What to Be or Not to Be

Posted on December 27, 2012 by

Recently I sat at the hairdresser chatting to the 20 odd year old owner of the salon. Our conversation led to education – hmm, surprise, surprise ;) – she was soon telling me how she hated every day of school and by grade 10 she was failing ever subject. At this point she walked out of the school system and straight into hairdressing school – something she had wanted to do from the age of 5.

Within no time she way flying and getting A’s. She soon qualified and today she owns a salon and is about to open her second salon, whilst her peers are just leaving university and beginning to pay off their studies.

She then proceeded to tell me how a teacher from her previous school had popped past the salon recently and asked her to please take some time to meet with a girl who was just not coping at school. They wanted this girl to meet with the one who the school viewed as their biggest failure and that things can turn out alright. Hmmm, compliment or insult we are still debating this….

This got me thinking – yet once again- about our definition of success. Is it only being accepted into the university of your choice so that you may gain a qualification that usually requires you to spend the majority of your adult life working for someone else. Looking back I can’t help but also follow this thought with – what if when you are 30 you no longer want to do what you chose to qualify as when you were a mere 18 years old? Yet this is all you are qualified to do. Is this when you stop living life to the full and start counting the days till your retirement?

Please understand me there are many reasons to go to university, if this is what a child is created to do and become. However not all children are created for this path. Becoming a hairdresser, plumber, photographer, dancer, mother, author, actor or blogger are no less than a doctor, lawyer or teacher.

I honestly believe God has placed within everyone of us a way to make a living. As parents it’s our responsibility to help our children spark their dreams. Know what they are passionate about. They need to know who they are, where their giftings lie and to then have the confidence to follow their dreams to the end. They need to know we believe in them and all they were created to be.

Taking a brief glimpse at history we see again and again people who are seen by the experts as being failures and inadequate and yet people who had confidence in who they were and where their giftings lay they outshone all those around.

So take courage today. Stand up for your child and who they were created to be. Help them find their dreams and let them build upon these so that they are able to live their lives to the full!

(picture above from facebook)

 

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Christmas Hope

Posted on December 26, 2012 by

Every year, for Christmas  we choose a theme and colour scheme for the season. This year it was Hope with the colours gold and white. What a special and beautiful Christmas it turned out to be.

Throughout December we have spoken about Hope an how we need to have Hope in Jesus alone as it is only through Him that we will have true joy and peace. We decorated the lounge in line with the theme using candles and butterflies. It so beautifully reflected the theme and the message to our children.

On Christmas morning we were unable to attend church so instead I sewed little paper pockets and placed butterflies with Bible verses, and a chocolate, inside each one.

For our Bible time we then read through the verses and stuck them upon a gold cross. This was a very special time and helped us focus upon Jesus and the hope we have in him before we opened our gifts.

Having a theme is such a simple idea and yet it helps keep us focused on a different aspect of God every year and makes each year that little bit extra special.

Here are some of the verses we used:

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Titus 3:5-7 He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Romans 5:3-5 We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Romans 8:24-25 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Romans 12:12 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Romans 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Psalm 39:7 “But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.

Psalm 31:24 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.

Psalm 147:11 The LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

Lamentations 3:24
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him / hope in him”

1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

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Seize the Day

Posted on November 27, 2012 by

This adventure called parenting is one that is constantly challenging, changing and one that keeps us learning. The irony being that more often than not it is the children teaching us not only about where they need their boundaries or security to fall or what stimulation they require but they teach us about life too. And just when we think we have it all together once again they open our eyes to a whole new realm.

It is easy as a parent to become caught up in the discipline, parenting and ensuring that all our child’s educational needs are met that we do in fact lose out on the very marrow of parenthood. Parenting is a hard job and a huge responsibility. It is however just as important to take time out with our children. We need to laugh, to play, to dance and explore this amazing earth with them. It is so easy for us to become caught up in our “mature” adult world that we are no longer capable of drawing ourselves away to simply be with, and enjoy being with, our children. When last did we sit with our child and simply watch a dragon fly dance across the water? Have we recently squashed our toes in mud? Did we take the time to colour a picture? Or dance in the kitchen? Yes these are all interruptions within our busy schedule and they do draw us away from all we need to do. But I am learning day by day that they do instead draw us into the company of our children which draws us into their lives and as they grow into their confidence. We are then able to see the world through their eyes, their understanding, and their hearts.

