4th January we started homeschooling our 6 year old daughter in grade 1 following the state curriculum. I modified it a bit and made it our own. So far so good, she loves not having to go to school, not having to wear a uniform etc, but her most favourite thing is that the learning is geared towards her interests and learning style. I’m loving being able to spend more time with her and finding learning opportunities in everything. I also have a great support network online of people I’ve never met. Homeschooling parents are so generous with their time.

We have our moments where I may want her to do something and she just doesn’t want to, like yesterday I wanted her to read out loud for me and she just dug her heels in and said no. I thought to myself that I know she can actually read the book so why am I pushing it? She reads the stuff she wants to, not books right now that often but she will with enough coercion so I’m not worried about that. When we have cooking (science, maths, reading, writing, etc) she writes out the shopping list, reads the directions and draws pictures on her recipe. I try to get her to read in sneaky ways during the day as well, so I’m fully aware of her ability and I’m not concerned about it. My only concern I guess is that she is obviously stubborn like her mother 🙂

Anyway, the decision to homeschool has been another of the great decisions we have made, I hope it works out for us long term, it seems to work so far and I’m thrilled that we have this opportunity as well. The bounce off affect as well is that our nearly 4 year old is also keen to do some work, I usually leave out a few books at night and crayons and in the morning find her there counting and colouring in her school work.

So we are getting ourselves in a position to be more mobile, you never know what the future will bring. Our job could take us anywhere in the next 12 months, we could stay here, or it could end too! That’s one thing we know about boat jobs! At least we will be ready to go cruising if it does and if not and we have to move somewhere else? Well there’s not much keeping us here now! It’s nice to feel so free.

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