We Wish You A Merry Christmas

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Have Yourself A Radiant Homeschooling Year

As the year comes to an end most of us are moving our thoughts to next year.

Wondering what it will bring, where it will take us and our children.

Will the year ahead provide an abundance of learning opportunities that we embrace with open arms

or will it be a year of stagnation?

During 2016 I will enter my 10th year of educating my children at home. Ten years, did I even just say that Oh M Gee!

We've had so many wonderful, amazing experiences and opportunities during that time. I know how blessed we truly are and I am thankful for that every single day.

There have however also been times of stagnation, times of darkness, times where everything seems as though it is just all too hard and truly regular school would be a good option.

Thankfully we've made it through those times relatively unscathed and have lived to tell the tale. But there is one thing I have learned through all of the ups and downs and that is the importance of taking care of me.

It needs to be number one on my list, oh yes it does. Without that I am simply unable to serve my family and those around me. If my cup is empty then I cannot possibly be a filler of someone else's cup.

I've met a lot of amazing people in our journey over the past years also, some have become my best friends in the entire world, some are friendships that have moved on, some are acquaintances that we mingle with here and there and others are newer friendships that we are building and growing slowly. Whilst others are purely online interactions.

However the one common thread I see through all of these amazing women, is that of wanting to provide the best possible education and home life for their children. Let's face it we all want that for our family!

But at what cost?

Are we running ourselves into the ground to provide this for our children? Are we here sitting silently suffering depression to provide this for our children? Do we battle with ourselves every day to provide this for our children?

I fear that for many of us we do. I hear it in your whispers when we chat. I see it in your eyes  and I can feel it in your hearts. Anyone that knows me personally knows that I am a pretty open person. I am more than happy to chat candidly about our experiences with educating at home. I'm O.K with being vulnerable and for people to see the real me.

In return for my vulnerability I offer a safe place for stories to be shared and told. I am always amazed at the truly generous blessing that I receive again and again of homeschool mums opening up and sharing their stories with me. I don't take that lightly. It is an honor I know.

With each conversation I feel more and more strongly that we need to find more ways to be filling our cups. To be truly connecting with each other in open and honest communications.

I have tossed around so many ideas over the past couple of years on ways in which I can assist in this in some way, my heart continues to pull me into places of service to the community; whilst being aware that whatever it is I am contributing that it isn't emptying my own cup in the process. It's kind of like walking a tightrope at times.

Just a couple of weeks ago I had the thought that not only should I be making plans for the home educating year ahead but that I should also take some time to reflect on the year that has passed.

I am sure that the vast majority of us do this and we do it regularly but how many of us carve out some time purely for reflecting on where we are at with this whole educating our kids at home thing?

So I have put together a little self reflection journal of sorts to help me to truly focus and to get the best out of my reflection time.

The journal is thirty pages long and I would love to share it with you if you think it may be something you would benefit from.

The early pages of the journal are a time for reflecting. It may take more than one attempt to complete these pages, just take your time with them.

Then we move on to forward planning with just a little bit of dreaming thrown for good measure.

As we progress through the journal we come to pages where we can work on things that are really important to us and our home school.

Finally the journal wraps up with goal setting and monthly reflection pages to ensure all of the glorious hard work you did in the early pages of the journal doesn't go to waste.

Get Your FREE Copy!

This is my FREE Gift to you. My wish is that as many home educating mumma's have to access to this as possible so please send any friends you can think of that may benefit from this over here to the blog so they can grab a copy too. All you need to do for your copy is to register for our Newsletter.

We will never spam you and send you truckloads of emails. We will always keep your email address private.

Once you have subscribed and confirmed your subscription you will receive a final email with the download link. Subscribe now for your copy of My Radiant Home Educating Year by clicking here.

Happy Home Educating,
Kylie

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15 Christmas Activities ~ Week 3 Link Up

For the weekly Christmas Fun post this week I thought I would round up a portion of the crafts, activities and printables that I have here on the blog.

It's been so much looking back over the years, seeing how tee kids have grown.

A few years back we dug out the dried pasta, gold spray paint and a few old decorations to put together this little Pasta Christmas Wreath Craft.