Just this last week I was yet once again pulled back to the essence of being Mom. It had been a long day and I had asked the twins – aged 4 – to yet again get out the bath, dressed and tidy their room. After a period of time mother instinct kicked in and I knew nothing was happening. I threw down the peeler and marched to their room – ready to deal out the wrath of Tired Mommy. On reaching their room I could see no one, only a lump under one duvet. Pulling back the blanket, ready to reel out my list of consequences, I was greeted by two, barely clad, squirming cherubs. They held within their hands a torch and were giggling incessantly.  “You found us. We hid. The torch… Giggle, giggle.” Instantly my parenting wanted to discipline, wanted to see to it that I remained the one in control, that they learned they needed to obey. Yet a small voice inside me began to ring louder, a voice saying, “this is actually really funny and you too need a good laugh.” Digging deep I managed to push past all the serious parenting, discipline, and training roles and for that moment in time just be Giddy Mommy. We tickled and giggled and squirmed. With that the stress of the day melted away and I could return to peeling the carrots rejuvenated and refreshed. My children then too jumped to their tasks and were soon dressed and had a tidy room.

So yes we are called to a high, noble and difficult position of training and education these little beings. But we are also called to a humble place: a place of simply being, a place of learning to stop, and relish the simple moments that these wonderful little people bring into our lives.

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A Walk By Faith

Posted on October 23, 2012 by

The last few months have been a time of deep,inward reflection. A time of re-evaluating our dreams, desires, wants and life path.

Some History: Having taught in remedial classes until our son was born 10 yrs ago I was not ready to leave my career for anything. Yet when our son turned 3 months old and I had to return to work my heart was broken. Something deep inside me snapped – something I didn’t know was even there, was now directing every step of our lives… With that I resigned and the real adventure was about to begin. As a stay at home mom of one baby I was busy – but also craved company and “brain food.” With these desires firmly intact I happened to stumble upon homeschooling, Sonlight and Wendy Young – co-author of the South African curriculum Footprints. As I delved further into this new realm of understanding blinkers began to fall from my eyes a whole new world of thought and understanding of education and child rearing was being revealed. As I befriended Charlotte Mason – 19th Century Educationist – my entire world view began to heave and shift. My reality sat upon very unstable ground. The next ten years were spent busy readjusting my thought patterns, soaking up this new understanding and realigning my life to a life of child led education, filled with living books, project based education that drew from a child’s desire to want to know.

To the present:

I have stood in awe as my one son’s love for birds taught him to read and recognise all the countries of the world whilst our second son’s love to sport has taught him the exact same information. This was not regulated to lessons or a curriculum it just poured naturally from them. Calculations of birds distance flown or the number of goals scored in this match or that and the average speed of a bird or the average number of goals scored by a player see numerous sums being calculated daily. Yes living books and a curriculum such as Sonlight fuels the fire and helps drive the boat – but that in itself – opposed to a teacher driven model of marks, punishment and rewards was all new to me.

So here we sit 10 years on…. Very comfortable in our daily routine, life could quite happily continue in this vein for another 18 years. But Mom’s becoming restless, a silent whisper settles upon her heart. “I didn’t train you for nothing… now’s your time.” A whisper that will not be stilled or leave…. The nudge begins, the ideas grow, the pull in epic, it will leave no peace until it’s faced. Finally the time arrives. The time to choose to listen or choose to run. But where will one run too? Is Tarshish far enough? Would the voice not follow there too? Maybe it’s time to simply stop and listen – so we did… After months of prayer and deliberation we feel a deep calling within the heart of our family to start a learning centre – a place for children to be assisted within their homeschool journey. For each family this may look different. Some may come for a few hours a week, others every morning, whilst others may just be to guide the folks. Our deepest heart cry is for the many children literally dying in the system and owning to parents commitments they simply have no alternative. It’s our hope that this learning centre will provide them with time to complete their maths and language whilst giving them opportunities to follow their interests, passions, and learn from their heart – whether it be birds or rugby…. So today we take a the first steps into this unknown territory as we embark upon this crazy walk by faith…. Only God knows what it’ll look like and who He’ll bring but for now all we can say is: We are willing – let the adventure begin!

