Beware - Blogs can cause feeling of inadequacy!

As a homeschooling Mama I often find myself trolling the Internet for ideas to make the girls learning experiences more fun and varied, rather than rely on boring textbooks (Not all are boring but some can be sooooo mind numbing dull). I follow quite a few blogs, probably too many but we shan't tell my hubby OK.

Now there are some fabulous homeschool blogs out there where you can get some great ideas and even free curriculum printouts and such, but peeps BEWARE! Some of these blogs cause feelings of inadequacy and awe at what these people are doing with their kids.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 working on a biology project

There are days when I can barely remember my kids name so I really don't need to keep reading these blogs on their "perfect homeschool lives".  Latin, geography, math, English, cooking, sewing and science and that's all before morning tea!  Their kids are sewing aprons and knitting blankets which they are donating to the next big cause in between speaking multiple languages ... sigh  When I start to do stuff like this frankly I end up burned out!

Do they not have days when they want to bash their heads against brick walls because they aren't getting through to their kids, or frankly their kids are being right little buggars? Sometimes I wonder if there is too much pressure for homeschoolers to appear perfect because many people think what we are doing is mad and so it gets hard to share frustrations and bad days. I am not sure why because I can promise you teachers and kids have bad days too. 

I find these days I tend to "follow" people who blog who are keeping it real. They share their ups and downs, without being negative Nellies, and they are generous with their knowledge and friendship. These are the blogs I can resonate with. They are not filled with "awards" or advertising or promoting this or that. They are just people going about their business and I love that they take the time to answer each and every comment, even it is simply to say thank you.

So thanks to my bloggy mates who don't make me feel inadequate (cause although I really would love to make my blog look more professional I just don't have the time right now to learn) and often pop over to read what I have been up to, in what I am sure is simply appreciation for me following their blogs cause frankly folks I am not always sure what the heck I am doing or writing about on my own blog!

Aotearoa Region GirlGuides

This term we had a lot of things planned, a month of holidays with the Papa, down the bach (where we can still homeschool early in the mornings or in the afternoons when it's too hot for the beach), and then a month over in Melbourne, Australia with my folks, whilst the poor Papa stayed behind to look after the livestock.

Sitting out on the bach deck playing cards in summer.

 

As the girls love their GirlGuides and I didn't fancy paying for a full term for the couple of weeks that they could attend, I transferred them to Aotearea Region GirlGuides (formerly Lones in NZ). Aotearoa Region is a section of Guiding for girls who cannot make a weekly unit meeting due to location, the unit currently being full, it's simply it's not on the right night, no transport and so on. Essentially it's like doing GirlGuides by correspondence.

By the way, the word Aotearoa means 'Land of the Long White Cloud' which is what the Maori's called New Zealand way before the before Pakeha (Europeans) settled here.




Working on some badge work



Making  "Biscuit (Ginger) bread Houses"

 



Making and blowing bubbles

The participants work on their badges at home, they receive either a pack at the beginning of the term, to work on throughout the term, as does the Guide age level, or if they were a Brownie they'd receive a badge to work on every fortnight from one of the Brownie AR leaders (I am one of AR Brownie Leader although on leave until May). The leaders touch base via email or sometimes phone the girls to see how they are doing.

Each AR GirlGuide is assigned to a nearby unit and whenever there is a camp, special activity, or special day, etc. they also receive invites to participate with that group so they are still having new experiences and participating with groups at special events.




Selling GirlGuide biscuits with the local GG unit, in 2014

Whilst they have enjoyed their AR packs, they have very much missed catching up with their friends at the local unit but, what a great opportunity for them to try something new and yet being able to continue working on their badges in their spare time. No "I'm bored, what can I do?" is ever heard around here!

Many other countries also offer a similar alternative to AR Guides (could still be called Lones in your country) so if your child simply can't make one more evening out, or there's no unit (troop) in your area, etc. look into it. The girls still get to go on camps and attend all kinds of fun stuff and earn badges at the same time.



The A-Z Blogging Challenge for April 2014 - BRING IT!

As I have been positively slack with my blogging for quite a while now, I have decided to take on the "Blogging from A to Z April Challenge". I will probably start whining part way through when I run out of ideas, so be warned!

 

Basically every day, except for Sundays, you produce a blog posting that begins with the letter for that day. ie April 1st, your blog might be April Fools Day, 2nd April, Brilliant Baby, 3rd April begins with a C and so on. Remember you don't blog on Sundays so you get your 26 days and letters.

The blogs can be on anything but, you can also be specific and write on a certain theme if you want. I am going to be trying to write on things related to my family and home education in our home.

Each day you try and visit five or more bloggers who are also taking part in the challenge and in turn you'll have new visitors to you. There are already 1675 bloggers who have signed on, so there are a few mad people out there apparently!

If you'd like to take the challenge with me (you can start prewriting posts now) then go through to the sign up list here.

Give your Kids a Massage!

My two precious ladies love to give their mama neck and back rubs and even foot massages. I lap these up like a cat at a bowl of milk. I unfortunately do not really like giving massages as much as receiving them, I know I am so selfish!

So in appreciation of all those neck and back rubs I surprised my daughters earlier in the year with vouchers for a massage each at a local business, Body Synergy Massage. Body Synergy Massage is a beautiful little business in the centre of our town and the owner / operator Rachel Ferregel is very professional, yet warm and welcoming. She is a mother herself, and she treated the girls beautifully. She had them fill in their own patient forms, which makes a child feel so good and builds their confidence, and explained things to them as she would anyone having a massage. Despite them being young, she even left the room to let them slip out of their clothes so they were left feeling comfortable, respected and safe at all times.
 

They were a little nervous going in, "you go first, no you go first" but coming out ... well I think you can tell from the smile on The Fashionista's face that it was rather enjoyable. I see elbowing each other out of the way to get there first on the cards for their next visit!

After each child's massage Rachel, commented on different things about the children and commented that AS had a very, very tight neck, funnily enough AS had been getting headaches, so yes do try and get a professional who knows what they are doing, it's so worth it as that massage actually eased the frequency of them. She's probably only had one in the last month and she was probably start to get them weekly.

Whilst I did it simply as a thank you after reading up on the benefits of massage and children, and seeing their own reactions first hand, I am going to see if I can arrange a professional massage for them once a term. Babies and young children can be just as stressed and anxious as adults and the benefits of massage therapy is a reduction in stress and thus stress hormone levels. It has been said that the benefits are a happier, calmer (Agent Smelly briefly dozed off on the table) and you will even have a healthier child with the lower stress hormone levels. That's got to be a good thing, especially if you have a wriggly, hyper kid or even a worrier.

And we all know how children like to imitate life so last week I was invited into the guest bedroom where Agent Smelly had set up a massage bed, the CD player, some oils, etc. I had to fill in a patient form and then they left the room for me to strip and get under the towel, just like they had. It was awfully funny but really good actually!

Drawing Success

Agent Smelly eats, breathes and lives mermaids. So today for art I pulled up this You Tube tutorial How to Draw a Mermaid and set the girls to work. They absolutely LOVED doing this.
 
  

 

First they were taken through the step by step drawing in pencil.

 

 

 

Then they used markers to outline the final picture

 

 

 

Then they got to colour them in.

 

 
They enjoyed this so much so that they ended up doing another one on drawing a cartoon whale.

 
The Fashionista was happy with her pictures but it was pretty amazing to hear Agent Smelly so excited over hers. She usually complains that she can't draw. She told me when showing me her pictures, "Mama I am so proud of myself". Obviously a pretty awesome homeschooling moment.