2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF BAILEY HOMESCHOOLING

As another Easter rolls towards us it signals to our family another momentous occasion to celebrate, another year of Homeschooling! It was this time of year 2 years ago now that I decided that enough was enough and pulled Bailey out of Grade 1 to give Homeschooling a try.

I figured pulling him out of school for a while could only be a good thing considering the state of his health and mental well being at the time. From the commencement of Prep the year earlier Bailey had increasingly had more seizures (he has Autism and Epilepsy) and was coming home more stressed each and every week. It got to a point where he was having a seizure every second day, constant asthma attacks, was being bullied, hiding from class and spending lunch breaks in the library alone. One day the week before Easter break he had a massive seizure where he couldn't walk or talk for several hours afterwards. I'd had enough by then. Even the school principal agreed it wouldn't hurt to give Homeschooling a go.

As it turned out those first few months were an absolute delight! I made it a mission to get Bailey reading and within a very short time he was sounding out simple words and showing a real talent for working with numbers. I knew very quickly that Homeschooling was going to be a long term change. Bailey's seizures almost disappeared immediately once he came home to learn. He had a few small ones when stressed out in public for the year that followed and now 2 years later he has weaned off his medications completely.

Bailey can now read and write to a similar level of other children his age. He can add and subtract and is finding simple multiplication a breeze. He has learnt so much about the world around him, from books, family discussions, excursions and documentaries. He has a very special bond with his 3 younger brothers from spending each day with them, watching them learn and grow beside him.

The difference in Bailey these days is incredible. Most people wouldn't even be aware of his Autism when they meet him. Moments like today, watching his homeschooling classmates in hysterics from his comedic routine during a Cake decorating class, makes it all worthwhile. The fact he can participate in a wide variety of lessons and sports with his Homeschooling group means he really is getting the best of both worlds.

People often ask how long I'll continue to homeschool my boys. I guess I never really know when or if they'll be better off in a standard school setting. I just know that for now, this works and I can't imagine any of us being happier doing anything other than what we are doing right now!

OUR VISIT TO COBB & CO MUSEUM

For the next few months we are focusing on 'Greatest Inventions of all time' that ties in with our Year of Science. We have been learning all about the Automobile. After discussing how horse and carriage were converted into the Horseless carriage and then the Automobile I decided it might be nice to visit the Cobb & Co Museum in Toowoomba. We have annual passes for the Ipswich Rail Museum which means we can enter Cobb & Co free of charge, which is always a bonus. We have visited the Cobb & Co a couple of times before but the boys always seem to enjoy it and they do change some of their exhibitions from time to time.

Our first stop in Toowoomba was to the Queens Park gardens which are conveniently located the block next to Cobb & Co. It gave the boys a chance to stretch their legs after the hour and a half journey, run off some energy and then we had some morning tea in the beautiful gardens. There are oodles of little playgrounds all around the gardens which makes the walk across to Cobb & Co seem much shorter and more exciting for the boys.

Once arriving at Cobb & Co we took a little look around the art gallery section of the Museum which is always showing different items each time we visit. This time they had metal works created by local artists and trade persons. It was a good opportunity to discuss how welding and blacksmithing are done. This was followed by lunch in the cafe, which is quite relaxing for us parents as they have a play area in the centre of the cafe for to kids to amuse themselves whilst waiting for the food to arrive. The food tastes great and is reasonably priced which is a nice change to some other Museum cafes.

We spent the next 2 or so hours walking through the aboriginal exhibits and local Darling Downs history areas before moving onto the main event, the Cobb & Co coaches. There is an extensive range of vintage carriages, caravans, billy carts and a great example of an early horseless carriage. The Auto Buggy was the link between the carriages and automobiles back in the early 1900s.

The boys were surprised to hear that this carriage above was used in Brisbane as a bus to carry passengers to the local train stations.

The Museum has a great learning centre where they supply pictures for colouring, dot to dot pages, tables and chairs, paper, crayons, pencils etc. That same area also has touch tables with a variety of objects to explore, such as snake skin, bird wings, dried and stuffed small animals, turtle shells, coral, bark, gumnuts, etc.

After moving from the learning centre we moved into the playzone. This was a nice chance for me to put my feet up a bit as the boys had the whole area to themselves and were kept busy with a old fashioned store to play shops in. Bailey was using the pencil and paper to take down our cafe orders and filling them excitedly. Fraser and Ehren enjoyed me reading a few books in the cosy book corner whilst Dane spent his time sitting in the pretend carriage and helping Bailey in the shop.

For those looking for a fun day out with the kids or an educational experience I can highly recommend a visit to the Cobb & Co Museum in Toowoomba. We can't wait to go back again soon!