From the Guilt Free Homeschooling blog. A lot of very sensible, encouraging articles at this blog. From a Christian homeschooler's perspective, but helpful and accessible to home edders of all persuasions. This article was written for the start of the 'school year'. Enjoy it at any time :~)
10 Ways to Ease Into Homeschooling
Friday, April 30, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Intriguing Dunedin Street Walks
Our next Intriguing Dunedin Street Walk is scheduled for 12:30pm, Wednesday 12 May. This is the third walk from the blue book (book 2), and we meet up at 70 Duncan St, City Rise.
This walk is supposed to take around 2 hours (so add at least another 30 mins on!) and is a bit hilly in some areas, with a small section of bush walk, so might not be great for push chairs/prams.
This walk is supposed to take around 2 hours (so add at least another 30 mins on!) and is a bit hilly in some areas, with a small section of bush walk, so might not be great for push chairs/prams.
SPCA notice
Via Kathrin:
OTAGO SPCA IS BEING OVER-RUN WITH ANIMALS LOOKING FOR NEW FOREVER HOMES.
Forever homes are urgently needed for the 25+ dogs & puppies and countless cats and kittens currently at the Otago SPCA. If you are looking at bringing a pet into your family we need you!! Come visit us at the haven or check out our adoption section at http://www.petpals.co.nz/ . (Because there are more animals coming in daily not all are listed on the website straight away).
Donations of Cat/Kitten or puppy food, blankets and pets toys would also be greatly appreciated. Drop these into the Haven located at Torridon Street in Opoho or to Susan St. Clair-Newman (Southern Short Terms Claim Centre, Lvl 4, Otago House).
Volunteers & Dog Walkers also welcome - Dog walking 10am - 12pm every day.
OTAGO SPCA IS BEING OVER-RUN WITH ANIMALS LOOKING FOR NEW FOREVER HOMES.
Forever homes are urgently needed for the 25+ dogs & puppies and countless cats and kittens currently at the Otago SPCA. If you are looking at bringing a pet into your family we need you!! Come visit us at the haven or check out our adoption section at http://www.petpals.co.nz/ . (Because there are more animals coming in daily not all are listed on the website straight away).
Donations of Cat/Kitten or puppy food, blankets and pets toys would also be greatly appreciated. Drop these into the Haven located at Torridon Street in Opoho or to Susan St. Clair-Newman (Southern Short Terms Claim Centre, Lvl 4, Otago House).
Volunteers & Dog Walkers also welcome - Dog walking 10am - 12pm every day.
Police Education workshops
We had a great bike safety talk with Heather Rei last week, and will organise more with her soon.
Our next topic will be "Keeping Ourselves Safe", but before she runs the workshop for the kids, she's very keen to meet with interested parents first, to explain what is discussed in these classes, and why. Obviously, she'd probably go into more detail when speaking to parents, so she'd like to do that without children present.
I thought I'd try to schedule this for one of our Wednesday afternoon meetings, so that parents who wanted to speak to her were able, while others weren't obliged to take part. Let me know if you don't think sounds like it would work, but I was imaging that if we have this meeting at someone's house, it would be easier to keep the kids occupied with a video or playing outside in a relatively safe and contained area while parents are distracted. Are people happy with this idea?
Feedback to Nicola, please
Our next topic will be "Keeping Ourselves Safe", but before she runs the workshop for the kids, she's very keen to meet with interested parents first, to explain what is discussed in these classes, and why. Obviously, she'd probably go into more detail when speaking to parents, so she'd like to do that without children present.
I thought I'd try to schedule this for one of our Wednesday afternoon meetings, so that parents who wanted to speak to her were able, while others weren't obliged to take part. Let me know if you don't think sounds like it would work, but I was imaging that if we have this meeting at someone's house, it would be easier to keep the kids occupied with a video or playing outside in a relatively safe and contained area while parents are distracted. Are people happy with this idea?