This was super fun and we still have them in our box of decorations that gets pulled out every year. To see how we put the Pasta Christmas Wreaths together visit this link.

We all love having photo's of our kids around at Christmas and with these we wanted them specifically for the tree. So little Christmas Tree Photo Frames were the order of the day.

Simple to put together and each year we revisit the memories these photo's invoke. To see how we put together the Hanging Christmas Tree Photo Frames visit this link.

These printable Montessori inspired vocabulary cards are great for younger kids to aid in learning Christmas vocabulary and also to help with spelling. This set includes 16 different cards.

You can download them here.

One year when the kids were attending a large gathering of home educated children they put together this delightful Calico Christmas Angel Craft. To see how they made her visit this link.

 
How about a fun edible craft, making mini Christmas Houses. We chose these over a larger group project that particular year.

This was just as fun and the best part, every one could do their own thing with their decorations. To see how we put together our Mini Christmas Gingerbread House visit this link.

Oh when I saw this post for these Candy Cane Reindeer it truly brought a smile to my face. Aren't they cutest most adorable little things you've seen.

To see how these are put together visit this link.

If you have little ones learning to count to 20 then this Christmas themed number sequence printable might just come in handy.

Download from here.

And whilst we're on the topic of reindeer a few little Christmas Peg Reindeer would rather cute on the tree don't you think?

To check out how to make these babies visit this post.

Have you ever put together a Pom Pom Christmas Tree Garland? Seriously this has got to be the most simple of all the crafts and if you choose the lovely sparkly pom poms they catch the light and look super pretty on the tree.

To see how we made out visit this post.

If your kids enjoy writing Letters To Santa you can find a few simple variations on this printable over here.

Do you have a pile of old magazines laying around the home? How about a spot of paper folding which will end in this rather cool looking Christmas Tree.

See how to make it here.

Learning carols this year? Looking for something to have available for guests at your Christmas gatherings when it's time to gather and sing?

Print off these Christmas carols here

There's surprisingly quite a lot you can do with the humble pine cone. Check out some of the creations we've done in the past at this link.

Colouring and stamping all in one activity. Grab these to print off here.

Younger children love a bit of detective work and these Christmas matchup cards are perfect for that. First they explore the close up image and wonder what it might be, then they proceed to match it to the image which shows the full photograph.

Download these here.

Your Turn

What Christmas fun activities have you had this week?

Be sure to share them in the link up below.

Have you grabbed a button to help spread the word about the Christmas Fun link up? You can do that here in the introductory post.

Did you miss week one of the link up? Go check that out and all of the fun links here. Week 2 of the link up can be found here.

Be sure to join in and follow along with Christmas Fun on Instagram with the hashtag #homeschoolchristmasfun


Want More Christmas Ideas?


If you are still on the lookout for even more ideas then be sure to visit my Christmas Pinterest Board, which now has over 400 Christmas related pins and is growing daily.

Follow Our Worldwide Classroom's board Seasonal: Christmas on Pinterest.

This Week's Feature

These torn paper Nutcrackers are simply delightful. Love it! Thank you so much for linking up to Christmas Fun 3 Giggle Girls At Home.

Add Your Links

I would love for you to link up your Christmas posts, both past and present. All family friendly Christmas posts welcome.

When linking up please choose another link or two to visit and comment on. Please also include the Christmas Fun Button in your blog post and/or your blog sidebar.

By linking up you give permission for me to pin your post to my Homeschool Christmas Fun Pinterest Group Board. If you would like to join our group board please let me know, we'd love to you have there.

You also give permission for me to feature your post in future Christmas Fun posts here on Our Worldwide Classroom.

Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie

9th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices 2016

Today I wanted to share with you what we have chosen to use as our base curriculum and resources for my 14 year old who is entering his 9th grade year.

I couldn't possibly fit pictures of everything into the collage image so please be sure to read through the full post for all of the details.

I must point out though that we DO NOT USE STANDARD GRADES in our homeschool. We simply meet each child where they are at and do the next thing. So please be aware that not everything on the list below is actually aimed at a 9th grader according to standard levels.

