Next Saturday's seminar and curriculum fair is shaping up to be a HUGE event!

Download the Information Pack here:
http://homeschoolaustralia.com/registrationpack.pdf 

We have a packed workshop program including:
Anna Hackett talking on Charlotte Mason homeschooling;
Beverley Paine on her favourite subject, natural learning;
Linda Maher will help people find the curriculum that's right for their family, as well as talk about Classical Education in a different workshop;
Michelle Ross, whose youngest child is 15, and who has experience with Steiner schooling and homeschooling, shares her experiences;
Vanessa Whittaker has prepared an amazing three workshops - Educating Children with Special Needs, Using Distance Education, as well as using Unit Studies;
Susan Priolo, who many will know from her insightful and practical posts on the Aussie Homeschool Classifieds forum will talk about integrating faith and Christian values with her workshop on Bible-based/Discipleship and Identity Directed homeschooling.  
and we're sure Robin Paine's workshop called "How to be a Homeschooling Father and Live to Tell the Tale" will be a hit with the dads, and possibly a few mums too!

That's just the morning!

For $10 a family (plus $2 for non-HEA members to cover the insurance) you also get access to over a dozen educational and homeschooling suppliers who will fill the hall with a variety of resources. This 'under the one roof' opportunity to browse and see what is available - as well as to talk to the experienced home educators who own most of these businesses present - is a great way to save you money on curriculum!

More more information visit:
http://homeschoolaustralia.com/registrationpack.pdf

Saturday May 17th 8.30am to 5.30pm at the Deaf SA Centre, 262 South Terrace, Adelaide

And... in the afternoon the information continues to flow with two question and answer sessions! This will be a chance to learn about the education legislation review happening right now and your opportunity to tell the government what you think about home education...

This event is put on by members of the SA Branch of the Home Education Association of Australia. If you'd like to help be involved with planning future activities and resource days we'd love to have you on board as members! Talk to Beverley or Marina at the seminar about our exciting plans for the rest of the year...  :-) 

For information

• email Beverley contact@beverleypaine.com or phone 0424789582 or 85583212 for more information
• email Linda adnilpress@ozemail.com or phone or phone 86586019
• email Marina marina@wrightfamily.com.au

Do you know about the Exploring Approaches to Homeschooling Seminar and Curriculum Fair?

I am helping to put together this exciting event for homeschooling families with two other mums. It is a huge undertaking - much bigger than we first envisaged!

There are going to be workshops where experienced home educators will talk about the different approaches to homeschooling - Charlotte Mason, Classical Education, Unschooling and Natural Learning, using a Steiner influence approach, Bible-based and Discipleship, Identity Directed homeschooling and more! There are so many different ways a family can approach education at home - and most can be tweaked to suit the individual needs of families or children. That's what I love most about homeschooling!

In addition to the workshop program we're organising two afternoon panel sessions - one to answer any questions that you missed asking during the morning sessions about the different approaches used by homeschooling families, and the second will look at educational legislative reform in South Australia and give the opportunity to ask any general questions about getting started or registering as a homeschooler.

But that's not all! We are organising a section with displays called 'Homeschooling At Our Place' - a peek into the lives of how families go about homeschooling. I'm sure this is going to demonstrate just how diverse homeschooling can be and will illustrate the morning workshops wonderfully!

If you thought all that was worth paying the $10 family entry ($12 for non-HEA members, as the event is organised by the SA branch of the Home Education Association which offers insurance cover) - we are also holding a Curriculum Fair!

With over a dozen educational and homeschool suppliers the Curriculum Fair has a huge array of resources, from educational games and toys to text and student books for every subject to suit all age groups. And if you are looking for a bargain, we've even planned a shared second-hand stall. So if you'd like to recycle your educational resources and books, why not bring them along and swap or sell them at the Currriculum Fair.

So, when is all this happening? You won't have to wait long!

Saturday, May 17th from 8.30 am to 5.30pm at the DeafSA Centre, 262 South Terrace, Adelaide.

