Homeschooling In Isolation... The Need for Community

Hello World.
I have been missing you.

It is so ironic that now that we officially homeschool I feel like I have lost my connections with many of the inspirations that led me to this path.

I guess I've been busy!
I didn't expect to actually have both boys home this year. H joining us was a surprise blessing, but one that left me scrambling for quite a while. Lol.

So I took my eyes off the world of blogs and shiny homeschooling fascinations. I focused in on school, our family, our friends. It was nice and it felt necessary.

But then...
I started to feel alone.
I started to feel isolated.

I started to wonder WHY on earth I was doing this crazy thing called Homeschool. WHY was I making my life a million times more complicated than it needed to be?? WHY had I chosen something that needs to be explained to every person I meet? ... and what if... I feel like I don't have the answers, if I feel like I can't actually justify this choice anymore. Oh No!

I had lost my direction. My focus.
I had isolated myself from the very community that had been my muse.
I felt lost.

Now,  I didn't actually recognise these things for myself. It was my husband who could see what was missing. And he was right.

There are a million ways to live. A squillion ways to educate your children. It's a smorgasbord and I am definitely eclectic in my choices. But now I can see that even though I get to make all of these particular choices for my family I can't do it all alone. I need to talk, to read, to laugh & to share. I need connection to people. People who are passionate about education & life; teachers, inventors, makers, doers. Mothers, fathers and kids. It's not just about homeschoolers, it's about people who share the juice of inspiration. 

So, here I am! Back in the World Of Blog! 

I need to be here. I need to connect. I need you :) 

I hope you are happy to have me back. Please say hello and send me to your blogs. I want to get to know you all over again!

Amber. x

* I need to add a small postscript, because I haven't mentioned my fab IRL homeschool family friends over at Mansted Family Project who are my constant support and inspiration and fun-sharers. I wouldn't be able do this crazy without them :) 

Adventures of a Rainbow Mama now has a Facebook page

We have our very own FB page up and running now! Please click {LIKE} if u wanna join our daily adventures over there! xx

Geometric solids : Montessori and more

We love our Life of Fred books around here. Credit (once again :) has to go to Tracey for all of her wisdom! To supplement, & ensure we are covering the full state syllabus for Maths, L is using the Targeting Maths workbooks. And then, when appropriate, my original love - Montessori - will also come into play.

The pages he completed from the TM book today were about 3D Shapes or as we know them in the world of Montessori - Geometric Solids.

Oooooh! We have some of them *insert excited Montessori Mama face*

So I pulled out my homemade Geometric Solids - I made them with clay & painted them to match the traditional Montessori ones - and set L to work; first matching the solids to their name cards & then collecting items from around the house to match them. He has done this work before but it's been a while.

I had to smile, at lunchtime, when he told his dad that he had been learning about Triangular Prisms :)

* On a side note, I'm pleased with the difference 2 months can make - I've been having much more success with going over the directions and then asking him to complete a page of a workbook independently than I did last year. Yay! Dishes done. Floor swept ;)

Day One

Day one was... brilliant! Awwwww - I love learning alongside of my boy.

*happy mama*

It was strange waving Hug off at the bus-stop once again but he seemed happy to be back in his routine. The house was peaceful. Very peaceful! Which was a nice contrast to the mayhem of holidays and L and I seemed to instantly flow back into the rhythm we had last year.

There is a new influence in our eclectic educational mix this year - Charlotte Mason - and I'm rather excited about my curriculum plans :) I will blog about them properly soon.

L's first official narration. It's something that has always happened naturally around here, of course, but Narration is a big element of the CM philosophy and it's going to take me a while to get used to "requiring"  it from each reading. Here L is narrating through drawing; after we read "The stories of Albion and Brutus" from Our Island Story.

You can also see T's kindle in shot! He's kindly agreed to let us use it for some of our readings.

Lovely lurves board games & Trouble is his current fave. We played lots of Trouble today :)

Collections and sketches from our nature walk. Keeping a Nature Journal  - another new part of our plans for this year.

There were spontaneous Zombie dances (totally coincidental Tracey - weird),  a return to The Life of Fred: Butterflies (We've missed you Fred) and water-play in the backyard - I'll warn you now - you had better watch out when mama gets hold of the hose!

Fun. But now it's late. I must sleep. There's a whole wide world out there to explore tomorrow. x

Our school photos: a new tradition

I have always liked the idea of school photographs - I still enjoy looking back on my own childhood ones -  & was surprised that Hug's school doesn't seem to do them! And of course Master Lovely is home. So I have decided that our official "school photos" will be taken on the first day back each year.

Here are my sweet bugs this morning :)

What are your favourite back-to-school traditions? x

The planning is done... Homeschool 2012

The planning is done (wellllll, most of it ;) & the day has arrived!
Happy Homeschool 2012 :)