Chickafinty ~ A Life in the Laundry

Dear World,

We are NOT Telstra customers.

We used to be Telstra customers.

In 1997.

That was 12 years ago.

Twelve years ago is not recent.

Your name might well be Tom Jones, but your accent leads me to believe that it probably isn't.

The poor quality of the line owned (by Telstra) and maintained (by Telstra) is not going to make me think again about our (12 year old) decision to ditch Telstra and choose another telco.

Telstra is over-priced and underserviced.

Telstra had a monopoly on telco services for decades and used it like a cash cow.

Whilst leaving bush services woefully inadequate.

As recently as 30 years ago, some areas of Australia were still reliant on two telephone lines for a whole community, like Wyangala.

That's pathetic.

No, I am not currently a Telstra customer.

No, I don't intend *ever* becoming a Telstra customer.

Save your breath to cool your porridge.

Regards

Me.

What does a homeschooling day look like?

That's a hard question to answer because it doesn't look the same every day.  That's the beauty of home schooling.  It's flexible and adaptable and it goes with the flow.  Lest you think that we skive off all day and do nothing I have included a plan for the week (it'll open in a new window):

"the plan"

It's for Chickabid who's just starting Year 3, but I am taking him back a little bit into Year 2 work.  The Plan shows what we'd like to have accomplished by the end of the week, but it is not set in concrete.  One of the hard parts of being a teacher is that my brain is wired in teacher-mode to the five day week and having things finished by Friday.  In reality is doesn't matter if it isn't finished by Friday - what matters is that it is finished.  That Chickabid understands.  That I have actually "taught" rather than merely presented work. 

This week just gone Chickabid moved from horizontal algorithms to vertical ones.  It was immedaitely obvious that he needs much more practise with this than I at first thought.  How I long for some Mechanical Maths books that would provide him with that practise without having to reinvent the wheel.

There's a distinct lack of social studies and science in the plan above.  It's not there because we are focussing on the bare academics right now.  Social Studies and Science will enter the equation soon.

The morning begins with breakfast together then showers.  Mister Bear leaves for work and we (the kids and I) get busy on household tasks i.e bed making, dishwasher unloading etc.  About 9 o'clock we move to the table for "school".  The kids' books are in tote trays in the school cupboard and we take a few minutes to get out all the books we'll need and put them in order.

We begin the day with a short devotional - a verse of Scripture, a short explanation and application and then a time of prayer together.  I am encouraging both kids to pray and the Duchess is especially keen.

We were beginning with English, but found that often Maths got left til last when the kids weren't at their best, so we switched and now we start with Maths...mentals followed by Easy Learn Maths at the appropriate level and perhaps a consolidation page from Targeting Maths, although there is not enough meat in that book for it to stand alone.  Then we follow a basic routine: phonics, spelling, handwriting, language and reading with appropriate breaks in between for snacks, games, outdoor play and that kind of thing.  The afternoons are pretty much free at the moment for craft, cooking, gardening library visits and just chilling out over a book.

No day looks exactly the same and I am very happy about that.