Never Too Late to Put In An Appearance

It's been so long but surely my blog doesn't have an expiry date? I've visited a few times with the intention of posting at least a short update, but I always clicked the log off button feeling simultaneously, like we are the most boring family on earth but also that there has just been too much of the great bloggable moments missed over the last few months to find the foggiest of where to begin again. Without a doubt though, I definitely regret not keeping the blog up. My boys have grown and changed and I've missed recording that, but it isn't too late.

When I dropped off the face of blogosphere I'd sprained my ankle and Mr E's mother was living with us temporarily. My ankle has since healed, although I fear it will never again be as slim as its partner and Mr E's mother who stayed with us for about two months, ended up buying a house near our block just before Christmas. Great news for our family to have grandparents so close. One thing though, thank goodness for having our space back! I know while she was here I became very preoccupied with a fastidiously clean house, lots of very nice meals and well educated children. Blah! The pressure had me ready to crack!!

But that's all over now and the focus has naturally shifted to getting on with the house building. I feel that we could easily go on record as being the most stuffed around family ever as far as builders and brokers and so on go but everything is for a reason right? And I am grateful for all the steps it has taken to get us this far. To the point where our loan is approved and our building contract has been signed, sealed and delivered. It's been about two years since we sold our old Queenslander and invested our hopes and future in this five acre block. Now it appears we're on the final count down and building should begin hopefully next month with an even more hopeful approximate hand over date in July, admittedly, that would be the earliest. The timing will be just right as we have some big news to share in the next few weeks. I'm super excited and really can not wait to tell!

The builders sign is up at the block. We think it's a scream that
they've posted it in front of our poor neglected cubby house though!

Showbiz ain't for this girl

Just a little update. Last week we did the advertisement with our local council for the Mary Poppins Festival coming up soon and as much fun as it sounded in theory to get all dressed up again and smear ourselves in charcoal... again, it really wasn't all that much fun this time.


If you know me personally, you'll know the drama's we've been experiencing with getting our house to construction stage at Iri'ni, so with the market being so low we've been investigating buying a house in town again and selling Iri'ni off or conversely with the market moving so slowly, Iri'ni may actually be ours for quite some time yet and the other option may be to move a renovator, like an old Queenslander onto it or contract a plan from Builders like Annadale. So because of this housing dilemma, we found ourselves looking at four houses on this day that we shot the add, as well clumsily, comforting a dear friend over some sad news, and I needed to get packed for my trip to Byron Bay with my Mother to celebrate my Sister Sunshines' 40th!

A lot to fit into one day! Too much and extremely stressful .

So ultimately, doing this advertisement felt a lot like forced fun. Under different circumstances it would have been great but we were tired, had eaten not enough and on the run, and all three of us had had enough by the time the fifteenth take of repeating the same thing was over. The whole process didn't have a lot of relevance to my boys and I could see exactly why they didn't want to prance around on the sidewalk for the camera anymore. I could never be a showbiz Mum! And it was a terrible way to spend the day before I left my family for three days! I should have been reading and cuddling and chilling out, but instead we were running all over town like headless chickens doing all this 'stuff' which is pretty meaningless now.



Oh well, we learn right?! I have. This craziness has infected our happy homeschooling life and whilst this particular Tuesday was pretty extreme it seems to becoming more of the pattern. We experience a ridiculous amount of interruptions during what should be our happy homeschooling hours. I've had to be firm and finally say no more. I've canceled or rearranged everything we have had on in the mornings - markets, music lessons, drama with the school -, and have gone back to not answering the phone before 1pm and the real happy tick for a better me is going to bed early. Today is day three and while we have a long way to go before our homeschool looks the way I'd like it, it's better than the shabby mess it has been. Back to that getting to bed at a decent time thingy, I bid you nighty nite.


But before I go I have to share this lovely pic of an old renovated church near Byron Bay. It was our accommodation for our glorious visit to Byron Bay. When I post next, I'll share pic's of this beautiful place we had the pleasure of staying in. The whole area of Ballina, Mullumbimby and Byron were just extremely special places to visit and I hope so much to take my family there sometime soon. I'm glad to be home though and am very thankful for my husband making it possible for me to go away and have such a blissful time with my Mumma and sister. I have come back way relaxed and pretty darn happy too and it was an awesome way to celebrate my Sister Sunshine's 40th!

Getting Around the Bumps

This year we're trying to drive out the cost of homeschooling. Yes, homeschooling again but this IS my life. My children are the center of everything I do and we homeschool so my blog reflects this fact :D! I'm sure I'll develop some other interest.... soon? Maybe!

I find the idea of being able to educate for virtually free a hugely exciting concept especially because banks in Oz have decided to clamp down hard on owner builders and are NO longer lending money to them. That means for us that we will have to pay a builder to get our home to lock-up at Iri'ni which means $$$$ for labour that we didn't think would be necessary when we purchased our beautiful five acres. Mr E visited five different banks yesterday and it's the same story, no builder, no loan. This whole house building exercise is one frustration after another, and we haven't even begun to build yet! There should be a bank out there that meets our requirements, hopefully we'll find them next week :D.

So free educating is becoming necessary and fortunately it seems that increasingly more quality free materials are becoming available online every other day. For information about free educational materials the best place to visit is Freely Educate, a blog devoted entirely to it's name sake and if you're on facebook, 'like' Homeschool for Free for updates or visit their website Free Homeschool Resources.

It's through Freely Educate that I came across Lesson Pathways which is a K-5 online school , with lesson plans and resources all ready to go. Originally there was a cost but since the advent of Facebook and twitter and the like, it has since become temporarily free, and potentially permanently. You can read on their site as to how these social mediums have effected the cost.

I had contemplated using Lesson Pathways as a complete curriculum which would satisfy the box ticker in me but have since rubbished that idea as stressful and a waste of all the awesome materials we have already accumulated, oops I mean acquired ;) over the past four or so years . So the outcome is we will continue with what we have and supplement with Lesson Pathways as a unit study help.

For the moment The Natives and I have decided that alternating a weekly theme between them both will be best as they're always interested in what the other is doing - and it's easier for me. To divide myself would see me frazzled and doing an okay job but by concentrating our energies I know we'll ride the wave of enthusiasm and the learning will just be so much more enjoyable and natural. Kookaburra has chosen first for next week and it will be aircrafts and flight. Looking over my shoulder yesterday they saw the first experiment and ran off to give it a go....





Hoorah for excitement sparked by experiments!

On a sadder note, my boys have been told that another of our homeschooling families will be sending their children to school next week. I wholeheartedly understand the choice. But to fill the social void is becoming more necessary than ever before. This year both The Natives join Scouts, are attending art classes, volunteering at the Sanctuary, attending martial arts, and swimming lessons. I'll be seeking to grow friendships a little more pro-actively, we've been socially very quiet since we moved to Little House last April, which has been lovely but can't go on forever, so it's time to come out of my near hermit like status. On the homeschool friends front, our local group will be meeting monthly for games, chat and support with the hopes of growing it into a co-op where everybody shares a turn at mentoring the children with an especial area of interest or perhaps even a facet from their profession. For example a nurse may share with the children lessons about their bodies, health and hygiene, leveling the information for the varying age groups. Sounds like a very beneficial idea and I know it works splendidly in the States but we are so small here which works against us I think.

Well, here's hoping :D

A little sad for us but I'm planning to cater for the changes. So a few challenges this year but I know that through staying positive, relaxing and praying, everything will work itself out as it is meant too.