 

Please arrive early so we can start on time at 9.00 am!

 

© Danielle, 2008

Hi there, my name is Danielle. I have Lilly (5) Ocean (4) and Charlie (1). We are homeschooling in Maleny QLD. I wanted to join other groups around Australia as we plan to travel soon. Just a quick note about another Yahoo Group I discovered for home schoolers called Flat Travelers.

We read the book Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown (available at the library)before getting started and that provided a good introduction for the kids.

Basically though, the story goes that a cork board falls on a little boy while he is sleeping and he wakes up flat. (Okay it is an old story, don't freak out) He finds all the positives about being flat and one of them is that he can travel to different places in an envelope!

So here's the thing - Lilly, Ocean and I made some Flat Travelers and have been sending them all over America and the UK. We have also hosted some Flat Travelers. It's really fun!

We have used photographs and small colour ins but you can use your imagination. Put your name and address on the back and laminate or cover with contact. This is your Flat Traveler! I have seen all sorts of different travelers; fairies, animals, dragons, photos of families, cartoons and even a Flat Steve Irwin!

I include a small journal (just 2 page thickness of standard copy paper) or a mock passport or sometimes just a page of questions for the host family. You can also send information about your country and family etc.

This is a fantastic geography, literacy, socialization activity! And obviously heaps more. It is great for children at all different levels as you can modify the learning opportunity to suit. At first we just used it as a colouring in activity. The trip to the post office was fun, there's cutting and laminating to do as well. Children can write or at least create their own journal, think about appropriate questions and what to include... On a more advanced level you could use it as a tool for researching other cultures, countries and geographical locations to a reasonably in depth level. It would certainly be a great starting point anyway.

One mum wrote to me asking for Australian recipes, slang words, export/import information, maps and heaps more. She also said that she uses it to explain the timezone difference and the change in seasons. It is much easier if she can say , "Well Lilly and Ocean are asleep now."

If you use your imagination this activity is just so cool! We are only just getting started on it and the scope is massive, right from calculating postage costs to discovering what a capital city is... And of course designing a personality for your Flat Travelers.

We currently have 20 out there and 6 at our house. We are in the process of making large poster maps that plot the courses of our Flats and all the places we have visited and families we have met.. We have compiled an address book and expanding file containing all the information and souvenirs.

We took our hosted Flats on the Valley Rattler and I feel like I'm in holiday mode all the time now with my snap shots and souvenirs.

Oh yes, some families will send back to you packages of goodies, but don't expect it as it is not a requirement. Many people also send their holiday photos by disc.

I have also found it has widened my eyes to the learning opportunities around us. I am always looking for interesting historical, geographical information etc for the Flats and this benefits the kids too.

So if you are like me and temporarily or even permanently grounded (
but secretly a backpacker trapped in a mother body) then visit;
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/flat_travelers_homeschool/ and get traveling - there is no excuses!

Love and light,
Danielle, Lilly, Ocean and Charlie!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Flat Stanley Project is an international literacy and communications activity for primary and junior students, teachers and families. There are now over 1000 classes around the world participating and thousands of homeschooling families are sending Flat Stanleys all over the world! It's become a popular way of teaching and encouraging an interest in geography and international studies as well literacy.

The Official Flat Stanley Project website is full of stories and pictures about Flat Stanley's amazing journeys, as well as ways to enhance the educational experience for Stanley and the children he visits.
The Project began in 1995, Dale Hubert, by a Grade 3 teacher in London, Ontario, Canada.

Please use student's first names only when corresponding, particularly over the internet.

Not sure how true this is as it's been circulating the internet for some years, but I'm taking it at face value. Few of us Aussies would pass the exam because it is USA-centric, but how many of us would pass if we substituted Australian place names and people? Our knowledge of our country and its history is woeful indeed. I would hazard a guess that many adults would find it hard to answer an equivalent question given in metric terms.

