Mama's Musings

Getting ready for 2024?  If you'd like to grab my free printable planner (over 50 pages), please do so before the end of December.

If you want to book a 1:1 session to help you get organised, please head to my calendly and make an appointment for January.

If you'd like to work through the planner, and similar organisational tools, with me over 7 days - enrol in my Organised Homeschool mini-course.  It's still only AUD$7 and can be used over and over again.

Did you know that 1 in 5 people experience symptoms of mental illness each year?

In fact, every day in Australia, 9 people will die by suicide.

Mental illness can be debilitating and can have a devastating impact on not only those living with it, but those around them.

This October, I’ll be taking part in One Foot Forward to help reduce the impact of mental illness and suicide.  It's the first time I've ever done a fundraising challenge like this!  My goal is to walk 100km and raise $350.

I'm walking to raise funds for Black Dog Institute, so that they can put ground-breaking new mental health treatment, education, and digital services into the hands of the people who need them most.  It would mean so much to me if you donated to support my walk.  In my 'day job', I refer clients to resources like the Black Dog Institute every week.  It's important to me that free mental health care services are available to assist those in need 24/7.

Together,...

For those who follow us on social media, you'll have heard a bit about my consult services.  Over the past few months I've increased my availability and I've been seeing more families face-to-face as well as over the phone and via video calls.  You can book sessions here.

Before these sessions I like to know a little about your family, homeschool, and challenges and I'll usually collate some info and resources to bring to face to face sessions or email to online clients.  Each session normally lasts around an hour and I'll email most clients some follow up information or resources, or answer further questions afterwards.

I've had great feedback on this process and receive a lot of satisfaction through helping home educators feel more confident about the journey ahead.  Some families I meet with are at the very beginning - either with little ones or just leaving the school system, and some are in transition into the teen years, preparing for university, or...

I've written about socialisation several times in the past, including this blog post.  I think it's fair to say that the homeschool socialisation myth has been debunked by now!  Siblings, cousins, neighbours, family friends, homeschool groups and co-ops, faith meetings, and after-school activities are the most obvious ways we can socialise, but what else is there for homeschoolers?  Here are a few ideas you may not have considered...

Volunteering - kids can often volunteer alongside their parents or another carer and do meaningful work in the community.  This helps encourage an attitude of service, an awareness of other people's lives, connection with plants or animals, and/or a feeling of belonging.  From a young age my own children were involved in the same community activities and events I participated in - a bartering system, various gardening groups, washing an older neighbour's dog regularly, pet sitting, house sitting, and running activities and camps...

I've just finished preparing my workshop for the 2021 Australian Homeschooling Summit! And today Kelly has released the list of over 35 workshops available this year! AND tickets are available too! Check it out here.

Just $29 for access to 30+ hours of content, a whole bunch of downloads including workbooks and other freebies and discounts, downloadable mp3s and video files, and access to a private group to get advice directly from the experts, share with other attendees, and to get bonus live sessions and resources. It's on soon - 15-26 February!



My workshop on homeschool planning & organising (with your kids) is on the 24th at 11am Queensland time, and includes a mega-bundle of free printable resources!

Don't forget there's also an AHS2021 ticket giveaway happening until the 29th here.

See you at the Summit! 

Please note that these are affiliate links because I am a presenter.  From tickets purchased through my links I receive a percentage which pays me for my time...

I absolutely LOVE a new year! I love, love, love the feeling of a fresh start, a clean slate, a new plan, a fresh diary/planner, new systems, decluttering - you name it, I'm a January fan!

Keen to get organised for 2021? Take advantage of my $7 mini-course. It's 7 days of planning, 30+ pages of printables and you can use it year after year. It's great for beginners and those with teens, and it's available HERE. Enjoy!

I've been listening to The Brave Learner on audible for a few weeks now, and I'm really enjoying it!  As I listen to each chapter, I'm thinking "Yes!"  Julie Bogart succinctly describes the learning adventure our family have lived for the past last 25+ years.  To hear her describe how she learned to create a rich learning environment (and lifestyle) for her children, and trusted their choices and abilities is a beautiful reminder of how our own home education journey was also heart-centred and adventure-driven.  Would I make the same choices again?  Absolutely!  I am, with Zeah who is 4 and will have a different experience to her siblings aged 16-26, but hopefully it will be as full of fun and love and help her to grow to be independent and brave adults like her siblings (she's already quite brave!)

Want to hear more?  The Brave Learner is on Audible (your first title is free).  It's also available as a paperback for around AUD$25 -...

I'm SO excited to have feedback from my first participants of my first online mini-course - 7 Days to a More Organised Homeschool!  This course has been tested over the past few weeks by a small group of homeschooling parents and it's NOW READY FOR YOU!

Here are some of their comments:

"I liked the handouts/printables and the way you organise them so people can print what they need/want."

"I thought your structure was great - the way the course went from the big picture down, macro to micro - yearly, monthly, weekly, then daily."

"It was great how you encouraged parents to include their children in planning."

"My favourite printout was the Order in the House tools list."

"Are you sure about the price?  You've included a LOT of content in this course!"

"I like how you made it clear at the start what we'd need to proceed through the sessions.  I decided to create the whole workbook and go through each step.  Thank you."

"I'm glad it didn't need to be done in 7...

Exciting News!

Kelly from Fearless Homeschool is running a rare live session of her Zero to Homeschool course!

Here’s a quick overview -

Full course access – instant & lifetime
July 6 – August 28
Weekly live coaching sessions
Accountability (so you actually do it!)

Over eight weeks you’ll go through one module a week. You’ll meet for a live session once a week where Kelly does some extra teaching, answers questions, and helps troubleshoot your issues. She’ll even record it so you can watch if you can’t make it live.

At the end of the eight weeks you’ll have a personalised homeschool that’s interesting, enjoyable, AND educational (and that you don’t want to run away from).

If that’s EXACTLY what you need right now, you can join Zero to Homeschool here.  Enjoy!

“Children are being freed to learn as nature intended” – just one comment I will always remember from my 2002 research into why Australian parents were home educating their children.  I was curious as to why so many were taking the plunge into home based learning in Australia.  Recently, isolation-schooling during the pandemic has exposed the option to all families as a possibility.  Here, I explain why  a steadily-increasing number of families been home educating in Australia over the past few decades.

Some parents actively choose to home educate.  They make the decision sometime – whether when their children are infants (and even unborn), or when they feel dissatisfied with their children’s schooling for any reason.  Some parents feel that there was no other choice.  Perhaps they have exceptional or neurodiverse children, their children are sick or injured, they may be simply unable to cope with the stress...