Lusi’s Homeschool Day in the Life (with a 13-, 15- year-old) ~
Written by Lusi Austin from That Homeschool Life

A note from Jamie: Since 2022, Lusi has been sharing her homeschooling life in Australia here, and her writing was an answer to prayer! I’ve learned so much from her as a mom with three graduates (and two more to come!). And I admire and look up to her gentleness with life in the midst of homeschooling with chronic illness.

One of my favorite posts she’s contributed is on Dealing with Post-Homeschooling Parental Guilt – so good! Lusi, thank you for sharing this final day in the life with us! I’m so grateful, Jamie xo

*****

Our 17th year of homeschooling started this week. We now have three kiddos who live out of home (all working full time); two still learning at home.

I now work remotely doing some part-time social media work. And next week I begin undertaking two-days a week of studying myself.

We have discussed how this year we will have a little more structure to help us fit everything in. But that ‘structure’ went out the window fast. On Monday, we got through one full day of learning (as we’d hoped) but by Tuesday night, I had all the signs of Covid. I tested positive the next day.

So instead of me sharing about how smoothly our year began, I decided to share what life often looks like around here (with so many compromised immune systems!): messy, unpredictable and real.

Lusi’s Homeschool Day in the Life (with a 13- and 15- year old)

MORNING

Normally we begin with devotional time and some read-alouds in the lounge-room, but today began with my 15-year old making me a coffee and bringing me some breakfast to bed.

Mr. 13-year-old slept in and later also tested positive for Covid. Miss 15 carried on with her chores and took on her brother’s chores so that the dogs and chickens would still be fed, which was so appreciated.

Mr. 13 climbed into bed next to me to show me his Design and Technology journal entry that he wrote yesterday.

He’s quite a reluctant writer, but he will write about things that interest him.We got out the laptop and he showed me the rolls of filament (he has been saving up for) to use on his 3D printer.

He double checked his calculations and then we placed the order together. He filled in the delivery details on the website himself and then wrote a follow up paragraph on completing the task. We printed off the order list, which he’ll also include in his Design and Technology journal.

Meanwhile, Zippi (15) carried on independently with her spelling list, some creative writing and reading. Zeeki (13) watched some Lego and Minecraft videos on a projector that he set up for fun, then listened to an audiobook in his room.

I worked on some of my current work-from-home tasks from bed and tried to give my body the rest it needed.

AFTERNOON

By this time, my lovely doctor had sent through my antivirals script and my hubby picked that up on his way home from work. I got up and heated up some chicken soup from the freezer (my grandmother’s recipe). It immediately made me feel comforted.

My hubby brought home electrolytes and some gluten-free chicken nuggets at my request which he popped in the air-fryer. So grateful for a caring family on days like this.

Mr. 13 completed a Duolingo lesson in Japanese, which he has just begun learning. Miss 15 completed her 146th day streak in her Spanish lessons.

EARLY EVENING

A storm was brewing. We went outside and looked at the sky darkening. As Miss 15 began to make homemade gluten-free dumplings for the family meal (her rostered night), her insulin pump alarmed.

This is a big part of our days – her having the time and space to manage her Type 1 Diabetes well. And she does. She made an adjustment in her pump and then went on with cooking dinner.

The gluten-free dumplings were amazing!

The kids spent a little time gaming, reading and then hopped into bed, while hubby and I watched a Good Doctor re-run. And that’s the end of my Day in the Life 2025!

Sometimes, things happen that are out of control, like Covid or other illnesses or a death in the family, but learning can still happen: learning to rest, to care, to connect.

All we can do is our best and that my friends, is enough.

You are enough.

Being together is enough.

Lusi x

My, how the days have changed:

• 2024: Lusi’s Homeschool Day in the Life (with a 12- and 14- year old)
• 2023: Lusi’s Homeschool Day in the Life (with an 11- and 13- year old)
• 2022: Lusi’s homeschool day in the life (with a 10-, 12-, 17-, 18-, 19-, year old)

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

Toe-Dipping into Homeschooling ~
Written by Lusi Austin of That Homeschool Life

Imagine it’s a hot, summer’s day here in Australia. There is no place I’d rather be than near the ocean or our local river, dipping my toes into the cool water.

Sometimes, just dipping my toe in is enough and other times, it is the starting point for a full on deep-dive!

And that has had me thinking – offering our kiddos a myriad of learning opportunities and experiences is like toe-dipping: our kids dip their toes into the learning waters.

Sometimes they have ‘just enough’ exposure to certain activities and ideas that it gives them a chance to really feel like they have tried that subject or theme. At other times, that little toe-dip actually leads them into a deep-dive on a topic that they’d once never even thought of.