At the National Home Education Conference in 2007 John Taylor Gatto spoke convincingly of the dumbing down of American education and how even simple farming folk were educated to a reasonable level that is often not attained in contemporary schools. Australia's John Peacok, author of the Why and How of Home Education in Australia, wrote about the high value placed on education by pioneering families, based on the need to survive and thrive in a harsh, unforgiving environment. One just has to dip into the study of history to see the evidence of a quality, largely home based, education system at work in past centuries.

Just another reminder of how far our education system has come...

The following is a copy of the final exam for 1895 8th grade students in Salina, Kansas, USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, Kansas, 1895:

Grammar (Time: one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph.
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of "Lie", "play" and "run".
5. Define case illustrate each case.
6. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time: 65 minutes)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 12ft deep, 10ft long and 3ft wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weights 3942lbs, what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050lbs for tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6720lbs coal at $6 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $515.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16ft long at $20 per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Cheque, a Promissory Note and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Time: 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which US History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the cause and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620,
1800, 1849 and 1865.

Geography (Time: one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centres of the U.S.
7. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
8. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean retunes to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

Note: this exam takes nearly four hours to complete and was given to 12-14 year olds.

© Beverley Paine, March 08

"My child is not year a year old and I'm planning on homeschooling her. What do I need to do to educate for myself to prepare for the journey. I've read I can on parenting and homeschooling but am beginning to feel the need for a education degree or diploma to help stave off any doubters who challenged our reasoning."

Naturally my first (not so modest!) suggestion would be to read anything by me. Take a look at my Always Learning Books website - you might want to purchase my FAQ booklet and my Overcoming Objections booklet for starters. The second one is good for tips on what to say to those doubters.

You won't need to consider my getting started book as it's a manual for how to write your own curriculum, but the language series of booklets might be useful and will help you to realise just how easy teaching your children at home is going to be.

Learning in the Absence of Education is one book that doesn't sell well (unfortunate title - my then ten year old son suggested it because he felt it described learning at home!), but the feedback I get is very positive. The essays help to empower people to realise that what they are already doing is generally enough, and that it's okay to not keep up with schools or teach like teachers, etc.

I also suggest that you begin your education in the library. I spent a lot of time in the pyschology section looking up accelerated learning, not because I'm into that, but because it is where you'll find the scientific evidence that backs the concepts of learning styles and how learning actually happens, how people learn, and how best to faciliate that proces. Plus there is usually a lot of information on early child development.

Next, research different educational philosophies: Rudolf Steiner, Charlotte Mason, John Holt, Maria Montessori. All old hat now, but the school system is built on their ideas. It's all good sensible stuff (perverted by schools because schools are not really about education, they are about management of populations).

In the meantime, don't educate your child, PLAY with him, and involve him in your life. OBSERVE him. Learn who he is, what he likes, what he dislikes, what his strengths and limitations are. What turns him on and what turns him off. Really get to know this little person. That's the bulk of your homeschooling preparation education process.

Lastly, begin to hang out with homeschooling parents. If you want you can start a playgroup for families with young children who are either homeschooling already or intend to homeschool. Go to any activities or events planned for homeschoolers in your area. Even if they are planned for older children, you'll find the information you glean from the other parents invaluable in boosting and maintaining your confidence in your educational choice.

© Beverley Paine, http://homeschoolaustralia.com

Yesterday I read part of the Level 1 Victorian Essential Learning Standards, a .pdf document that I had downloaded a couple of years ago. I've always made a point of reading school curricula – it helps to know what schools are thinking about how learning happens. I'm not overly impressed by this document, but I was heartened to see the glossary – always a good idea in any document of
this nature. As a fun exercise I went through the glossary and translated the jargon.

Jargon is all around us. The jargon we are most exposed to and probably notice the least is the jargon of advertising. It is always a interesting and
awareness-raising exercise to identify and translate advertising jargon with children, especially during the ad breaks while watching television. Analysing the words used in magazine or newspaper advertising, and then looking for these in the news items, is another way to see how our thoughts, actions and beliefs are cleverly manipulated by the media.

