My wonderful husband has got us a laptop and internet access at last. He such a sweetie. I haven't had a chance to do anything with this blog that I started ages ago but hopfully now I will, Homeschooling is such a huge part of my life and i love it and I look forward to blooging about my journey.  Love Cheryl

Today is a beautiful sunny day. We have had a great morning of school work. It;s so good when things flow. My house is clean and tidy and they week of school work is all planned.

Last friday I had time to get the whole of this weeks work planned. I love the Sonlight cirriculium when i am rested and organised. I have decided to stay with Groves for the rest of this year and then I'll look at school options again. I want to keep home schooling but I'm not sure about staying with Groves just because of all the hassle with sending work in etc...

We have a vist with our teacher tomorrow. Andrews great and the kids just love doing science experiments when he comes to vist. How is it that life can be so good some days and then other days you feel like your drowning.

God is so good! Love Cheryl

The last week or so I have felt like I am drowning. It is coming up to the end of term and I am trying to finishes off the goals I set for myself for term 1. I have to get work together to send in to Groves but that's not really the stress. The stress is my internal voice that demands much more of me then anyone else ever could.

I feel like I have been given this amazing oppertunity to spend time with my darling children and I love it and I want to make the most of it. I also feel a huge responsibility to make sure I am giving them the very best education I possibly can. I am always afraid that I won't do a good enough job and they will be disadvantaged by homeschooling. Some how I feel like I need to do twice as good a job as any school just to come out even.

In part it is because my family is not supportive but once again it's me and my inner voice more then them. I want to be able to look at what we have achieved and know that it is 'complete' and 'well done'. So many homeschoolers are very relaxed and feel that their children are way ahead, I don't have that. My children are doing well but I don't feel that they are way ahead.

I am using the Sonlight material and there is just so much in it. I can't get through all of it and I know they say you don't have too but I want to. I want to give my children everything I can. I feel like there's just not enough hours in the day. I love my kids and I want to make sure I give them the best chance to become whatever they want to.

Life feels like a train rushing by and I'm trying to paint a beautiful mural on the side of the moving carriage. I cook and clean and read and talk. I pray and sleep and drive and work. Slow down life, I want to spend time just breathing and staring at the clouds and writing love songs to God.  I want to lay on a blanket in the park and hug my children and close my eyes and smell the breeze.

         Today, instead of our french language class,  we are having a morning tea at The Patch Place to celebrate the amazing cultual dirveristy we have here in Australia. I believe it's really important for my children to be proud that they are growing up in a melting pot of  people with many backgrounds. They are making collages of different people and lots of the stickers and badges we got from the government.

         I am trying to teach my children that God created all of us and in God's eyes we are all equal.  Tolerence is an essential start but why stop there? I want my children to enjoy and celebrate all the flavours and colours and textures that this counrty has to offer because we do have so many cultures here. We can travel the world just by making friends with our neigbours.

www.thepatchplace.com.au

5/3/09

      Home schooling is the most challenging and wonderful life style. I love having the opportunity to live day by day along side my kids. It’s incredible and I am so grateful to God for the chance.

          This is our third year of home schooling. I wish I could say that it gets easier as time goes by. Certain things do but there are always challenges to face. If it’s not family telling you that your children would be better off in “any school” then with you home schooling them, then it’s reaching a road block where your son ends up in tears when you try to get him to read something that challenges him.

          I have two children, Lydia 9 and Isaac 8. They are great kids and really I have it pretty easy compared to the challenges I see so many people battling. Neither of my children have major health issues, and they love to learn. God was being extra sweet when he gave me my kids, they are amazing.

          I’ve wanted to write a blog for ages. I want to encourage all those brave and incredible woman out there who home school. We are a unique and courageous breed. I see home schooling as my career and my indulgence. I feel that it’s a luxury to have so much time with my kids. I thank God over and over that my husband is willing to support me. I get to be the biggest influence in my kid’s lives. I don’t have to wave goodbye to them each morning and send them off for someone else to have the best of them. I get to be right in there at the centre of the action and I love it.

          It is hard work and I do see it as my career. I spend hours planning and praying and preparing things. I try to give it the effort and attention I would give to a full time job. I believe my children deserve the very best education I can offer them. Home schooling isn’t something I tack onto life, it is the very centre of our lives. That doesn’t mean we spend all day doing school work. It simply means that my children’s learning is always there as a top priority.

          This year we are using the Sonlight curriculum. It’s challenging and I’m still finding my feet but it’s excellent. We have been enrolled with Groves Distance Education for all of our three years and it’s been great. To be honest they don’t do a lot for us but having them there keeps our families happy and that’s a huge service. Groves gives me a report card to offer to the folks and a name to throw out as a bone to critics. It makes other people feel better and in turn that makes my life so much easier.

          Trying to be a mother, a house wife and a home school teacher is really impossible at times. Either the house is clean and the school work isn’t done or the house goes to pot and the school work is great. For the last few years I have coped by the luxury of a cleaning lady for two hours a week. That is so great, it is an enormous help if you can afford it. My husband and I are now trying to save money and man oh man I am feeling the pain of not having that help.  It really is like having two full time jobs and there are days when I feel that I’m not doing either particularly well.

          Well, the house calls, the dishes cry out to me from the sink and I cannot procrastinate any longer. God bless you all and may you see beauty in unexpected places, like over crowed washing plies and dirty little faces.

             Love Cheryl