Sometimes, people think us homeschoolers are always at home. And while we do love being home, we're also regularly out and about, doing all sorts of interesting and mundane things, and learning from them. After all, living in the real world is how we learn to live in the real world! Today, Rex has his yearly hearing test. He's moderately deaf and has been wearing hearing aids since he was two. A paediatric audiologist is only available in our regional centre, so we decide to make a day of it, as family, and a do a few…
Welcome to the second article in the Homeschooling Criticism Series! It’s no good looking all calm and serene in the face of criticism if you then go home and collapse into a snivelling heap, all confidence destroyed, convinced you’re setting your children up for a lifetime of failure. Here’s how to build your homeschooling confidence so criticism enters one ear and sails straight out the other, never thought of again. Except for a giggle with your homeschooling friends about the ridiculous things people say to you, of course. Be strong in your convictions Know why you’re homeschooling.…
When I sent out my original request for questions to answer in my Q & A Wednesday series, I received quite a few asking me to talk about how to deal with homeschooling criticism. So many, in fact, that i've turned my response into a four part series! Here, I discuss the different types of critic you're likely to encounter and how to manage each one. Sadly, homeschooling criticism is very common. While homeschooling has increased exponentially over the last few years, It’s far from mainstream. And when you do things that are a bit odd, you know…
Shannon is an IECL (Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership) qualified coach with an MBA, who now focuses her coaching on helping mums find balance. She has 20+ years experience coaching leaders across the globe from the United States to Australia to India. She is also a mother to three children and so coaches from a place of empathy, expertise and experience. Her mission is to improve the lives of children everywhere by helping their mothers to be more balanced and less stressed. You can read more from Shannon at The Care Factor, on Facebook and Instagram, or attend her…
Kirstee Lee Raki is a mum to two who lives in Queensland, Australia. She blogs at This Whole Home about her particular blend of holistic homeschooling and sustainable homemaking, and you can also find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube. Kirstee also presented a brilliant workshop about Waldorf homeschooling as part of the Australian Homeschooling Summit, which you can access here. Today I will share a typical home day with you with Nikolai, 8, and Wynter, 3. We use a 3 day week in our homeschool and cover all of our formal learning and bookwork in those…
It’s the question that haunts many homeschooling parents – how do I know that I’m doing it right? I’m responsible for the education of my children and there’s no-one and nothing to tell me WHAT to do and WHEN to do it and HOW to do it and argh! Meltdown. To extend the question, without strict curriculum, and standards, and lots of other children to compare to and rank with, how on earth do we homeschoolers know that we’re doing a good job? How do we know this is all going to work out OK? To put it bluntly, we…