Category: Blog
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Looks Like Doing Nothing
When I was little my mother used to say it did me no harm to be bored from time to time. She was right because aside from learning to sit with the uncomfortable feeling, it really did help me to use my own imagination and find things to do. Sometimes I am busy with one…
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When You Know Things
Knowing leads to understanding. Getting the joke or the message. I love sharing books with my children but it’s the conversations – the communication and the doing that interests them and causes learning to happen. When I likened a dandelion to the girls, as being the sun (petals) the moon (gone to seed) and the…
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Set Me Free
Since I’m sharing this week, did you know that I find it hard to stay still in one place. Feeling stuck makes me very restless and frustrated. During the winter months I want to stay close to home and hibernate but mostly through the rest of the year I want to be away. On the…
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POETRY – Disinclined
I thought I was lonely, butI found I just needed to be alone. Away.By myself.With my thoughts, in my van.Without peopleAnd their assumptions of me. Just me.My pen and my paper. The large, take away, coffee house cup,That allowed me to refil it to the brim line.When I needed to pee,But didn’t want to go…
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POETRY – Absent
I can sit alone in cafesCheck my phone & sip my teaRead a book, glance aroundSit back comfortably I might book tickets to the picturesAnd only take myselfWander around old walking parksAnd tend my mental health I can sit on benches or the trainVenture to the seaI can find my way back home againAnd wonder…
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“Come In And Know Me Better, Man.”
I thought I’d share some of my less popular opinions and lesser known facts about myself, with you all over a few posts. Just for fun. I’m comfortable with the knowledge that you may feel differently. It’s OK. Did you know that I don’t like spending all my time with my children? Try as I…
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Trust
There are some days as a mother I find myself frustrated. Choosing change is never easy yet, I have changed. Things I once accepted, no longer feel right and as a parent I have evolved. My children were always at the front of my mind and considered in every decision I made and still are.…
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Intermission
There are times in my life when song leaves me in the same way I might find myself in a writers block.I still listen to music every day and sing the kind of songs mothers do to their children.But the spontaneous singing when the mood takes you, for nothing more than the love of it,…
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Adulthood
Are we preparing them for adulthood? Today my 5 year old asked if she could make her own hazelnut spread sandwich rather than wait for me to do it. Negotiating a step, cupboard, twisty lid, knife and bread bin while I got a lie in. My 10 year old debated the pros and cons of…
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Doing Nothing
When I try to explain Un/homeschooling to those who ask about it, I often wonder if it doesn’t sound as if we’re doing nothing much. When life is happening it’s easy to reply when asked “What have you done today?” with “Nothing much.” Same as when you pick your kid up from school and ask…
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Walking In Spring
It never fails to amaze me where a journey or rabbit hole can take you without even leaving the house! The imagination and curiosity that can come from a few words read, that lead to a conversation and then the desire to see for oneself. This morning we finished up reading Queen of the Falls…
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Rhythm Of Life
Nothing could be more beautiful than watching children thrive without unnecessary pressure. Sure we have a rhythm to our days. Some days we even have a schedule to keep to, if appointments or errands demand it. The girls may have goals that they are working towards that require commitment or time keeping. And even competition…
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Here’s The Thing – How Home Education Works & Why
While driving along in the car today, I was thinking of a way to explain and encompass just how a Home Education really works and why. We give it that name but really what we’re referring to is the human right to thrive, grow and achieve. To fulfil a personal purpose and desire to obtain…
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Life Is Learning
And learning is a part of life. When Winter broke open a MEL science kit today with her sister, we didn’t call it a science lesson. She knows what she was doing was scientific but she was more interested in the hydrophobic sand and finding out why it does what it does. She understands that…
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MISSING OUT
16000+ hours of extra time with each other in this beautiful messy life! I love that we don’t miss out on that. When I watch my girls about their business around our home it makes me smile. How fortunate I have been to watch all my children over the years. I’ve watched them play, learn,…
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A Typical Day?
