Homeschool Freebie of the Day

Grab it quick before it goes!

Taming the "Homeschool Information Overload" Monster.

Information overload is a factor of life. At times we all get tired and stressed, and either stall out or stray from our plans due to too much information. But it isn’t enough to just know what causes information overload. You must actively guard yourself from it, and take strategic steps toward taming it and getting back on track as soon as possible. In this report, discover practical strategies for dealing with "homeschool information overload" and learn how to free up more of your precious time for what is really important in your life. MUST reading for every online homeschool mom!

Wordless Wednesday

Funny things my kids do

Squeeze into clothes that do not fit them. They never believe us when we tell how them how they have grown and clothes do not fit anymore. Nope, they have to struggle into said outfit to find out for themselves.


Falling asleep, anywhere and everywhere. My children never cease to amaze me how they can sleep, especially through the noise!


My son who surprises me now and then with notes. Most have pictures cut out of catalogues and the notes say 'for Christmas' or 'for birthday'
Recently I went into to my room and found this. The box is a jewellery box my mother was given in the 60s. She never used it and gave it to me. My son asked if he could have it as it has a lock and he liked that he could lock up his treasures. (Lego)

The story goes that son left it on the floor, and other son stood on it as he didn't see it there in the dark. Son who broke the box knew it was 'antique' (his words) and felt bad and wanted to let me know via note, maybe he thought I would be mad being told face to face.
Either way I laughed out loud when I found this.



Yes, another funny brought to you by the 2 year old. She is hilarious at the moment. She puts together the funniest outfits. Here she is modelling bathers that are too small for her now and goggles. She insisted on wearing the goggles everywhere, outside playing, at the shops, but not at swimming lessons.

My 6 year old loves to dress up her younger sister. Oh how I would have loved a younger sister to dress up!

Twice a year I take all the clothes that don't fit the kids anymore and spread them on the floor. I do this right before Spring and Autumn. Clothes that are still good and can be passed on, stay. Clothes that are beyond repair, get tossed.

I then break out the big bags full of clothes to reshuffle. Anything that does or is very close to fitting comes out. Clothes from the first big pile that will be kept go in.

The great clothes reshuffle is not an easy job. I loathe it. My 6 year old daughter loves it! All the clothes that I get out of the bags she goes through. Several times while I am sorting she will grab something and run off. A few minutes later the 2 year old will emerge and say 'ta da!'

I love how they do this. It is fun, keeps them busy and is lovely to see them both enjoying time together.

Some fun amongst the boring, big job of the bi annual clothes reshuffle.

Fun at the Dairy Farm!

Today Hub and I made a trip with friends of ours to visit mutual friends. Our friends are currently house sitting, and the house is on a dairy farm.
Hub and the children were lucky enough to go over to the milking and feeding sheds for a tour and some educating!
The people working were keen to tell the kids how everything works, and our kids were just as keen to fire off lots of questions.

Here they all learning about how much different dairy farming is from 100 years ago. Machines and technology have come a long way!

Learning about the milking machines, and how nowadays they only need to be attached. Each pump has a sensor. When it senses the milk flow dropping it releases and the pump attachments are pulled across and up out of the way by a cord.

All the calves being fed. While I know this is common practice in dairy farming I do not agree with it. Calves are fed from fake teats that are attached to big mixers, that mix the powdered milk.

The children did enjoy seeing calves up so close though. One calf in particular was not very shy and came right over to the children.

Having a lot of fun in the bales.

One thing about farms, the mud! Ooey, gooey, sticky, wet mud! The kids loved it! Especially this cheeky monkey who ran straight for it. He ended up covered completely, with a bit of skin showing so I knew it was him.

Good thing kids are washable!

They had such a wonderful time, and I am so thankful for our friends for hosting us and taking such an interest in our children, and showing them not only the cows and milking, but also about the other animals on the farm. The children especially loved the chickens, and are looking forward to when we can have our own.

For a more thorough post and lots more pics about our weeekend go visit Hub

A day of food in numbers

I have been asked a few times about how much food we go through. So here is a rough estimate of our day. I will use yesterday as an example.

~ 3 litres of milk, includes cow and rice milk

~ One loaf of bread

~ 20 rolls

~ 1kg carrots

~ 2kg apples

~ 20 weet bix

~ muesli sprinkled on weet bix in cereal

~ 500grams of small steaks

~ 18 sausages

~ 2 cups of corn

~ 1kg of potatoes made into cheesy potato bake.

~ 2 dozen home made biscuits made by the junior chef

~ Bananas


Yesterday was a below average day. Usually there is cheese, strawberries and yogurt too. More often than not there is also broccoli, cauliflower and pumpkin with dinner also.

We are looking forward to the warmer weather because it means BBQ!! Salads, staying outside later, sitting on the deck with hub. Sigh. (Remind me of this in 3 months time when I am whinging and bitching about the bugs and heat)

Wordless Wednesday

Confessions of a Large Family Mother

~ More than often I have laundry all over the house. Clothes in the hamper, clothes in the washing machine, clothes in the dryer, and clothes on the couch waiting to be folded.

~ I do not use cloth nappies all the time. Disposables save my sanity.

~ I sneak in my children's bedrooms when they are asleep and watch them for a minute. Marvelling at how big they are getting, especially my oldest boys are so close to being bigger than me. I am actually looking forward to it, all the jobs they can take on!

~ While we do not have commercial TV we certainly do have a DVD player and the kids watch something at least every day.

~ Some times my children have cereal for dinner.

~ My children have a bath once a week, unless they have an accident or get covered head to toe in mud from playing outside.

~ The only reason we do not eat fast food is because it is a 2 hour round trip. We have it so rarely now, when we have to go into the city.

~ I remember to cut my children's nails only when I notice them or get scratched.

~ I ignore the mess in our bus until crumbs, clothes and books fall out when the door opens. Then I find the motivation to clean it out, and while I'd like to say it stays that way and I make an effort to remind the kids to bring in everything, it doesn't happen. And 3 months later we are back at square one.

~ Hub and I hide sweets and eat them when the kids are all in bed.

~ I wear tracksuit pants every day.

~ Sometimes I let the kids eat whatever they want for lunch so I can chat with apwool on MSN.

~ You would think I would learn not to wait a second when a baby needs a nappy change. Even when it sounds like only a little, it may not be. Full nappy and clothes change needed!

~ I hate being told what is best for my children or family by people who are not with us 24/7, have no idea how we work and only want us to do things as they do, so they will feel better about how they do things. (Does that make any sense? ) Different is not wrong!

~ I also hate being told about a friends sisters neighbour who knew this family who homeschooled..............blah blah blah Just.don't.mkay.

~ I go to bed after midnight more often than I do before midnight.

~ Some days I can't wait for that quiet time after the kids are asleep and I can have a conversation with hub and we can actually hear each other.

~ I eat my pancakes with lots of butter and Vegemite. I also have Vegemite on scones.

~ Hub and I have a crazy, hectic, busy life. It feels like it has always been this way, we have just added some kids into the fun over the years.

I wouldn't have it any other way. Life can be hard sometimes and we can feel low, but I am so thankful to be married to my best friend and have our beautiful children who fill my hear with joy and our lives with laughter and happiness.