A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO HOME EDUCATION

I have written this "Beginners Guide" for a friend who is compiling a wee booklet to give to people asking her about home education. This is happening a lot, so she thought it best to be prepared with something written by some Mums who have been home educating for some years now.

I will publish it in parts - and here, for your enjoyment (hopefully) is Part One. :o)



OUR JOURNEY IN HOME EDUCATION


In 1993 I gave birth to our first baby. I was surprised at how protective I felt about this beautiful little boy. I didn't want him to be away from me, which sometimes made me feel a little trapped, but as time went on I learned to enjoy this new relationship.

By the time our baby was 1 year old I was advised to look ahead and consider putting his name down at a pre-school. I felt a little ill thinking about it. Why should someone else have my baby for hours a day – watching him grow and change, playing with him, teaching him and interacting with him?

And then I heard about home education – or homeschooling. I was filled with excitement about it! Who could I talk to? What did I need to do? There were so many questions.

I got a phone number of a lady who was homeschooling her 13 year old son and spoke to her. She put me on to someone else. Eventually I visited that family as I was intensely curious as to HOW you could do this wonderful thing – and what sort of children would it produce?

Our visit was WONDERFUL. The children were respectful and polite, and talked to me in a relaxed manner about the bulbs they had planted in the garden. The mother was warm and friendly.

I was filled with hope, excitement and encouragement.

But as time went on, and many of my friends were taking the “traditional” route of pre-school, playcentre etc I felt bad that maybe our boys (we had two by this stage 2 and 4 years old) were missing out on “something” by not attending pre-school or kindy. So I gathered courage and visited a playcentre session one day, and a kindy another day. I didn't like it, but I kept my feelings to myself (which I thought was the right thing to do) and watched the reactions of our oldest son.

He was overwhelmed by the noise and activity level. His usual ability to concentrate and enjoy a task was gone – he was frustrated by having to deal with the behaviour of the other children. We were all so relieved to go back home and pick up where we left off that morning – reading, playing, being together.



Check in later for Part Two.

Blessings
The Mummalady

ACTIVITIES FOR SMALL CHILDREN

When I ran my Notebooking etc session last year I showed the ladies a list of activities that I had written out that our small children enjoy.

The beauty of a written list is that it can be posted up where you can see it regularly (usually the kitchen!), and it reminds you what resources you have, and what they enjoy doing.

I encouraged the ladies to go through their house and write a list of all their toys, resources and various games the children enjoy and make their own lists.

The ladies asked me if my list was on my blog, and it wasn't!! So here it is. As requested :o)

If you are wanting to collect good resources for your children I would suggest you look at this list as we've been working on it for about 14 years now, and we don't like faddish, junky or nasty toys or resources.

Just a note there on the subject of presents for children: if someone gives your child a present that goes against your family's values (i.e., it is nasty, evil-looking, encourages ungodly role-playing etc) please do not feel you have to keep it.

Have a go at using this as a springboard to make your own lists!

And please let me know what toys or resources YOUR family enjoy that could be included in a future list.



ACTIVITIES FOR SMALL CHILDREN

cars (Matchbox, Siku or similar) line them up, sort according to colour, type etc or make garage or carpark out of wooden blocks
wooden train set
pop-up tent inside or out
wooden blocks (on own, or with cars, tractors, animals etc)
wooden castle
duplo
drawing & colouring
dolls
pretend washing up outside
biking outside
making cardboard oven
cooking set
walking
painting
blackboard
whiteboard
board games (played any old how)
cleaning
shaving cream on a tray (a variation: a few drops of food colouring, then put paper over to make print)
piano (or other sturdy instrument!)
icing biscuits
sand or rice tray
dressing up box
camping under a tree
sand tray minature scene
reading
doctors
real cooking – pikelets etc
play “be a (stick, tree, cow)”
Tikes Peak set
teddy picnic
hidey hut made of sheets
real washing up
container of buttons to sort
cornflour and water gloop
cotton reels
bean and pasta pictures
threading chunky beads
magnifying glass
going for a run
play dough
follow-the-leader
tasting things game (Mummy puts small pieces of food on plate and blindfolds child)
card making
rocks, pebbles or clean shells you have collected – line them up, sort them according to colour, size, shape, make a road for cars to drive along ...
collect empty food containers and play shops
make stories on tapes
listen to stories on tapes
tidying clothes
looking at photos
playing libraries
communication Lego game
Counting Bears
pirate treasure
tickling
free play outside
farm animals
pressing flowers
marble roller set
dominoes
pretend bus ride with chairs
tennis or badminton
sewing cards
croquet
brush the dog
sweeping outside
sorting out old toys
phoning Nana
making paper snowflakes
blowing bubbles
dictating then illustrating a story
“painting” the deck and furniture with water
hunt the “thimble” (or teddy or cup)
playing with maths blocks
colour i-spy
have a bath
Peggy board
pegs in a bucket
B.O.P.s board
wrapping small boxes – pretend parcels
musical cushions – one cushion per child
matching games
making iceblocks/frozen bananas
homemade playdough
Fisher Price Loving Family dolls and wooden blocks



Blessings
The Mummalady

ANOTHER LINK?!

Just added a new link.

How could I have forgotten this one?!

Homeschool Freebie of the Day

If you become a member (free) of this site you receive a weekly email with details of free downloads that become available during the week.

Definitely worth looking at!

This week we have downloaded some free Nature study e-books, and an audio.

Let me know if you find it beneficial. :o)

Have a great weekend.

Blessings
The Mummalady

PLAY DOUGH

If you wanted a nice big batch of playdough for your children to play with I would suggest that you don't Google "play dough".

