Response to a Comment || Of Homeschooling and What It's Like

A while ago a commenter suggested I post about what it's like to be homeschooled, what I use, and how I/we do it. 

So, what is it like? For me, normal. I've been homeschooled since I was five years old, and have never been to school, so I don't know any different! But that's not very specific so here goes. I love the flexibility it provides. We can get up, start, finish, and eat whenever it suits. We can visit places or go on holiday during less busy times while most people are at school; it's so much easier to get jobs done quickly if there isn't a maze of people to work your way through! I can easily book appointments or music lessons during school time and study before and/or after them.

What do I use? I love Apologia science (Junior series by Jeannie Fulbright, high-school texts by Dr. Jay L. Wile). The books are written in a conversational style, which I find much more interesting than a bland presentation-of-facts approach, making it easier to remember the content.

For my other subjects I use publications from BJU Press. Before I started their English curriculum (during intermediate), I certainly didn't find workbooks on the subject easy! I think I may have known nouns and verbs, but adjectives and adverbs were foreign to me. Although my inherent English was, I think, pretty good, I had little understanding of the mechanics behind the subject. I've since completed their grade 12 (NZ year 13) text, and for the past several years, English has been my favourite subject!

How do I/my family do it? Well, it's in my nature to be independent, so once I learned to read it wasn't uncommon for me to work alone. Basically, I (and now also many of my siblings) complete various textbooks as our core curriculum (much the same as school students complete homework I suppose). While we generally work alone, Mum is available to assist in either providing or locating a source of help if need be. We regularly use the library and internet for research projects. 

And extra-curricular activities? All but two of us currently take music lessons of some sort, and some of my siblings regularly take swimming lessons. Throughout the years we have enjoyed gymnastics, pottery and art classes, athletics, soccer, dance, and attended a knitting club, homeschool sports club, and book club at a local library.

I think that about sums up my thoughts on the topic for now. Thanks for reading!

Recent Crafty Fun

Mostly my season's greetings cards, plus a few others . . .
So glad I bought Stampin' Up!'s Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set; I just love it!

And this one was lucky enough to get a matching envelope! 

Thought I'd have a go at decorating my own letter paper.
When I finish a textbook for school I like to also finish with the notebook I was using,
but leaving a pile of empty pages at the back of old notebooks seemed like a waste so
started ripping them out to write letters on; I used the guillotine to slice the ripped edge
off. I guess blank paper works fine but I prefer something more exciting (lol) so I tried
stamping it. Definitely some designs turned out better than others :)
And hey, now I don't have to buy expensive letter paper :P haha
Oh yeah, now I have to actually use it, right?

Mum's Birthday | | Stampin' Up! Party

Usually we have a family dinner with presents for Mum's birthday, but this year she thought it would be nice to spend some time with her friends and make some cards together (one of her hobbies, when she finds time {smile}). So last Friday night she had a Stampin' Up! party. We had a fairly small group but that worked out well, with more space around the table and everyone being able to talk.

Why do I always try new recipes when we have visitors coming?!
I had never made eclairs before, but I was flicking through my recipe book looking for inspiration and this recipe looked easy so hey . . . my first ever attempt at making eclairs from scratch succeeded! 

Eclairs, custard squares, vanilla cupcakes (If you use your imagination, the icing looks like beautiful dark red roses [Mum's fav] haha), and choc cake. All but the cake were new recipes :P

It was a late night, but we all enjoyed it. (Yep, I love experimenting in the kitchen! ;)) So, happy birthday Mum, and thanks to everyone who came :))

Mum's Birthday

: : Present from Maria : :

On each of our birthdays, Mum makes us a 'birthday dinner' (in past years we have chosen what to have, this year Mum just made something she knew we liked), dessert, a cake, and gifts (everyone gets to give something). For the last few years, I arranged something for Mum's birthday. This year, though, her birthday fell on a Wednesday, meaning I was at work, so Monique decided to coordinate something (as a surprise for Mum), with help from the little ones. Dad and I received numerous emails and calls throughout the day, with various questions. I received one email asking, "Bianca, how do I hide the emails from you so Mum doesn't see them?" A call involved talking to me from a bedroom, hiding the phone and running to the kitchen to check the instructions on the roast chicken packet, then back again to the room to tell me what they were. I think the girls learnt a lot that day (lol) but they did quite well, considering. :)

After work, Dad and I made a rush trip to several shops to buy presents. Then came the task of smuggling them inside and getting them wrapped, at the same time dodging children who wanted me to help with dinner and make dessert.