• product: output of human activity in form of an artefact
• technological product: artefact created to meet an identified need or want
• sensory perception: seeing, hearing, feeling, touching, smelling...
  that is, experiencing life via the senses
• technological process/technique: human activity (eg cutting, digging, shaping, usually carried out using tools)
• skills, techniques and processes: ways and methods of using and
  handling just about anything
• manipulate: handle
• realise ideas/goals/effects/outcomes: achieve
• outcome: result, usually expressed as a desired result (goal)
• objective: what we hope to achieve
• range of processes: use various methods
• document: write, tape, film, take photos, etc what happened
• multimedia resources: anything that includes words, images and sound; eg DVDs, internet, computer programs
• media: can be anything one uses to create something as well as the way information is conveyed to others. Arts media - paper, canvas, paints, body (eg dance), clay, etc. Information media - books, television, internet, newspapers, etc.
• investigations: opportunity to think up and ask questions and then
  work out ways to answer them
• materials: anything that can be used to make into something else
• information product: something that tells/shows others what you know
  using computerised technology
• graphic/visual organiser: a way of showing on paper how different
  parts relate to each other or link together - map, flowchart, graph,
  time-line, etc.
• design brief: a statement that tells why, how, where, when and just
  about anything else that is necessary to help solve a problem.
• design: a map that shows how we transform ideas into action and
  results/products.

Someone once said to me, “ Work is not “work.” It's the main part of living.” I liked to look at work another way: we play at working and we work at playing. As my children grew I encouraged them to consider work not as a chore, but as something that helps build meaning into their lives. The word chore is laden with emotion for most of us, but there's no way we can hide from the daily work that is aptly described as ‘chores'.

A homeschooling parent will quickly burn out if he or she doesn't learn to delegate work throughout the day. We consider that all the participants in our home life are responsible for the chores: this helps to spread the load. Although we take the lion's share the children have always been involved, and this has resulted in a more equal sharing as they have grown into adolescence without a lot of the pain experienced by many other families.

When asking the children to help I am careful to work with them, modelling the behaviour, attitudes and actions I want them to adopt. Years of experience has taught me to start off small, with short tasks when the children were little, and to be there, supervising, even when they became older, rather than letting them just get on with it themselves.

A tip to remember when involving the children in the household chores is to allow extra time. This isn't something to implement if you are stressed or in a hurry. We all know it's quicker and easier to mop the floor if we do it ourselves. Throw out that old adage “If you want a job done well, do it yourself” and be prepared to put up with less exacting results! Remember that the purpose of asking children to do chores isn't to make our lives easier but to help prepare them for adult life. Create a schedule and use the list of chores you can find on my permaculture or homeschool websites as a guide if it helps. Make doing chores a priority each day. They are as important as any other part of the children's homeschool curriculum.

Chores lend themselves perfectly towards achieving your long term home education goals. We all want our children to manage their home life once they leave home. Household chores are the foundational learning upon which this ability is built. Serving others is an essential element of a happy, fulfilled social life. By doing chores your children serve not only you and the other members of the family, but also themselves: they learn to live cooperatively within a community built on respectful relationships. Becoming a responsible adult is one of the most important goals of education. Attending to personal chores helps develop self-esteem. It's difficult to look after the needs of others if you can't identify or look after your own.

The list of chores you can find on either my permaculture or homeschool websites is a great place to start when thinking about the different areas of the curriculum naturally covered by chores.

Develop team-work to get things done; this encourages co-operation, dependability and responsibility. Involving the children in what you are doing is a good way to get started. Young children love to help wash dishes, do laundry, cook and clean, but never alone! Teach your children how to work well by talking about what you are doing, how to do it, tips on doing it more efficiently, and why it needs to be done in the first place. This is a great opportunity to build vocabulary and encourage technological skills and understanding. Cross-curriculum learning at its best!

Another timeless wisdom I took heed of was; “Never do for a child what he is capable of doing for himself”. This can be started very early, even before children begin walking. “Let me do it myself!” are words you want to hear as often as possible every day! Children are highly motivated to be self-reliant. With patience, understanding and close supervision, ready to step in and help if required or asked, is all we need to offer.

