Home Education Family

Self-study, self improvement

2010-05-20T09:08:00.000+10:00

A long time ago, I did a couple of grammar subjects as part of my linguistics study at university. I have since focused on second language grammar acquisition. So my focus has been on teaching grammar patterns and irregularities to adult students.

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a barely touched grammar text book that I had purchased about five years ago. I have been doing a couple of pages from the book, including the work activities, each day. It is something I enjoy a great deal and view as self improvement. I view this focus as essential to providing a higher quality education to Miss E by modeling the concept of lifelong learning.

It never ceases to amuse me, however, how fascinated I am by the grammar of the English language yet willing to abuse it at every written and spoken turn. I love the rules, but I also love how easily you can work outside them and develop your own variety of English.

My interest in linguistics and grammar has certainly translated across into my literacy teaching.
She understands the following terms: phoneme, graph, digraph, trigraph, schwa, vowel, consonant, verb, noun, adjective, sentence and question.

Home Educating a sick child

2010-05-19T15:45:00.000+10:00

There are days where it is very easy to think we've done nothing! Miss E has days where she's in a great deal of pain, and focusing on reading or maths is just beyond her. Those are the days when I back off. Those are the days when she's allowed to do what she pleases. But they're certainly not days without learning.

I've noticed, if she watches a DVD when she's unwell, she really focuses on the storyline. She asks for clarification on parts she doesn't understand. She makes connections with other things we've discussed previously. She then draws parts of the DVD and then creates different side stories. It may not be formalised, but it offers a comfortable setting for her to think.

This has also made me realise the comfort her own imagination provides when she's feeling unwell. On those terrible days when her bones feel tight, and even the prospect of going for a walk in her wheelchair is overwhelming, she retreats to her imagination and does all manner of amazing feats. Her imagination is her very best companion through this situation.

Japan Festival

2010-05-15T20:04:00.001+10:00

Tomorrow, we're off to the Japan festival at Whitehorse Town Hall.

Mr S is the photographer for the day. We have been looking forward to this Festival all year.

Time-out

2010-05-14T10:52:00.000+10:00

Yesterday, I lost the opportunity to go to the art gallery alone for a couple of hours due to Mr S changing his schedule unexpectedly. And I cried.

I wasn't upset at him for making the most of a good opportunity to develop m ore photography skills. I wasn't upset that I had to to take Miss E on a 5 hour round trip for a 1 hour circus class. I wasn't upset that I couldn't get my marking for work done and would have to wait until late at night.

I was just upset that I wouldn't get an hour to please no one but myself at one my favourite places. I have opportunities to go to the gallery with Miss E, Mr S, Miss C and a few friends. However, I really wanted to take a wander through at my own pace and enjoy a little bit of time alone.

We have rescheduled the time for me to go to the gallery, and Mr S has gone a little over the top trying to make it up to me. But it got my thinking, why was I so upset? I'm usually pretty flexible and adaptable, so why did I have some tears?

After a good, hard look at myself, I realise it's because I have been lulled into a false sense of security. Homeschooling has reduced the amount of 'me time' (I really don't like that term) that I've needed, but it hasn't negated it completely. I spend a great deal of time pleasing Miss E, accommodating Mr S's development as a photographer and generally organising everyone. I have a regular medical appointment that I think I've been treating as my time alone. It's not. It's a stress inducing experience.

Next week I will go to the gallery alone, but more importantly, I will remember that I recharge emotionally by having a bit of time alone. And to be able to educate Miss E without snapping, feeling imposed upon or agitated, I need to recharge myself physically and emotionally.

And on that note, I'm off to have a pot of tea.

Imaginative Play

2010-05-10T09:26:00.000+10:00

or, why I make my child spend time alone each day.

Miss E has an abundance of soft toys. Every now and then, I get the urge to give them all away. But, since homeschooling, these once neglected space wasters have become her companions. They're now all named, have personalities, likes, dislikes and go on the most exciting adventures guided by Miss E.

Her unsupervised imaginative play is extraordinary to observe. She is so involved in the process of creating her own mini-worlds, that so long as I remain quiet, she is able to fully lose herself in play. Her understanding of the world is solidified. When she notices me, however, she becomes self-consicious and her play seems to become stilted.