This has happened with most of my kids over the years. Instead of fighting the urge to insist that we all approach the water in the same way, I now actively encourage toe-dipping into homeschooling interests (even if it doesn’t lead to a deep-dive experience).

Let me share a few examples and just how far one small dip into the waters has led to an immersive experience for three of our kids.

Toe-Dipping into Homeschooling

A Dip into Tech

A few years ago, my youngest son (now 13 years old), seemed to be interested in building, making and creating with Legos. I saw that his interest moved more into the Lego Technic pieces (afflinks). He worked on click-style circuit kits but completed these very quickly.

A friend had mentioned a special electronics style kit that she had found called Spintronics. Although this was a little beyond him in some areas, he kept at it. I saw that it was stimulating his mind in way that other kits had not.

Now at 13, this little toe-dip which began playing with Legos, has led to him into new tech areas.

He has purchased two 3D printers and using his own designs, he has begun selling 3D printed earrings and fidget toys. He has joined a homeschool coding club. His love of tech and engineering principles continues.

A Dip into Cooking

From the time our kids could stir a bowl, I have had them in the kitchen making a mess  participating. They kept their own recipe books, writing out recipes we had made together. When one of our sons took a job at a local nursing home in the kitchen, he already had some skills he had practiced at home.

He was then offered an apprenticeship in commercial cookery. He has now graduated from his tertiary education certificate course. Last week, he cooked for his housemates!

Who knew a toe-dip into cooking during our homeschool years might come in handy in his future?

A Dip into Sewing

Another example of toe-dipping in our home has been my youngest daughter and sewing. I gave a toe-dipping experience to all five of our children in this area.

But she was the only one who REALLY went all in with the deep-dive! You can read more about where this dipping led her in this post.

When Toe-Dipping Doesn’t Lead Anywhere

What if NOTHING happens after you offer an activity or a learning experience to your kiddo? As parents, sometimes we feel disappointed that our kids don’t go all-in with an activity. Breathe and know that it is okay.

We all have likes and dislikes. It may not be something your kid picks up again EVER. Or you may have given them an introduction to something that they can explore for themselves in another season of their life.

Sometimes, the best place is watching from the sand. They may be observing and taking things in. It may be that later down the track they ask more questions or their interest piques.

Rest in the knowledge that you have given your child rich learning opportunities and experiences. There is value in toe-dipping, in deep-diving, and in standing on the sand too.

* Find more inspiration in Lusi’s writing on Simple Homeschool!

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your type needs most!

Where Can An Interest Lead? ~
Written by Lusi Austin of That Homeschool Life

My beautiful 15-year-old daughter recently made this dress to wear to Sydney, Australia’s production of Hamilton, the musical. She made it from a $10 piece of fabric she found in a local second-hand store (in Australia we call them ‘op shops’ short for opportunity shops!)

I can’t sew to save myself! Well, that’s not entirely true: I bought my first sewing machine when I was 25 years old and, using YouTube videos, taught myself how to thread the machine and how to sew a straight line!  I can sew a straight line, but can’t sew anything like the things my daughter makes.

Where Can an Interest Lead?

How to encourage an interest your child has that you don’t share:

So, if I am not into sewing, how did my daughter develop her skills?

Well, let me just say up front that of my five kiddos, Zippi is the only one who has really LOVED sewing. I’m so glad that I gave her time and space to develop her love.

How did I know she loved it? I observed her. Over time, I could see that she was excited about learning new skills.

I made suggestions and provided her with tools. I could see her eyes light up when she made something. There was a spark, and so I tried my best to fan the flame of interest.

We started small to test the waters. At the age of 7, she was sewing a felt puppet using a step by step kit. Then slowly, we stepped it up.

A few years later, she tried the sewing machine for the first time. I think a purposeful project is helpful in sparking an interest. So I helped her make some simple curtains for her bedroom.

Then she asked me how to thread the bobbin onto the spool (which I’d always done for her). I showed her how to do it and from then on, she did it herself. We incorporated her learning outcomes into her passion.

I found a few sewing bee shows for her that I thought might fit this interest, bought some second hand sewing books and some vintage patterns.

Then I outsourced. She joined a local craft and sewing group. She would troubleshoot problems there or at home with me (with us looking online together) as well as Zippi’s Nan helped her when she came for visits.

As the years went on, so did her interest in sewing and fashion. Her skill level increased as she kept practicing. She made masks and scrunchies and I encouraged her to participate in a local market to sell some.

Her market was a success and led to her being able to sell them in a friend’s café. This incentivized her further! And again, she upped her skill level.