So without further ado here they are.

Morning Basket:

Family Read Alouds
Quick Daily Math

Math:
M.U. S Finish off Pre Algebra & Honors, then move to M.U.S Algebra I,
Khan Academy or Maths Is Fun as a supplement when needed or wanted
L.O.F Decimals & Percents (he is working on LOF work already covered in MUS but likes to use this as a review and a different way of working with already learned material)

Vocabulary:
Word Up by Compass Classroom
Supplemented with:
Vocab app by Mind Snacks
Interactive Vocabulary Notebook

Grammar:
I.E.W Fix It
Cover Story Writing Grammar Lessons

Writing:
Cover Story

Spelling:
Spelling You See

Literature:
Reed Novel Studies exact titles still to be chosen, These cover a wide range of language arts skills.

Science:
The Story of Science, Joy Hakim with workbook
Plus any units with co-op

History: Earlier this year we weren't sent a copy of Renaissance & Reformation from Homeschool In The Woods to complete and subsequently share our thoughts with you all. However, life simply got in the way this year and it just never happened. We did make a start and once we had everything planned out we seemed to enjoy the unit so I'm looking forward to moving forward this.

Geography: I've had the Visits To Series on my radar for a couple of years now. I like that it can be worked on independently, and that it covers mapping and the more cultural aspects of geography. So I figured this year was as good as any for us to give it a go. We are yet to decide on the exact book to start with but I'll leave that up to him.

He will continue to read through The Adventurous Mailbox books we have here.

We are also taking a family holiday to New Zealand in early 2016 which will provide many opportunities to delve deeper into all aspects of geography.

Art:
Artistic Pursuits
Classes with an Art teacher

Technology & Design
Safe Internet use
Mavis Beacon Typing Tutor
Robotics with a tutor
We are looking at Film Making and/or Photography with a tutor
Self Guided Exploration of Google Sketch Up

Health& PE:
Cooking & Home EC Skills
Body Awareness
Bike riding
Running around with friends
Swimming
Boogie Boarding
Bowling
Sailing
First Aid practice with SES Cadets
Just generally being as active as possible
Horse Riding during the winter months

Micro-School Learning

Once or twice a week, four times a year we meet with what I have coined our micro-school because in reality that is what it is. We only plan term by term but so far he will be completing a Science Unit (exact topic to be decided), continuing to work through Cover Story Writing and they will continue to work on their Artistic Pursuits program together.

Co-op Learning

Once a week in six week blocks, four times a year we will meet with our co-op group. This is a little more relaxed and we have a larger number of families that participate in this group, plus the families are fluid with not all of them coming along all year. Again we tend to only plan per term and so far we have scheduled Art classes, robotics and a book club for the high school group.

Other Extra Curricular Activities

Once again this year he will immerse himself with the Emergency Services Cadets program and Drama classes at the local theatre. He absolutely loves both of these and has gained so much from them, they are a very important part of his week.

He also plans to partake in various forms of work experience this year, and has just begun exploring the options of gaining part time employment, but we still need to do more research on both of those.

I can really feel the clock ticking for me, in just a few years the home ed journey with this guy will all be over. I am beginning to experience the gamut of emotions and at times all of them all at once LOL!!

I'll be sharing our choices for my other children over the coming weeks, be sure to keep an eye out for those posts.

Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie

Christmas Glass Etching ~ Week 2 Link Up

The kids recently had the opportunity to try their hand at glass etching during one of our local hardware store workshops.

I was pretty excited when we were told they were going to pull out the tools to give the kids a go at this. But I was also a little apprehensive about it all.

I've never used a tool like this and have never attempted to etch onto glass so I wasn't overly sure how successful this would be. I had visions of broken glasses everywhere!

Boy was I wrong! This is so much easier than I could have ever imagined and the kids had an absolute blast.

They were glued to that table the entire workshop. The most important skill needed here is a steady hand but I can see that the more you used the tools the better that would become.

The other great thing is that the tools themselves are not overly expensive and if you choose appropriately they will etch onto not only glass but also timber, metal and ceramic.