The Road Not Taken

By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

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Breaking the Silence

Posted on October 23, 2012 by

Many may have wondered why I dropped off the end of the earth for the past few months? If so – sorry – but now I’m back. The reason for the silence:well it’s difficult to explain but sometimes there is just nothing to say.

Yes the last few months have been busy and interesting but yet I felt the deep need to just suddenly say nothing but to rather spend the time listening. Listening to other’s thoughts and advice, listening to what’s going on inside, listening to God, listening to the birds and trees. All the while searching what these voices are drawing us to and for what reason they are speaking so loudly – so much so – that I could not find it within myself write or blog or even see many other people.

So was it worth it – the silence?Oh yes, I’m feeling once again filled up. We have a new direction and anticipation for the year ahead. It has taken time to absorb and soak in the new adventures ahead but it was oh so good to see through the fog as to where we are heading.

So yes, there was a silence, but now it has been broken with great excitement and fervor to embrace and share the times ahead. So if you are keen to see what’s in store jump on and join the ride!

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Healthy Banana Snack

Posted on July 17, 2012 by

All moms love quick healthy snacks. Here’s a favourite of ours. Enjoy!

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Health Challenge

Posted on July 17, 2012 by
Fruit Platter

Last weekend I once again had my life challenged and need to once again readjust mindsets and expectations. Suppose that is what makes life so exciting – it’s a journey that just keeps us growing and learning more and more.

Last year was a wreck of a year for us – owing to many hard circumstances we found ourselves trapped in a survival mode. Whereas before I had spent much time ensuring our family ate well and had healthy meals I had lapsed into buying cheap, unhealthy shop bread, smothered with whatever spread we could find. We had always made our own juice but now my children were drinking thick, sticky jungle juice that smelt of chemicals. Deep in my mind I knew we’d need to address this but I was just not in the place to do so.

Over the past few months we have again ensured that the kitchen is filled with fruit and vegetables so that the children can fill up on bananas, apples and carrots. I have however been acutely aware that our protein intake has been lacking and that we have been eating far too much bread and processed foods.

When I heard about a health day being run at the Oikos Farm and knew that the time was right. This was such an encouraging day and I came home feeling inspired and encouraged to make the changes necessarily. What I found most encouraging was that unlike many health talks they did not insist on us going completely raw or absolutely no sugar or cakes or only organic. It was clear that these are fundamental but just as important we need to consider we are sourcing our products from.

For example bread and flour – in moderation – are not bad. However the flour we are using has been processed in such a way that it can cause great harm to our bodies. Sugar in moderation is fine too – if it is brown sugar bought directly from the mill before it has been processed and bleached. Yogurt is also fantastic – but make your own.

This does sound like a great deal of work and effort but when one considers the hardships that cancer and illness brings it
inspires one to go the extra mile.

We have spent this week looking at what we are using and are slowly weeding out the bad and replacing it with the good. So many adjustments have been smooth and easy whilst others will be more challenging. It is my heart to share this journey – the ups and the downs – with you with the hope that you will be inspired and motivated to look at your family and see how you too can benefit from these changes in your lifestyle.

As I said life is a journey, one that we never quite get perfect or reach a final destination, instead we just keep learning and growing. So please drop in again soon and join the ride.

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Native American Party

Posted on July 2, 2012 by

What an epic week we have had. How did we ever manage to have a four year age gap between our boys and then have end up with their birthdays being a day apart!

One of our highlights of all our parties is that they always have a theme. This year was more difficult as Raine turned 10 – so moving out of the kid stuff, whilst Reid being just 6 is still into any thing that involves cake, face paint and friends.

 

The Native American idea worked well as firstly we have been learning about them in our school work and Reid has just spent a term at music where America has been the focus. So the boys had a bit of back ground and this type of party also involved lots of activity and running around – always good when there is sugar involved!

