Utter Wind Media Home+School

We teach ninja turtles at our house too...
This is our 3rd son who is finishing school this year. The photo is of his first week at school and he turned up as a ninja turtle. Where else could you come as you are and learn?
I love that they always got to enjoy being kids even while they were learning things.

One of the ways we taught our sons to serve but also homeschool in everyday life was teaching them to cook dinner with me.
We used to play a game called masterchef! They would have to pick a meal to cook, we would go to the shop for ingredients and they would add up the total price, then i would help them cook it. We would all rate it and at the end of the week we would know the winner. (Hubby and I always gave even scores cause they were all amazing).
It was a great way to do S.T.E.A.M (science, technology, english, art, maths) all in one.
Do you do S.T.E.A.M or S.T.E.M?
This is our youngest helping with a valentines dinner and he even decorated the table.

Have you ever sewn this method to teach the little one's addition?
We did this when they were small but with their hands. They used to hand count for years till they knew it by rote. However they learn, embrace it. There is no right or wrong way to teach them or for them to learn. We all learn differently and that is ok. This is part of the unschooling our brains as parents - we are too used to the BOX we were in ourselves.
It is a beautiful thing to watch them discover how God made them to be and embrace their differences.
Life would be boring if we all were the same!

Today's encouragement!!!
We aren't qualified teachers BUT we do know our kids better than anyone else does.
Learning and growing together is one of the best ways to form connections and show them about the world. Noone is perfect so why would our Homeschool day have to look like it. We are doing LIFE - break out of the box that assumes you have to have all the answers and your journey has to look like something it isn't.
Enjoy the moments - that's where the learning is.
It took me years to unschool myself while homeschooling (my kids have never been to 'school'). It was about my preconceived ideas that held us back. Once i stopped thinking i needed to do it a certain way and moved it learning and growing without being in a system in my mind - our homeschooling adventure really took off.
It's scary, but it's worth it!

CREATIVE CHILDREN.
One of our son's is HIGHLY creative. He has always been into creating things from scratch and using what he has to make it.
Over the years he has taught himself to make an iphone 5 out of lego, a sword out of wood, a flick knife out of paddle pop sticks, paintings (can you tell I am a mum of boys) so many things.
This helmet was a project he made because he saw a real one in a Toys R us and then saw the price. He said I can make one of those myself. He found templates online, cut out cardboard, learnt to use the glue gun and i taught him to paper mache it and paint it. This was in the middle of making it and he was so pleased with his progress. I was so proud of him staying the course and persisting. It took him over a week of daily work to complete. We still have it in the cupboard now (how could you throw a masterpiece out).
Do you let your super creative kids imagination take flight and create?

Haha. Here to encourage all the mums of young kids - THIS TOO WILL PASS!
(And you will miss it ---- mostly!l

Are you in the "Mummmm where are you" stage?

Another year of homeschooling has begun!!!
We used our fancy new school year signs this year instead of me drawing with old marker on a sheet of paper. Some throwbacks that came up today - i love slide 5!
You can get yours at my shopify shop!!!!
Print and laminate!
CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS
e42cd7-4.myshopify.com

Hindsight is a great thing. When our boys were small we believed the Lord told us to homeschool them. Noone agreed, noone understood but we trusted God. There were over the years many times I had to die to self and sacrifice my personal time and space to homeschool. I learnt patience by being with them all the time. There were days i was tired and wanted a break. There were moments i lost my cool. There were thoughts of am i ruining their lives, am I doing the wrong thing. Then there would be that reassurance that He called us to do this. This walked me through many days of questioning. Every year for the first few years i woukd seek the Lord and ask Him if He still wanted us to homeschool that year. His answer was always yes; so we proceeded.
As the years went on i questioned myself less and trusted Him more. I asked Him how to educate and raise each of the boys and He came with wisdom untapped. It was not only a journey of parenting them, it was a journey of Him parenting me. He was leading me, even in that.
I trusted the process and watched them all thrive as themselves. The education became less workbooks and more exploration; less writing more learning as a family. We grew to love learning in all ways and saw how God created each of them to learn. No way was wrong or right - it was their way. It brought such freedom and i still see the fruit of it to this day. They are all inquisitive and love learning. They try anything and engage in multi age chats as teenagers and young adults.
I see the fruit of letting that small yes over and over to Him over the years become a reality.
Mama's i want to encourage you - trust what He has said to you about mothering and raising them - listen to His heart fkr them and it will hold you steady in the hard days.
Enjoy this year of homeschool friends # #

WHEN THEY FIND THEIR PASSION - ENCOURAGE IT.
This son ☝️used to say to me I don't know what I want to do or what I like. While the brother below him always knew he loved cars and the mechanics of them. I would always say when you find it, you will know. I am an avid photographer and always had the camera out taking photos of the boys as they grew up. They were used to the word SMILE! One holiday my boy picked up my camera to take a few shots in a rainforest and something other than the camera clicked. He found what his heart loved doing.
We sought out an online photography course which pushed him out of his comfort zone and taught him how to use the camera properly and then from there he started a photography business.
When they light up, take note of that - it is passion coming alive for something. Encourage it, find ways to learn about it with them, take an interest in what they love - it could turn into a life choice for them.

Grab some homeschool printables to get your school year started.
Keep your eyes peeled for more coming in the next few weeks.

Go to e42cd7-4.myshopify.com to get yours.

ALL ABOUT ME WORKSHEET.
This printable is made to be printed off, written in every year and placed in a display book. You can look back over the year's with your child and see how they have changed in likes and looks!
Keep the memories for the years to come to look back on.

No matter how old or young they are - teach them to love learning no matter where they are. This is education!
As adults we don't stop learning because we stopped going to school. We should teach our children to enjoy learning about the world around them everywhere they go.
When they were small we started a practice of after taking them somewhere we would ask them in the car questions about what they had learnt there - what was their favourite thing, why, what did you read. We would also share things we learnt that may have gone over their heads or they didn't read. We would have a conversation about what we had experienced. It is a great way to teach them to love learning everywhere you go - that is basically the gist of unschooling in a nutshell (which we all probably do without realising it).
Try this next time you go somewhere- make it a casual chat not an educational interrogation haha. See what they say. I bet you will be surprised how much they took in and learnt.