NBTS Blog Hop - Meet The Students

As I sit here reflecting on this same post from last year I am truly amazed at the growth, experiences and changes that these three beautiful people have undergone during the previous 12 months.

We haven't had the opportunity to take 'real' new year photographs yet so I've had to make do with some recent Christmas snaps. I assure you though, the children have not changed in the six weeks since Christmas, well not much anyway!

We are half way through our fifth homeschooling year and finally things just feel normal to us. There's no worries about socialisation, missing out or any of the other ridiculous statements I often hear coming from non homeschooling families.

Life is good and we know how blessed we are to be able to provide this life for our children.

Since last year I have given the children a blog alias. I was tired of referring to them by their ages ;-)

Allow me to introduce Lego Lover, he is 10 years old. 

Physically he has changed quite dramatically from last year. Just looking at the photo from back then he still has remnants of chubby toddler cheeks. Not any more. He's thinned out and shot up and has definitely entered, what we now refer to as the tween years! Oh my goodness, did I just say that!! In just a few short years we are going to have a teenager on our hands.

Lego Lover is still the same energetic, caring, fun loving boy that I introduced you to last year. His passion for singing and dancing has taken all of us by storm. As a youngster he was such a shy little thing, and whilst he can still be reserved and is certainly no where close to becoming an, 'in your face' kind of kid, his love of being on stage and performing is certainly growing. He is continuing with his Boys Funk class and is now also participating in Musical Theatre, where he gets to sing and dance!!

Last year I mentioned that our main focus was on reading and instilling a love of reading. It warms my heart to see him escape within a book. He is now at the, 'devour a book in one sitting' stage. Somewhere I never really thought we would be.

He now understands, how on earth mummy can have her nose in a book all day long and never want to put it down (I only do that on holidays by the way ;-) ) He's made connections with characters, lived their stories with them and can see the value of a great book over the 'box'.

This year, our focus is on writing. Let's see how we get on with that goal.

My beautiful Fairy Princess, 7 years old. Hasn't she just blossomed into a young lady.

This photo is scary to be honest. She looks so much older than her 7 years. This is really a reminder to cherish each and every day, they sure do fly by so quickly.

And grow this past year, she has, immensely. Not only physically but emotionally too. She is still most happy outside in nature or creating in some way shape or form. Experiencing either of these things warm her heart and soothes her soul. They ground her and keep her calm.

It is very important that we continue to provide her with lots of these types of experiences this year.

She too has taken to dance lessons with gusto and enjoys the thrill of being on stage. Fairy Princess wanted to tackle some different styles this year so we signed up for a few trial classes. Of course she loved them all. We have certainly entered the realm of the 'dance mum'. This year she is participating in Jazz, Contemporary and Musical Theatre.

In the few short weeks back into schooling this year I have noticed that she is much more responsive and eager with her work. Her reading is coming along slowly but nicely. She is progressing and I am excited to see where she will be with it this time next year.

My baby, our Little Surfer Dude, 3 years old and got to live up to his blog name this past Christmas too.

He is cuter and more of full of life than ever!

Ok I've just read what I posted about him last year and I have to say that every word of it still rings true. We know our family was truly blessed when he entered our lives.

This year he is finally 'big enough' to begin participating in some of our co-op activities with our homeschool network. He's excited, but a little unsure too. Never mind mummy will be there with him every step of the way.

He is also thrilled to bits that I've finally given him some 'real school work'. He begged for it all last year but I resisted.

I am in the final stages of preparing our Montessori inspired work area for him again. We abandoned that for most of last year as I found it too difficult to keep on top of. However this year I feel he has matured enough to work within that environment without me having to watch every single move he makes.

And they are my babies, my life, my everything. Looking forward to yet another year of life with these guys.

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I can't wait to meet your children. I hope you will join us for the All Aussie Not Back To School Blog Hop. All you need to do is write a post introducing your children sometime during this week and come back and link it up below.

Be sure to link to the actual blog post not just your main blog, so this would be mine -

Don't forget to grab a button and share it on your blog:

<a href="http://ourworldwideclassroom.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Not%20Back%20To%20School%20Blog%20Hop/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk224/realworldlearners/NBTSButton125px.jpg" alt="Our Worldwide Classroom" /></a>

To see what's coming up next week in the Aussie NBTS Blog Hop visit this post which has all of the details.

And now it's time for you to add your link below.