Family Capers - Family Chat

Hi Anne-Marie

I totally agree with everything you have said .... although more and more, we feel like we are taking a more "hippy" approach to life

I love being able to fit "extra curricular" activities in at "non-traditional" times, for instance, we have our 4 kids (9, 6, 4, 2) in swimming lessons on a Monday morning, which would be impossible if they were at a traditional school. And we have just planned the home birth of our 5th (due in September).

My husband is an interstate truck driver, so it's often very hard, if not impossible, for him to get holidays during any school holiday time (and we pretty much have to put in for his christmas leave 6 months in advance!), so I agree that it's great to be able to take school holidays when it suits us! And you don't get caught up in all the school holiday crowds and hype (and often get cheaper holidays too, being off peak seasons! )

I also work from home, and often find this a good release after a day of learning! I love not being restricted to "school times" and to make spur of the moment decisions.

Linda, as far as challenges go, the most challenging thing for me is tailoring learning to the different ages groups, and learning that what I get from my 9 year old is different to what I should expect from my 6 year old! Although theoretically in year 4 (NSW), my 9 year old can easily complete, at a high standard, year 5 and 6 English and HSIE/SOSE tasks, but we still need to keep to the basics in regards to maths.

This term, we are starting a different approach, whereby I will be separating the older two, and giving them totally different work to complete, concentrating more on the english and math basics with my 6 year old, and challenging my 9 year old further, as he is starting to show signs of boredom again (which is why we took him out of a traditional school). I will also be looking at implementing a basic program for our 4 year old, as he has started to become interested in what the others are doing, and is already doing simple addition problems in his head!!

My other challenge is trying to keep the younger ones occupied and not distracting the older ones, and with a 5th on the way, dealing with a newborn baby is going to be an additional challenge! But it is rewarding when you see your kids learning because they want to (we try to keep them focused on the things they like to keep it fresh and not boring!)