She started tackling more complex techniques in her work – bell sleeves, darts, shirring, zippers, overlocking, using patterns (and creating her own patterns from scratch). I found a croquis (form drawing) class for Zippi to take online.

Again, this skill took time to develop.

I scaffolded supports for her in this area: she began with a pre-made template, graduated to using plastic templates and then took the online croquis class. Her form and perspective skills improved.

Another lovely homeschooler sent us fabric and another sent us old workbooks from a fashion course she’d previously undertaken.

And so, with skills, resources and my old friend ‘time-and-space’, the little girl with a passion for fashion continues to create.

I don’t know if there is a career in fashion ahead for my daughter or not. But what I do know is this: she has developed skills across so many subjects of learning, by spending her time doing something that she really loves!

And in our home, that is a worthwhile and wise investment. 

* Read more of Lusi’s inspirational posts on Simple Homeschool here!

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your type needs most!

Switching from the Deficit Mindset ~ Written by Lusi Austin

I love a good story. I love listening to them; singing them; writing them and bringing them to the theatre. But sometimes, the story I tell myself in my own mind is not helpful.

Sometimes I lean too hard into the land of the deficit: the place where I focus on what we HAVEN’T DONE. Or who we AREN’T. I concentrate on just how far SHORT we have come, of all the targets and goals I had.

Here in Australia, we are halfway through our learning year. And I find that my deficit mindset needs to be RESET about this time every single year.

I have to reset it from ‘deficit’ to ‘plenty’, reminding myself that we have done PLENTY! Yes, even in our 16^th year of homeschooling, I STILL need to do this.

Here’s how I reset the deficit mindset when I need to (in case you need to reset yours too!):

Switching from the Deficit Mindset in Your Homeschool

I stop and value what I AM doing

I can tell you right now a list of at least 15 things I had planned to do this year – that we have NOT done. Or the ways I feel like I’ve let down my kids, my husband, or our house. Why is it that we can more easily see the failures rather than the successes?

Surely this isn’t just me. I’m a pretty positive person but within myself, I can often easily default to seeing the deficit in my own efforts. The only way to combat this, is for me to STOP and intentionally make the shift.

I have to look at the things that HAVE been experienced, achieved or tried.

I’m not saying this is easy – but for me, it is necessary. While I’ve been working so hard to get my play Intertwined to the stage, I have sometimes felt like a failure – for not completing as much bookwork as I’d like to with the kids. I was talking about this with them recently and apologizing.

They both stopped me, with Miss 15 saying, “Mum! We have had the best year of learning! We’ve read awesome books together, made amazing projects, been involved in our community and gone on picnics by the river…there are SO many things we’ve had the chance to do this year and we’ve loved it.”

Chatting with the kids about this was helpful, but so was actually going through my learning photos (that I keep privately in a FB album). I looked back through and was shocked that I’d forgotten all the things we had already covered and experienced.

If you’re struggling with the deficit mindset too, go through photos, look at work samples or take stock of the books you’ve read. This may help jog your mind too.

I look at the unexpected lessons and experiences we’ve had

At the start of this learning year, I made plans. But I didn’t know some of what lay ahead of us then! We’ve had one son move away to begin a new chapter in his life. We’ve also had two unexpected trips to see him. This has come with its own lessons.

We had two trips trips to Sydney (five hours away from where we live) which meant we were able to visit big art exhibitions, and the beach. On our way there, our car broke down. This meant we had to learn patience while we waited hours for road side assistance!

Our daughter received her diabetes pump, which meant we had lots of extra appointments and learning around this new life-changing device. There were a couple of other unexpected issues and sometimes this meant we needed more time at home. This allowed Mr. 12 more time to create using his 3D printer.

I re-evaluate the goals we’ve set

Sometimes, I have to look at the goals I’ve set and ask myself why I set it in the first place. One of our goals this year was to work through a particular science book. And we have – a little here and there, but to be honest, the kids just aren’t that into it!

Setting it aside is a little hard (partly because I paid good money for the book!) But in doing so, I’m able to look at other ways to fill their science-learning-buckets up like: a good family friend came over and gave a heap of electrical circuitry to our son; the kids also loved using their monthly science kit; we read other books and articles that had science content; and we watched several documentaries too.

Letting go of our own goals can be liberating and helpful in allowing us to reset our mindset from ‘deficit’ to ‘plenty’.

So here is your reminder today to tell yourself a good story. See the good that you’ve done, the lessons you’ve learned and experiences you’ve had. Reset your goals if necessary and join me on the path of switching from the deficit mindset in your homeschool.

Hugs,
Lusi x

* Find all of Lusi’s inspirational posts on Simple Homeschool here!

