Following Rabbit Trails – One of the Joys of Being At Home

Another day has dawned and  I am sitting in bed writing this post and listening to a little blackbird attack his reflection in my window downstairs ;o). He returns every morning without fail to take on his arch-rival, bravely fighting for his territory. He really is so funny! At first I was really concerned for his health the way he was carrying on! But after a bit of research it seems that springtime brings along some unusual behaviour in some animals. Blackbirds and Blue Tits are susceptible to fighting their reflections *smile*

This week I have been preparing myself for the upcoming school term. If you want to read my ‘Planning Post’ you can pop over to my KONOS blog. Can you believe that we are heading towards the end of the academic year already? Here in England we have a little over 3 months left and in the U.S. you have less!

Whenever we near the end of the academic year, I always find myself questioning if we have ‘done enough’. Of course once I start looking through books and binders, I realise that we actually have done allot. Still, there are always things that I would have liked to have done that get left out and things that I didn’t think of having found there way into our school year. I quite like the ‘things that find there way in’ though. It is the beauty of home educating. To be able to follow an interest at the drop of a hat, weave your way down the ‘rabbit trail’, those little adventures you cannot plan for.

This year, Miss V – my eldest daughter – has had a passion for all things horsey. She lives for her riding lesson each week, devours books about horses and still she wanted more. How wonderful it was to be able to meet her need easily, immediately and frugally with a wonderful lapbook from Currclick. Have you heard of them? It is an online marketplace – a place where you can download the most wonderful lapbooks, unit studies, lessons, even attend ‘live classes’. They have popular publishers such as ‘Hands of a Child’ listing a myriad of resources. There seems to be something for every occasion.

 My youngest – Miss J – has really battled with feeling lonely, for months I have tried my best to understand her feeling and help her to feel better. When I saw a little ‘lonliness study’ which looks to God’s words for our understanding and solutions, I knew that it was just the ticket. Again, I was able to purchase and download it immediately. It has helped Miss J understand her feelings and realise that they are perfectly normal. I also find that CurrClick products are great ‘fillers’. Sometimes we will get to the end of an academic year and have a week or two to ‘fill’. Too short to start something new but really, to add another two weeks onto a long holiday is just a little too much for us. So a nice, easy, fun little lapbook or unit study is a great way to finish off a year.

Anyhoo, if you are interested and browsing their website, do pop on over. Just click on the above image and it will take you there.  As you can see, they are having a spring sale with up to 40% off at the moment! I plan to ‘stock up’ on a couple of fun summery outdoor studies for the summer. Something nature related I think. The holidays can be so long and I always find that something constructive to focus on makes our home a more harmonious place ;o)

It is a blessing to have my children at home, to be able to meet their needs where they are at, to be able to meet their thirst for specific knowledge. Often times for those of us who use a set curriculum, it can be difficult to work these things in. But I have learnt that thanks to businesses like CurrClick and wonderful free websites like HomeschoolShare, I truly am able to be flexible without breaking the bank ;o)

Well, I have followed THIS rabbit trail for long enough. Time to find my way back to my world and get the day started. Have a wonderful day everyone.