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A New Season of Learning
Ah, a change of seasons. But no, I'm not talking about the emergence of Spring. Rather, a change of season in our home, more specifically in our learning. Just like with the natural weather based seasons the calendar doesn't force them to begin, so it is in our home....
Coconut Oil: Oils Ain't Oils
Hmmm, it tastes nice, good for the body: inside and out. But, as with most oils, oils ain’t oils. I’ve been using coconut oil for years and over that time I’ve learned a few things. Once wrongly accused of increasing cholesterol levels, coconut oil is now actually...
Feel as though I'm 18 again
Oh goodness, I'm like a giddy schoolgirl. I'm so excited that I can barely think straight, let alone do all the necessary things for today. Guess who got an early mark? Guess who has just left Victoria (the state) and is driving home today? Guess who will be home...
Man from Snowy river recitation with movie clips
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs_-DKUimeo
Chook the LyreBird
Just a quick thought before I head off to bed... Not everything we hear (and could that be 'read on the Internet'?) is as it seems. Not everything we read or hear is true...sometimes it may be close to the truth, it may sound like the truth yet not be the whole truth....
Poetry using the Observation and Activity Sheets
The past few posts have outlined how we gently and naturally enjoy poetry and learn about a variety of topics through it. Sometimes I might ask the boys to fill out a 5W and H sheet but usually it is just an informal process involving discussion. Below are some of the...
Learning about the Man from Snowy River
I am not good at writing poetry. I don't understand a lot of it yet I want to instill an appreciation and basic knowledge of poetry to my children. That is my goal or the *where*. Knowing the 'where' dictates how we do poetry appreciation. Other families are...
Current poetry appreciation in our home
We're appreciating The Man from Snowy River by A.B. (Banjo) Paterson. This is the second time through this piece of poetry as we went through it with the girls...and now I get to indulge again with the boys. 🙂 Poetry appreciation is a very gentle affair in our...
11 weeks of exercising
Hello, my name is Susan. I've been exercising since the 13th April (11 weeks) and I haven't lost an ounce! Not a pound, not a kilogram. How unfair is that? I know I started off gung-ho. I can tend to get rather zealous with things and fitness is one of those things....
Only eighteen days to go
Only 18 days left...til John comes home! In that time I've had my dad leave to go back to Broken Hill, my youngest daughter leave home and my eldest son have his first night at Youth group. Still yet to happen: Eldest daughter is to go away and return from softball...
Freedom versus Bondage
There are things that I struggle with in my life. Some things I have even had to set boundaries for. These boundaries give me the opportunity for accountability…they help me to be strong in areas that I am weak. Rules, boundaries, safe-guards, guidelines, do’s, do not’s…call them what you will but they are boundaries
One down, five left to go
One week down only five more weeks to go. The house is clean, tidy and everything has a place and (here's the real miracle) everything is actually in its place! A few weeks ago, my dad visited and stayed with us for 3 weeks. During that time Damian also popped over...
Surviving a Book Fair
Book fairs, homeschool curriculum displays can make one’s heart beat faster and palms get sweaty. We all want to make the most of our time at a book fair. Here are my tips for getting the best out of my time at a curriculum fair.
Perpetuum Jazzile: vocal ecstasy
The video below is a lovely feast of rich sounds. From their website: The stage is our canvas, our voices are our colours. We blend and unite them to create masterpieces. Happy faces give us energy and confirm that we are devoted to what we do with our hearts and...
Parent or Best Friend?
Hands up if you have a teen daughter? A few years ago, I was advised to be my daughter's parent- not her best friend. The advice was given that I need to be her guiding influence and an authority figure. And with that, I do agree! But... So I tried being more...
Putting it together
Where I share just a little of our lifestyle and how it looks, what sort of books we use in this pursuit of a Bible based, Cross-centric lifestyle of learning.
The Animal School – A Parable
An old story tells of the creation of a school for the animals. In this school, everybody took the same four courses: flying, swimming, climbing, and running. Among the students were a duck, a flying squirrel, a fox, and an elephant. These four were highly motivated,...
Developing the Vision
God doesn’t want us to strive for cookie-cutter children, rather He would have us prepare our children for an individual, definable life purpose. We try to recognise and identify each children’s natural (God-given) strengths, weaknesses, abilities, talents, interests and passions. From there, we can lean on God for direction in devising a flexible plan for developing our children as whole individuals with a purpose, for His service.
Getting the direction – as co-pilot
A Gospel-driven, Cross-centric, Discipleship approach simply means that we’re teaching each child what he needs to know, with a view to his/her God given strengths, weaknesses, interest, passions, and talents… their natural bents. An individual’s strengths and weaknesses and interests are part of their God given make up! By identifying and encouraging their natural bents we will be launching them toward their purpose.
Mapping the course- as the pilot
So began a new chapter in my homeschooling journey: that of putting God first…depending solely upon Him. I wanted Him to show me what to teach and when to each child. I was literally asking ‘What would Jesus do? What would Jesus learn? How would Jesus teach?’
