So...you want to start homeschooling

 I'm writing this post for the Aussie mums blog hop,

 

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Week 3:  Advice to a friend who wants to start homeschooling

wow...there is SO much to consider when thinking about beginning homeschooling. If I had a friend wanting advice for starting out it would be...

relax.

It's going to be great. You'll see. 

When it comes to considering homeschooling I am finding that there are too many options. Home education is not a 'one size fits all,' there are many different styles and ways to do it and it can be easy to feel a little confused or overwhelmed. 

I have only been homeschooling for a year (officially) but before I began I spent 5 years researching it. I knew with all my heart that I wanted to homeschool my children right back when I was pregnant with my first born baby. 

I knew all the reasons why I wanted to homeschool and Luke was enthusiastically supporting the idea 100 percent.

But then began the next question...

How??

How do I homeschool? What do I need to do exactly?

There are SO many ways to homeschool, I'm not overly experienced so I can't go through them all but I can share what I have done so far and other ideas I have:

1. Only do 'preschool' of you have a child who seems to really enjoy it. My first born son loved doing activities at the table and naturally has always had a long attention span. I ordered the 'Rod and Staff' preschool curriculum from Light Educational Ministries. When he was 3 years old we sat down together while my baby and toddler were napping and did 3 pages around 3-4 days a week. He loved it! My next son preferred to do puzzles with me, so I didn't push the book work. He was happy and I was happy and he learnt and grasped concepts very well.

2. When I felt like my child was ready to progress to more challenging work I began the LEM phonics workbooks. We borrowed easy readers from the library and slowly worked through a maths book by 'Rod and Staff' also ordered from Light Educational Ministries. 

3. Most other subjects at this age can be covered by reading non fiction books aloud. I borrow all mine from the library. 

4. Read aloud everyday. This alone is the backbone of a great education. 

5. We read Bible stories together every morning and pray. 

6. A subscription to ABC Reading Eggs and Maths Seeds is well worth the money! I have found this online program absolutely fantastic for my young children. 

Just before your child turns 6 you can register yourself as a homeschooler. You'll need to be enrolled in a school and get an 'exemption for the purpose of homeschooling.' I found the paperwork a little daunting but once it was done it was done and the home visit from the education department was positive and nothing to worry about. 

Don't worry about people who disagree with your decision to homeschool. You and your husband know what's best for your child. Many people don't 'get' homeschooling. Stay confident in your decision and just be polite and quietly go about your business.

 There are many different homeschool facebook groups you can join too where you can write questions and many experienced homeschoolers are more than happy to answer them. And even better; get to know some real life home schooling mums. 

Blessings, Peta 

Home schooling and managing a household while in the 3rd Trimester

Caring for children while heavily pregnant is a hefty task in itself whether you are home schooling or not. For me; I'll have a range of ages all with different needs to be met during this third trimester. I have one son attending school outside the home, one son being home schooled, and a pre-schooler and toddler both at home too.

During the first trimester we took an early school holidays while I felt the sickest between weeks 6-9. Then I continued home schooling my 6 year old with the basics of going through his phonics and maths workbook and listening to his reading. Then he spent the afternoon completing online lessons of ABC Maths Seeds and Reading Eggs while I occupied my favourite recliner. For more on how I manage morning sickness see this post.

I breezed through the second trimester feeling fantastic and full of energy, at times forgetting I was even pregnant. Now here I am, a few weeks into the third trimester and already feeling my body wanting to slow down. When I'm in the third trimester I try to push myself...but I find I just physically can't. And the bigger my baby belly gets the more I slow down, get sore and find myself making a dash (or waddle) to the nearest chair or bed, whatever I can find to sit on, every time I enter a room. If I drop something on the floor I get so frustrated because it's soooo much effort trying to pick the object back up again. I'm known for picking toys and clothes and things off the floor with my toes to avoid having to bend down! But by far the hardest thing for me to deal with in the third trimester is the fatigue that plagued me in the first few weeks of pregnancy makes a come back. Some days I'm yawning and feel so tired like my head may roll off my shoulders all days long. I lose motivation to do anything much at all; cooking, dealing with the children's needs, and even having a shower can seem like such an effort. And all I really feel like doing during these last few months is curling up in bed and having a big long snooze.

Here is a list of some of the strategies I have in place during the 3rd trimester to help me make it through. 

