The biggest school holidays ever

Jadzia creating trees for our city.

In June 2010 we took one our biggest steps as a family and decided to pull the girls out of school and start homeschooling them.

What a big decision and a huge amount of adjustment for us as a family as some of our roles within the family had to change too. I was no longer just mum, I was teacher and planner, authority in learning and dad became not just provider but  teacher and work colleague in school stuff.

When I get asked about how hard is it and how much extra work I have to do now, I do have a bit of a giggle- it's actually perfect for me as I'm basically lazy. I don't have to run to anyone elseswatch 'M' rated movies like 'everyone else' until I know they are ready. If we have a late night they can sleep in- so can I.  If we want to stay in our jammies all day we can, saves washing for me.
timetable now, no school lunches, arguing over lost hair ties, socks and library books. No more trying to decipher what the teacher wants to achieve with a project or homework task. No dealing with the tears of being different because I refuse to be bullied into allowing them to

The girls get up when they wake, sometimes early and sometimes if they are feeling a bit off they sleep in, they still get their jobs done and look at the school diary as to what we have to do for school today. At first we did bits of maths and english each day but I found that it was just a bit hard to get their brains into a rhythm so we have trialled doing maths as a week block and English as a block week, History week was great as we all got to dive into it and absorb a lot more so that seems to work best for us.

We do book work, a lot of homeschoolers 'unschool' but as my girls were already use to school books it was easier for me to keep that up. I buy year level appropriate books for the basic subjects and we go through them together. 

The little ones needing more focus than Jadzia, but one of the great things is that I get to guide them how to learn things like research,looking at a broader perspective. Using the internet and local council library plus people in the family and friends area has broadened their learning choices. We have our lovely Mandy come most Thursdays to take the girls for sewing, they love having someone else teach them sometimes as much as I enjoy the break. 

The benefits are innumerable to us, we have much less stress in the house, the girls get along better (most of the time!) They get to enjoy each day of Healow growing and changing, this is a wonderful time for them to be home with such a gorgeous little boy. Our formal  work is done by about 11 each day and then the time is ours to enjoy. We get to enjoy beaches and parks without the crowds. The girls get to participate in our business and see all the pros and cons to owning your own business. 

I'm less stressed so a better mum to be around. Less illness due to better eating and less contagious contact to so many kids. Especially this has been of big notice in Asazii, finally my little skin and bones has a bit of meat on her and the most sickness she has had is a bit of a sore throat. Compared to 30 days off school in term 2 2010 that is a huge difference, she can even do work if she has a sore throat rather than missing out on days of learning.

   There was fear before we took this step and we took the jump and are now flying, if any of you have ever contemplated home schooling but were too scared to because of some of these fears I really hope you phone me and I would love to answer any questions you have.
I'm off now, going to the movies before the school holiday crowds hit.

our blank city canvas,hard at work in our jammies.

Disease

I think I have a disease, nothing tragic but I do believe it is not only contagious but that it also in the genes. I know that it has missed my sister but that I have definately inherited it from my grandmother. That shouldn't surpise me though as I also have her penchant for sweet things,cheap jewellery and big boobs. I know my sister missed this gene trait as when you go to her house it's letting out a breath, just walking in makes me slow down and breath deeper but it also has the exact opposite effect of making me worry about the kids that are undoubtedly trailing behind me in their youthful trail of destruction.

This disease I talk about is a lack of orginisation that just can't flow out of me as naturally as it does others no matter how hard I try. I have a desire to organise my living area but it never gets to completion, I go to somewhere like IKEA and am in awe of how small areas are so orderly. I honestly wander around all day and am doing things constantly but at the end of the day I turn around and wonder what exactly did I do all day that has made me exhausted.

I have tried using Fly-Lady and her ideas but I still couldn't pull it off. I watch shows like Clean House and congratulate myself on not being as out of control as some people are in the 'before' sections but when I watch the 'after' transformation I generally feel out of control once again. Can people honestly keep living in such cleaned out spaces, do they have kids and keep them in a shed or a cage or something?

It's not that my house is dirty, it's just chaotic as my mother described it to me once. I think it has something to do with a reverse gravity pull in my place also, it seems that we are always carrying bags of things up into the house everytime we get out of the car but it very rare that we are seen taking things back down.  We must have some kind of black hole in the house somewhere sucking in paper piles and 1 shoe and clothes baskets. I am often reassured by those with grown up children that it will stop when they move out so I only have about another 16 odd years of this kind of chaos,I hope the disease will then be curable.