If the child wants to do something beyond his ability, instead of discouraging him (worrying that she might break something or herself) brainstorm with her how to overcome any obstacles that make the task difficult or complex, or work together. Model how to do the hard or dangerous parts safely. Children learn in leaps and bounds with close supervision as little apprentices!

There are many areas in which you are competent that the children can learn to do, and will enjoy doing if the responsibility is at first shared. Sometimes they will simply choose to watch, and as they grow confident ask to help you, or perhaps for instructions to do things for themselves.

Develop some ground rules based on each child's developmental level. Our daughter complained that her little brother didn't have to do as much as she had to, but we patiently explained that at his age she didn't have to either. However, don't underestimate your child's ability, or their desire to contribute. The trick is to make it easy and quick (not necessarily enjoyable or fun).

Help the children put away their toys and games: “If you got it out put it away afterwards” is a rule we see pinned to the fridge in many households. I've found it's never too late to get into this habit. Children find tidying up a tedious and endless task. I eventually learned that breaking the task into smaller, easier to manage chunks, and lending a helping hand, generally eliminated any whinging or procrastination.

We used open shelves for storage: this encouraged independence and made it easier for me to direct the children where to place items when tidying. Toys, games and educational materials were stored in clearly labelled trays and boxes. Before the children could read I used pictures as well as words, to help encourage independence. At around eleven years of age I found that the children naturally began organising their shelves in their bedroom, without help or prompting.

Learn to ask for help. I was ‘supermum' for too many years, and resented the fact that I never had help until one day I realised I hadn't actually told anyone I needed it! It's surprising how much the children want to be involved and included in our adults lives, especially if we show appreciation for their inexpert efforts. Coercion and bribes don't seem to work well at all. I found quietly asking “Can you help me do (name the task) please?” when my children weren't busy with an activity of their own often did the trick.

Remember to keep the task short and simple and don't ask for more than one thing at a time. Quite often I'll accept “no” for an answer – sometimes the children are busy or don't want to do that task. They might be happy to help out in another way, so don't give up. I remember all the times I've let my children down when they've asked me for ‘just another push on the swing'… Life is full of give and take. The cheerful cooperation this approach has generated in my children still stuns visitors and relatives!

Encourage the children to take care of their clothes. Ask the children to strip their beds on washing day and to always put their dirty clothes in the washing basket. We found it easier if the children undressed each night in the bathroom, where we kept the washing basket. Children as young as five, or even earlier, can take on the responsibility of stripping and making their bed, if gently reminded and offered a helping hand. I asked them to help me hang out and bring in the washing every wash day and found that by the age of ten they were happy to do this chore by themselves, although we often enjoyed doing it together throughout their teen years.
We're one of those families that come together for one main meal a day, usually dinner. We each get our own breakfast and lunch, eating what we want when we're hungry. More often than not we still eat together but the responsibility for choosing and making those meals lies with the individual. This meant I needed to make sure the pantry was stocked with nutritious and appropriate choices at all times. I began this when April, my eldest, was a tot, with abundant finger food, fruit and nutritious snacks readily available on the breakfast bar or dining room table. When the children were doing bookwork and projects they could munch and drink whenever they felt the need. There was always a jug of water on the table in our house. The only rule I enforced was ‘no sweets an hour before dinner', and if they didn't like what was on offer they had to browse for something nutritious to replace it. Needless to say as adults my three are all adept at cooking up yummy meals for themselves!

Nurture a sense of family ‘togetherness' while cooking the main meal and doing the dishes. I hated doing the dishes as a child, mostly because it was a ‘chore', usually accompanied by much bickering and fighting with my siblings. We largely avoided this problem, by inviting the children to help us without insisting. Meal preparation has always been a family affair and the children enjoyed helping out each night. We seemed to chat more as we make the meal than we do sitting at the table eating it. It's a being together time that we all cherished. When chores become opportunities to have meaningful time with someone you love the dreariness often disappears.

