Mama's Musings

Q & A #5 - Curriculum

Jul 21, 2020

We used various resources for learning. Collectively, our children attained academic knowledge from text books and workbooks, apps and online learning programs like Duolingo, Rosetta Stone and Khan Academy, online courses from free 4 hour short courses through to Certificate IV level qualifications, reading, documentaries, You Tube, tutors and mentors, classes – and probably a dozen other means of which I’m not aware! Their learning programs were extremely flexible and by the time they were teens they were almost entirely self-designed and self-driven. Some of their favourite ways to learn, especially in earlier years, included Unit Studies or Projects, co-operative learning (where we’d do the same Unit Studies as other families, and come together to share regularly), and classes like art, pottery, Italian, and co-op group lessons on science and math topics.

It’s good to remember that you’re always free to change things. If a book or course isn’t...

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Friday Freebie: Soil Resources

Jul 17, 2020

We love anything to do with DIRT here!  And we love resources collated by others!  So I was pretty excited to see that another homeschool mum (Jeannette) had shared these:

FREE RESOURCES ALL ABOUT SOIL

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Resource Review: Teachers Pay Teachers

Jul 15, 2020

Do you use printable resources?  Check out Teachers Pay Teachers for free and cheap resources!

Teachers Pay Teachers is an online marketplace where teachers (and homeschoolers) buy and sell original educational materials.

Just search for what sort of resources you need, eg: "Australian Money" then narrow down the results using the approx age level on the left, as well as your maximum price and the resource type. Try to be as specific as you can - I just searched for Australian Money resources for P/K/1 level and there are over 850 items!  Please note that prices are in US dollars.


For US$5 I just bought a 56 page pdf download with 4 games I can print and use right away.  It has lists of what we need (eg: dice, counters), cards, game boards, instructions, and "coins" (but we'll use our plastic ones or real money).  

I played (and made) a few money games with my older children when they were young.  I found it gave them the confidence to go into a real...

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Q & A #4 - Family Relationships

Jul 14, 2020

For us, home education had a positive influence on our family relationships. Like all families, we’ve had our highs and lows, and several challenges, but I think the amount of time we spent together helped us through these.

Remember that you are family, primarily. Don’t get bogged down in “education” as a priority over your relationships. There’s a lot of parenting left to do! Make the most of the years you have together.

Some good things to consider...

What “family time” does your family value? Do you eat meals together? Have a shared hobby? Go out for coffee or a meal? Commute places regularly? Go to church, yoga, meditation, gym, the pool, sport or other regular outing or activity? Make a commitment to each other to continue these things. If you don’t have specific family time, discuss what you might like to share, and how you’ll all commit to that.

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Friday Freebie: Worksheet Generator

Jul 10, 2020

Did you know that there are FREE worksheet generators online?  I don't have a preferred one, I just search and use whatever appeals.  I just tested this one though, to make a handwriting sheet  for Zeah, and it worked fine.  I printed a page, and also saved it as a pdf.

I used to use worksheet generators when my older kids were young too, to make wordsearches and other activities they enjoyed related to their current unit study or topic of interest.  For little learners, I'd often make pages using our names and address words, because they liked things related to our family, and it was useful for them to know these words.  You can make worksheets and other games for learning at any stage.  Flashcards are awesome for adults learning a language, for example.

Worksheets aren't necessarily the boring, futile teaching tool they're often made out to be.  Personalised worksheets, in particular, can be lots of fun!  Happy printing!

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Resource Review: Organised Homeschool

Jul 08, 2020

I'm SO excited to have feedback from my first participants of my first online mini-course - 7 Days to a More Organised Homeschool!  This course has been tested over the past few weeks by a small group of homeschooling parents and it's NOW READY FOR YOU!

Here are some of their comments:

"I liked the handouts/printables and the way you organise them so people can print what they need/want."

"I thought your structure was great - the way the course went from the big picture down, macro to micro - yearly, monthly, weekly, then daily."

"It was great how you encouraged parents to include their children in planning."

"My favourite printout was the Order in the House tools list."

"Are you sure about the price?  You've included a LOT of content in this course!"

"I like how you made it clear at the start what we'd need to proceed through the sessions.  I decided to create the whole workbook and go through each step.  Thank you."

"I'm glad it didn't need to be done in 7...

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Q & A #3 - Teaching and Learning

Jul 07, 2020

For me, my children’s learning styles were really evident from a young age. I have a background in Developmental Psychology and Primary Teaching, so I’m naturally interested in children, their growth and their educational needs.

But I also think most parents would be able to see in their children what makes them thrive – are they very active?, do they love stories?, are they good listeners?, do they need very specific instructions?, can they complete a task independently or do they like to have someone to support them?, are their fine motor skills developed enough to hold a pencil?, are they asking questions or making observations about numbers, letters, colours, shape, size – and/or interacting with you when you speak of these things?

I tried not to push my children to do what they were not ready to do. I sometimes encouraged them to try a bit with something that wasn’t that interesting for them (such as improving handwriting, or swimming lessons),...

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Friday Freebie: Homeschool Confidently Resources

Jul 03, 2020

I share printable resources I've made to my email subscribers and on my Facebook page and group.  There are three up on the Resources page right now too!

As a Friday Freebie this week, I'd like to share a new one for the littles (or young at heart)... an animal-themed super-simple weekly planner page - ideal to print, laminate and use with a whiteboard marker over and over again!  

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Resource Review: Zero to Homeschool Course

Jul 01, 2020

Exciting News!

Kelly from Fearless Homeschool is running a rare live session of her Zero to Homeschool course!

Here’s a quick overview -

Full course access – instant & lifetime
July 6 – August 28
Weekly live coaching sessions
Accountability (so you actually do it!)

Over eight weeks you’ll go through one module a week. You’ll meet for a live session once a week where Kelly does some extra teaching, answers questions, and helps troubleshoot your issues. She’ll even record it so you can watch if you can’t make it live.

At the end of the eight weeks you’ll have a personalised homeschool that’s interesting, enjoyable, AND educational (and that you don’t want to run away from).

If that’s EXACTLY what you need right now, you can join Zero to Homeschool here.  Enjoy!

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