The party “plan” was fairly basic. Boys were split into 2 tribes (older and younger), Raine and Reid were made the chiefs – by being presented with feathered headdresses that Lady Mom had made for them. Raine has now decided that he needs to wear it whenever he’s with his friends as it made them listen to him. How funny – maybe Mom should get one too!

The boys began by needing to build a wigwam in their teams, they then had to make their own headdress with feathers on a trip of paper, paint their faces and make a tribal band from fruitloops. This done they needed to shoot some balloons with a bow and arrow. They then progressed onto making a fire. Once the fire was made they were able to cook their sausages for lunch.

The party worked out to be a fairly great balance as the older boys were not too keen on the fruitloops and headdresses – whereas the little ones were. However the older boys spent ages building their fire and collecting more and more dry sticks to make it bigger and bigger – whilst the younger boys didn’t enjoy the smoke and moved off to other activities.

Due to the big age gap we always have extra siblings hanging around at parties so this year we decided to have a family braai for anyone who wanted to stay. Therefore once the boys had finished their challenges and had eaten to their full they spent the afternoon shooting arrows, sliding on the bank with boxes and playing soccer. It was so great to have the families there as it meant a number of dads stayed to help make arrows, build fires and to generally see no one got hurt.

We are not mad on sugar highs so we simply gave each child a small party pack with some chips, 4 sweets and 4 biscuits. Each child then had a sausage roll for lunch and we had ice-cream, jelly and birthday cake for pudding.

The Birthday Cake

At the last minute we realised that on the day of the party it was a year previously that we had moved to our new town and as we stood around with all these amazing people it was not simply a celebration of the boys’ birthdays but a celebration of God has done in our lives and all these wonderful people we now call our friends!

The day was filled with fun and laughter and much to Lady Mom’s relief no one was hurt with flying arrows! This party was also so special as it involved the Dads and will be a memorable day for the whole family.

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The Soul of Education

Posted on June 27, 2012 by

Extra curricular activities are always an interesting topic to discuss. As what exactly are they, how do they fit into our lives and days and why exactly are we doing them? Thoughts such as these often come spinning around my head late at night.

When we first began our homeschool journey and I was fresh out of the classroom these activities were viewed in my mind as something extra, something to add on after we had done “school”, something that was viewed as a luxury and as an added bonus – if time and money allowed. Yes, as all of life comes down to money, that is still a realistic constraint – however my attitude and views have somewhat altered over the past 10 years!

As I have spent more and more time researching Charlotte Mason, listening to Ken Robinson and partaking in other Learning Revolution discussions my understanding on what education truly is has changed. I see more and more the need for an education to fully embrace the mind, body and soul. In the past I viewed the extra curricular as something extra whereas it’s now become a part of what we do. A part of the child’s education, something as essential as maths or language.

Obviously it would sound fantastic if every child could partake in every activity that caught their attention however this is not practical or necessarily a good thing. As parents we need to wisely know our children and what suits them and when. We see these “extra curricular activities” as a personal extension of who each of our children truly are. It’s our hope that these experiences will capture their souls and their love for something that will carry them a lifetime. Our 10 year old son has always been passionate about birding, he writes a birding blog and has a birding website. We try to see that he’s able to volunteer at the Bird of Prey Sanctuary – as often as we can make the 45 minute trek there. This has not only allowed him to connect with the birds themselves but with many amazing people. Many of who maybe colleagues of his one day if he follows through with his dream to study ornithology. This “extra curricular activity” should therefore be viewed as fundamental as his writing lessons as it’s networking and connecting his passion with his future.

Each of our children may choose 2 (though sometimes it becomes 3) activities that they may partake in off our property. As all our children have an affinity for music, and I don’t, taking music lessons is a non-negotiable (which they love the idea of.) As our eldest is attends regular school and her time is tight she’s decided to find pieces off the Internet and teach herself using the online lessons she has found.The younger 3 attend musikgarten, which gives them an amazing grounding in music, and our 10 year old son has violin lessons.

Interestingly he has always wanted to play the violin and so he began lessons at the age of 6. His teacher came to our home every second week for 2 hours. During this time our boy not only played the violin but was submerged into listening to it, watching DVDs on it and above all learning to love his instrument. This year however he’s begun to talk about studying music after school and for this reason we’ve changed music teachers. The new teacher, known to have her students play beautifully, requires a much higher level of playing, as well as her students to be fully commited. Surprisingly he has absolutly taken to this and is loving the challenge.