Use the list of chores you can find on my permaculture or homeschool websites to create your own Chore Chart. You can make laminated ones to pop on the fridge for each child, with chores appropriate to their individual developmental stages and abilities. Another idea which I thought would work well with younger children is to create a set of Chore Cards with pictures and captions. On the flip side could be a list of steps to follow, once again in pictorial form for younger children. You could select a handful of suitable cards and let your children ‘draw a chore'.

We rarely used incentives to encourage the children to complete chores. Sometimes we'd delay them from doing something they wanted to do until the chores were done, but never as punishment. We didn't want our children to grow up thinking that taking care of themselves, their property or helping others was an unpleasant part of life! Old habits die hard and we often fell into patterns of conditioning that we grew up with, and this inconsistency often created problems which we then needed to fix, usually through family conversations about the need and place of chores in our lives.

I've always been amazed at what young children are capable of in a supportive and encouraging environment, where help is always at hand and offered freely. The results speak for themselves. I can't count how many times people have remarked on my children's willingness to help or lend a hand, to work unsupervised, often without reminders. By involving the children in doing chores in a way that didn't turn them into chores , helped develop a strong work ethic that their employers now value.

I feel the need, due the actions of a home educator who appears intent on linking my name to the support of child abuse, and who has denied me the opportunity to make a clarifying statement by removing a brief comment I added to an entry on a blog entry yesterday (not on Minti), to make the following statement:

Beverley Paine is committed to supporting home educating parents who practice non-violent and attachment parenting.

Since 1989 she has worked towards the goal of the establishment of consistent and transparent guidelines and regulations for the provision of home education, including being a member of a legislative review panel considering home schooling in South Australia.

Her approach is inclusive and seeks to build bridges between disparate groups.

Her desire is to help families grow towards enlightened parenting and educational practices that respect and honour the individual learning and developmental needs of all children.

She has worked with teachers and bureaucrats in schools for improvements in school education as well as with teachers, bureaucrats and home educators for improvements in the provision of home education.

reported by a homeschooling parent this week...

Sometimes I just can't be bothered to get into a discussion about homeschooling with members of the public... conversation in op shop this week:

Assistant: Not at school?
Maisie: We're home-schooled.
Assistant: Oh, where do you do that?

As a child I loved playing energetic games with my siblings and neighbours after school - especially on those long summer nights. I remember playing chase games, 'what's the time Mr Wolf', 'all over red rover', four square and more. We had some great rhymes to help pick whoever was 'it' or went first, such as: 'Eany, meany, maca, raca, Red rose, doma naca, Ali Baba, suva naca, Rum, tum, toosh.'

When my children had a stint at primary school (over a decade ago now), such games were noticeably absent from the playground. A few children doggedly played basketball, or footy on the oval, but no one seemed to know the games I remembered fondly from my childhood. 

It’s through playing games children learn to share and take turns, work and play together in constructive and sociable ways. To the children, of course, it’s all about having fun! The health benefits of playing energetic games together are obvious.

A couple of years ago I brought together a collection of some of my favourite games from childhood, plus the ones my children had played when young and published them as a booklet for homeschoolers. I'm sure there are lots of new games created by children since my childhood.

What kind of games do your children like to play outside with each other and their friends, or at homeschool gatherings? Are those skipping songs and rhymes still popular, or have new ones been created? Do children still play the types of games we played as children?

As the evenings get longer why not gather a few children together, plan a picnic meal in the park or on the beach and play a few boisterous games - old fashioned or new fashioned! As I've outlined in my booklet, such games bring a wealth of learning to our children's lives.

wishing you good health, peace and prosperity,
Beverley Paine
http://www.homeschoolaustralia.com
http://www.alwayslearningbooks.com.au
http://www.australianhomeschoolcurriculum.com

"Natural learning builds on curiosity, stimulating children to actively explore their world. Parents become managers and mentors helping their children learn from everyday experiences and finding people and resources in the community that will provide answers and take them that further step..." John Peacock