1. Get enough sleep at night. 
Usually I need a good 8 hours sleep every night to function well the next day but while pregnant I find I need 9 hours or more. It can be hard to have a good nights sleep because of the discomforts of carrying a large precious baby upfront but also we have always had a toddler while I'm in the 3rd trimester too. We can be woken up by our teething toddler or one of the older children up to three times a night. 

So the best way to get enough sleep even when being woken in the night is to go to bed early. 

I'm writing this for myself because I do struggle to discipline myself to go to bed early but when I do it makes SO much difference to how I function and how much I get done the next day. It even helps me to feel better emotionally the next day too. I feel like I can be a greater blessing to my family when I go to bed early and prepare for a good nights sleep. 

What time is early exactly? That's up to you. A good way to work out when to go to bed is to count back the amount of hours sleep you need from the time you need to wake up in the morning. I set my alarm a little later while pregnant to help me get enough sleep too. If I plan to wake up at 7am I will need to be asleep by 10pm in order to get 9 hours sleep. It takes me a little while to wind down and prepare for bed so between 9.30pm - 9.45pm I need to think about switching lights off and preparing for bed. If you are still tired in the morning or completely had it by the afternoon keep going to bed 15 minutes earlier until you are feeling well rested and energetic throughout the day. 

2. Plan rest into your daily schedule.  
When in the 1st and 3rd trimesters I need to rest in the afternoon. In order to bless my family by having the energy to cook a healthy meal for tea I find that I must spend the afternoon resting or napping. This means that I won't get as much done as I was previously and this can get frustrating sometimes. But I find if I don't take time to rest in the afternoon by tea time I am physically exhausted and cannot even stand on my own two feet any longer. You are carrying a lot of extra weight in the 3rd trimester and it's important to take some time to put your feet up. If I'm feeling frustrated about not being able to get much done during this time I just remind myself that 

pregnancy is only a short time really and wont last forever. I'll be back to my old energetic self again in no time. 


I plan my rest time after lunch while my toddler is having her nap. First we have 'quiet time' where everyone is required to sit or lay down and do something quiet without speaking to each other. Preferably in separate rooms (though not always). This gives us all a time out from being in each others faces and calms the atmosphere of our home. The children usually do a puzzle, build LEGO, read books or sit and play with a toy of choice. I will sit in my chair and make the most of the quiet house and have my Bible reading and devotion time. After quiet time I ask the children to tidy up their rooms and get ready to use the computers.  I'll set up them up with their online ABC Reading Eggs or Mathseeds lesson. While I continue resting. If I am very tired I'll shut my eyes for a while or just read or do some writing or planning. When resting I try to stay away from social media and web surfing because I find these things don't serve me well and can leave me in a negative mood. 

We do discipleship, book work and read alouds for home school in the morning, while we're all still fresh.  

 3. Delegate.


Learn the art of delegating. When everyone in the household are working together, life for the heavily pregnant mum can go so much smoother. Young children can pick up all the toys. Older children can help with laundry and cleaning and heavy lifting. My children are not quite old enough to help with cleaning yet, though there are little things I could teach them to do but haven't got around to doing this yet. Luke has taken over our weekly cleaning jobs which he is quite happy to do on his days off or in the morning before he leaves for an evening shift at work. 

When grocery shopping I kindly ask the checkout operator if they could pack my bags very lightly so not to hurt my back and most supermarkets are happy to send a worker to push your heavy trolley for you and even unload any heavy items into your car. 

4. Don't forget to pray

Philippians 4.6-7 says; 
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (emphasis added mine)

This is profound. Our 'to do' lists may be larger then we can accomplish and some days we may not feel like getting out of bed and facing the day. But we don't have to worry about anything. Anything at all!! Prayer will change everything.

If we will just surrender ourselves to God and bring our heavy hearts and jumbled minds to Him in prayer. He will give us peace. Guaranteed. 