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your type needs most!

Our Family Learning Diary – Recording Our Homeschool Journey
Written by Lusi Austin from That Homeschool Life

Even before we began homeschooling, I started keeping a learning record. A collection of loose papers with notes on them. I can’t tell you why, but I know I did it because I came across the papers in a box in my shed recently.

My eldest (now 22) was 3 at the time and on this piece of paper, it says that we did an ‘underwater themed art activity’ . I wrote the song that we sang together and we played a magnetic fish game too. I think somehow I knew that homeschooling would be part of our life’s path.

This is our sixteenth year of homeschooling our children. I made a commitment back when I first started, that I would write in my diary each day. Well that lasted maybe two days!

The following year, I made a commitment to write it in a couple of times a week but the same thing happened. I just couldn’t keep up with it.

I used to get frustrated with myself and my ‘lack of self discipline’ until I lightened up and realised that I was imposing something on myself that I didn’t need to.

Instead, I decided to work with my neurodivergent ADHD brain and do it the way that came most naturally to me.

How I keep a family learning diary

The only way I can remember what we have done is by looking at photos. I am a visual person so a single photo can jog my mind and remind me of the learning that took place.

I group the learning photos into months in private Facebook albums.

I give the album the title: Learning From Life, then add in the month and year. This makes it easier to find later on.

After adding all the photos into the monthly album, I go to a café, order breakfast and coffee and have a learning diary date!

I look at my photos and under a month headline, I write down learning activities. I use subject subheadings which I then highlight and color-code.

Purchasing a lined notebook that does not have ANY dates or months in it, has been even more liberating for my brain.

What I Include

I like to think of our learning diary as a bit of a family record.

I try to include things that I’ll want to be reminded about in years to come. Examples of this are events we attended, people we caught up with, overcoming challenging seasons.

I also include learning activities, books we have read, recipes we’ve cooked together, etc.

Instead of just writing down something like, ‘we did a maths lesson’, I think about recording a child’s attitude. I might write, ‘X found the lesson on fractions challenging. There were some tears. So we put the bookwork aside, ordered a pizza and tried to tackle fractions in a different way!’

Excerpts from our learning diary entries of our homeschool journey:

July 2009 “Brett took E to hospital – croup. Kids and I had a relaxed day at home. We watched ‘The Zoo’, ‘Scrap Heap Challenge’ and ‘The Plague’ episode of Little House on the Prairie. Kids did some craft, drawing, imaginary play. S finished writing her fettucine recipe in her recipe book. I read the book ‘Jonah and the Fish’ to S & E. S was tested on her spelling list words. S’s friend M dropped over to show a bonnet she had. S showed her the one I made her for dress ups.”

March 2011 “Reading/Computer: L finished another 2 lessons on ABC Reading Eggs. He read 3 short books to Brett. Confusion with ‘this/is’ but kept trying. PDHPE: Running races. The kids were all good sports. E started getting upset when he didn’t keep up with the others. Still trying to work on that kind of attitude with him and talked again about being a good sport. S continued to read the Secret Garden and is up to chapter 18. L & E used cardboard to make themselves a mobile phone.”

August 2014 “History/Geography: The boys have requested we study WWI. We started by learning about ‘Old Europe’ and the causes of WWI. Identified Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary & Italy on the globe. Read about the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance and who they were between. Discussed colonies, empires and then the main causes for WWI: M (militarism), A (alliances) I (imperialism) N (nationalism). Kids coloured in a map of Europe at that time.”

These are just a few examples from over the years. Even now, reading them brings warmth to my heart and reassures me that I really have given my children a rich life.

Why I bother keeping a family learning diary

In my state, I have to show learning samples to my regulatory body. I do this in many ways, but I have grown to really LOVE our learning diary! It is something even my kids look back on as the years pass.

It also helps me remember. Life has been so full and busy for so many years and it’s easy to forget!

The diaries remind me of how nuanced our life throughout our homeschool journey and I’m grateful for that.

How do you record your homeschool journey? I’d love to hear! ~ Lusi x

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your type needs most!

Over the years, ‘are we doing enough?!‘ questions have plagued my mind, especially during challenging seasons. We might not have been able to cover what we wanted. Perhaps we had grand plans of visiting places that we didn’t.

Or maybe the read aloud books we’d purchased are still sitting untouched on a shelf. Sometimes I’ve had kiddos who are resistant to reading and writing. And my mind wonders, ‘Have we done enough?’

During these times, I’ve found that I have become more open to the fact that learning continues to happen every day. We favor peace and ease over stress and a monotonous routine. 

And in doing so, I’ve found that my kiddos are not only more motivated to learn, but that their depth of engagement is deeper and more authentic too.