From a time perspective, I don't think very many school children get much time to indulge in imaginative play. They lose the opportunity due to being time-poor, and socially it doesn't seem to be acceptable anymore. Parents are lead to believe that prescribed (and often expensive) activities are the best way to give their child more. More of everything, except time to simply wander their own imaginations. These activities have their place, but when there is no time for a child to simply ponder the universe, you have to wonder about their overall development long-term.

I live in a large city. I would never allow my daughter out of our house unaccompanied at this point in time. She doesn't have the luxury of a large backyard to get run around in. But she has a bedroom that provides a safe place for unlimited imaginative play and the option to close her door if she wants to keep the outside world away. It's not the ideal location of beautiful bush that she's confident with and the wonders of the outdoors. But it is safe, comfortable and something she can call her own, while letting her imagination run wild.

Happy Birthday Miss C

2010-05-08T09:26:00.000+10:00

Miss C turned 13 today. This is a major milestone in life.

We hope all the very best for her future and remind her that regardless of the path her life takes, there is a family that loves her as she is.

Happy Birthday Miss C.

Outings and Ethics

2010-05-06T22:22:00.000+10:00

I've mentioned in previous posts, that we teach ethics as a part of Miss E's curriculum. This week, Miss E went to the RSPCA on an excursion with a group of other homecshooled children. She had a fantastic time. The children were shown an educational video of mistreated animals that were recovering at the centre and then spent time with rescued animals. It had a very big impact on her.

Upon return, Miss E has turned our lounge room into a vet and animal rescue centre. Not only are her stuffed toys treated for injuries with toilet paper bandages, but some live animals too. A dying bee was rehomed to a 1kg yoghurt tub, as was a grasshopper with one leg and some more snails. The rescued snails are kept separately from our pet snails at the moment because they haven't 'recovered' from being mistreated by that pesky downpour of rain on Tuesday night.

What has captivated me is watching Miss E interact with these animals (stuffed or otherwise). She is gentle, loving and treats them appropriately. More importantly, she understands that she's in a position of power. The animals are vulnerable to mistreatment and neglect and because humans impact on how animals live, it is our responsibility to provide them with appropriate care.

She has always been meticulous about providing our cat, Muishka, with her food and water, but now understands why it's her responsibility.

The Slack Blogger

2010-05-05T09:21:00.000+10:00

I've been slack about blogging the last few weeks. Mostly because I've been busy doing and busy thinking about a great deal of things. Miss E has had several extra medical appointments, I've had several choral performances and I'm just feeling a little low on energy in general.

Because I prioritise being able to put the energy into actively home-educating Miss E, I have a tendency to progressively cut back more and more on my online time, personal reading and socialising. I am painfully aware that I have a finite amount of energy that I can give out to others so I guard that quite earnestly. It has also made me reflect on the difference between responsibility and obligation.

Sometimes it can be so difficult to differentiate between them. When you're feeling overwhelmed, things are piling up and you look at everything you need to do and feel like you can't drop anything. I've found that in generally I have a much more positive emotional response to something I am responsible for. I feel that I have an element of control and there isn't that insidious pressure that obligation brings. Obligation breeds resentment, resistance and procrastination. I've been actively trying to change my thought patterns on things I feel obligated to do, to things I feel responsible for. There have been varying degrees of success.

So on that note, I'm going to finish a couple of things I'm responsible for before we head off to the hospital for the day.

It boils down to having a little faith

2010-04-21T21:44:00.000+10:00

This is an unusual moment in homeschooling for me. I'm feeling a wee bit incompetent and like a failure. And here's the silly part, I'm feeling insecure because I don't really stress about homeschooling. I find the education component quite easy. I'm not at all insecure about my ability to provide a high quality, well-rounded education for Miss E. I know my strengths as an educator, I know my weaknesses and I know when to get in external assistance. I don't at all doubt that Miss E will be extremely well educated for however long she is homeschooled.

