Ending Our Homeschool Year Strong
Our last resource round up of the year; what we did in September, October, November and what we’re planning for December.
Our homeschooling style continues to be on the very eclectic / unschooly side of things. My children are currently 9, 7 and 3 years old.
September:
In September we finished up our housesit in Gippsland after spending about 10 weeks grounded there. It was much needed rest time for us. September included slower travel weeks, slow family time and nature time.
September reads:
Bricktionary (my 7 year old Lego enthusiast)
The Seventh Unicorn by Shirley Barber (my 3 year old unicorn enthusiast)
Barefoot Kids by Scott Pape
Nature’s Day by Kay McGuire and Danielle Kroll
Runt by Craig Silvey
September adventures:
Caving at Buccan Fairy Caves
Dolphin spotting at Seaspray
Exploring historic trestle bridges of Gippsland
Bushwalks
Lakes Entrance Shell Museum
Mini golf
Kiama blow holes
September activities:
Leaf painting
Heads and Tails insects card game
Scrabble
Homeschool ninja gymnastics classes
Lego marble mazes
September screentime:
We Bought a Zoo 🎥
October:
Life hit the fast forward button once October came along. Homeschooling was what we did around all the other things we had going on this month (baby showers, weddings, family commitments) but as you can (hopefully) see we continued to learn and explore together.
October reads:
The Island of Adventure by Enid Blyton
By Ash, Oak & Thorn by Melissa Harrison
Home by Patricia Hegarty and Britta Teckentrup
The Monster Who Wasn’t by T.C. Shelley
Poetry for the Wild and Curious Ones
The Natural History of Mermaids
Do Not Open This Book by Andy Lee
October adventures:
The Museum of Fire (Penrith)
Cinemas
Australian Museum (Sydney)
Taronga Zoo Sydney
Beach exploring
Rockpool hopping
Seal watching
Whale watching
October activities:
Plug into Nature workbook
Making balloon clothes for Barbies
Build Your Own (Usborne Sticker books)
Making chocolate raspberry balls
Kabuki (card game)
Measuring family members height vs arm span
October screentime:
Runt (in cinema after finishing reading the book)
The Wild Robot (in cinema)
November:
Just when we thought things would be calming down, everything ramped right up. We spent time in 3 states. Travelled an unexpected amount of kilometres and continued to fit our learning in whenever we could and had a lot of grace for when we didn’t.
November reads:
The Natural History of Dragons
The Natural History of Fairies
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
Wundersmith by Jessica Townsend
Junkyard Fairies: Dig Deep by Edwina Wyatt
The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown
November outings:
National parks
Tram ride in Melbourne
ArtVo
ScienceWorks
The Grounds of Alexandria Christmas display
My grandmothers funeral (not exactly a fun outing but there was a lot to learn from this experience for sure)
Water parks
The Mint (Canberra)
Questacon
November activities:
Googling random questions (“how many fingers do koalas have”)
Board games at the library
Sorry, No Vacanies (board game)
Homeschool gymnastics class
November screentime:
We started using Duolingo ABC (reading app) and all 3 children are really enjoying it.
And as always, over the past months, there’s been book shops, op shops, street libraries and playgrounds. Big questions! Little curiosities. Morning baskets, poetry tea time and nature walks.
I don’t do homeschooling perfectly, I don’t do writing about homeschooling perfectly. But I think in some ways that’s sort of the point. Homeschooling isn’t about perfection. Sure we want to provide a well rounded, robust education, we want to instil a love of learning, a deep curiosity and passion for life, have space for creative and critical thinking. We try a variety of different materials and methods. We try to listen and follow interests and make space for everyone’s questions and needs. But there’s no perfect way to do this. Sometimes I drop the ball. In all honestly I feel like I have a bit this year. But we do continue to learn and grow despite all my failings. Homeschooling is humbling. Sharing openly and honestly about our experience with homeschooling sometimes feels extremely vulnerable. It leaves space for misunderstanding, for judgement, for feelings of not enough and sometimes I know there are others who will think we haven’t done enough. And that’s okay because it also makes way for lots of connection and it also shows people how we can do this imperfectly and our children can still thrive. Slowly plotting along together still gets it done. Being present and open still deepens relationships. I’d rather continue imperfectly stumbling through making my heart centred choices than be anywhere else, doing anything else. Homeschooling is our lifestyle. It’s not something we do for a certain amount of time a day to our children. It’s not a short term plan while we travel. It’s how we have designed our whole lives for our family. It’s togetherness. It’s how we live with our kids and how we explore their curiosity (plus a million other things too). When i feel lost and inevitably ask myself what I want to do with my life (something I find myself doing quite often). I always come back to the heart choice of homeschooling my children.
As we end the year I don’t have huge lists of outcomes I want my children to reach. There won’t be any testing. We won’t be looking at grade levels or looking at the ways my children are ahead or behind (and I know that we are both in different children, in different areas). My end of year homeschooling plans include finishing up a few of the resources we’ve had on the go recently so we can start afresh in the new year (we’ll be taking a little break over Christmas). Continuing our daily and weekly rhythms. Most of all continuing to foster connection and a love of learning together. With some Christmas fun thrown in there too (because learning is allowed to be fun, remember). For me ending the year strong isn’t really even about what we’ve achieved this year, there’s no trying to prove anything to anyone about my children’s intelligence or goodness or worthiness, there’s no presentations or awards. There’s simply continuing. Doing what we do because we love it and it works for us. May you also be able to hold onto what and who you love and doing things your own way this season without being tripped up by the expectations or achievements of others. Homeschooling is a different path. One I feel so honoured and privileged to be walking. I end this year incredibly grateful that I get to do this and look excitedly forward to the next year and all the adventure and learning that’s awaiting us.
My december homeschool plan checklist:
Poetry tea time weekly
Write our own acrostic poems
E: finish crossword workbook
T: Teach your child to read (aim to do 10 lessons)
Write and send Christmas cards to friends and family
Nature / bushwalk weekly
Morning basket on non travel/non adventure weekdays - finish up current morning basket books
Finish Wild Robot Audiobooks
Finish Story of the World Audiobooks
Read aloud - Hollowpox
Read aloud - Christmas novel tba
Build your own history museum project to do w/ dad
Kids Christmas shopping budgeting and money management
How are you ending the year strong in our homeschool? Do you have a few last minute bits and pieces you’re trying to finish up before the years out?