My job has evolved into playing what I call ‘learning facilitator and detective’. I observe what they are interested in, give suggestions and choices and then see the educational value in what my children are learning. 

Let me give you couple of examples.

Stealth Homeschooling 101

One of my sons is dyslexic and autistic. He finds engaging with written materials quite challenging at times. He absolutely LOVES his new 3D printer though.

We chatted about what he was making. I asked him how he would remember the projects he has worked on – what worked and what didn’t. He said he wasn’t really sure so I suggested he start keeping a diary about his projects.

He loved this idea! I took him to the shops and he chose his journal. He wanted one without lines so that it had a lot of room to sketch his designs.

We got out the camera printer and he printed photos of some of his projects and stuck them in his journal too. He has been working away at this journal (without a fight or tears from either of us!) because he loves his 3D printer!

Observation, choice, and facilitation are all parts of my role as learning detective in stealth homeschooling!

The observation was made by me that he was loving his 3D printer. I also observed that he didn’t like writing. Giving him a choice over which type of journal to buy felt empowering to him. My role as facilitator was to take him to the shops and buy the journal. 

Now, because he is 12, he’s not always going to remember to write in it regularly. So again, I observe if that’s happening.

I might suggest we add it in when we do our next Planning Monday Morning session. I might even give the choice to him like, “How many entries would you like to do this week – 3 or 5? I might need to buy more photo printing sheets as facilitator.

Here’s another example:

My daughter isn’t a huge fan of science. But…she loves science kits! Both Mr 12 and Miss 14 choose which parts they’ll do. They then take turns completing various stages of the kit. They both listen as I read aloud science information from the booklet that comes in the kit.

Of course we do other science learning too, but this has been a great, fun and easy way to make sure we cover science outcomes (that would otherwise be tough and painful to do!)

Can you see it again – observation, choice and facilitation? I observed that she’s not a huge fan of science, but DOES love step by step work and enjoys the kits.

I facilitated by buying and ordering the kits and they made choices about which parts they’d do to complete the kit. 

We went on holiday recently. A beach holiday for rural-living kids presents lots of learning moments! I didn’t plan on doing any structured learning whilst away.

Instead, there was a lot of subtle, incidental learning. I sometimes use a free program to help me incorporate stealth homeschooling (great for those of us with brain fog!) I enter the activity and select the subjects I want it to cover and the program then shows me what we have learned.

Here’s how it works:

Activity: We went to the beach and swam in different types of water – a calm lagoon and the wild ocean. There was a red flag on one of the beaches so I encouraged my son to ask the lifeguard what the flag meant (red means the beach is closed!) He told us about rips and pointed out examples of those, of sand dunes and wind patterns. 

Learning:

• Enhanced communication skills through meaningful conversations with life guards about flags and safety measures at the beach and lagoon.
• Expanded vocabulary with terms related to beach safety such as rip currents, warning flags, and water conditions.
• Developed listening skills by actively engaging in discussions with life guards to gather information about different types of flags and their meanings.
• Improved comprehension skills by understanding the importance of adhering to flag warnings and following the instructions provided by life guards.

I hope you have gathered some clues to incorporate in your own homeschooling lives. Let’s use all the tools that are out there to make our jobs as learning detectives that little bit easier!

Enjoy your stealth homeschooling!

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your type needs most!

 Lusi’s Homeschool Day in the Life (with a 12- and 14- year old) ~
Written by Lusi Austin from That Homeschool Life

This past year has seen more stability for me in my ongoing symptoms of living with Systemic Lupus (SLE and five other auto immune diseases). I’ve been able to manage to do more on this new meds regime. Oh man, am I thankful!

Here’s a peek into how our homeschool day usually runs.

Lusi’s Homeschool Day in the Life (with a 12- & 14-year-old)

Coffee. Always coffee to start the day.

I usually return some emails and get some work done in the quiet on the computer over that coffee. I keep my Bible next to my laptop and will often start off my morning with some Proverbs or Psalms. Nothing like a little ancient wisdom to help me start off the day.

Since my last ‘Day in the Life’ post, our life has changed quite a bit. Our daughter, Zippi (14) was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes last year. Sometimes, Zip will be awake in the night (with me) treating a hypo (or two on a bad night!) The next morning we’ll need to sleep in.

Thank God for homeschooling!

When she and our son (Zeeki 12) wake up, they come and kiss me. Then, I’ll punch in the codes for their devices so that they can listen to music. Zeeki will often read over breakfast.

Our Morning Rhythm

Chores are tackled by us all after breakfast time. I often have help here to pop dinner in the slow cooker. And just like my coffee – I’d be lost without my slow cooker!