But here's the thing, most parents do have those doubts, and quite frequently it appears. They worry, plan and pour hours into researching their child's education. I read blogs and forums about how other people homeschool and plan their homeschooling and I come away feeling like I'm a lazy and disinterested homeschooling mother. I keep wondering if I've missed something. Like a huge component of homeschooling has been overlooked by me because I'm not stressed by the education aspect at all. I have this suspicion that I shouldn't find it this easy.

I'm not pretending that homeschooling Miss E is easy. It's not the educating element that's difficult, but Miss E herself. Miss E is a 'spirited' child on a good day and an utter nightmare on a bad. The polite terms are stong-willed, eccentric, determined, forthright, extremely energetic and emotionally demonstrative. This is a child who has the energy to walk a minimum of 3km on the day she has a bone marrow transfusion.

So, now that I've written about it, it really does just boil down to having a little faith in my skills as an educator to spot the gaps and know that I'm certainly providing the education Miss E needs. And if I find that element easy, that's okay.

Back from the holidays

2010-04-21T20:39:00.000+10:00

We had a little impromptu holiday from blogging. My shoulder and a fractured patella as well as taking a holiday got in the way.

Miss E is really working on her reading, and she's enjoying practicing her new reading skills everywhere we go. I have to admit, I feel incredibly privileged to be directly involved in this skill. As Mr S said, there's no wondering about what she's doing or how's she's going. We know exactly what's going on.

It's reassuring and inspiring for us at the same time.

We are still working a great deal on Ancient History. We took a train ride to Bendigo to visit the Art Gallery. There is a statue of Daphne escaping Apollo that captures the point of metamorphosis into a tree. It is Miss E's favourite statue and we make a trip to Bendigo twice a year to see it. We read about Daphne and Apollo in our Roman Myths book on the way there and back and Miss C and Miss E made a graphic novel of the story the day after we got back.

Miss E has also started having piano lessons. Because she's learning to read, she's learned to read music extremely quickly. She does about 2 hours of practice a day in short 10-20 minute bursts. The piano is always open, her music is always up and because she's only allowed to have the TV on once per day, she plays when she's bored. We encourage her to practice for 5 minutes each day, but beyond that, there is no pressure on her at all. It's fantastic to see her enthusiasm for the instrument and learning to read music.

The Reader

2010-04-01T19:39:00.000+11:00

Miss E has made a big transition with reading. She not only sounds words out more confidently, but she's able to predict what the next word will be based on the first letter and the context. This is a huge transition from being an emerging reader, to a beginning reader.

Also, on the train home yesterday, she looked at the sign at the train station, sounded out the letters and then said "Oh, we're at Bell Station". It's such an exciting development to witness and I am so grateful to be the person teaching her to read.

Easter has arrived, and this has brought increased opportunities for ethics lessons. We have discussed what Fair Trade is, why we choose as a family to only consume chocolate that is certified Fair Trade, or has a transparent code of raw product sourcing and environmental management. Miss E knows what the Fair Trade logo looks like, understands that her rights to a childhood, education, health care and safety are exactly the same as any other child's. It doesn't matter what the parents do for employment (including cocoa farming), a child is born with those rights. Child labour has been discussed in many settings and Miss E will ask when she's looking at something "Do you think a child had to make this?"

It's been very interesting to watch her process this information, and we've really enjoyed her genuine interest.

The concept of gravity

2010-03-25T07:00:00.001+11:00

We study the Ancient world - Greece, Rome, Egypt and Japan. Mostly that involves reading books, especially books of Greek and Roman mythology.

Emmie believes in these Gods in much the same way she believes in fairies, the Easter Bunny, Santa and the Tooth Fairy. She's dubious, but it'll do. There is one funny thing that has come up, however. Emmie has decided that Gravity is absolutely a God. A real God. Not like those other ones. But a true and proper God.

Gravity takes the form of a happy, smiling man with brown-skin, wearing a brown cap, purple shirt, blue trousers and green shoes. And he is real to her. The words, "Oh Gravity did that", come out of her mouth frequently. I understand her perspective. This unseeable force makes things drop to the ground, no matter what anyone else does. She can drop things to see how Gravity works and experiment, but the force is always there. She's seen videos of what happens in zero-gravity and that just reinforced her belief that Gravity is a God.

