With so many families finding themselves unexpectedly thrown into homeschooling, Lacey and Corinna share a whole bunch of resources, ideas and encouragement for you at this time. We talk about what our priorities would be for different ages, how growing the relationships within your family is more important than book work, why you should work to your strengths as a family and the importance of being gentle on yourself (and your family) in this time.
Lacey has been sharing a bunch of links and resources on her Instagram Stories over the past week, generally aimed at the lower primary years. They’re all being collected in the Highlights on her profile.
Teachers Pay Teachers has more printable worksheets than you could ever need. Many are free; some are pay as you need.
Artventure is a fantastic Australian art curriculum with levelled tutorials for every ability level and is linked to the National Curriculum. It’s a great subscription service that gives you some time out as teacher.
For music, try using a free Spotify playlist and explore a composer, musical artist, style or album. Listen to an Aussie classic every day for a week or two and print out the lyrics for your children to sing along. Clap out the beat, choreograph a dance routine or have a go singing without the music.
Nature Study Australia has some amazing resources for Science in your own backyard. These guides are put together with Australian seasons in mind, and allow you to look at the fauna and flora changes that occur with the calendar season.
Looking for more picture books and your library is closed? There are oodles and oodles of picture books read for free on YouTube. Try looking up some classics that you haven’t had a chance to read yet or pick an author that you’ve enjoyed and try to find more books by them. Lacey’s top recommendations are Julia Donaldson (who’s written 100+ titles), Lynley Dodd, Aaron Blabey, Jan Brett, Mo Willems, Russell Hoban and Rebecca Cobb.
Lastly, join a Facebook group for homeschoolers in your local area. They will be so glad to answer your questions, share resources, point you in the right direction. They have a wealth of knowledge they can share with you.
Corinna recommends Brave Writer for many great literacy resources for all ages. Julie Bogart, the founder of Brave Writer, speaks on a variety of topics is a great encouragement for homeschooling parents. Find her on her youtube and blog.
Other websites worth a visit are: Khan Academy - great for high school Science and Math help; Simply Charlotte Mason has a page full of links and free downloads collated especially to be helpful at this time; Blueprint has many great courses for creatives and they are free until 9/4/20; Ambleside Online has a free curriculum especially put together for emergency situations.
Especially for Mums: Check our Mum Heart Australia blog articles for encouragement. You might join together with someone else you know who has also found themselves homeschooling and share these articles & discussion questions.