With chores done, we usually head to the loungeroom or go under our trees (depending on the weather!) This is the time for us to tackle something together. It’s usually something from our Planning Monday Morning list.

We might do some of our Story of the World read aloud and activity sheets. We almost always tackle maths in the morning too. If we have a science kit to work on, we will do it here.

After a morning tea break, we usually do a read-aloud. My kiddos have always focused better in the mornings. If we need to leave the house to run errands or do some learning-in-the-community, we will do it here!

Sometimes we head to the library, art gallery or take our learning to our favourite coffee shop. Zippi loves taking her textiles journal there and adding to it. Zeeki loves taking a clipboard and drawing materials to work on a cartoon there.

At some point in the morning, there are always doggy snuggles too – we have three dogs and our kids love spending time with them.

Our Afternoon Rhythm

The kids get their own lunches – often leftovers or a snack platter. Zippi will bolus for her food. I am in awe of how well she has adjusted. This is such a learning journey for us all.

The kids will usually read to themselves over lunch or watch a show together. After lunch, we branch out into something of our own interest.

Zippi loves making and designing clothing and costumes. She recently made a Mad Hatter’s outfit (including the hat)! If she’s not sewing, she might be searching Pinterest for inspiration, working on her textiles journal or continuing to work on her croquis skills.

My son wants to be an engineer! So in the afternoons, Zeeki can usually be found tackling a new Lego technic creation. He just saved up for his own 3D printer and this year will be learning CAD for the first time.

Zip and Zeek were elected onto our local Youth Council – so some afternoons they may attend a meeting or activity. You might find Zeeki playing basketball at the local community gymnasium. At other times, they’ll be hanging out at youth group or having a friend over.

In the afternoons, I usually work on the play I am currently producing and directing.

Our Evening Rhythm

Everyone has a chore to do to help get dinner to the table. We take turns to cook each night. At the moment we are reading through the book called Building a Family of Faith (afflink) and I usually read some of this over dinner.

Quite often, we’ll have extra teenage bodies around our table – they all come in (and call me mother!) and I adore having them here.

After dinner, we clean the kitchen and then do our own thing. We might walk the dogs at this time of day. Depending on what happened during the day, we might add in a game or another read aloud here.

I love that each day is different. I hope this snapshot is an encouragement to you!

Hugs from Australia,
Lusi x

My, how the days have changed:

• 2023: Lusi’s Homeschool Day in the Life (with an 11- and 13- year old)
• 2022: Lusi’s homeschool day in the life (with a 10-, 12-, 17-, 18-, 19-, year old)

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

Homeschooling & Chronic Illness ~
Written by Lusi Austin from That Homeschool Life

We didn’t homeschool because of chronic illness. The decision was made to homeschool to support our autistic son’s needs 15 years ago. However as medical diagnoses came our way, homeschooling has become even more valuable to us.

At the start of our homeschool journey, I was in remission from my first auto immune disease diagnosis: a rare bleeding disorder affecting 3 in every 100,000 Australians. I’d had a splenectomy in 2005 after other treatments had failed. Prior to that illness, I’d never been sick in my life.

But all of a sudden, life became complex. There were medications to take, appointments to keep and ongoing paperwork. Then there were complications encountered post-splenectomy as I came to terms with having a very compromised immune system.

I remember reading once you have one auto immune disease, you are more susceptible to another. However I could never have imagined what that would mean for me or our family. Today as it stands, there are 12 auto immune diseases diagnosed between myself and our children (hubs has none).

Mine are ITP (Immune Thrombocytopenia Purpura), Raynaud’s Syndrome, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Secondary Sjogren’s Syndrome, Hashimotos Thyroiditis and Fibromyalgia. Between my children the diagnoses are ITP (also in remission now), Raynaud’s Syndrome, Ulcerative Colitis (Pancolitis), Coeliac Disease and Crohn’s and insulin dependent Type 1 Diabetes. Another child shows signs of Raynaud’s and there is a tentative diagnosis recently of psoriasis for one child.

I’m not sharing this for pity or sympathy. We actually love our life and have learned to accept the challenges sent our way (even while still acknowledging that things are very hard!) So why am I sharing this?

I share so you know you’re not alone if you too are struggling with homeschooling and chronic illnesses. I want you to know that it is not only possible to homeschool with illnesses, but that there are amazing benefits to doing so.

The gift of self-pacing

Being able to set the pace of our days, weeks and months has been one beautiful benefit of homeschooling. At the start of each week, we write up a big list on the white board. This has ideas for things we would LIKE to cover during the week.