Yesterday, we saw some cracked birds eggs on the ground. They had dead baby birds in them. Emmie was upset that the birds had died, but she said, "Gravity made them land on the ground. That's what Gravity does".

I'm assuming she'll forget about, or move on from focusing on Gravity at some point soon, but it's curious to see the way she's processing the existence of an unchanging force. It's also fun to see her move from belief to science, which is where I think this will go.

It's Thursday again

2010-03-11T21:32:00.000+11:00

This week has flown by. Mrs R spent a few days in another state, having a much appreciated few days with a friend. It has just changed from Summer to Autumn here, but where we live, it was a smack of Winter for a couple of days. The change of season always brings colds to our family, so we're taking it all a bit easy.

Curriculum concerns have hit us. Miss E swings from devouring bookwork like no tomorrow, to refusing to do anything other than drawing and playing alone in her room. There are days when she can not get enough book work. She will literally go through 5 units of maths, 20+readers, learn several new spelling words, and go through 5+ Greek or Roman myths. There are other days when she settles into her cubby house (blankets over chairs) for hours and hours, plays with her toys, slides into imaginary worlds and refuses to look at a book. She will draw hundreds of people giving them a past, a present and an emotional existence, but will not do any book work. There is usually only one or two days per fortnight in which she'll do both book work and play. It seems to be one extreme or the other.

We have discussed it at length as parents and educators and have decided, for now, to follow her whims. She's 5.25 years, and is very good at determining when she's hungry and what type of food she needs to eat, when she needs sleep, when she needs exercise. She is in tune with her body, by medical necessity and we have always listened to her. She makes extremely sensible choices regarding her food, sleep and exercise, and we have decided to trust her to make sensible choices regarding her education. We will continue to assess and reassess this decision, but for now, we believe it's the best choice for Miss E and our family.

I've turned into GASP my mother!

2010-03-05T13:59:00.000+11:00

Everyone has those moments in life where they say something and think "That is so my Mother/Father". I had a good one just now. A positive one.

Each day, whenever it comes about, Miss E sets her timer for however long she feels like and that is time she spends uninterrupted in her room. Usually, we don't bother her and she doesn't bother us. Today, for the first time, she wandered out about 10 minutes in to say, "I'm bored". Before I even had a chance to think the words were out of my mouth. I'm not your entertainment committee. A phrase heard from my mother many, many times over my childhood.

I gave her two suggestions, sent her back in and stated that unless it was an emergency, she wasn't to leave her room. That was about 35 minutes ago. I suppose all little girls do turn into their mothers.

A bit late

2010-03-05T08:37:00.000+11:00

This week, Miss E has been putting together her very own Book Of The Dead, as well as making two graphic novels of the story of Heracles and the story of Pandora.

The Ancient World is our main subject beyond literacy and numeracy this year. I find Miss E's preference for the Greek explanations of how the world began over the Scientific facts to be very interesting. She is five, and the world is full of unseen, and as yet, unknown forces from her perspective. At the moment, Ancient Mythology is still very real to her. These myths aren't fairytales, but truth. I think gravity will provide us with the most easy way to help learn to differentiate myth from face.

From a literacy perspective, the hieroglyphics have been very useful and since she began utlising them in her creation, her reading skills have increased a great deal.

This post is a little late as my shoulder would not cooperate with internet use yesterday.

Home Schooling group excursion

2010-02-28T23:42:00.000+11:00

Today, we met up with two other home schooling families to attend an art exhibition called "Experimenta Utopia". It was a great exhibition, interactive, fun, thought provoking and fascinating.
But, what I really want to talk about is how Miss E interacted with the other children.

Miss E wasn't shy, apprehensive of clingy. That was unusual. She went along happily with the children there, got thoroughly absorbed in the exhibition, but also, was true to herself. She didn't allow herself to be dominated by the older children. If she wasn't ready to move on from something, she stayed. If the others were interested in something she didn't like, she did something else. When one girl continued to hold her hand once we'd arrived at the next building she simply said, "You don't have to keep holding my hand, we're inside now". Simple, drama-free and assertive.

