FIVETRIBE

Madam faced her fears and did both her modern and tap exams today.  Wowzer, the nerves were off the hook as she has such high expectations of herself. I collected her from her tap exam to find her almost hysterical. She had forgotten some of her routine. She had had her routines down perfectly for months….but on the day her nerves let her down.  Thankfully she had about 2 hours to recover before facing the same examiner and performing her modern routines. She was more relaxed and enjoyed it far more this time around. Nerves beginning to kick in before tap exam The hair! I tried but thankfully there are more talented hair-lasses on hand to help me. Moments before her modern exam She loves the dance outfits! Experience is what is going to help this young lady cope with exam performance pressures. Her exam marks were not what she had hoped and certainly not reflective of her talent (her teachers words not mine!) but she passed and she gaine...

One week until our very first 'real road trip' experience. For the last two years my guys have flown up to PE for the Sevens Rugby International Tournament - they usually fly for a weekend. This year we have decided to go up as a family for the event but to build a holiday around it. In preparation for this I watched Groupon for accommodation specials in the areas we planned to visit and came upon some amazing deals. Our first stop is Sedgefield for 3 nights at Shearwater Resort. We love Sedgefield and this will be our second stay in the lovely little town. From there we head up to PE and arrive on the Friday and spend 4 nights at a lovely self-catering cottage (Abalone Place)  in Seaview which I found via SafariNow website. While in PE I plan to meet up with two of my blogging buddies; one of which I have never met before! From PE we continue up the coast to Grahamstown to spend 2 nights with wonderful friends of ours who relocated from Cape Town a few years a...

I have never felt settled in my decision to send Rachel back to school. I have wrestled, second-guessed, rationalized and agonized. Not normal for me. Today I had a chance encounter of a very fortuitous nature that changed the tide completely. I have subsequently ordered the curriculum and given official notice of her departure from school. A sample lesson sheet The sweetest thing was when I showed Rach the new Love2Learn curriculum - she took a look and said "This is the right study stuff for me because I truly do love to learn!"

my birthday dawned bright, still and hot! and in came my family,  singing with a bright,  hot cake which looked alarmingly  like it could set the world on fire! how is it that i am 41 already?  we headed down to our shark-infested beach upon hearing the nets were up - much jubilation as the kids were able to swim out far and enjoy some fabulous bodysurfing. The afternoon was spent chatting (and skyping my sis) and generally lolling in a carb coma after we all indulged in my moms spectacular mac n cheese followed by a monumental trifle - my all-time favorite meal and dessert! Evening was rounded out by a swim and a sunset walk around our estate. A superb day to remember.

A few weeks ago I decided I would host  a small garden party. *ahem*  Or shall we say a small cocktail party.  There was much excitement (friends) and google searching (me) about what exactly constitutes a cocktail and whether I should even entertain the thought of making my own. The google search answered my question. No. It really is just like cooking.  Except you drink the result instead of eating it. I wanted to feet up in the sun with my mates and enjoy pretty sundowners with even prettier people. I decided to chill the glasses early because 'apparently' cocktail glasses should be cold. (as a non-drinker I had to serious research on this event people!) I decided to also make a big jug of Pimms #1 - we decided this would be offered as a 'life-skills' module for Rachel. The art of the perfect Pimms. ;-)  Sadly we failed as the general consensus was that our concoction was WAY TO WEAK.  I am sticking with the...

This week Faith invited a few of her favorite (ex) classmates for a playDate. One of the biggest changes since she left school is her increased capacity for playmates. Ironically she had zero interest in after-school socializing as she was simply too exhausted and 'peopled-out' to ever want to have playmates. She would spend her afternoons either chilling with her siblings, dancing or reading a book. Nowadays she is excited about seeing her friends on a more regular basis and her social circle has grown dramatically. She if far more able to hang around all different types of kids across a far broader age/interests range.  The photos below capture a few minutes of their free-play time at our place this week. I didn't want to interrupt with my camera all arvie but took a moment to snap these highly amusing images.

I saw this floating around the interwebz last year and decided to ensure I stuck to this simple shopping guide for Christmas 2014. Much as I love Christmas I do tend to be left with a feeling of hollowness as I see the abundance of 'stuff'. While I consider ourselves to be pretty conservative gift-givers I still think we can simplify even more. I have just finished ordering a book for each of the kids from Loot. (READ) The girls showed me various clothing items they like today and I will nip out and get 1 item for each of them. (WEAR)  They all need new swim goggles and towels. (NEED) The only tricky item is the WANT but I should be able to wrap that up in an hour at our local mall. Christmas suddenly just so much lighter.

Saturday had the potential to see us all in bed or on the couch for the day as the weather was rather revolting. Capetonians (or perhaps just our tribe) don't have a huge capacity for crappy weather so our default setting is couch and series/movies. Thankfully a timeous email from a friend had me jumping in the shower; putting on real clothes and heading out to reconnect. She left SA over 2years ago and is now living in Spain. We had such a fabulous relaxed afternoon catching up on each others lives. (insert photo here …. M…. We need a photo before you go home!) On Sunday we had Rachel's vocal recital and the family came out in force to support her; including my folks from Mcgregor!  I so look forward to the 'once a year' opportunity to hear her sing. She is unwilling to sing for us at any other time - she sang the theme song from Beauty and the Beast - just amazing. Very proud of her - she has gained so much confidence in the last year and looked very co...