(Mostly) The girls made a roast chicken, roast potatoes, veggies, and gravy; for dessert I made blueberry crumble cake. When Danielle called me earlier in the day, I told her to make a quadruple batch of chocolate cake and put it in a large dish. Unfortunately, I didn't think to specify to use the one egg chocolate sponge recipe, so she followed the one titled chocolate cake. Basically, one dozen eggs were used, instead of four individual eggs. lol.

: : New cake server! : :

: : Presents : :

We gave Mum her presents after dinner, then had dessert. The cake had been made at the last minute so wasn't out of the oven until quite late; we left it for another night.

: : Blowing out the candles : :

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

To all my readers....

Happy New Year!! :D :D

I wish you all a great 2013 :)

8 months

Honestly, this doesn't always happen when I babysit!!! haha :P

Essie's 15th Birthday

 

The awesome pressie I gave Es.
I was trying for a vintage look, and no, the fact that we didn't
 have much gift wrap didn't have anything to do with it!!! :P
I think next time I'll make sure I have plain  black-and-white
 paper for the flower, and maybe use tea  to
give the paper a brownish-yellow colour.

 After the airport on Tuesday, Mum took someone for a doctor's visit, Monique and Jarrod had a violin lesson, at some stage we had lunch, and then we rushed off to my orthodontist appointment. After that (I think) we picked up some packaging for Dad, and finally, we headed out to the Sonnevelds'. I was going for Essie's birthday that evening, and my mum and siblings had been invited for afternoon tea (which, by the way, was VERY exciting for my little siblings!).

When we arrived, I helped Es out with the massive amount of baking she was doing for that night; by the time we were done with that, the rest of my family was leaving, and Suzanne, Esther, and I were going to play a game. Just as we were starting to play, Es thought she'd better work out when we'd need to start dinner in order to have it ready on time.

Ever-exciting chocolate!!!

As it happened, we ended up leaving the game and making dinner! Neither of us were familiar with marinating meat, so were unaware that the process should have been started hours earlier! We ended up calling on Suzanne to use her cooking skills (she's done classes at MIT) to help us.
 

Ruthie posing...

Finally we were just about finished preparing the food, and the expected arrival of two more friends was fast approaching. Es, Ruth (who'd just arrived home from a run) and I started taking various items for the evening out to the flat (above their double garage). I wouldn't have been overly surprised if someone had told me there was laughing gas in the air right about then! 'Hyper' would have described us quite well when Becks and Middy arrived!

Hungry? lol this was our dessert

We finished transferring everything we could think of from the house to the flat, and started cooking the meat. Soon we sat down, and our hunger was evidenced by our somewhat sudden silence.

Dinner was soon finished, and we made quick work of the dishes before preparing our desserts, and sitting down with them to watch The Ultimate Gift, one of Esther's birthday presents.

watching a movie

I think we all enjoyed the movie, despite its many sad  moments. At some point we paused it to get Fanta and lollies (we decided to forget the muffins, yummy as they looked!). I forget why, but for some reason some of us had to go back to the house - wow was it COLD outside!! A few days before it had still seemed like summer, now it was FROSTY!

on the way home =)



Once the movie finished, we restored the flat to its former state, and piled into the car for the trip home. Spirits were high during the drive, and before long we were returned to our own homes, thus ending our awesome evening! (Of course, I get to relive it, at least to some extent, while I write this! =))



Visit to Lyndal's

Diana and Lyndal brush Marmalade

 My mum and Lyndal met at school when they were 8- or 9-years-old, and they've been friends since. Lyndal used to live about 20 minutes away from us, and we spent a lot of time with her. Now she lives near Albany (must have been about four or five years now I think!), close to an hour's drive away, and we see her significantly less often.