Christmas Gift idea here I come!! 

The finished glasses were tricky to photograph and this was made even more difficult by the fact that all edges of the glass have been etched so the images blend in with each other, but they look rather cool and turned out very well indeed.

Your Turn

What Christmas fun activities have you had this week?

Be sure to share them in the link up below.

Have you grabbed a button to help spread the word about the Christmas Fun link up? You can do that here in the introductory post.

Did you miss week one of the link up? Go check that out and all of the fun links here.

Be sure to join in and follow along with Christmas Fun on Instagram with the hashtag #homeschoolchristmasfun

Want More Christmas Ideas?

• Christmas Number Sequencing 

• Print and Colour Nativity 

• Peg Reindeer & Footprint Santa

If you are still on the lookout for even more ideas then be sure to visit my Christmas Pinterest Board, which has 100's of pins and is growing daily.

Follow Our Worldwide Classroom's board Seasonal: Christmas on Pinterest.

This Week's Feature

How cute is this little hand painted tree, done with sugar cubes. What a fun sensory activity for the kids. Thanks for linking this one up A Moment In Our World.

Add Your Links

I would love for you to link up your Christmas posts, both past and present. All family friendly Christmas posts welcome.

When linking up please choose another link or two to visit and comment on. Please also include the Christmas Fun Button in your blog post and/or your blog sidebar.

By linking up you give permission for me to pin your post to my Homeschool Christmas Fun Pinterest Group Board. If you would like to join our group board please let me know, we'd love to you have there.

You also give permission for me to feature your post in future Christmas Fun posts here on Our Worldwide Classroom.

Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie

It's OK To Be Ordinary Part 2

This is part two, if you missed the first part please go back and read part one. You can find it by clicking here.

I ended that post with the question, So what do we do then?

Well, I most certainly read and understand the different brands of homeschooling  and yes even try them out from time to time or at least parts of them but in the end I always come back to doing what works. At times some of what we've tried does work and some of those trials we still use in our home today.

Yes, I simply just do what works and continue to do what works until it stops working.

That is the absolute beauty of this thing we call homeschooling. We truly are captains of our ship, we absolutely choose which type of boat and which pieces of various boats we like best and want for us.

I fear so many of us get caught up in the doing of things the right way only to lose track of what is truly important....... our children, our family environment, our home life, our sanity and our connections with each other. Those are the things that matter the most not whether I can say that I am indeed doing nature study as Ms Mason instructed me to do so. Or that yes I am absolutely ensuring that I create an abundance of self service engaging activities for my children, as Maria Montessori recommends.

I often wonder if many of us fall into these prescribed brands of homeschooling out of fear. Fear that we aren't enough on our own, fear that if we don't follow a tribe we will be left out or in some way will harm our children. Fear that the 'Jones' family appears as though they have this wonderous thing going on that I want for my family and so I really must do what they appear to be doing.

Fear, when we allow it to take hold, is suffocating. It's back breaking, wall building, anxiety increasing, heart breaking. We must allow ourselves to break free from that fear and to truly choose the best options for us, our children and our family unit.

Now there are elements of all of those things I have listed that we do indeed undertake here in our home, because they work for us, but we do them in a way that does indeed work for us. If you have found a prescribed way of doing something and found that it works for your family then that is truly wonderful, it really is and I am so happy that you have found your comfortable place.

But if you have tried a myriad of prescribed 'brands' of do this and do that and nothing really seems to fit perfectly. If you find your self doing bits and pieces of  everything out there. If you are what I call an, ordinary everyday homeschooler, just like me then take heart because you are not alone. I know that there are so many of you out there that are most likely right this very moment trying your hardest to fit in to that perfect group of homeschoolers that appear to fit that perfect homeschooling brand.

I want to let you know that it truly is ok to simply let it go.

All of it, just let it go.

Take the time to look at what you are doing on a daily basis, is it bringing joy to your homeschool day, that is to both you and your children? Or is it simply another draining exercise that you must tick off the list because it is part of your desired homeschool brand?