She clearly felt safe being herself, and that's something that has changed since she has been Home Educated. It made us, as parents, feel very pleased for her.

Why Ethics?

2010-02-25T10:19:00.000+11:00

I've had a few comments recently from some home educators online that have expressed surprise that we have decided to include Ethics in the curriculum for Miss E, especially as she is only five. So I thought I'd jot down a few ideas on why we think it's a crucial part of home educating. My apologies for a rather disjointed post, but I am pressed for time.

Miss E is half-Australian and half-Japanese. The ethics, and to a lesser extent, morals of both cultures are quite different. As a family, we have essentially cherry picked the ones we believe are most suited to us. Knowledge of the Ethics applicable to each culture allows her to understand and participate in both cultures more easily.

All schools have a set of Ethics - socially acceptable behaviour that is expected of students. The more hurtful behaviour within the socially expected range at schools is often deemed as other, or outside of the school's ethics, but if you look closer (and with your head maybe tilted just slightly), it becomes obvious that the negative behaviours sit within the area of ethics as well. How many times have we heard, "They're just kids", as a means to justify unethical behaviour that has now become the norm?

There are a few things in the general Ethics of Australian society that I simply disagree with. I don't agree that alcohol is an essential component to a celebration/good time. I don't agree that everyone deserves a fair go, but people of Caucasian descent are more entitled to that fair go. I don't agree that the gap in life quality between our Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples is 'just one of those things'. I definitely don't want my children subscribing to those Ethics.

We have definite ideas about how we view the world. We try to include valuing the arts, respecting public space, cultural acceptance (not tolerance, but genuine respect), avoiding blind consumerism and treading with respect on the Earth in our teaching. Daily life, books and television all offer great Ethics teaching opportunities and we are able to educate our daughter in so many ways by home educating her.

A little time off

2010-02-21T21:21:00.000+11:00

Mrs R has had a bit of time off. Well time teaching classes of students in weekend extension classes, dinner with my eldest niece and time not home educating Miss E. It was restorative, to say the least.

It was also a good reminder that I am a woman who is a whole person, not just a mother caring and educating my children. I'm sure the home educating parents out there understand this. You can't look after anyone else if you can't look after your yourself, as they say, It has given me some energy and I'm feeling inspired to create a series of early readers for Miss E.

Miss E - reading and writing

2010-02-19T22:22:00.000+11:00

I love reading. It's so much fun. I started practicing writing today. It's hard and my hand gets tired. Mummy says my muscles need to get stronger and the way to do that is with practice. I draw lots of stories and Mummy and Daddy write in the words for me. I want to write my own stories.

Today, I counted to 400 while I took my teddies Chaucer and Robert for a walk in the red wagon I borrowed from the toy library. It took a really long time.

By Miss E as dictated to Mrs R

I do wish she would take a day off...

2010-02-18T21:50:00.002+11:00

Miss E had a Bad™ day yesterday. The realisation of the invasive element of her treatment hit and she (understandably) responded with three massive, powerful, violent tantrums. She was terrified of what she now comprehends and that fear created rage.

Today, we assumed she would be drained, quiet and generally just want to take everything easy. She had other ideas and we worked through a large amount of phonics, mathematics and Greek Mythology.
She also went to circus class today, and participated to the best of her abilities. Miss E is full of surprises, if nothing else.

Her outburst yesterday took a huge toll on our whole family, but was still an emotionally healthy response to an exceptionally stressful situation. I don't think an Adult would get through the situation without a few extreme emotional outbursts at times, either. After this experience, I understand why home or distance education is an essential part of the overall well being of children undergoing this treatment.

This is a difficult element of parenting Miss E, and while it gives credence to our approach to home education her it doesn't make things any easier.

Stepping back

2010-02-16T12:46:00.001+11:00

I'm originally a classroom teacher, and I'm classroom teaching on weekends at a private language school.
One thing I'm becoming conscious of, is an apparently habitual need to hear the sound of my own voice at regular intervals.