We know we won’t always get through everything (or sometimes anything!), but we at least have something to aim for.

Sometimes we’ll wake up after our diabetic child has had a hypo (or two!) through the night leaving us more tired than usual. A flare for our child with IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) might mean that we cancel plans out in the community and stay home for the day. We have learned to set our own pace and this has brought us a sense of freedom and agency that has been very liberating.

Some days, we couch-school reading book after book or watching documentaries curdled up with snacks and blankets. It all depends on how we are managing and how we manage our symptoms. But rather than seeing these harder days as failures, we see them for what they are: the chance to connect and regulate.

Homeschooling and Chronic Illness

Sometimes the learning that we can manage is situational. If we are in hospital for a stint, we ‘count’ and record the learning that we are doing as we are there. Let me give you an example.

One of our children had to travel to receive monoclonal chemotherapy treatments. She was incredibly ill and there was no way that we could have tackled bookwork at that stage. So her learning revolved around where we were, what we did and what we saw while we were there.

During 12+ hour infusions, she was using a DVD series to distract herself and pass the time. We often talked about plot, character development and what she was loving about the series.  I took photos of that and I noted down the learning (part of the requirements for me in our State).

We pushed her around in a wheelchair and took note of all the amazing artworks, sculptures and photographs that adorned the hospital. Our rural hospital is small so this was a visual feast for the eyes. Again, I made note of this.

If she read a book, I noted it down. When she couldn’t find a video of what to expect with that treatment, she decided to make one for others. She took small videos and then edited them in an app on my phone.

This fitted in perfectly with technology and her photography elective that she was taking at the time. And by the end of those four weeks, we had an amazing collection of learning experiences.

Care is King

For us, taking care of ourselves means taking a read aloud to a local café. At other times, it looks like each of us staying in bed a little longer in the mornings or going for a walk. Caring for ourselves is another important life lesson and one that we can demonstrate practically to our kids.

Sometimes, caring for ourselves has meant accepting offers of help or outsourcing help when we’ve needed to. On a practical level it can mean pairing things up so we are making the most of our trips. For instance, if we are needing to leave the house to get needle tips for our diabetic child, then we might pair that up with stopping by the library or local art gallery since we are already out.

For anyone else homeschooling with chronic illness, I hope my sharing helps you feel seen and known.  It is my great hope that we are all able to find connection, encouragement and strength for each of our days.

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your type needs most!

3 Reminders To Encourage You During Hardship While Homeschooling  ~
Written by Lusi Austin of That Homeschool Life

Things don’t always go as planned in life. Sometimes it’s easy for us homeschoolers to think that the reason for our hardships must be caused by homeschooling. And sometimes it’s not just us thinking that, but it’s other people saying it to us!

I have chronic illness due to auto immune diseases and someone once tried to tell me that it might have happened because I had homeschooled. Some of my kids struggled with dyslexia. I was told that it might have occurred because they were homeschooled.

Older kiddos with mental health challenges. Again…people said it was probably that way due to homeschooling.

NOPE! In fact, because of homeschooling, my kiddos got help with their dyslexia.

Because of homeschooling, they know how to advocate for their mental health needs. And when they struggle? They know where they can come when it’s all a bit too much.

As for autoimmune diseases? They are linked to a mixture of genetic and environmental factors. As far as the research indicates, they were NOT caused by homeschooling *insert eye roll*.

If things are hard right now, I want to remind you of a couple of things.

3 Reminders During Hardship While Homeschooling

1. You are not alone

Got a rogue teen? Or a child who has strayed from your particular faith persuasion? Someone who has struggled with the law and they were homeschooled?

You’re not alone. Homeschooling does not mean your child will have zero challenges!  It does not mean there is a guarantee at the end of the homeschooling rainbow waiting for you!

Hopefully as a fully grown adult, your homeschooled kiddo will be equipped to make decisions for themselves.  And when they do, they will make mistakes and that is okay! What’s NOT okay is that we look at those kids and blame homeschooling as the reason for their mistakes or struggles.

One of my homeschooling heroes, Sally Clarkson says this about allowing our children to fail:

“Just as a toddler falls when learning to walk, so our children will fall from time to time on the way toward adulthood.” – Different by Sally Clarkson and Nathan Clarkson 

2. Don’t buy into the guilt

At the heart of these comments and thoughts is usually someone trying to be helpful. But these kinds of comments are NOT helpful at all! They often send us on a pathway of guilt and shame.

We start thinking all of the “maybe if I hadn’t….” questions and scenarios. And then self-doubt creeps in. But friend, I want to remind you that ALL human beings struggle.

Adults, teens, children alike – we all go through our ups and downs. Kiddos who have been homeschooled are not an exception to this.