The end of the term in drawing near. Things are slowing down at home and at school. Rachel is writing her Maths and English exam next week; we are mainly focussing on revision. I have been really lazy this last week and it has affected my mood (as always) so the last two days have seen me rising at sparrow fart to ensure I exercise. I feel so much better and less foggy in my head. I have also decided to have Rachel complete her primary school career in formal schooling. We always knew that this last term has been a trial period. We have both thoroughly enjoyed it and it is very difficult for me to send her back to school. BUT She did not leave because she was unhappy or because I was unhappy with the school - she left to see 'how the homeschool-half lived' so to speak.  This is the last year this tight-knit group of (10)  kids will be together and I feel, in the long term, she will regret not being a part of them. At the end of 2014 they will all be going th...

Ships passing in the night. That is Russell and I right now. It is crazy. Growing this business of his is taking every ounce of him - we used to think he was busy when he worked his day job plus his own business but it isn't even close. Naturally I am also far busier than I have been in recent years. There are many hours spent in research and prep for school not to mention the household stuff that needs to get done. (we all know how that is going due to my recent 'crap-creep' post!) Neither of us are complaining. This post is not a 'woe is us' rant. It is simply stating that both of us, passionate about what we do, need to discover ways to switch off our work mode. We are starting with the race on Sunday. It will be our first road race we have done together. Okay - about the race : (this is going to be a rant!) I booked this race 3 months ago. It was pitched as an off road half marathon in the beautiful Cape Point National Park.  I had no reservations...

Yesterday the elusive day arrived. The one I warned my girls about a few weeks ago. 'On some mornings the weather will be picture perfect - school will not happen in the morning; it will happen later in the day when the wind comes up and the sun goes down. Be prepared - it is going to be a mental shift doing school at 4pm but it will be worth it!' It is not often that days like this present themselves, especially not in November. An expansive bright clear sky. Not a breath of wind. Just no way on earth we will be doing fractions and long multiplication when we can be on our big wide beach. It felt weird, almost illicit. The girls had such fun in the low tide pools - jellyfish, bluebottles and other creatures were in abundance. I wish I could tell you we had a 'lesson' on sea life but we did no such thing. We simply absorbed the freedom and frolicked. Although frolicking at 40 takes considerably more effort than at 12; that was my discovery for the day!

I have been doing some planning and research for our next academic year.  It will be our first 'official' year of homeschool and I do want a real plan of action as oppose to a weekly plan. I have to have termly goals which will have to be broken down into monthly and weekly goals to enable us to cover all the bases. Looking back at the last  six months two things stand out for me that need adjusting next year. 1. I need to spend more time consolidating what we learn. My girls grasp things very quickly and they get bored but it has become clear that the solution is NOT to move on but instead to find creative, inspiring ways to repeat the information for longterm retention. 2. I need to spend l ess time (and money) on external activities. -Some things I cannot teach them (piano) and some things I do not want to teach them (cooking/sewing/baking) but other things I can definitely teach them. (creativity/languages/phys ed/lifeskills) I have decided for art next...

This weekend has not been very productive. I am finding my weeks are so very busy that by the weekend I am pretty depleted. I can barely think in a straight line never mind come up with 'happy family outings' or anything very creative. Of course, bland household chores (cleaning out the garage, weeding the driveway, fixing the washing line, vacuuming my car, hanging our 3641 pictures, fixing doorhandles, replacing light fittings, cleaning a million venetian blinds, purging and sorting toys/books/clothes/bags/shoes/allthatothershit is at the very bottom of my 'oh happy days' list. The crap-creep in my house is insane; it is beginning to strangle me. Little piles/drawers/cupboards are harboring many hours of sorting and purging. Stuff is not where it is supposed to be and nothing, NOTHING, lights my fuse quite as violently as not being able to find what I need. And yet here I sit, blogging, when I could be sorting. I need to do the whole 'elephant bite at a ...

Some of you know I have  been trying to (unsuccessfully) manage another blog 'The Informal Educator' which was supposed to chronicle our school journey as well as serve as a 'resource hub' for other people interested in alternative education. Here is the thing. I don't have time to to that and I realized I am doing all this work for what? For who?    Nee jislaaik - I would rather take that time to read a book, have a swim, play with the dog or just veg out!  I seem to have this default 'share' button in my brain that I really need to switch off. Nobody really needs all my sharing! :-) Back to home-base it is. Consolidate all news and life-happenings right here in this space. School is going well; the girls are enjoying it. I am very surprised that Rachel is so settled and apparently not missing the social hubbub of school life. Our relationship has only become more solid; she is definitely taking on responsibilities at home with less prodding fro...

A quick look into the last week or so. Waking up to this kind of day makes mornings far more appealing Our all time favourite hang-out The Red Couch Outing on The Jolly Roger pirate boat - rough seas (which you cant see in this pic!) Faith still has close bonds with her classmates!  Hard at work. Levi Warrior Brown Loving our new outdoor space Bliss - bring on summer Thanks Jo!  The 'soon-to-be' daybed. Where we do tea and reading every morning Faith got to play stylist for her friend recently Scenes for The Colour Run A little blurry colorful me Making colorful, happy memories Seeing her 'play' is such a special thing - she now has the time to indulge her imagination again Chilling with my lad I still prioritize my own time - no compromise.