Tag: kids

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Rhythms and ripples

Thirty years (almost) of mothering has produced a set of rhythms… they took a long time to emerge, a bit longer to be noticed and a bit longer still to be anticipated and ‘readied’ for.

The early years of having children is a massive shift on its own – but in the next few years where they head into school life, patterns emerge, are acclimatised to, other new elements are incorporated and so it goes on. If there were no rhythms, we couldn’t add keep adapting.

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Busy bodies – kids holiday challenges

I’ve never considered myself our kids entertainment agent but having a small person without in-house playmates is very different to to previous crew of 6 who always had someone to play or hang out with. The idea of this chart is to help Miss T stay busy through the holidays, not rely on media, have a storehouse of ideas, keep experimenting and have fun in a way I’ve semi-planned for her – though she still has many many choices.

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A few articles for Home Ed friends

These articles are for those who either currently home school, are considering home schooling, are curious about the WA curriculum or who have teens they’re not sure how best to see through the upper school years. They are not intended to convince anyone of my own preferences – just to share information. We’ve had 4 kids complete Year 12 in school, 1 who left at the end of Year 10 to do an apprenticeship, and 2 who began home schooling in Years 10 and 2.

1.  W.A. – some year 11/12 Home Ed options.
I spent a good deal of time in our first year of home schooling (2015) researching ideas to round out our year 10 daughters education/experience/resume and plan for her upper school years.
Here is some of what I found….

2.  W.A. – Curriculum mind map outline F-10 in ONE page
I don’t actually hate the curriculum and am more schoolish in my thinking possibly than many of you (again due to having had kids in school for 22 years) so this post is for those of you who do use it, or at least would like to have an overview of it… This screenshot is of a mind-map I made in my first year of Home Ed as I wanted to see if it all actually made sense… did the learning areas have a flow?… Did they build?… Was it random? Turns out it does flow, does build and isn’t random….
Follow here to read more and download the map.

3.  Regarding Moderator Meetings
Home-educating friends – I know I come across a bit militant on this topic from time to time but having come out of 20 years schooling into the freedom of homeschooling – it really bothers me when, in particular new home-school parents feel as though they don’t have the freedoms that they actually do… In my own quest for clarity, I put together a document that distils the requirements of the School Education Act (law) and the Home Education Policy (which should not exceed the law).
Continue reading here.

4. Alternative Education for Years 11-12
If you have kids soon to be in the years 11-12 age bracket – the Department of Training and Workforce Development provide a host of very viable and affordable options to staying in school. Kids can leave school at the end of year 10, while still in the compulsory school-age bracket, as long as they’re in a situation that is of equal or more benefit to being in school – work or training can both qualify – there just needs to be an arrangement in place with an employer/trainer and the Education Department. Keep reading and find relevant links here.

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“Don’t you have a TV?”

We all have stock-standard jokes. Lines. Go-to stories. Our family has sat around the dinner table many a night as our kids have grown up and worked in various service areas – shops and cafes – and customers have a surprisingly short list of comments – of which I sadly am one. So when we think we’re being funny and amusing to the waitress, or the young man at Bunnings – unless it’s their first day on the job, your remark is unlikely to be their first hearing. (“No price tag? Oh it must be free then”.  Go on – admit it.  You know you’ve said it).

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Other peoples kids

Have you ever noticed how different you are with other peoples children than your own? While we love our own with a deathly passion, we tend to be that bit more measured with other peoples kids… that bit politer… that bit more careful… I know I’m not the only one here…

I’m currently working through the ripple thoughts of what it might mean if I always carried the cognitive awareness that these kids are HIS before they’re ours… HIS on loan for a season… HIS on trust.

At the moment this new question hit me… it led me to a place of tears and repentance… this is NOT something I need comfort in… I have yielded it to HIM which means all is well and comforting someone when repentance is doing it’s work, gets in the way of it completing and cleaning out the core. I don’t think this work is quite finished in me yet… I want it to change me more completely…

And the ripples from this. The ripples go on and on. Each one of us is His in the sense of being His own loved creation… do I treat others with this full knowledge? Do I treat His earth with this full knowledge? Do I have a full and working knowledge of it for my very own self?

It’s a work in progress.

Progress is good. And this makes me smile.



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You’ve heard of first world problems

This a 5 year olds problem. Or the type that an uncluttered life SHOULD have…

“Mum, there’s nowhere at our house where I can hang upside down and be a bat. There’s just nowhere! The branch on the climbing tree is just too fat and the other one is too high and there’s just NOwhere and I have to do it on a chair and it’s just anNOYing!!!”