Besides their music the boys also attend Lego lessons which have been fantastic for this mom who has absolutely no interest what-so-ever in anything that has to do with pulleys, levers, buildings and conveyor belts. By attending these lessons with a mom who’s as passionate about these, as I am about writing, has been a real blessing for the boys as they have grown and learned so much under her enthusiastic instruction.

Besides music the twins and our 15 year old do praise dance – an hour of fun dancing where they learn to worship God through their dance. The twins have been attending rhythmic gymnastics but I feel this season has reached an end for now. As hard as it is, as parents we sometimes have to make hard calls. They still really want to go but I see burn out knocking at our door as well as little foxes entering our home. For other children this is not a problem but the sweets at the end of the lesson have become an issue in the hearts of my gilrs and it’s my responsibility to guard their hearts.  Being so young the girls have begun to assosiate dancing with being rewarded for performing and now they won’t dance at home without me supplying them with a handful of treats. They are losing the love for simply dancing and are instead being drawn to the reward. Charlotte Mason warns up of this and now I’m seeing the true fruit of “what you draw a child with, is what you draw your child to.” This added to the fact that we’ve realised that gymnastics is a very individual sport, meaning that in effect our girls would be pitted against one another, we’ve decided to give it a break and that they may return, when they are older and one of them specifically wants to take this up as their “thing.”

Our 15 year old has recently taken up ballet. As her plate is full at school and she still has home responsibilities we have decided for her to attend the adult dance class that happen in the evening. There are no shows or exams but just fun ballet lessons. She’s really enjoying this approach and it allows her to decide if it is something she’d like to take more seriously later, whilst allowing her to catch up with her peer group.

We have also found certain areas that we are passionate and interested in assisted greatly by outside input. Our eldest son has just joined Cubs where he is learning so many vial skills that we simply don’t have the time to get around to.

But I’d say the greatest “trick” we’ve learned is to host or do as many extra curricular activities from our home as possible. Having studied drama and my husband being a microbiologist we host drama lessons and a science club from our home. This is great as our children are able to have lessons for free and we actually do them because others are paying to come! From the drama lessons we discovered one teenage boy has amazing soccer skills, so after drama he coaches soccer, in our garden, for half an hour. We have also said that the money we make by running these extra murals from home is the amount we’ll set aside for the children to use for other activities they want to take part in.

Having 5 children does limit one’s ability to get to everything they would love to partake in and often the lessons cost more than they child is benefiting form the activity. We do therefore use the Internet a great deal to. We have found free drum, art and piano lessons and then we also buy DVDs that have lessons. My twins favourite being one with ballet on it.

As mommy to 5 very different children I have learned one thing that remains the same – extra curricular activities need to not only entertain a child because they enjoy it but to rather be firstly something I cannot teach them and secondly something that suits them and grows them personally into all the were created to be. As our children learn and embrace new skills, these activities are the part of our curriculum that develops our child’s body as well as their soul. This happens as they are connected to beauty and are able to partake in the creative world around them.

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This post features on the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers (SACH Bloggers) where South African home schoolers share experiences, ideas, philosophies and much more.  You can join the carnival too by heading to the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers sign up page. We hope you enjoy the carnival as much as we have!

SA Home Schooling Blog Carnival June 2012 ~ Extra Curricular Activities

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Lego Club

Posted on June 27, 2012 by

This last term our boys attended Lego Club! Awesome is all I can say!

One thing we have learned from Lego club is that Lego is not just for boys and they do not just build cars and houses!They have been exposed to numerous technology skills and entirely new ways of thinking. From building lego puppets, to pullies, to cars, box mazes and box walls, straw towers and jelly-bean catapults we have stood in awe of this most amazing curriculum.

Lego Club is not only about the design process but in the words of one of our boys “Learning to get on with each other and working together … that’s what Lego is all about.”

Their teacher’s enthusiasm and passion for her subject as well as the stunning activities are so contagious that one finds the adults even wanting to stay!

 

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