That's far too hard, and there are far too many recipes that don't work out there!

So, for your convenience and your children's pleasure here is an absolutely fantastic recipe for playdough.

In a LARGE bowl put

4C flour (just buy cheap supermarket flour - don't use your good organic stone-ground flour!)
1C salt (once again, cheap salt, not good Himalayan Rock Salt!)
6 Tablespoons of oil (any old food-grade oil, not Mummy's good Rice Bran Oil or Olive Oil!)
4 Tablespoons of Cream of Tartar
4 C boiling water

Using a super-dooper wooden spoon or spatula combine till all is mixed through and you have a nice consistency.

I find it best to roll it out thinly, or break up into little pieces to help it cool down quickly, as often we have little people here waiting to play with it as soon as it is ready!

You can add one colour of food colouring to the whole lot, or separate up and add different colours.

This recipe is safe enough so you don't have to worry about the bits that fall on the floor and end up in the puppy's mouth.

Before your children start playing with it, put a little aside into a container, or ziplock bag to give as a gift to a friend. :o)

Have fun!

Blessings
The Mummalady

P.S. The photograph above is from this website with some nice ideas.

NEW ADDED LINKS

Hi there People

:o)


Have just spent 20 minutes adding our favourite links to the sidebar of this blog.

Whilst I really don't want to clutter the blog I have realised how important it is to have links.

So here are some for you to check out.

Please let me know if they don't work, or if any of them are wrong.

Thank you!

Blessings
The Mummalady

BEING "OPEN-MINDED"

Now there's a funny concept.

That of being "open-minded".

The athiest who believes there is no God. Is that "open-minded"?

The parent who is caught up in the trends and ways of the world - who sees their child hurting and being damaged by the "system", but thinks it's the only way to go. Is that "open-minded"?

The evolutionist who will not sway from the fact that the world was created from nothing, by nothing. "Open-minded"?

All this came up because I sometimes do book reviews for our local newspaper.

The book reviewing man contacted me last week and asked if I would be interesting in reviewing a book about raising teens. The subtitle of the book was "S*x, drugs and homework."

With our family's views on all three of these subjects (no dating, no drugs and no homework - well, with home education there is no need for what the world calls "homework") I had a feeling that the book might be something I would struggle with reading.

I emailed him back - thanking him for thinking of me, but said that I probably wouldn't be able to give this book a good review, and maybe he would be better to get someone else to do it.

His reply "Yes, it might be best to get someone a little more "open-minded" to review it."

I laughed.

I don't mind being labelled by those who don't understand. :o)

One day I might have the chance to talk to him about it, but until then I'll leave it with the Lord.

And in case any of you are wondering about the "No dating" thing, here is a message by S M Davis (scroll down the page to the message called "davisseven.mp3") which might help to explain why we have arrived at this decision for our children. This is one message we have listened to, along with other wise counsel on this subject which made terrific sense to us!

Blessings
The Mummalady

BLESSING OTHERS

Hi there increasing list of followers and other dropper-inners!


My daughter and I love to make cards. We also love to send those cards to people, with a few lines written in them, to let people know we are thinking of them, or to thank them for something.

Very special if we can include a piece of scripture too.

If you would like to be part of this exciting ministry here's what you will require:

Some cards
A pen
Some envelopes
Some stamps

If you would like to MAKE your own cards I encourage you greatly!

You might like to increase your supplies to

Blank cards
corrugated cardboard
craft punches
glue sticks
fancy papers
sparkly sticky-on things

etc etc etc



Making cards is a beautiful hobby because you have fun making something, and then you bless someone when you send it to them

However: when we've been out shopping for our craft supplies we have noticed that scrapbooking and cardmaking is one of those lovely hobbies that can become an IDOL.

NO! I hear you say.

Surely an Idol is an image/statue that people bow down to.

Yes.

Also:

Webster's 1828 Dictionary says this among others things:

"Any thing on which we set our affections; that to which we indulge an excessive and sinful attachment."

That would leave people open to their own opinions about exactly what "excessive" and "sinful" means, but to me I think along the lines of "Is this thing I am doing helping me to move closer to God, or getting in the way of me serving God?"

I would also ask myself "If I had to give this thing up would I pout, complain and feel sorry for myself - would I say "NO I WILL NOT GIVE IT UP!" ????

I am comforted by the fact that our cardmaking has not taken over our lounge/house/lives; it is not a financial drain; we can pass craft shops without buying "just one more punch"; we do not pour over craft magazines with a desire to purchase every item shown in the advertisements; and it remains a lovely little hobby that we have fun with, and bless others.

Blessings
The Mummalady

THE BUS

She is ready for sale!

Drop us a comment if you'd like to buy her.

1980 J2 Bedford

4-berth, no HT licence required - drive on a car licence. Great for a lady to drive as not too difficult. I have even parked her in supermarket carparks!!!!!!!!!!

Fresh new Certificate of Fitness and registration.

Super little bus!

$19,500 ono.

Bye for now!

The Mummalady

PRINTABLES SITE

I have just spent half an hour saving and printing some lovely free printables from this website

A friend emailed me the link this morning wondering if it was the sort of thing we enjoyed - and it sure is!

I like having the printables on my desktop in a file called "Notebooking pages" so I can look through them during the year and print out what might be fun for someone to use.

Already I have a darling little 4 year old sitting at his desk writing a story (going over the top of my writing which he dictated me to) about a man standing in a field watching a ladybird. He has drawn the picture and is very pleased with his work.

Just thought I would share. :o)


Blessings
The Mummalady