5. Slow Down
 During the third trimester we may naturally lean towards slowing down because our bodies are physically getting tired quicker. But just because we need to slow down doesn't mean all our family members will slow down! I think the best thing to do is to stay home as much as I can. We don't go out for as many outings during this time so I don't over exert myself. If I've had a stressful few days where doing a lot of running around has been unavoidable then I'll often take a few days recuperating and regaining energy at home. Try to find your pregnancy rush/rest balance. For example later this week we had to get the house ready for an inspection and I had some appointments and errands to run. By the weekend I was so exhausted that it took me the whole two days to recover. We had to cancel an outing that we had planned but it was vital that I didn't go out if I wanted to have energy to manage my household in the week to come. And we had a lovely weekend relaxing together and by Sunday evening we were feeling refreshed and ready to take on another week. 

6. Eat and drink healthy and nourishing food and drinks.
If we are filling our bodies with sugar, deep fried foods and artificial additives them we wont feel or function at our best. To serve our families well and to feel as energetic as we can we need to eat natural whole foods. I'm a big fan of 'The Makers Diet' books by Jordan Ruben. It lays out the foundation to a Biblical approach to healthy eating that is not 'faddish' and doesn't leave out any food groups. Just eat the best you can within your own budget. Organic foods are a bit expensive for us but I make sure I drive out to our local fruit and veg shop that has great specials on local produce. 

Try drinking raspberry leaf tea. I drink 2-3 cups of it during the third trimester. It contains vital nutrients that are all beneficial to your body (including your uterus) and your growing baby. Click here to read about the benefits of raspberry leaf during late pregnancy.

I make sure I take a good pregnancy multivitamin as well as magnesium and calcium and vitamin D3. 

Most of what I have written has more to do with caring for yourself during the third trimester then managing your household. But I have found that when I take care of myself I can be a greater blessing to my family and am more likely to be able to manage life well during this time. 

Blessings to all the pregnant mothers out there, may God keep you and your baby safe and healthy!
Peta xo  

 





 







 

Back to school for the Goddard's

The summer holiday's are coming to a close and school is just over the horizon. The summer holidays for us has involved settling into our new home and learning the ropes of our new town and exploring the surrounding area. We made a few trips to the beach and many trips to the library. We also had a lovely, refreshing 3 days spent back on the farm staying with my parents. We came home loaded with mulberries, boysenberries, apples, apricots, plumbs, greens from the garden and tomatoes. As well as my mums apricot jam, mulberry jam and dried apricots and dried mulberry leather. Gardening has become my parents full time hobby now they are retired, and we are all enjoying the fruits of their labour!

This year I'll have two school boys! Here is a little snapshot of our two big school boys. And what our two little princesses will be up to also.
Francis (6) - Year 1 at our local primary school. He has had his first piano lesson with his new teacher too.

So...he's thrilled about going to school this year, hopefully the weeks get better as they go along

Arrow (turning 5 next month)- Reception at Goddard Home Academy. I'm thrilled about home schooling Arrow this year. Arrow is excited about his weekly swimming lessons too. And drum lessons with an experienced and excellent drummer - his dad! 

 Here is a snapshot of the decided curriculum for our reception student:

• English:  Rod and Staff preschool books, moving on to LEM phonics program. Daily read aloud, basic readers and ABC Reading Eggs. 
• Maths: Rod and Staff preschool book, Boost Maths books, ABC Maths Seeds
• Bible: Gospel Light 'Big Book Of Bible Stories. Monthly memory verses, Family worship songs
• History/Geography/Science/SOSE/Health: Books borrowed from the library on a topic chosen by Arrow and I. The next few weeks we are reading books about trees and rain forests.  
• Music: Drum lessons and family worship songs together
• Physical Education: Weekly bike rides and swimming lessons
• Art: Drawing and colouring in. 
• Character: Chores, make bed, tidy his room, put PJ's away.

Savannah (3)- Pre-school with her mummy at Goddard Home Academy. As well as beginning ballet lessons. 

• Rod and Staff preschool ABC series. 

Holly (17 months) -  will be pulling all the books off the bookshelves, practicing her walking and being extra cute :)

Blessings to all the mums doing school this year. Pray lots, it's what gets me through every moment. 

Peta

Homeschooling - what I love and what I really don't

My husband Luke and I have been home educating our first born son for the past three terms of Reception (his first year of official school). Luke works casually and is studying nursing so we juggled the home schooling between each other. I would do school while he was working or studying and he would home school on his days off while I would go and do my grocery shopping or get some jobs done around the house. We are very much a team so it only came naturally that we home schooled together. We work as a team with many areas in the home and with our children's care too. I am the main cook and he is the main dishwasher. I take care of the children while he's at work and he mostly takes care of the children's baths and bedtime routines. I do all the laundry and he takes care of all the electronic and house maintenance jobs. We both sweep and vacuum. 