Miss E has been happily engrossed in an activity for about 20 minutes, and I've done a 'check-in' six times. I know she's fine, she's 2 metres away from me. I'm interfering with her concentration out of the habitual drive to direct what she's doing. She's happy. She's learning. She understands what she needs to do and she's focused. I know that I need to take a step back, but switching that classroom teacher behaviour off is considerably more difficult.

This is going to take practice and patience on my behalf. But self-awareness leads to change.

Another slow day

2010-02-15T22:31:00.000+11:00

Today was a slow day. We were all recovering from a very busy weekend and sleep deprivation paid us all a visit.

Even with a headache, Mrs R still enjoyed home educating Miss E. In fact I was very grateful for it, as I could sleep in. Miss E was tired, stroppy and just wanted to paint, draw and watch TV. Normally I would say no to any more than 30 minutes of TV, but I had things to do, was running low on patience, had a headache and basically, needed the babysitter. She did a lot of reading practice and story telling practice, as well as dot-to-dots (numerical and alphabetical). So the slow day was still extremely productive.

Mrs R has been lined up to do more story writing before Guides tomorrow night.

What I think about home education Miss E

2010-02-11T21:39:00.001+11:00

I like home schooling. My Mum is my teacher. That's exciting. I'm learning to read and I really like it. Mum never gets cranky at me when we're learning to read.
I get to go to circus because we have time to go. We have circus on Thursday. Some times I don't understand the rules and what the teacher says. But that's okay, the games are fun anyway.
When people ask me about school I say "I'm in Prep. I'm homeschooled".

As dictated by Miss E, transcribed by Mrs R

Answering that question

2010-02-11T09:47:00.000+11:00

Most days, we stop into the local shops or the local library whenever we feel like it. Usually during 'school hours'. We get the same question every day.

"Aren't you going to school today".
"No, Miss E is home educated".

I used to say that Miss E was medically excluded from school. Sometimes I would explain, briefly, the treatment she's undergoing and why, if I was asked. I'm quite fed up with being asked. People pass ignorant, uneducated judgement on our decision for MIss E to undergo this treatment, because apparently we're supposed to accept her reduced lifespan and future organ failure and brain damage for [insert complete stranger's opinion].

So, I've come up with my bog-standard answer when people question Miss E being home educated.

I feel like it.

Playdates and learning to say no without offending

2010-02-10T08:29:00.001+11:00

Tuesday, Miss E goes to Guides. Guides is a wonderful experience for her, and she really enjoys the company and the activities. Yesterday, we also had a playdate. Unfortunately, these playdates for several hours (about 4-5) and keeping them short is quite challenging.

I'm working on either keeping them to once a month, or saying we have another appointment and needing to leave after 2 hours. I enjoy the company of the mother, and Miss E enjoys the company of the little boy, but it's just the duration that really chews into our whole day. When added to another set activity, it sits firmly in the TOO MUCH basket for Miss E and Mrs R.

Today we're meeting a group of home educated families at our local park. I'm extremely excited, but nervous about how Miss E will respond, as she also has treatment this afternoon.

I will update soon to show how it's gone.

EDIT: Miss E just couldn't cope with more socialisation today. She just wanted to be at home. Considering she's probably only been at home for a sum total of 3 hours other than sleeping for the last 3 days, I'm not really surprised. Off to the hospital in half an hour.

T.H.R.A.S.S.

2010-02-07T20:37:00.000+11:00

Our T.H.R.A.S.S. materials arrived on Friday. Very, very delighted. Miss E has taken to using them like a duck to water. What makes Mrs R even happier, is that the work is so logical, Mr S feels comfortable helping Miss E progress through it.

Miss E is able to recognise the phoneme-grapheme relationship better, but that's our big focus for the year.

Miss C finished her first secondary school camp on Friday and is still sleeping it off.

Circus

2010-02-04T22:45:00.000+11:00

Miss E commence circus classes this afternoon. We wanted a physical activity that included movement to music, balance, strength, stamina, fun and didn't focus on physical appearance.

She loved absolutely every minute of her one hour class. It was lovely.

What is most exciting is a new mantra for trying new activities we discovered today.

