Our DIY (do it yourself) approach to home education meant that I regularly brainstormed ideas I could develop as activities for my kids, and I would often collate lists under a curriculum subject heading to help with planning and recording.

The following is one I put together for Health, Personal Development and Physical Education when our eldest became a teen.

I found it easy to create activities that are in context with our lives and are personally meaningful to our children. This helped to maintain motivation and interest, both for us and our children, and it also meant that we were following our own educational agenda while covering what the state or national curriculum requires.

Ideas for Health, Personal Development and Physical Education

Safety in the Home : Design a poster about safety suitable for non-readers.

Personal Care : practical sewing article using a simple commercial pattern.

Nutrition : plan a balanced menu in relation to the five food groups.

Safety in the Community : design a poster relating road safety rules and safe bicycle use.

Rules and Laws : Draw a flow chart indicating how people are governed in Australia, labelling and giving details of the roles and functions of each level of government.

Safety in the Home : Put together a First Aid Box after researching the subject.

Community Health and Safety : Discuss the impact of alcohol in the community, talking about the distribution, advertising, licensing, health, and economic effects.

Community Health and Safety : Participate in a local community group, which acts to contribute to the safety and protection of the community.

Community Health and Safety : Write a newsletter item about a health issue that interests you.

Personal Health : Participate in a regular sports activity (cricket, yoga, Surf Life Saving, etc).

Nutrition : Write about and illustrate a personal balanced diet and activity program for one day/week.

Community Health and Safety : Interview carers of the young or elderly about how the community meets the health, social and welfare needs.

Personal Development : Explore stereotyping - research advertising, then design a series of advertisements that exploit gender, age or culture.

Community Health and Safety : Participate in a KESAB project or similar community litter program.

I find it is much easier to brainstorm ideas if I break the key learning areas into different areas. The sub-headings above were taken from the South Australian Curriculum guidelines in use at the time. You can use similar headings, for example: Identities and Change, Interacting with Others, Making Healthy and Safe Choices, Moving Our Bodies, Making Active Choices, Learning Through Movement (Australian Curriculum).

Your activities don't need to look like a school project or assignment. The activity might be a series of conversations had over a few weeks or months on a topic of relevance and interest to your growing child. It might be a one-off activity, such watching a documentary. Or it could be a shared homeschool group activity such as a Red Cross First Aid demonstration.

A dozen activities on a list like this doesn't have to be prescriptive - a 'must do' list - it can be a gentle reminder of the kinds of things you and your child value as part of their education, that you'd like to do and cover at around about this stage of their development.

Creating a list like this for each subject area is, in effect, an holistic learning plan, individually tailored for your particular child. In this way it isn't too difficult to 'cover the curriculum' to satisfy the home ed registration requirements.