Climbing at Rocky Paddock
A short story in the Plot Twister and Thought Sifter homeschooling series by Beverley Paine
How this works: New stories designed to be read aloud and shared with your children are emailed to your inbox or within the Substack app every week or so. Each story comes with a link to a set of Plot Twister and Thought Sifter Conversation Cards you can use as part of your homeschool English curriculum.
I write stories about ordinary homeschooled children living ordinary lives playing games, exploring outdoors, solving problems, making mistakes, asking questions and learning together: stories designed to spark conversation, encouraging children to think, wonder, create and connect.
About the author: I home educating my three children between 1986-2004, and they’re now homeschooling theirs! Stories about everyday children living life without school are hard to find, and I firmly believe that homeschooled kids need to see themselves and their lives represented in children’s fiction, so that’s what I write!
Find my other homeschool resources at Always Learning Books.
I hope you enjoy Climbing at Rocky Paddock, a story about Sammi, who encouraged by her friends on one their homeschool meet-up days, learns how to climb boulders safely.
To listen to an AI narration of this story, click the “Play” icon (triangle ▶️) in the top-right corner of your screen.
Climbing at Rocky Paddock
by Beverley Paine
“Don’t go too far!” called one of the mums as the kids tumbled out of the cars and ran eagerly into the forest.
The Homeschool Adventure Club usually visited Kuitpo Forest for their picnic, but today they’d driven somewhere new, Rocky Paddock at Mount Crawford. After a long drive, everyone was keen to stretch their legs!
Ahead lay a gently sloping hill splattered with lichen-covered boulders, perfect for scrambling over.
Tom clambered onto a large flat rock, flapped his arms and laughed liked a kookaburra. “I’m a bird, I can fly anywhere!”
“I’d rather be a pterosaur,” Ruby said. “Conifers like this existed in prehistoric times. Let’s pretend to be dinosaurs!”
Arms wide, to help her balance, she leapt from boulder to boulder.
Sammi and Theo became velociraptors and began stalking their prey. Their prey was Frances. At fourteen, she was the oldest of the group. She’d settled comfortably on a rock with her sketchbook, her favourite way to spend her time.
“Look over here!” called Tom. He’d stopped at the bottom of an imposing boulder that rose like a cliff in front of him. “I bet if we climbed to the top we could see forever!”
“Or into the past!” Ruby added. “Hey Theo, I read that velociraptors could climb trees. I bet they could climb cliffs too.”
Theo’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Be careful,” called Frances. “Remember what Uncle Roger told us when we went indoor rock climbing that time. How to climb safely.”
“Three points of contact touching the rockface at all times!” recited Sammi.
“Find good footholds!” added Tom, nodding, peering closely at the rock, looking for a way up.
“I’ll spot you,” Frances said, joining them. “Up you go, one at a time. My hands are ready to steady you.”
Sammi watched as the others scaled the boulder. Tom was slow and steady, making sure his foot wouldn’t slip before he took the next step, his fingers reaching for the next crevice. Ruby followed the same path and was quicker. Theo needed help. But they all made it!
Sammi clapped and cheered.
“Your turn!” called Ruby.
Sammi wasn’t sure. “It’s really high.” Her tummy felt funny.
Frances took her hand. “You can climb as high as you want. You don’t have to reach the top. I can lift you down anytime.”
Sammi looked up at her friends. They looked so far away! She took a deep breath and put her left foot on a bit of the rock that jutted out.
“That’s it!” said Tom encouragingly.
She felt Frances’s hands around the waist. She took another step. And then another.
Halfway up she paused and looked down. “Should I keep going?”
“Only if you feel ready,” Frances answered.
The boulder felt warm from the sun. Sammi’s fingers looked for the next handhold. She took another deep breath and pulled herself higher. Suddenly she was at the top!
“You can see the picnic ground from up here!” said Ruby. “Cooee! Hello!” she called to their parents, who waved back.
“That was hard,” said Theo.
“You did good,” said Tom. Theo grinned from ear to ear.
Ruby held out her arms and slowly turned around in a circle, ducking and diving, a pterosaur looking for prey far below. “We’re the apex predators of Rocky Paddock. No one can catch us up here!”
Tom crouched and then unfolded himself, rising on thick, imaginary hind legs, his hands curling into vicious talons. “RRAAAWRRR!” he roared. “I am the King of the Mountain-Saurus!” he yelled.
“Not so loud!” hissed Ruby. “You’ll scare away my dinner!”
Sammi carefully sat down and danged her legs over the edge, her feet almost touching Frances’s head.
“Worth climbing?” asked Frances, squinting up at her.
“Definitely!” Sammi said, grinning widely.
I’m dropping Notes most days and would love to connect with you that way — you can add a comment or like. Don’t forget we can keep the conversation going on any of my posts by adding a comment there too.
If you’re homeschooling in Australia, don’t forget to download my FREE Resource Directory for a bumper list of educational and curriculum providers and suppliers, as well as comprehensive guide on getting started how to register as a home educating family.
Whatever your approach, your lifestyle or education philosophy, I’m here to support you. Take what you need, leave the rest. I want you to lean on my experience because I’ve leant on others — we are in this together, growing and learning from each other!
That’s all for now! Until next time, Beverley