Feedback to Nicola, please
Diary Dates - 25 April 2010
Note: meeting place for aviary trip updated
As usual, if anyone has any suggestions for trips or activities, or would like to organise anything for our group, please feel free!
every Monday during term time: Swimsation lessons 11- 12pm, socialising from 12pm onwards. If you are interested in joining the lessons, contact Swimsation at Moana Pool. Otherwise, just turn up!
7:30pm, Tuesday 27 April: Mums' Night Out, Nova Cafe.
10:50am, Wednesday 28 April: Botanic Gardens Aviary trip (Tammy). Meet at the Information Centre by the cafe, lower gardens.
1:00 - 2:30pm, Wednesday 5 May: "Celebrating the Pacific" workshop, Otago Museum. Contact Nicola to book at
12:30pm, Wednesday 12 May: Intriguing Dunedin Street Walk, Blue Book, Walk 3, meet outside of 70 Duncan St, City Rise.
12:30pm, Wednesday 19 May: Art Gallery trip - contact Kathrin to book
TERM 3
1:00pm, Wednesday 1 September: St John's "Safe Kids" first aid course for children. Contact Kathrin to book
Remember, if it's raining, our outdoor meet-ups or walks will be cancelled/postponed
As usual, if anyone has any suggestions for trips or activities, or would like to organise anything for our group, please feel free!
every Monday during term time: Swimsation lessons 11- 12pm, socialising from 12pm onwards. If you are interested in joining the lessons, contact Swimsation at Moana Pool. Otherwise, just turn up!
7:30pm, Tuesday 27 April: Mums' Night Out, Nova Cafe.
10:50am, Wednesday 28 April: Botanic Gardens Aviary trip (Tammy). Meet at the Information Centre by the cafe, lower gardens.
1:00 - 2:30pm, Wednesday 5 May: "Celebrating the Pacific" workshop, Otago Museum. Contact Nicola to book at
12:30pm, Wednesday 12 May: Intriguing Dunedin Street Walk, Blue Book, Walk 3, meet outside of 70 Duncan St, City Rise.
12:30pm, Wednesday 19 May: Art Gallery trip - contact Kathrin to book
TERM 3
1:00pm, Wednesday 1 September: St John's "Safe Kids" first aid course for children. Contact Kathrin to book
Remember, if it's raining, our outdoor meet-ups or walks will be cancelled/postponed
Friday, April 23, 2010
Weekend Reading - Free Charlotte Mason Audios
Okay, so this isn't really "reading" as such (although I'll list some links for some background reading at the end of the post).
Charlotte Mason was a 19th century educator who encouraged a style of teaching that includes composer study, learning multiple languages, reading living books ("classics," we often call them), learning from art, and spending plenty of time in nature study.
Here are free audios of lectures and keynote presentations from Childlight USA's Charlotte Mason conferences. The lecture on "Knowing what knowers know" (on page 2 of the downloads, I believe) was one I found particularly helpful when thinking about the "assessment" component of writing my exemption application! Note that there are 4 pages of links available.
Thanks to the Freely Educate Blog for the links.
For more about Charlotte Mason and information about home education with a Charlotte Mason flavour, check out some of these links:
Simply Charlotte Mason
Charlotte Mason in a Nutshell
This week's Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival, hosted by Our Journey Westward (a blog carnival is a blog post which links to a whole pile of other blogs all posting on a related theme - in this case, on how they express Charlotte Mason style home education in their homes. Warning - blog carnivals are addictive and can cause major loss of hours of your time!)
Charlotte Mason was a 19th century educator who encouraged a style of teaching that includes composer study, learning multiple languages, reading living books ("classics," we often call them), learning from art, and spending plenty of time in nature study.
Here are free audios of lectures and keynote presentations from Childlight USA's Charlotte Mason conferences. The lecture on "Knowing what knowers know" (on page 2 of the downloads, I believe) was one I found particularly helpful when thinking about the "assessment" component of writing my exemption application! Note that there are 4 pages of links available.
Thanks to the Freely Educate Blog for the links.
