We are halfway through our first school holidays for the year. For these two weeks I'm letting the kids relax more than usual but, like an attentive relaxed homeschooling mother, I'm on the look-out for all the interesting things they choose to do.

Logan has read lots of books on cricket and Aussie Rules Football. He's read Asterix comics and Star Wars novels. He watched a documentary about the Bermuda Triangle along with the mini-series that's been on. On Easter Sunday afternoon, he played a big football game with the extended family on his father's side of the family. On Easter Monday, he got involved in a game of Dungeons & Dragons with my sister's two boys.

Emma always finds all sorts of creative things to do. She's been drawing lots of pictures and sewing pretty shapes onto a bookmark she's making and painting some cards. A few nights ago, her cousin visited for a sleep-over and the girls decided to make a shopping-centre out of paper. So they drew all the different shops onto little pieces of paper, then used craft sticks and staples to put it together as a mall and cut out some little figures to walk through it. At times like this I really love the unschooling aspect of our lives. I'd never dream of asking them to tackle anything as ambitious as a paper shopping mall. The idea wouldn't have even occurred to me, but if it did, and if I asked Emma to do it, she probably wouldn't even want to. I like letting them go off on tangents with their own ideas and carry them through to completion.

Sometimes I still have moments of worry over whether their handwriting and spelling are up to scratch, but I'm confident that we'll get there. I used to worry about all sorts of things when I was in my teens and twenties. I'd worry about whether I'd get a good job or ever get married, and then whether I'd stop having early miscarriages and have any children. I used to worry myself sick about these things but everything worked out. Now that I have a great family and an excellent time homeschooling, I think what a waste of time all that worry used to be when I could have been thinking happier thoughts.

At church last Sunday, I had an unexpected little insight into how well homeschooling works indirectly. I was out helping with the babies aged 1-3. We call them GEMS (God's Emerging Masterpieces). My little two-year-old boy was the only one who sat at the table for a long time colouring his picture of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, using all sorts of different colours. He covered the whole page and later, we noticed that every single little sheep had its own colour and he kept between the lines. And he holds his pencil really well and nobody ever taught him. I think Blake is already benefitting from the homeschooling lifestyle because he's so used to seeing his brother and sister do their work and sitting at the table with them. I'm never going to underestimate the value of good habits rubbing off on little babies again.