I realised this morning that I've not updated here since Feb (apart from yesterday's wee post). So much has happened in the past few months, all revolving around Homeschooling.
I've always wanted to Home educate my kids, even waaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2004 when there were only two Chirpies I talked about it with my Canberra friends (waves to K, S, K, S and H). What stopped me from pursuing it? Well, I doubted myself. I thought that I would be isolated in the home with the Chirpies, no support and no social life. That I couldn't do it as I had no training. Sound familiar?
Well back in Dec 2012 we started our Australian summer holidays and I again mused wistfully on FB (did I mention that I spend way too much time on FB :/ ) that I wished that I could HS the kids. Several of my friends suggested that I test it out over the summer break and see how I felt at the end (I suspect that they thought that I'd be ready to bundle them up for school again come Feb).
What I did do was enjoy down time with my kids, spent time doing what we've always done, joined up with a couple of HS groups to test the waters and dragged DH to a Home Educators seminar to see what other support was out there for us. The timing was incredible. There was a slight 'issue' with our youngest about school and DH (after he drilled the Seminar lecturer with soooo many questions) agreed for us to do this.
Well suddenly there I was applying for registration to start HS the THREE Chirpies (and their wee brother) all at once! Cue image of Atlas with the weight of the World on his shoulders! I think that for about 4 weeks I was dreaming curriculums, lesson plans, Charlotte Mason, Unschooling, Natural Learning and Waldorfy stuff! We had our preliminary meeting with our Moderator (Lovely person who is very supportive and informative), who asked what style we were following and which resources we were accessing. At that point we were leaning very much towards Charlotte Mason due to the elder Chirpies having been in the 'Schooling system' for many years. We wanted to transition them gently to a more relaxed style. The Moderator was really happy with this and said that he'd see us again in two months to see how we were going.
So how has it all gone? Brilliantly! We're really into our stride now (somedays we do have things that fall in a heap) but on the whole we spend our mornings doing our lessons and at 12 we stop. Yep, we stop for lunch and then it's out into the World to discover Nature, be with friends, do activities and be kids!
The kids are THRIVING. They are confident, relaxed and loving H/S. They have music lessons, circus skills, we socialise so much that I have to demand we have at home days so that I can catch up on stuff! Their latest project is to overhaul a part of the garden so that they can build a fairy village (in a weak moment I showed them a link posted on my FB wall by H)
This has been a blessing for my family. We are enjoying watching how the Chirpies learn, plan and grow. I should have listened to my heart and done this years ago!
I've always wanted to Home educate my kids, even waaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2004 when there were only two Chirpies I talked about it with my Canberra friends (waves to K, S, K, S and H). What stopped me from pursuing it? Well, I doubted myself. I thought that I would be isolated in the home with the Chirpies, no support and no social life. That I couldn't do it as I had no training. Sound familiar?
Well back in Dec 2012 we started our Australian summer holidays and I again mused wistfully on FB (did I mention that I spend way too much time on FB :/ ) that I wished that I could HS the kids. Several of my friends suggested that I test it out over the summer break and see how I felt at the end (I suspect that they thought that I'd be ready to bundle them up for school again come Feb).
What I did do was enjoy down time with my kids, spent time doing what we've always done, joined up with a couple of HS groups to test the waters and dragged DH to a Home Educators seminar to see what other support was out there for us. The timing was incredible. There was a slight 'issue' with our youngest about school and DH (after he drilled the Seminar lecturer with soooo many questions) agreed for us to do this.
Well suddenly there I was applying for registration to start HS the THREE Chirpies (and their wee brother) all at once! Cue image of Atlas with the weight of the World on his shoulders! I think that for about 4 weeks I was dreaming curriculums, lesson plans, Charlotte Mason, Unschooling, Natural Learning and Waldorfy stuff! We had our preliminary meeting with our Moderator (Lovely person who is very supportive and informative), who asked what style we were following and which resources we were accessing. At that point we were leaning very much towards Charlotte Mason due to the elder Chirpies having been in the 'Schooling system' for many years. We wanted to transition them gently to a more relaxed style. The Moderator was really happy with this and said that he'd see us again in two months to see how we were going.
So how has it all gone? Brilliantly! We're really into our stride now (somedays we do have things that fall in a heap) but on the whole we spend our mornings doing our lessons and at 12 we stop. Yep, we stop for lunch and then it's out into the World to discover Nature, be with friends, do activities and be kids!
The kids are THRIVING. They are confident, relaxed and loving H/S. They have music lessons, circus skills, we socialise so much that I have to demand we have at home days so that I can catch up on stuff! Their latest project is to overhaul a part of the garden so that they can build a fairy village (in a weak moment I showed them a link posted on my FB wall by H)
This has been a blessing for my family. We are enjoying watching how the Chirpies learn, plan and grow. I should have listened to my heart and done this years ago!
3 comments:
It has been such a pleasure to watch you all grow closer and enjoy each day so very much more. Child interest driven learning is always better and you've (almost) avoided all the bugs and other creepy crawlies that made last year especially a misery.
You are just wonderful, L!
Looking back I wish I had done the same thing with my now 20+ kids :)
You sound so happy - lovely to see homeschooling's working you all :)
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