Listen and do.

It gave her so much confidence and the normally very shy, slow to warm child was leaping out of her skin from the moment she got there.

Slow start

2010-02-02T11:25:00.000+11:00

Every Tuesday, Mr S either has the day off, or doesn't need to leave for work until 12pm. Because Mrs R works Saturday and Sunday afternoons, it is our family day off. We are still in our pyjamas, playing about with games and now it's time for a Harry Potter movie.

It's nice to have one day where we can just enjoy each other, but we can also go somewhere exciting without the weekend crowds.

Surprises by Mrs R

2010-02-01T18:51:00.000+11:00

Home Education is something that is a new experience for our family. We had expected to send Miss E to school as we had Miss C. But so far, I'm extremely glad we didn't, regardless of her medical exclusion.

Miss E had spent a large part of her childhood in paid child care while we both worked full-time, and her education was really going to be 'someone else's problem'. Like most other parents, we seriously discussed and put a lot of forethought into the schools our children would attend, but the school teachers would still be responsible for the nuts and bolts teaching. We now hold that responsibility for Miss E, and I (Mrs R) must admit, I'm enjoying the process (thus far).

I'm enjoying the flexibility and it surprises me to say, the lack of responsibility and obligation. I know that statement probably makes little sense, so I will try to explain.

We work to our own timetable, our own rhythms, sleep patterns, eating patterns, moods and whims.
There is overall structure, I know where we're going academically, but there is absolutely not rush.
No school bell, uniforms, homework, notes, ironing, pre-packed lunchboxes, peer pressure or need to please anyone but ourselves. When peak hour trains are cancelled or I don't feel like checking my email for 24 hours there is no obligation or worry.

I have been given a sense of genuinely unexpected freedom. I've always felt bogged down and bored by being a stay at home parent. Some people are fabulous at it, I'm not. I am, however, a good educator. I was very fearful that I would be cranky, cross, irritable and feel weighed down and overwhelmed by the responsibility of teaching my daughter while unable to do paid work. I have felt quite the opposite. Dynamic, vibrant and competent. I don't feel so imposed upon by frequent requests to build farms, set up paints or read the same story for the eighth time on that particular day, because not only is educating Miss E my job, but I genuinely have the time to take life at a pace I'm comfortable with. What has surprised me most of all, is how much slower that pace is than I expected.

Home Educating Miss E is not only making me a better educator but I also feel like I'm becoming a better parent.

Counting - progress

2010-01-31T21:16:00.000+11:00

Miss E can now count by memory up to 100. She is more accurate when reading the numbers than when just saying them by memory. It seems to be a problem with the words themselves, rather than her understand of the numbers.

This weekend, she has spent a lot of time drawing and painting. She now paints whole scenes, including the intentions of people that aren't featured.

I'm enjoying watching her learn.

Counting

2010-01-29T20:07:00.000+11:00

Miss E was in childcare from the age of 15 months to the age of almost 5. She went to very high quality care with well qualified staff that gave her a lot of attention. She learned a great deal of things from her time there. She can read basic words, write her letters and numbers and write simple words. She can add up to 20 with ease. She can subtract from numbers 10 and under with ease.

But today, we discovered she can't count to 20.

We have no idea how this happened, but she genuinely can't understand the numbers from 11-17 when counting, but is confident with 18, 19, 20. She can look at a group of 7 and a group of 8 and say 15 within a second, but she can't count. She gets consistently stuck with 14, 15 and 16. When she reads the numbers from 1-20, she can identify each one correctly and she can write the numbers from 1-50. If she has 10 of an object and she can add items to it to make a requested number without second thought.

But she can't count!

We've been using a variety of manipulatives to practice counting. It seems so odd that the most basic of skills has not been solidly acquired, but she's able to use numbers at an extremely high level of a child who's just turned 5.

We're still very baffled by this.

History Encyclopedia

2010-01-28T18:42:00.000+11:00

We picked up a great book very cheaply ($15) today.

