, I worked hard at actively listening to her this time, but how much is her personal preference and what we actually have to do. If I change my approach I’ll be simply jumping through hoops to simply to ‘pass’ and not writing a useful document for me as well.  So being a bit of a rebel, I have some investigative work to do, but suspect the changes she wants to how I write my plans is because that is how her brain thinks, it’s not actually what we have to do

Clicking around…

all focus is on Summit promotions, Database research and Corona virus here, so no time for anything else

Around the house…

whilst the Bushfires were raging in our Vallley, from August through to January, we madly focused on cement sheeting the eaves to protect our home against embers from the fires. What a huge relief when we finally finished the project, I’ll share pictures in an upcoming post

One of my favorite things…

our home, I am extremely grateful to still have our home. Tragically so many in our community did lose their homes, including homeschooling friends and PC’s sister down on the South Coast. Those were long, long months, the vigilance was constant with the sky being blanketed by smoke nearly everyday, the bushfires creeping ever closer, the van was packed and ready to go several times and living behind the road blocks was draining to say the least. The ferocity of the bushfires were intense and our Valley was declared a National Disaster, approx 548698ha out of 1044996ha was burnt, over 160 homes were destroyed, countless sheds….and then came the localised flooding… we have creeks flowing that haven’t flowed for two years. Now we are surrounded with lush green grass, it’s a sight we still marvel over daily

A few plans for this week…

cancelling all activities, though it may still be okay to keep swimming/squad lessons, regards the Corona virus apparently the chlorine water will kill germs we just need to shower. So lots of time at home to focus diligently on our studies. This week includes the Feasts of St Patrick and St Joseph so a little celebrating is in order

A little peek at my day…

it’s raining, the day calls for snuggling under the blankets, reading a book or watching a DVD, at least for the children. My day will include lesson planning for the upcoming week