Mum organised for us to go up and visit her on Monday, April 30th.

I took a couple of my textbooks, fully intending to get some school work during the drive, but I'm not sure that I even got through two pages!


The view

 I did take a few photos out the windows, but none of them were particularly great (rainy weather, etc.).

Finally we arrived. It was rather windy and I began to wish I'd brought a warmer sweater! We weren't sure what the weather might do, so we decided to ride first while it was dry, then have lunch.

Currently Lyndal just has one small pony (Marmalade), so only Danielle down got to ride; I became photographer, while Mum and Jarrod looked after Maria and Laura, and Mickey (the dog).

Bryce

In stark contrast to us older ones when we were her age, Maria was very apprehensive to get on Marmalade. What I mean is, when I was about two I think, I preferred to ride the thoroughbred ex-race horse over the 14hh ponies, and as a baby, Monique would crawl around the paddock after the ponies! (And yeah, she would be kinda dirty afterwards...). Maria, however, would cry when you tried to put her on Marmalade! Although, we did eventually manage to get her to stay on long enough for a photo (see image below).

The rest of my siblings were more enthusiastic! Danielle got to ride on her own - an unexpected lesson!


Diana's turn





After everybody had had a turn, Marmalade was returned to her paddock, and we went back inside (out of the wind!!!) for lunch.



They're kinda small, but I love the fern backdrop!



Danielle



The not-so-excited Maria



After lunch, Lyndal taught us to play a new game - No Thanks! You have a deck of cards numbered from 1 up to I'm not sure what (sorry), and a pile of counters. One card gets put face-up on the table, with the rest in a stack upside down next to it. The counters get distributed among the players. Going around in a circle, each player gets to choose between picking up the card, or putting down a counter. Now the point of the game is to have the lowest number of points, however, you can't play if you run out of counters! So eventually you must pick up the card, which also means you get all the counters that have been put on top of it. Then you need a number sequence (eg. 1,2,3,4; 15,16,17), which is to help lower your number of points (eg. if you get 17, then you get 16, 15, and so on). but there is only one of each number, and all players have a chance to pick up each card. So you have to pick the timing - get a fairly low card (or one that fits in with your sequence), when there are as many counters as possible on top of it, but before anybody else picks it up! Well hopefully that gives you the idea... ;)

I will quickly not that some of my siblings spent more time digging into the large bowl of popcorn rather than playing!! (okay, well I suppose you can't blame Maria...:P)



Marmalade





Finally, Mum announced it was time to leave. We said goodbye, gathered our stuff (which can be quite an undertaking with young children who drop things everywhere!!!)

When we got home, I found myself rather tired, not so helpful when I've got heaps of school work waiting to be done (yeah, despite driving for quite a while, I actually didn't accomplish much work!

 



 

Group Photo

The arrival of Laura Yvonne Jago

Written 30.3.12

My mum’s eighth pregnancy appeared to fly by; the birth to creep upon us. One minute there were three months to go, the next, this new addition could make an appearance any day!

We washed, dried, and folded seemingly mounds of baby clothing – could anyone possibly be small enough to fit it? A car seat was organised, meals arrived for the freezer, and midwife visits became more frequent. People began asking whether we had news yet. My parents leafed through baby names books. Finally, we were ready, and were left to wait.

Thursday night/Friday morning of the following week, Mum thought things may have begun. Everything stopped, however, and our day continued as normal.

Mid-morning on Saturday of the following week, things started again. Despite a promising start, they slowed down, but did not stop entirely. Danielle and Diana attended a birthday party from mid-afternoon ‘til early evening, hopeful that they would have a new sibling when they arrived home. Chores were done, and our day continued.

My uncle took my siblings and me to church on Sunday morning, and the midwife (Mrs. Vivian) arrived at our place soon after our departure.