There are times during your home educating journey as a parent, when you wonder if what you’re doing, is what others do. Not that it troubles you in your sleep but you do wonder. Whether you’re new to everything or your child has reached a new phase in their life, as they grow and change…
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Tentatively
We’ve begun to wake up from the “Slow.”We’re still in the middle of winter but we are starting to find our rhythm and flow again. No one is rushing however we are doing a little bit more, discovering new things. We’ve watched a film about Mikkelsen and Iverson in the Arctic. We’ve watched David Attenborough…
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Learner Focused
I often get asked how my children learn without a curriculum or what I mean when I say we learn, year round. It is my view that we are all, “never not leaning”. Learning doesn’t stop at a predetermined time. So, with opportunity and conversation we can learn all the time…every day of our lives.…
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POETRY – I Would Rather
I would rather have a tiny shoebox house with a blazing fire, candles adorning the table and the “outside-brought-in” to feel and smell. I would rather have over ambitious ideas of baking 100 mince pies and sleeping in til noon with baby arms draped around my neck or toddler bodies sprawled in heavy slumber across…
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Christmas Traditions
Traditions are a wonderful part of being. They are there to remind us, to comfort us and to bring us continued joy as we smile on, watching our families recreate them. But…They are not rules.They can be left where they are, in our hearts and memories. Fondly residing in tales from when we were young.…
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Behind
There is no “behind” in home education. There is no one to be behind for a start! Just as it would be quite ridiculous to try to compare apples to oranges it is just so, comparing school to learning at home. All fruits, all children but totally different. The school model is recognised and acknowledged…
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Unschooled Teens
Teenagers are wonderful and awkward and frustrating and amazing. They are impatient, emotional and kind. Still just as in need of us parents as ever before but in ways we couldn’t have prepared for. They no longer hang on our every word or think us super heroes. They need more sleep, more space and less…
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Being Fun
Sometimes as a parent I find myself sitting on the sofa almost unable to move because a) I feel depleted and b) because I have no inspiration. It comes and passes in phases. There and then not there. It can truly be hard at times to find the “Gee-up” button. Sandra Dodd’s words of encouragement…
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In The Real World
“How will your children learn to cope in the Real World?” is a question that many home educators get asked at some point. “How will they learn to deal with problems, pressures or bullies?” This is a problem for people with a school mindset and home educators need spend no more time trying to construct…
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Real Life Learning
Real life learning happens in sporadic, choppy bursts. An idea or interest builds steadily and is discovered time and time again. Passion and knowledge take time and can be revisited and indulged in between anything and everything else that life gives us to play with and wonder at. Learning is not confined to boxes, unit…
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It All Counts
Learning is so much easier for people to enjoy when they see it as living life fully. It doesn’t have to “be on the test” or completed during a set time, by a certain age. Over the past weeks I have heard several (yes, several) young adults talk about feeling like they will have “wasted…
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Tend To
Recently, I took myself off on a long writing weekend . It was lovely to be able to think peacefully without any interruptions or responsibilities. I got to eat one of my sourdough loaves to myself and drink as much hot tea as I could! That, along with walking the wild shoreline and people watching…
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POETRY – September 3rd
Today I’ll walk slowly, so you can keep up.I’ll talk softly and listen for you in the raindrops.I’ll look for you in the warm candle light,I left burning to remember. How have I wandered a year through time?Close enough to sense, too far to touch.I don’t even look the same anymore,The mirror betrays me. I…
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Hard Change
Recently, a friend used the word “ challenging” when telling me about their week and this past few days have felt challenging for my heart with one thing and another too. I was trying to put it into words when telling Mr Lemon and settled on the following. I thought I’d share with you in…
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Adding Value
Hearing what we say and observing it’s impact is worthwhile and insightful. Sometimes we don’t need to speak if what we have to say adds nothing of value. Silence can shape a moment in time. Speak carefully and thoughtfully so that you communicate exactly what you intend to leave behind. Juliette Proffitt I read so…
Beautiful Messy Life 