Blog
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Parenting Roles As Children Mature
Many months ago Bron from Maxabella Loves commented “I would love to hear more on your thoughts about the changing role of parenting as children grow older”. We are so far from finishing this parenting journey, not that parenting will ever be finished, that I’ve been hesitant to answer, I certainly don’t want to sound as if ‘we know it all and have it all together’. Whilst considering how to answer I’ve come to realise I can only tell our story so far. How we parent may be different to how you parent and that’s okay, we each have our own journey to travel. Our relationship with our older children doesn’t ‘magically change…
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A Day in Our Life – Aussie NBTS
Back with the next installment of the Aussie NBTS blog hop, today I’m sharing a ‘Day in Our Life’. I was hoping when I chose to share a midweek day it would be a ‘normal day’, and it is, and it’s not, ’cause each day is always slightly different. Some days we have after school activities, some days we don’t, some days are more ‘routine perfect’, this day wasn’t. We started late, we didn’t pray, we spent far longer house cleaning than usual, the boys were rather aggravating and yet… it was also a terrific day, we persevered and deep and real connections were made whilst the children were tracing their mega…
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Catholic Fiction For Young Adults
I’m always searching for quality literature and always excited to discover any Catholic fiction novels. Over the last month I’ve had the opportunity to read three Catholic novels particularly appealing to young ladies and loved all three! Which is impressive odds, as I read alot I can be a tough sell, rarely does a book get a 4 star from me. Erin’s Ring – Laura Pearl Erin’s Ring is an historical novel that ‘toggles’ between today and the yesterday of the 19th Century when so many Irish immigrated to America. A young Catholic teen finds an inscribed Irish Claddagh ring half buried outside her Church one Sunday morning. Thus begins…
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Our Plans & Resources – Aussie NBTS
Time for more chat over at the Aussie Not Back to School blog hop. Last week I introduced you to our students. Today we are going to talk plans and resources, as we did three years ago. It’s rather timely to be chatting about this topic as a ‘curriculum chat’ was requested by a reader during the survey. Be sure to head over to Kylie’s to check out yet more ideas and methods from other Aussie home educators. When you have been home educating for over a decade and a half, the learning and the living is all entwined, in many respects how you ‘go about’ home educating your children is an…
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This Week in Learning: February 6th, 2015
The last fortnight we settled into a ‘full load’ of learning, well mostly, though a few areas aren’t happening due to lack of organisation on my behalf and a mis-communication between myself and some of the children. On the whole though we’ve settled into solid, productive learning and we actually had a whole week with no interruptions! To the mix has been added after school activities with swim squad and lessons, and dance lessons keeping us out three afternoons a week, not feeling stressed at all as we currently have Anna Maria’s assistance. One area that continues to be a challenge is finding time and energy for me to work…
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My Daybook: February 3rd, 2015
Outside my window… a cool day, thank goodness I am thankful… for religious freedom, which I think many of us are too complacent about I am thinking… about courtesies, etiquette, hospitality and kindness Learning all the time… back into the ‘full swing’, haven’t quite found a regular rhythm yet and struggling to ensure I spend time with each child daily, particularly the older children. I suspect the solution is to fit more studying time into our afternoons, now to gather all on board with that.. Celebrating the liturgical year…… attending a seminarian friend’s diaconate ordination next week, and the following night our Bishop is offering a Pontifical High Mass in…
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Meet Our Students – Aussie NBTS
Kylie and Chareen are co-hosting the Aussie Not Back To School Blog Hop! Three years ago we joined in the fun, and it’s time again:) Calling out to all Aussie homeschoolers to join in. Be sure to pop on over and meet everyone. We are kicking off the blog hop by introducing our ‘students’. Whilst this year we have only five ‘official students’, obviously all of our children have an impact on every aspect of our lives including our learning. Our baby, our pre-schooler and our three graduates whether living at home or far away in Sydney all play a part. If they need us, whether directly or long distance, learning is…
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This Week in Learning: January 23rd, 2015
The new school year here in Australia begins this week but we started lessons early this year, two and a half weeks earlier than our local schools and it was an excellent decision. We I desperately craved routine. We began with a ‘half load’ of language arts and maths then added in history. Plan is to be on a ‘full load’ in the upcoming week. As usual there were a couple of days off for ‘life’: a meeting and an orthodontist appointment, just life so we did our best to just keep flowing along. Reading Exciting news:) Jelly Bean has progressed to the Magic Tree House books, reading at least five…
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A Reader Survey: Results
A couple of weeks ago I asked for your help filling in a survey which many of you kindly did. I received nearly 60 responses which I thought a reasonable number for a small blog. It was a lovely surprise to hear from readers who normally never comment, when you took the time to fill in the survey and leave sweet, personal comments I was able to ‘meet’ many ‘new to me’ readers, so special. I poured over your opinions, comments and suggestions. Not only was it interesting (yes I’m quirky that way) but now have a clearer vision for blog direction for the upcoming year. As promised sharing results…