It's The Illustrated History Encyclopedia: Everday Life In The Ancient World published by Hermes House

It is fantastic for teaching Ancient History. We're able to read in snippets, it's small enough to throw in my handbag as on-train reading. The sections are small enough that Miss E is able to really remember and understand the points made. The pictures are also excellent for catching her attention.

Teaching has been somewhat light on for the last couple of days, because Miss E has a cold and quite a high fever, too.

Television

2010-01-25T18:52:00.000+11:00

Ah, the television. The world's most compliant babysitter.

We made a decision to get read of Foxtel (pay TV) because it would be too easy for her to expect that being Home Educated meant sitting in front of the TV all day.

We are still tweaking the balance of TV watching hours that we like. Will we include the foreign language news in that? Will we include Japanese programmes in the time limit? I think this will take a while to properly negotiate. Hopefully without too many bumps.

First official day

2010-01-25T18:46:00.000+11:00

Today, it feels like we have officially started the of Home Education journey of Miss E.

We covered the following areas: phonics, reading of two and three letter words, counting, addition, counting in twos, measurement, the history of Ancient Egypt, Japanese, colour mixing and states of matter.

It was hard to remind myself that we were educating her, but these activities are all educational, even though we're having quite a bit of fun.

The THRASS material for her literacy development should arrive by the end of the week. That will give me quite a boost of confidence.

Registration Approved

2010-01-23T16:11:00.000+11:00

Miss E has been formally registered as a Home Schooled Student in Victoria. We are very pleased to have this formal recognition although both Mrs R and I found it quite intimidating. It's official now and the letter from the VRQA has reinforced the enormity of what we are about to undertake as a family.

Learning pods

2010-01-23T16:05:00.001+11:00

We've put a few little learning pods together over the last couple of days.

They've been separated into the following categories: Literacy, Numeracy, Visual Art, Music, LOTE (Japanese, French and Russian), History (Egypt is the current big interest), Geography, Astronomy, The Natural World, Ethics/Personal Development and Physical Education.

These are all areas that Miss E has full access to and can use when the mood strikes. Teaching opportunities for literacy and numeracy exist in all areas.

We are currently debating at what age we should start a more formal approach to literacy and numeracy teaching. Miss E has a more natural inclination to favour numeracy activities, so Mrs R and Mr S need to spend more time looking for teaching opportunities that favour literacy.

The more I read, the more I'm leaning towards leaving actively teaching literacy until she is closer to 7.

Water and Poster paint artworks

2010-01-19T11:50:00.000+11:00

Miss E was given some tubes of poster and water paints. She uses them daily. These are photos of her first experiments with brush-strokes and colour mixing. Miss E says that mixing olive green is her favourite because you need orange, green, brown and a little bit of white.

Home Education by Miss E

2010-01-15T13:51:00.000+11:00

Miss E here.

I like being home educated. I can draw and paint. I know how to cook and how to write my numbers. I don't know how to write yet. That's hard. I love being at home and I love my Mum and Dad and Cara and Muishka. I can play with Muishka lots when I'm at home. She sits with me when I read. I can go in the garden all the time and we go for lots of walks.

(typed by Mrs R as dictated by Miss E)

Meet the Home Education Family

2010-01-15T13:13:00.000+11:00

Welcome to our blog detailing the Home Education journey of our family. We hope to update regularly with our Home Educaiton activities, successes, failures, joys and probably plenty of frustrations, including photos and updates by all members of the family.

We live in an inner (zone 1) suburb of Melbourne, in a very small 2 bedroom flat with a small garden and are a car-free family by choice. We focus on local activities as much as possible.

Cast:

Mrs R - Wife of S, Mother of Miss C and Miss E, full-time home educator, part-time TESOL teacher

Mr S - Husband of R, Father of Miss E, part-time secondary school teacher, part-time home educator

Miss C - Daughter of R, born 1997, attending secondary school in Brisbane.

Miss E - Daughter of R and S, born 2004, home educated, medically excluded from school and treated with weekly bone marrow transfusions.

Muishka - Cat belonging to the whole family, adopted from Ingrid's Haven in September 2009.

Blogging this adventure will help us to collate resources, reflect upon the personal and collective impact of Home Education and give everyone an outlet to celebrate successes and address challenges.