The kids all completed Scrap pages today - about their favourite things.. now this was easy and fun schooling all round ! Here they are - I just had to show them off !
Well that is just taking forever - I will try again tomorrow !

Of doing a subject a day ?? instead of trying to cram it all into every day ??
Has anyone tried this ??
Hmmmm Just a thought

 is my trial - he is the hardest to sit and get to do anything.... I think I am going to make a schedule .. which details what I want them to acheive every day that they need to mark off as they go. At least until they fall into a routine. They are completing basics and declaring "all done" so I need to make them see how little they are doing and what their potential is. So .. now I need to surf through everything and make up a timetable for each of them. A lot of work on my part but something that is needed.

Right - now I have written that down - I know I will do it! I am a list maker - so maybe I just need to make my kids list makers too!

I need to re look at how we do things around here ... it is kinda chaotic ... I had the kids assessed at a major tutoring school (that I found out we could in no way afford!)  and found out that if they were at school that they would be in the lower half of the class were they at 'normal' school ... my husband is going mental ... he is off work due to injury and ops and is always on my and the kids back to be 'schooling' I think we have to operate more like a class ... this 'natural' learning that I keep trying is just my kids playing on a trampoline !!

I don't think they are prepped at all for any kind of tests .. I don't know how to make them smarter - we cover the work but they are not retaining ... I wish I could get some help from somewhere. I am due to report to the BOS at the end of the year to register Brady and reregister the two big kids. I don't want them to be sent back to school but I don't want the kids to be dissadvantaged just because I want them home with me either !

I am a very stressed person right now - I don't know what to do and I am thinking that even if I did I am not doing it right ...

I am goping to try to write up a schedule tonight .. a different one. As much as I liked the Charlotte Mason method - it meant a lot of sitting and reading for me and reading at 4 different levels - I have to find something that doesn't take all day and that can be accomodated to suit all of the kids.

Off to search and hopefully find an answer....

Thanks for listening to my vent !

We are doing a lot of drawing and talking  !

They seem to be taking a lot in but can't express it ... so I stick to drawing which seem to be easier - Declan can retell the stories beautifully - but if I ask him to write it down I get one or two sentences - I can only hope that this will improve ? !
This week we have learnt about Rabbit and Hare diufferences, all types of insects and the Bird Woman for the little ones and Christopher Columbus, King Alfred, dragonflies and cats with the older ones .. we seem to be processing so much more info as in doversity than we were before !
I made them do math and handwriting and then comprehension and just texts texts texts ... I see now that that was not teaching them anything about history or bugs or anything very interesting !
They have even been outside drawing parts of nature !! And they are all excited start piano lessons .... we are almost done for the day and it is only 10.30 - I think once we get in a good groove it will flow much easier too.

Other than that - my long negleted house should start getting fixed up too ! Washing is caught up but OH MY the folding that I have to do !! ... The plan once we get our groove is to have the kids help with all things like that as well - plenty of time for it all to gel together though !

Well I need to go and supervise before they all disappear from the table !

Started with the Literature, Charlotte Mason style of Schooling today and the kids enjoyed it ! They loved me reading ... and I loved doing it ... the little ones have trouble retaining and narrating back to me - but enjoyed drawing pictures after every story.I sent them into the yard with their nature journal and they enjoyed drawing pictures of what they saw.

Today was much more relaxed than any other school day we have had ... I still need to tweak it here and there and set it up so it flows easier but I think we will learn more and have more fun schooling this way.

Declan and Dana even drew a picture of the English armies led by King Alfred fighting the Danes ! Who would have thought - and Declan really impressed me with his retellings of the stories. I think I will have to start recording or writing down what he says so he can reread it in his own language style. Even my youngest schooler (4yo Bonnie-May) joined in and enjoyed it all !

We still have a few things to finish off but I don't think that I will have much trouble coaxing them back inside !

Til tomorrow !

We have been on our homeschool journey for almost a year and a half, and while we started out with 'de-schooling' we ended up with what I thought to be our groove. Of late I feel I am putting too much pressure on the kids and myself for getting them 'up to grade'. Everyone says they learn at their own pace etc, but I know what my husband wants to see at the end of the day and I know what I want homschool to be and after a lot of internet searching and researching I found a program that seems to work like the Charlotte Mason method ... and it suplies links to all texts used and a curriculum outline that I can check off as I go. Now - I am a list person and I always wondered if I was having too much of one subject, not enough of another and none of the next! I always wanted to purchase for eg. the Sonlight Curriculum or soemthing such like that would be delivered to my door for me to pick up and follow but never had the $$$ to actually make a purchase. This site understands the financial difficulty a lot of homeschoolers are under (as we usually live off one income) and has put this all together! Perfect ! I am glad I stayed up til 1.20AM to find this info I am actually excited to start school on Monday ! I hope the kids will be too !! The only other hurdle I need to jump is my diary keeping of what we do on a daily or weekly basis ... so my joining here I am hoping to have a nice big record to show our acheivements!

Thanks for stopping by if you did !
Ness xo