Day 6

12th October 2021

Lazy Morning

Man, did I have a good sleep last night. I’ve been so tired getting the blog off the ground, while keeping up with the kids & working from home.

I’m not tech savvy at all and it has been a nightly struggle, even with the help of an amazing tech guy I’ve been working with.

On top of that, actually writing the blog each night, along with the dinner/bath/bed routine….well it’s a new schedule I’m still getting used to. 😴😴

So, I didn’t work from home today which made for a much smoother day, and allowed me a sleep in which was THE BEST!

We had a really lazy morning together, the kids played around on the keyboard while I had breakfast.

It was so nice.

No rushing around to hit the 8.30am mark. It was a little piece of home school heaven.

Lincoln playing keyboard — Breakfast & a show!

Mini Mechanic Workshop

First up, we headed down to the mechanic to have the flat tyre looked at.

It was a small screw. (I blame the tip, after dumping a load of green waste on the weekend! Grrrrr)

John the mechanic was so wonderful with the kids. He explained everything to them as he went. Showed them the different machines he was using, gave them the tiny screw that had caused the problem.

They loved it.

They were super inquisitive about his workshop, looking around at all the tools and tyres. They had 101 questions, which John answered gracefully. He had so much time for them.

What a wonderful man!

It got me thinking. All these little everyday things that we do. It’s all home school learning. We need to start including the kids in all of it.

Every bit of it.

Watching the Mechanic — Some of the tools were noisy.

LIncoln inspecting the hole — Lincoln inspecting the hole.

Nail — Such a tiny thing caused such a big problem!

Kids watching the mechanic — John was a bit mesmerising! (Lincoln has tool envy!)

Two For One

Each morning, around 10ish we take Pepe for a walk.

The kids usually ride scooters or bikes so it doubles up as outside time & exercise for them, a walk for me and most importantly, road crossing practice!

As they approach the age of gaining some independence, especially Lincoln, crossing roads without me is something that really freaks me out.

We walk down a busy road (which they are not allowed to cross) but I let them cross all the little side streets on the way up and back home again. So, maybe 10 roads every day.

They are getting really good at looking and its giving this mama a little more confidence.

I don’t think they ever got this practice before we started home schooling. 🤔

Crossing the road — Look left, look right, look behind.

The Big Map – Take 2

I gotta be honest. I was really anxious about bringing up the big map again.

I decided to chat with them about what they wanted to do next, letting them know we had to hit our core subjects each day, English & Maths.

To my surprise Mila chose the big map!

I set her up with that job & Lincoln chose maths.

Mila drawing a grid — The grid was easier on a smaller scale.

Drawing numbers/letters on our big map — Adding numbers & letters to our big grid.

Lincoln doing maths — Singapore Maths was easier to get started today.

After 20 minutes or so they swapped and Mila did her Singapore maths without any fuss and Linc was pretty keen to get stuck into his big map, after watching Mila’s success.

He really enjoyed climbing on the table to reach all the way across his map and did his smaller grid in just minutes.

I said “Linc, that’s great work! See, grids don’t suck.”

He smiled at me and said, “Yes they do, I just know how to do it now.” Hmmm, cheeky!

He got stuck in & would have finished but Nanna turned up with some rubber bands for the rubber band ball project.

Lincoln drawing his big map — Yes, you can climb on the table. You can do anything if you are doing your big map!

Drawing the big map — He stopped for a bath…but returned to start drawing Australia. He really enjoyed this part.

One-On-One Time

Liam took Mila out for a coffee and Linc and I hung at the house.

He asked if I wanted to play Chess. He’s getting good, but today was my day.

Then we messed around with his yo-yo.

Mila & Liam came back and they did some English & then they hit the street to hang with the neighbourhood kids.

Chalk Art — Mila doing some foot path art at the cafe.

Lincoln Playing Chess — Linc versus Mama – Game On!

Winning Chess Board — Not today buddy!! Mama’s win 😉

Watch Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hjSCSyJ5_s

Unresponsive Yo-yo tricks.

Eclectic Home Schooling

The quiz I took spoke about eclectic home schooling.

Eclectic home schooling is defined as:

If you’re eclectic at the home schooling buffet, you can choose it all. As an example, you can use a classical approach to maths and grammar, do Charlotte Mason nature study, have a Steiner-style morning circle time, organise a few unit studies based on interests, and incorporate project-based activities. All together, the activities and approach add up to a richly varied and comprehensive education.

I think this is how I’m going to approach things from now on. It can be tricky getting them to ‘start’ the book work.

It’s probably the biggest stress so far. How am I going to get them to start?

Once we start, its fine and they focus pretty well.

The best days are the ones that start with art, or a morning circle/meditation or a doggy walk.

Tomorrow, I think I’m going to try packing a bag of books & morning tea and getting out of the house. Take a walk in the bush, or to the beach and plonk ourselves down for some delicious snacks and some book work.

That leaves the creative stuff for home.

Yep, it’s a plan. 😎