You can do this without the 'must have homeschoolong brand' truly you can! You don't need to align yourself with any of these must have notions.

It really is ok to simply be an ordinary everyday homeschooler.

Let's support one another with this ordinary everyday homeschooler thing. If this is you? If you simply do your thing or if you are striving to get to that place where you are comfortable doing what it is you do without the need for reassurance from other well meaning homeschoolers then we want to hear from you.

We can be united in the fact that each and every one of us simply does this homeschooling thing in our own very unique ways.

Comment below and let others know that you too are proud to be an "Ordinary Everyday Homeschooler"

Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie

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Christmas In A Box ~ Week 1 Link Up

Here we are at our first installment for the Christmas Fun link up!

Did you read the introductory post? Have you grabbed the button to share?

Please quickly jump over there now so you are in the know of our plans for Christmas Fun!

Then come back so I can show you the cool Christmas crafts my kids have been creating this week, thanks to Clever diy.

I've considered purchasing something from Clever DIY since Clever Patch released these all in one crafty boxes.

My kids are all into art and craft, they love everything about the mess, the creating, the doing and the end results. I had kind of figured that they would enjoy something like this.

So I was over the moon when they agreed to send us a box to try.

Well, they loved it! They absolutely loved it! And honestly who wouldn't it. I loved it too.

I've been very lucky over the years to review some great products and this particular one has got to be right up on my list of all time fabulous products.

The kits are so well put together, no trashy bits and bobs in here. Every single thing needed to complete the crafts is found inside the box.

The first thing that came to mind for me was that these would be fabulous to take on holidays. All I need is the compact box with everything thoughtfully housed inside.

We often enjoy undertaking some type of art/craft activity whilst away on holidays and this would make that so much easier to do.

As you know I have three children and we had one box, but thankfully there are a few different craft items in there to complete. They quickly chose something each and were underway. All I did was fill a bowl with some water.

My daughter fell in love with this item as soon as she saw it. The kit comes with a full colour brochure showing ideas for completed pieces if the child would like that. I simply left it on the table with everything else, so it was totally up to them how they went about it.

We still have a couple of not quite finished Christmas crafts but I wanted to get this post up for you all ASAP. That way you have plenty of time for your own box of Christmas Craft goodies to arrive on your doorstep.

So if I had to choose some kind of constructive criticism the only thing I can come up with is, I would love an extra paint brush and messy mat so that more than one child can create at the same time.

Oh and when is my next box arriving?!!!!!!

Thank you Clever DIY this is a fabulous idea and so well delivered. I am very impressed.

Disclaimer: Our family was given one Christmas Craft box in order to write this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Visit the Clever DIY website at this link.

Your Turn 

What Christmas fun activities have you had this week?

Be sure to share them in the link up below.

Follow along with Christmas Fun on Instagram with the hashtag #homeschoolchristmasfun

If you are still on the lookout for ideas then be sure to visit my Christmas Pinterest Board, which has 100's of pins and is growing daily.

Follow Our Worldwide Classroom's board Seasonal: Christmas on Pinterest.
Want More Christmas Ideas?

• Letter To Santa Writing Paper

• Calico Angels

• Popstick Christmas Tree Frames  

 Add Your Links

I would love for you to link up your Christmas posts, both past and present. All family friendly Christmas posts welcome.

When linking up please choose another link or two to visit and comment on. Please also include the Christmas Fun Button in your blog post and/or your blog sidebar. By linking up you give permission for me to pin your post to my Homeschool Christmas Fun Pinterest Group Board. If you would like to join our group board please let me know, we'd love to you have there.

You also give permission for me to feature your post in future Christmas Fun posts here on Our Worldwide Classroom.

Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie

Christmas Fun Link Up 2015

Christmas!

 

Did I hear someone say Christmas?

Seriously why does it take me by surprise every single year?

Are you the same?

Here we are only a day or so away from December 1st but as always I'm not ready for Christmas just yet!

I was looking back over all the fun we've had during the years and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that it has actually been three whole years since my last Christmas Fun link up. Wow! What a shame to have missed the past years as there are some amazing links added which you can still visit just by choosing the Christmas Label in my sidebar.

