Home Educating in rural England
It’s hard to put into words the level of excitement, apprehension, anticipation and relief which I felt prior to meeting each of our daughters. The build up had been immense. We had gone through lengthy, detailed and sometimes rather intrusive assessments followed by Adoption Panel. Then, with our first daughter, whose story now follows, another… Continue reading Our Adoption Journey – Introductions 1 – 2020
Adoption has always been on my radar, but I think it resurfaced with intent while I was in labour for our second son. I remember yelling out “we’re going to adopt the next one!”. I wonder what turns a flippant and easily excusable remark into a seed which will bear fruit? I’m sure there are… Continue reading Our adoption journey – adopting as a family – February 2020
This has been a post mulling over in my mind for a while, but as it's a heartfelt one it's taken a while to be able to put fingers to keyboard. The two prompts have been that we recently recorded a Mended Teacups podcast touching on this area, https://mendedteacups.wordpress.com/2019/10/24/home-educating-children-with-different-needs/ and that I signed up to… Continue reading A Top down approach to our “different”children October 2019
There are so many moments of joy in my mothering journey, and it truly is the most fulfilling job I have ever done, but it certainly feels like hard work some days...in fact, most days. But I don't think anything of such eternal worth is ever going to be a breeze. There are many seasons… Continue reading Moments of beauty in the midst of life. April 2019
I recently had the opportunity to share some of our home ed journey with an editor of a Christian magazine, and one of the topics she was particularly interested in was the combination of home ed and adoption. This has prompted me to jot a few thoughts down. Adoption is God’s design...He’s adopted us into… Continue reading Home education and adoption April 2019
One great advantage of homeschooling is that we've been able to go on holidays when everyone else is at school. This not only gives me a delicious feeling of playing truant...in a legitimate sort of way...but also it's cheaper and campsites, countryside, beaches, museums etc are all quieter. Since the boys started college, we've not… Continue reading Holidays through the seasons March 2019
I’m watching Sparkly Eyes playing; it’s warm and sunny, she’s wearing flip flops and her best Christmas dress. She is singing whilst carefully moving Lego figures around a set up of stones, a slide extension and water. She is engrossed. In her imagination this all is much more; an exciting adventure is taking place.… Continue reading Outdoors play…true learning? October 10 2018
I love holidays but know they can bring their own challenges, and this may be especially so with adopted children...or any child with extra emotional needs. We’ve found that our adopted children thrive off routine. I think it offers security and helps them to keep a sense of control. This works well for us in… Continue reading Holidays July 2018
I think messy play is really important for children; to explore the feel of different textures and enjoy creating with them. Mud is probably one of the messiest we do. All the children have enjoyed making mud pies, and we have created a “mud kitchen” from an old toy cooker and pots. We’ve invented… Continue reading Mud kitchen June 2018
Adoption is so many things. I’m hoping to use this space to share some of my thoughts and experiences from our journey with our four children; two by birth and two by adoption. I believe adoption starts with brokenness, and ends with hope. The brokenness and pain of a birth mum unable to care for her… Continue reading Brokenness and hope. May 2018