After lunch, my siblings went to my cousins’ place, and Uncle Pete and I did the dishes and made a roast dinner.

At one point, my dad thought the baby might not be far away. After assuring my uncle that there wouldn’t be anything to hear during the birth, he refrained from using his earphones, but was still adamant that he would put them to use if even the slightest hint of noise reached us.

Then, at 4:22pm, Sunday March 18th, Laura Yvonne made an appearance. She measured 54cm long and weighed 8lb 12oz - the heaviest of us all. Almost unbelievably, her arrival occurred on big sister Maria’s second birthday! Laura’s middle name, Yvonne, is after our aunty- Yvonne de Bruin.

Laura had many brothers and sisters eager to hold her, or simply be with her, when they arrived home about an hour later.

Uncle Pete took most of us to the evening church service, leaving mother and baby to sleep, and Dad to have a somewhat needed rest.

Fun Run 2012

Every athletics season our club holds a 'fun run' as a fund raiser. The athletes run as many laps as they can around the track in one hour. And well yeah, I kinda didn't do it this season!! But hey, I got heaps of photos instead :P Enjoy!


Grouping up around the start line




Middy, Mrs. Rakete, and Mrs. Bennet marking people.
The athletes get a mark each time the cross the start/finish line;
at the end of the night, the marks are counted to determine the
number of laps the athletes have run.




Katie (8) and Amy (7)




Bryce (4)




Joanna (4)




oops..she saw me! Danielle (5)




ok, so maybe instead of asking her to pose,
I should take a photo when she isn't looking?!?hehe
cute tho, right? lol




Joel and Essie




Mackenzie (4) and Matti run the sausage sizzle

  After we arrived home for our awesome night at athletics, our neighbour Melissa dropped these in:


 Yes, they were delicious!!!

Stratford - Day 7 - Thursday 29th December

{Not sure when I wrote this...}

Bonjour, mes amis (my friends)

On Thursday Mum was adament we had to do SOMETHING! We went first to Uncle Mike and Aunty Sonia's to check whether Nana wanted to come - she didn't, then to Mt. Taranaki (or Egmont). It was quite a long drive (an hour or so I think) but it didn't bother me, especially because I had my nose buried in Janette Oak's The Winds of Fall. We went as far as we could go - to this sign:

Which actually wasn't very far anyway! With the weather the way it was (you can see in the above photo) we couldn't see the snow-capped peak of the mountain, which Nana showed us later on her camera. So we drove to this area, Mum (?) went into the visitor centre - green building above - to find out that was as far as we could go, and...then we drove back! How fun..! lol Well driving back I took a heap of photos - just of the trees and stuff that lined either side of the road.

We then went to Fun Ho, in Inglewood.
Fun Ho is a toy museum, and very small - as in it had like three rooms!




These go karts would race around the track if you pressed the button!

 

This train was going right around the edge of the room!





The above picture was taken through one of the windows
in this car!



These cars were moving..

To soldiers and stuff..

There were several windows like this, with the inside
piece spinning around so you could see different scenes

Diana..

On the way out we got photos like the following of everyone (except myself!):

Danielle (8yrs)

For dinner we had Chinese at the campground, with Uncle Mike, Aunty Sonia, Nana, and Lucus. After dinner the adults and I talked (or listened...lol) while the rest all sat down (mostly) to watch Little House on the Prairie.

Dad had forgotten to get the ice creams Mum had asked him to get, so after everyone had left, Dad, Jarrod, and I went to a servo and bought a whole pile. We put four in a bag, Dad parked accross the road from Uncle Mike and Aunty Sonia's, Jarrod ran over, dropped the bag in front of their door, and ran to hide behind one of their cars! Unfortunately he couldn't stay hidded, though, and did end up saying hello. Ah well.

Back at the campground, everyone was excited about their Magnums. (see photo)

I attempted to have an early night..but that didn't exactly happen..I was writing a post for this blog! =)

Ciao.
(Why three languages in one post...don't ask me! haha =))