So I wanted to let you all know that I'm doing it again this year. 

The 2015 Christmas Fun Linky will open this coming Wednesday the 2nd and will continue for the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas.

So get out all of those Christmas goodies, get crafting, cooking, singing, sewing and enjoying all that Christmas means to you. Then head back here on Wednesday and link up your posts.

Would you all mind doing me a little favour though? 

Please grab the Christmas Button below and share it around so that all of your awesome links are seen by as many people as possible this festive season.

<a href=" http://ourworldwideclassroom.blogspot.com/search/label/Christmas/" target="_blank"><img src=" http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk224/realworldlearners/ChristmasFunButton2010.jpg" alt="Our Worldwide Classroom" /></a>

Do you use and love Instagram?

Share your Christmas Fun images over there using the hash tag #homeschoolchristmasfun



Follow Our Worldwide Classroom's board Homeschool: Christmas Fun on Pinterest.  

I have also created a Homeschool Christmas Fun Group Sharing Board. I'd love for you to join the board and add all of your wonderful Christmas Fun pins there. Please contact me if you would like to be added.

 

I'm so excited I can't wait to get this underway and to explore all of the fabulous things you are doing in the lead up to Christmas. See you later in the week for the very first installment of  Christmas Fun.

 

Happy Homeschooling,

Kylie

It's OK To be Ordinary!

This article can now be found here -

THE ORDINARY HOMESCHOOL

France ~ The Eiffel Tower

 

So I figured it was about time I shared some more details on our recent trip to France. You might remember the Madeline post! This time we visited the Eiffel Tower. One of the most visited and well known structures in the entire world!

As is always the case with our group activities we have a large age range of children, from five up to fourteen years in fact so it can at times be a little tricky putting together something that will work for the entire group.

This time the information presented was pretty much the same for everyone but the output from the various age groups was much more appropriate.

As you can see here we had a simple tracing exercise for the youngest of the children and the middle to upper primary group completed a question and answer sheet after chatting about and watching a short informational video on the Eiffel Tower.

I actually struggled to find a video I was truly happy with, either my searching abilities this time around needed some work or there just isn't much out there in the form of short documentary style videos about the Eiffel Tower.

After watching the video and a having brief discussion the oldest of the group wrote a short informational report about the Eiffel Tower. They were given a list of questions to answer within the report. As a group we worked through all of the topics and discussed as necessary or when various points were raised.

I do enjoy working with older kids for this reason. We generally are not a group of one teacher and several students. I am simply one of them, together in that group all learning what we can, asking questions, sorting through the information and coming up with something that works for each of us.

I have included these Free Eiffel Tower Printable Worksheets as a download at the bottom of this post.


For a bit of fun we all took a ride on the Eiffel Tower Elevator. Well as close as we could get to a ride whilst remaining firmly planted here in the living room.

I love the view you get from this angle though, it is well worth watching.

There are quite few different Eiffel Tower Crafts out there on the web. I knew I needed something simple due to time constraints and the wide variety of ages of kids that I was dealing with.

In the end I went with the Straw Eiffel Tower Craft as it gave some level of flexibility, was simple enough for young ones and the older kids could add their own flair to it.

I googled a template and printed it on light weight card as I knew there would be loads of wet glue being added to these during the process. The template itself is really just to use as a guide so it doesn't need to be too particular.

I just love how even with such a simple activity they all came up with their very own different ideas.

When it came time for the older kids turn I gave them a great deal more choice with materials. There were of course the straws in varying colours, but I also laid out buttons, beads, pretty little paper flowers and other small bits and bobs envisioning them all having a grand old time turning their plain template into a beautiful rendition of the tower.

Alas, they all, but me, chose the straws. Oh well you know what they say about never working with children ;-) hahaha!

And that was our visit to the Eiffel Tower.

Would you like a copy of the Eiffel Tower Worksheets I shared above?  Please use this link to download a copy for your personal use.

Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie

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Looking for more French themed activities? Visit My Pinterest Board

Follow Our Worldwide Classroom's board Country Units: France on Pinterest.