For more about Charlotte Mason and information about home education with a Charlotte Mason flavour, check out some of these links:
Simply Charlotte Mason
Charlotte Mason in a Nutshell
This week's Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival, hosted by Our Journey Westward (a blog carnival is a blog post which links to a whole pile of other blogs all posting on a related theme - in this case, on how they express Charlotte Mason style home education in their homes. Warning - blog carnivals are addictive and can cause major loss of hours of your time!)
Monday, April 19, 2010
Diary Dates - 19 April 2010
Welcome to another exciting term :-D
We have the Police Education Officer's visit scheduled for this Wednesday's meet-up. She sounds really lovely, and although she'll probably chat mostly about bike safety, she said the kids are welcome to ask her about anything at all, as she really wants them to feel comfortable She'll be at the Dinosaur Park/Marlow Park at 12:30, to have lunch with us and give the kids time to get used to her before her talk, so don't forget lunch, bikes, scooters, rollerblades or skateboards and warm jackets as it usually seems to be a bit brisk at Marlow Park. If it's raining, we'll meet at my house, in which case don't worry about bringing the bikes etc., as there's not really anywhere safe to ride them. So far, Wednesday's forecast is fine, so see you all at the park!
every Monday during term time: Swimsation lessons 11- 12pm, socialising from 12pm onwards. If you are interested in joining the lessons, contact Swimsation at Moana Pool. Otherwise, just turn up!
12:30pm, Wednesday 21 April: Meet up at Marlow Park with bike safety talk by Police Education Officer Heather Rei. Bring lunch and bikes. If it's raining, meet at Nicola's house.
7:30pm, Tuesday 27 April: Mums' Night Out, Nova Cafe.
Wednesday 28 April: Botanic Gardens Aviary trip - TO BE CONFIRMED
1:00 - 2:30pm, Wednesday 5 May: "Celebrating the Pacific" workshop, Otago Museum. Contact Nicola to book
12:30pm, Wednesday 12 May: Intriguing Dunedin Street Walk.
12:30pm, Wednesday 19 May: Art Gallery trip. Contact Kathrin to book.
TERM 3
1:00pm, Wednesday 1 September: St John's "Safe Kids" first aid course for children. Contact Kathrin to book
Remember, if it's raining, our outdoor meet-ups or walks will be cancelled/postponed.
We have the Police Education Officer's visit scheduled for this Wednesday's meet-up. She sounds really lovely, and although she'll probably chat mostly about bike safety, she said the kids are welcome to ask her about anything at all, as she really wants them to feel comfortable She'll be at the Dinosaur Park/Marlow Park at 12:30, to have lunch with us and give the kids time to get used to her before her talk, so don't forget lunch, bikes, scooters, rollerblades or skateboards and warm jackets as it usually seems to be a bit brisk at Marlow Park. If it's raining, we'll meet at my house, in which case don't worry about bringing the bikes etc., as there's not really anywhere safe to ride them. So far, Wednesday's forecast is fine, so see you all at the park!
every Monday during term time: Swimsation lessons 11- 12pm, socialising from 12pm onwards. If you are interested in joining the lessons, contact Swimsation at Moana Pool. Otherwise, just turn up!
12:30pm, Wednesday 21 April: Meet up at Marlow Park with bike safety talk by Police Education Officer Heather Rei. Bring lunch and bikes. If it's raining, meet at Nicola's house.
7:30pm, Tuesday 27 April: Mums' Night Out, Nova Cafe.
Wednesday 28 April: Botanic Gardens Aviary trip - TO BE CONFIRMED
1:00 - 2:30pm, Wednesday 5 May: "Celebrating the Pacific" workshop, Otago Museum. Contact Nicola to book
12:30pm, Wednesday 12 May: Intriguing Dunedin Street Walk.
12:30pm, Wednesday 19 May: Art Gallery trip. Contact Kathrin to book.
TERM 3
1:00pm, Wednesday 1 September: St John's "Safe Kids" first aid course for children. Contact Kathrin to book
Remember, if it's raining, our outdoor meet-ups or walks will be cancelled/postponed.
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