Anyway - back to homeschooling. Our first son 
Francis will be doing grade one at school this year - it was a hard decision but we thought it would be best as we welcome another baby into the house this year. While our second son Arrow will be home schooled. 

For anyone considering home educating their children either for one year, just primary school or for their whole education this is - from my small experience so far- what I LOVE and what I ...well...don't love...about homeschooling.  

I'll start with what I love:

1. Being the main influence over my children's lives as opposed to their peers
2.  Having my children around to commit more time to developing character and being able to notice and correct any bad behaviour immediately. 
3. Having time to linger in the mornings and do a children's devotion with them, we call it our 'Discipleship' lesson. 
4. Being available to them almost 24-7 to answer any questions that may arise about God, Jesus, creation, heaven, hell or the world in general. We have on going conversations which can last for days. Our 6 year old is bubbling over with questions at the moment! 
5. Lessons are completed quicker than in the classroom situation because there is no commuting, shuffling from rooms and calming down a class of 30 students. Which means more time can be focused on a topic of my children's interest. For my 6 year old this meant practicing piano, building LEGO, drawing building diagrams (he wants to be an architect) and reading books and LEGO instructions. Many athlete and actor children do home school lessons with a parent or personal tutor so they can spend the majority of their day developing and practicing their skills and talents. 
6. I love having my children around me, watching them grow and learn
7. Not having to worry about packing lunches, uniforms, and school drop off and pick up. 
8. Being able to be selective with whom the children socialise with. - Yes we do socialise. We choose a few groups we would like to be involved. We used to live out on a farm so it was hard to get to many social activities but now we live in a town, 15 minutes from a small city and an hour from our capital city so we have many options. 
9.  It has been a much cheaper option for us than paying for a private Christian school. 
10. You can tailor their education to what your children want to learn and are interested in - it accelerates a love for learning.
11. My little boy does not get as tired home schooling than he did when attending a classroom so he can concentrate and learn while he's at his peak. 
12. No homework! - (well technically it's all home work but we can choose the time of the day it gets done)
13. I can make up my own schedules and school terms and work school around our lives instead of the other way around; and take days off whenever we want 
14. There is no bullying on an everyday basis (putting other people down is not tolerated in our house), the children have the freedom to be themselves. 

What I don't love about home schooling:

1. The constant ruckus and noise levels of the house of being around the children 24/7 with little breaks and time to breathe. Homeschooling is kind of like 'school holidays' that go for 24 hours a day and 365 days a year because the children are always around me. (this is good - but it can also have a negative effect on my sanity levels.)     
2.  Having to figure out a curriculum to use. I find it really stressful trying to work out the curriculum - there are actually almost too many options for home schoolers and I find it overwhelming at times. We are currently researching 'distance education' through the Australian Christian College. This may be a good option for us in the future. They offer schooling online with qualified christian teachers. This would take the curriculum worry away from us plus add a more structured approach to school at home which is what our eldest son really needs. Here is a link if you want to have a look: //www.acc.edu.au
3. Being isolated was becoming a huge problem for me as we were living on a farm and trips into town were limited as we only had a certain amount of money to spend on petrol, plus getting out the house with 4 small children is an event in itself that requires lots of motivation, and takes about 2 days to recover from. We are now living in a town and there are home schooling meet up groups near by so it  shouldn't a problem in the future to get out and about.
4. I find it hard at times being consistent and some days I felt like I was just going around cleaning up one mess after another and breaking up one fight after another by the children. But I think a lot of this has to do with having 4 children under the age of 6, this is life with little children and it's often...always...messy. 
5. The feeling of being responsible for our children's education is at times, almost too much to bear.  
6. Homeschooling is time consuming and I keep finding there is little time left to do anything else inside or outside the home. 

Even after saying all those negatives I still really love home educating my children! Home schooling is a calling on one's life and I believe that it is one of those hard things in my life that is still worth pursuing even though it is hard. 

Most things that are worthwhile are actually hard. (think, having a baby for instance, getting a medical degree, being a pastor etc.) When you know what God is calling you to do you just do it. It doesn't mean it's going to be easy.  

Blessings, Peta