Bringing In A New Year!

As a homeschooling mother I embrace this time of year completely. After spending the last few weeks in a time of reflection on the year that has passed. Time considering the activities that did and did not work for us as a family, and for my children as individuals, the new year brings with it a newness, a time for starting fresh.

Each year I always wipe the slate clean, I don't allow myself to get bogged down in the past. If a certain curriculum was a disaster then so be it. We let it go and move on. That is one of the true beauty's of homeschooling. We aren't tied to any one single thing.

With each year, I have children that are also another year older, this year mine will turn 12, 9 and 5, we are very quickly approaching the high school years, exciting times ahead!

Right now though we are enjoying the wonder that this time of year brings, loads of sunshine, swimming, backyard cricket and golf, reconnecting with family and friends that we don't always have the opportunity to spend extended amounts of time with throughout the busy year. It truly is a wonderful time of year.

We have many exciting things planned for the year ahead. We are teaming up with a small group of families to undertake some more 'structured' learning activities at home on a regular basis, or a Learning Circle as we like to call it. The kids will be embarking on their first overseas holiday in the not too distant future. They are also very excited to have more horse riding on the agenda this year, plus Lego Robotics and Sewing/Handicrafts are high on the priority list.

Our one big plan is to get a veggie patch happening. Something we've talked about for awhile now and after seeing the younger two enter my friend's garden as if they had entered Eden I knew that this was the year we had to make it happen.

We will very slowly ease back into the swing of things from next week. More than likely just some very gentle activities around the breakfast table to ease us all back in to the year.

On a blogging note, I've missed this space immensely and the connections that I had made with several bloggers, it is a wonderful community and my hope is that 2013 will see it flourish once more.

Happy Homeschooling!

Free Printable: Christmas Vocabulary Cards

Wow, can't believe I created these 3 years ago now. Thought I'd repost for any newer readers that may not have seen some of my Christmas activities.

My first set of Montessori Printables for you!

I am actually very excited about these, yeah I know it doesn't take much to excite me. I really enjoyed putting them together and I did get a little buzz when they were placed on the shelf for the kids to use.

They really didn't look out of place right alongside the professionally made items.....pretty chuffed I was hehehe

Anyway enough of that.

As promised in my first Christmas Fun Post, this is a set of 16 Montessori 3 Part Cards for Christmas.

The file includes 16 cards with labels, 16 picture cards and 16 labels.


They depict the following images:

Bell
Wreath
Candle
Gift
Pudding
Santa
Decoration
Stocking
Tree
Lights
Star
Bon Bon
Nativity
Mince Pies
Reindeer
Candy Cane

Even if you do not use Montessori these cards are suitable for anyone to implement into their Christmas Activities. You can also easily leave out an cards that may be unsuitable for your family. We found that 16 was alot of cards to work with in one sitting so have split ours into 2 separate groups.

I'll be posting some photo's of my kids using them in my next Christmas Fun Post early next week.

I hope you enjoy using these cards as much as I enjoyed making them. If you do print them off and use them I'd love to hear from you or see them in a blog post somewhere. Please leave a comment letting me know and feel free to include a link to your blog post.

Download the 3 Part Christmas Cards here.

Wellington’s Mega Fauna

We decided to follow the road less travelled for our journey between Parkes and Dubbo and take the more eastern road stopping off at Wellington.



Whilst not as well known as the more famous area of Jenolan, Wellington is also home to caves.
It was also a bustling hive of activity, filled with Mega Fauna some 20 000 – 30 000 years ago, which means that today it is a fabulous place to find bones and fossils.

The Diprotodon (meaning two forward teeth), was one such creature that roamed the area. In fact it is often referred to as the ‘giant wombat’ and is the largest known marsupial to have ever lived.



Inside the small visitors centre, they have dedicated the space to the archaeological finds from the area.

Fairy Princess is blown away by the size of the skull from the ‘giant wombat’.
There are many other fossil finds showcased within the visitor centre.



Megalania, referred to as the ‘giant lizard’ was in fact a very large goanna or monitor lizard.
Just before the caves entrance is this large, striking, life like creature that unexpectedly greets you as you walk up the hill.



An artists rendition of what the area may have looked liked during the Pleistocene Period (16 000 – 50 000 years ago).

Fossils of Mega Fauna such as, giant wombats, giant kangaroos, giant tassie devils, giant lizards, giant marsupial lions and giant bandicoots, have all been found in caves in the Wellington area.

Quite sad really to think that these animals once walked with humans, but are now extinct. The debate is still on surrounding their extinction, but many do feel that humans were the ultimate cause of extinction, probably from hunting and over burning of the landscape.