Blog
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Don’t Say Boo To A Goose
I’ve been keen for several months to get back into the flow of a Book and Activity. So when I read Don’t Say Boo to A Goose by Mem Fox this week it was time. The collage illustration of the goose was perfect for a creation and we dived in to enjoy a new activity. I’m embarrassed to admit how long it’s been since we’ve enjoyed doing A Book and Activity. Apparently it’s been nearly two years, although there’s a possibility we have but not recorded it. Although nearly two years is likely accurate. A quick google search and we gathered the materials needed; paper plates and feathers. This is what…
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Read Only For A Week: Our Pick-A-Read Challenge
The Need Recently we suspended our regular learning routine for a week to try something a little different. We have a few children whose reading skills are in want of attention. One who needs encouragement to blossom, another who can functionally read, though not at age level and never for pleasure. Another teetering on the edge of being a reader and another as ‘keen as mustard’ without all the skills needed. Reflecting I realised that the majority of these situations could be addressed by time. Time to focus simply on reading with no other distractions. Which is exactly what we did, we put aside a week to focus on only…
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Transitions Within Our Home Education
Over the past few weeks we’ve been chatting about a variety of ‘not back to school‘ topics with other fellow Aussie home educating families, hosted by Kylie from Our World Wide Classroom. We’ve shared our Goals for Our Year Ahead, we’ve reflected on They Way We Learn and listed a huge line up of the Resources We Are Using, this week we’re wrapping up with chatting about what ‘Homeschool Transition’ we are undergoing in 2017. As I reflect back over the years it appears that our learning room has seen nothing but a continuous stream of transitions as every year brought forth new challenges. We’ve welcomed new babies with regularity, undertaken building two homes ourselves, those babies have…
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My Daybook: 17th February, 2017
Outside my window… summer days are blazing. Today the temp is 31C/88F and we are so, so grateful for the cooler weather after the weekend’s heatwave. We experienced two days of record breaking heat with the temp in our area at 45C/113F and even hotter in other parts of Australia, around the nation bushfires raged and some townships were sadly lost I am thankful… that my husband and I were recently able to get away for a weekend together, yep just us and it was wonderful! We love our precious children but we try to go away together occasionally, usually about once every four years, to spend quality, uninterrupted time with…
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Resources We Are Using
Joining up once again for more talk about ‘not back to school‘ topics with fellow Aussie homeschool families. Hosted by Kylie from Our World Wide Classroom and this week we’re chatting about ‘Resources We Are Using.’ One of the attractions of home education is the freedom to choose which resources suit individual family’s beliefs, learning styles and lifestyle. We have for you this week a collection of unique approaches and quality resources reflecting the families using them. As a long term home educating family we have long settled on our approach and subsequently managed to narrow the plethora of resources available to some outstanding choices that have withstood the ‘test of time.’ Not…
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The Way We Learn
Joining up with fellow Aussie homeschool families once again to bring to you our unique perspectives about a variety of ‘not back to school‘ topics, hosted by Kylie from Our World Wide Classroom. This week we’re chatting about ‘The Way We School,’ talking about not only our philosophies but how this looks in the reality, what our home education routine really looks like. We have been home educating for nearly two decades now and our Home Education Journey has undergone many changes along the way. The dreams and visions we began with have either gained clarity along the way or been abandoned. Other areas we didn’t even consider of importance…
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Early Australia, Arrival and Settlement: Our Sunburnt Country
Last year I began a long intended project, to compile a list of Australian history living books organised in chronological order. I have organised the time periods around the chapters of Our Sunburnt Country, one of our favourite core books of Australian history and included recommendations of both picture and chapter books to accompany each chapter. This week a local friend asked for my recommendations for pre-European settlement and it was so easy to just send a link so inspired anew to pick up ‘the pen’ and continue on. Previous posts in the series are, Land of the Dreamtime and European Discovery of Australia. I’ve tried to mainly share in print or recently in print books, though some of the out of print (OOP) books…
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Goals For Our Year Ahead
The new school year begins this month Australia wide. As in years past I’m joining up with a band of Aussie families for four weeks of ‘not back to school‘ blogging chat hosted Kylie at Our World Wide Classroom. Over the next few weeks we will chat about a variety of topics relating to the upcoming year, each family bringing their unique perspectives. Kicking off this year’s Not Back To School roundup with our ‘Hopes, Dreams and Goals for Our Year Ahead’. As a long term home educating family we have many goals for our children; personal and spiritual as well as academic, the holistic person. Academically our overarching goals never change, ultimately we’re…
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My Daybook: 11th January, 2017
Outside my window… it’s early morning, enjoying the soft light of the sunrise as it filters across the paddock. Appreciating the morning coolness before the day heats up, it’s going to be an another scorcher of a day, temperature is set to rise to 38C/100F I am thankful… that our boys were able to spend Christmas and the following two weeks at home with us this year. So delighted in having all our children together, watching them interact with each other, spending time with both of them, treasured memories. Admittedly we didn’t do half of what was on our ‘entertainment’ list the heat wave scorched those plans, though we still managed to fit…
