By far, the most frequently asked questions revolve around home-schooling. Why, who, what program, how long?? etc... So I will just try to answer them all in one hit.
Why -not happy with the school we started at -academically, socially and was killing their love of learning. We liked that they had to learn patience, mix with people different to them, learn how to persevere etc.. but it ran it's course. I wanted to home-school them to get them to an age-appropriate level before sending them to the International. I did 6 months with Hannah and am currently doing this year with Ethan (12).

Content -I write my own stuff. I follow the NSW maths syllabus. I choose english novels that I want them to read and tie it in with history. For example we did " My Place" for english, alongside Australian history. Next term we will do American History and CANNOT wait to study " To kill a mockingbird" together. I also throw in geography related to that country, like Ayers Rock , Great Barrier Reef. We fumble along with science on the internet. Learn poetry. Tony does exercise (running, tennis, squash) in the mornings followed by bible study. Also, PD (first aid, Christian book on sex/relationships) and he has art and a personal interest project of his choice. His cooking has really taken off -and we all have the slightly more snug pants to prove it! Oh and he comes to prison with me on Wednesday mornings to help teach. This week he was teaching them about camels -once they finished their maths -they were gobsmacked ha!

Social -as riveting as my company is, I don't think I quite cut it in the social department. He does hockey, soccer and nippers during the week. We also try to invite the boys who live behind us over for pizza/movies occasionally. He finds it lonely and boring at times, but thinks he can make it through the year. He will go to school next year. As for Soph, she finds the Christian school boring and unstimulating -so we will keep assessing her at the end of each term. Basically, flexibility is the key to living here -so far so good!

Friday afternoon nippers class (paddling, surf life-saving etc)

Australian history timeline.

Making damper -beautiful hot, with melted butter.

Brilliant having Tony working at home alot -boy fun at recess.

When he;s bored he'll often pop outisde and catch a frog....

to freak out his poor mum...

Hockey on Thursdays

Prison on Wednesdays

Just finished teaching the ladies maths and about the water cycle.

Soccer in the rain - if we waited for good weather, we would never get to play!

I feel like I've shown alot of the fun stuff -that's prob. about 20% of the time. Alot of it is Eth sitting at a computer or sitting over his maths book groaning and looking at the clock. I try to be as practical as I can be with little resources and not many options for excursions -but praise the Lord for the internet, which has pretty much made the whole thing possible!! Plus, I love getting to hang with hilarious Ethan - cracks me up!