3. We don’t blame traditional schooling

When a teen or adult faces hardship, others don’t blame their ‘traditional’ schooling. Why should homeschooling be then blamed when a homeschooled kiddo is in a similar situation?

Healthy adults raise their children and young people to have agency over their lives. With that freedom comes the chance to make some pretty epic mistakes (some more costly than others). And then the consequences of course that also come with those choices.

What I think we need is to talk about how sometimes, our kiddos stretch towards adulthood and do some pretty dramatic things. Sometimes, we feel alone on this path (because not many people talk about this I guess) but the more people I meet, the more people share their own struggles with me.

When we all share our ups and downs, we dispel our sense of loneliness. Let that make our shame disappear too. If you’re going through hardship while homeschooling, you aren’t the only one.

We are in this together, friends.

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your type needs most!

How we add FUN into our homeschooling days ~
Written by Lusi Austin of That Homeschool Life

I have 3 homeschooled grads and 2 children still homeschooling. What I’ve realised (with the benefit of hindsight) is that the things that made homeschooling most memorable for my older kiddos was FUN. Not just ‘fun’ in the way you normally think of it, but F.U.N as an acronym.

Around here, FUN stands for freedom, uniqueness and novelty.

This has been a great long-term anchor for me. When our days become monotonous, or the kids seem discontent, I’ll often return to this and see how we can add FUN to our homeschooling.

FUN helps us to connect with each other. It includes me creating a tailored education. This acronym helps me to seek out ways to encourage our kids to fall in love with learning.

It reminds me to be flexible, infusing our lives with enjoyment, and deep-diving engagement into learning. Here’s what I mean.

Freedom:

I have the freedom to pick and choose resources that will work best for my child. And the freedom to work out our own learning rhythm and pace. Freedom is about working learning into our life so that it best fits the needs of our family.

We have the freedom to take stock and work out what is no longer serving us. And we have the freedom to change things up to suit us in more meaningful ways.

Uniqueness:

We are able to tailor learning to suit our child’s unique interests, learning style, abilities, challenges and family culture. Taking uniqueness into account, we are able to focus on the things that we deeply value as a family.

We are able to work around limitations that might otherwise be a challenge, such as chronic illness for our family.

Our homeschooling style and flavor doesn’t look like another family’s might and that’s okay! We walk to the beat of our own special drum.

Novelty:

I love that we can use novelty to encourage creative expression. We use novelty in learning to reduce boredom.

We infuse novelty into our days to ignite passion which helps our children to fall in love with learning.

This in turns helps them become a life-long learner!

3 Practical ways we add FUN into our homeschooling day

1. Ask first

Ask your kiddos for their input when it comes to what they want to learn and how they want to learn it. In our home, we practice negotiation!

Allowing our children to have agency over what they want to learn and how they’d like to experience that has helped us grow independent young adults who are able to practice self-autonomy.

2. Visit

Of course, we know that homeschooling often takes us into museums and galleries. Visiting places like farms, botanic gardens or adventure playgrounds can also be great opportunities for children to learn.

Sometimes in our family, we take a drive with a packed lunch, an audiobook, and see where the road takes us.

The adventure is a learning experience on its own, let alone the content covered by listening to the book, discussions that arise from the trip and perhaps having a child note down their favourite memory of the adventure.

Think also about changing up location for learning. Read a book aloud outdoors and set up a poetry tea time. Or if the budget allows, take the book and read aloud session to a local café. Just changing locations can help change our outlook and provide some novelty.

3. Involve the senses (and use technology)

Our senses tell us so much about the world around us. Some kids love learning via taste. I taught my children many lessons through their tastebuds!

You can read my post about some examples we did HERE.  Some children are aural learners so audio books and podcasts are fabulous tools for them. Others love to watch documentaries and take in things more with their eyes.

Observe your child and write down the ways they seem to favor learning.

Here, we use board games, lapbooks, podcasts, audio books, documentaries, puzzles and word games to help hit learning outcomes. Hands on learners will thank you for this (especially reluctant writers!) Your child may not like putting pen to paper for a spelling list, but they may LOVE spelling the same words out on a fridge using magnets.

They might even love writing their words on a glass door with a whiteboard marker. Or spelling out the words using junior Boggle or scrabble letters. There are so many ways to ensure your child is learning.

It’s our job to engage our kids by finding out which way suits them best! Keep offering and trying different approaches until you find the best way for that child.

Creating a stimulating and enjoyable learning environment can be a reality with a little time observing, encouraging and experimenting. Hope this has been an encouragement to you to add fun into your homeschooling for the upcoming school year!

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your type needs most!