In Cahoots

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.

Peta Goddard talks to Corinna about her experience of transitioning between homeschooling, school and back home again, their beginning adventures travelling and ministering to country churches and communities and how she manages homeschooling with babies and toddlers in the mix. She shares encouragement and tips for those considering homeschooling especially those who may have unsupportive people around them.

Show Notes:

The Goddard Family shares their everyday life on their youtube channel - Goddard Family

Peta recommended Our Tribe Of Many as an inspiring youtube channel.

Peta occasionally blogs at twopunkshadabunchofkids.com

Peta may be a slow and steady reader but she is enjoying a book by Trim Healthy Mama now and recommends anything written by Sally Clarkson.

Amy Linneman spoke with Lacey about keeping fresh when you return back to the start with a new child, how homeschooling has changed her and an unusual lunch meal which her family keep turning to.

Description 

Join us as we meet Renee White from the Sunshine Coast. This creative mum of seven creative children brings God's words to life through her beautiful artwork. She shares about the difference between choosing what refreshes us and what sustains us. Her journey into the Bible showed her the truth of who she is and who we all are in Christ. Renee chats with Corinna about the transition from the time intensive early years to the logistical challenges of the middle stage with her youngest now nine. 

Show Notes: 

Renee's favourite books are:

 One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

Seasons of a Mother's Heart by Sally Clarkson

You can find Renee on Instagram here @wordsoflifeart 

Description

Description:

Lacey is sharing all about her family’s next great adventure, while Corinna has loads of practical advice for all of us who are in the thick of planning and prepping for the start of a brand new school year.

Marie Viljeon is the brain behind Nature Study Australia and she joins us in this episode to help encourage homeschool families to get outside more. We talked about how she began homeschooling, her family’s favourite resources and what nature study does for kids.

Show Notes

Find Marie on Instagram and her nature guides on her website. 

The Facebook group she mentioned can be found here.

Both Corinna and Marie recommend a visit to Sovereign Hill.

Marie listed off a bunch of curirculum that they use, including Apologia Science , Saxon Math , Life of Fred,  North Star Geography , Mystery of History.

Simply Charlotte Mason was the website she mentioned that she uses for things like picture study, poetry and hymns.

Marie’s recommendations for nature resources included Steve Parish books and The Wonderland of Nature by Nuri Mass.