FIVETRIBE

Today we made it official. The world will not be blessed with any more little Browns. At least not from our loins.  Faith and I accompanied Russ to Constantiaberg this morning for his appointment. The nurses where enthralled to see her working away; they had so many questions. One nurse has a son at the Ambleside school in Hout Bay so is well acquainted with the Charlotte Mason approach.  It was such a great experience - while the surgery was taking place I was explaining the concept of division to Faith and watching her grasp it so quickly was incredibly satisfying. When Faith was at school, NumberSense (the dreaded workbook) was her worst nightmare. She hated it. For the first 4 days at home she would get teary each day as we sat together and worked it through. Now maths (and the numbersense workbook) is one of her favourite activities AND she works independently until new concepts need explaining She also finished her fingerless gloves to...

We are definitely finding our groove. It is becoming increasingly difficult to send my other kids (particularly my elder daughter) to school each day. We are learning so much at home without even trying; it does seem only natural to have all of us involved in this process together. Highlights this week: Lulu's insta-maths (bonds/tables) is greatly improved. While they were good when she came home I didn't like the fact that it took her a few seconds to find the answers. I am weird like that, mental maths must be INSTANT - almost like a reflex. With the help of xtramath.org   and the awesome tables games on  multiplication.com  we have perfected mental maths; but we drill every day - and it is a highlight! Language continues to go well and am fortunate she thrives on the creative process of the English language.  Sentence construction including prepositions, verbs, adjectives, nouns aswell as homophones, synonyms - we covered it all this week. We will be ...

Monday seems a long time ago. I almost need to go to Facebook to read my statuses so I can remember what happened back then! Faith has resumed piano lessons - I was amazed (as was her lovely teacher) how much she remembered from her early lessons around a year ago. I was also so pleased to see her enthusiasm return - whereas in the past learning piano was a noose around her neck. I had to laugh the other evening. I invited my dear husband downstairs (away from his desk) to come and have a quiet cuppa with me. We even snuck into my studio and left the kids in the lounge. Well....within seconds the three of them were on us like white on rice - laughable really. Instead of getting annoyed I had to smile and be thankful that they still enjoy hanging with the parentals - long may it last. Little characters I received my Konos Volume 1 curriculum on Monday - I managed to get a second hand one for a song. It came with dvds outlining the methodology (watched in the bath of cours...

Woke up in the wee hours to a pretty spectacular lightning show. With no curtains in our bedroom it is always pretty awe-inspiring as our bedroom turns into a natural {quiet} nightclub. Charly was less than impressed and literally tried to climb into my skin - thunder and lightning do not a happy dog make. It was not easy to get our bones out of bed due to the fact that no warm bath/shower was available to get us motivated to start the day. Hopefully our geyser will be replaced tomorrow or else Mad Mel is going on the rampage. As you can see from these pics there was much lazing around in my bed for many hours. The girls playing Campus Life on the iPads - they do so much together nowadays. Beating out a tune all of his own Strumming away - I think he will be ready for lessons soon. Thankfully I can teach him the basics. We had the whole family around for lunch to celebrate the kids birthdays - with all 3 in a month it is much easier (and kinder) for everyo...

I woke up miserable on Friday. I don't know why. Let me share the text message I sent to my mom when she casually asked me 'How goes it today?'  at 1045 "Bah humbug, school stops shortly. And we each gonna go read our books for the rest of the morning. Am in a baaaaaaad mood. Not nice. :( Doesnt help that the dog is annoying me and that the house earth leakage is tripping 100 time a day or that the kitchen drawer is stuck and my garage door is broken.  Pfffffft. And Russell keeps stealing my 2 prongs plugs and losing the landline." Ja. Sucky attitude and frankly I could not shake it. It was utterly revolting. The afternoon crept up on me; Levi had a party and the girls were at art. All I wanted to do for the 2hrs was lie on the couch and eat and watch tv in silence. So I put on my running shoes and ran my fastest 10k ever. Then I smiled. A lot. Until I arrived home only to find our {almost} new geyser is on the fritz so no hot shower for ...

Wednesday. Just another day. I invited my neighbour (the one who was burgled a month ago) over for coffee. I REALLY like her; she is my age with a Gr 4 daughter and is super funny, quirky and creative. She does freelance design for magazines. I only booked out an hour in my diary to be safe..you know...in case it was awkward but HELL NO, we need more time for our next visit!  I also pottered up the road to another neighbourr; I helped set up a US iTunes account so she can download all kinds of wonderful free apps for her daughter. I love little impromptu gaps in my day where I can to see people and hang out guilt-free.  (yes, all the while Faith was being educated in my absence so settle down people) Faith's grade 4 math and language curriculum arrived yesterday - looks 'totes amazeballs' and we are going to have many hours of fun with it.  While Faith went to tap I grabbed the opportunity to go for a quick 6k run. It sucked eggs. Running a...

Our sparkly fiery fairy is 9! After an all-nighter with Levi presenting a totally unexpected awful croup attack I was feeling rather fragile at the dawn of Faiths birthday this morning. Lava lamp for her dad was a big hit! There was so much anticipation around her and I spending time together; I was somewhat nervous about her reaction to finding her brother ill in my bed.... Pressies in Mom's bed (note the nebuliser in action!) She was so gracious and very concerned by his barking cough. We quickly decided today would be a 'home day' with all the kids staying put and  pottering at home. Rachel is knee-deep in revision and we decided she could stay home too. Levi bounced back quickly and  greatly improved by mid-morning. Showing off her harem pants! Faith was just stoked to have all her siblings home on her birthday and declared today her best birthday ever! Dads little gal Breaking in the art journal She worked in her new leather ar...

Today was unusual in a few ways. 1. I went to a church meeting. 2. I actually enjoyed it and did not wish I was elsewhere. The church thang centred around the theme of WORK;  the subheadings being the fact that work is difficult, good and satisfying. The application of this in all areas of life is a natural progression from exercise to study to marriage.  Hop over here and take a listen  (seriously, have I ever done this?!) if you feel so inclined. CHANGE the way you approach your life. 3. I went for lunch with Flowrs sans family  I dont generally do individual stuff on Sundays - it is pretty standard that we hang as a family or do family type outings. The problem now is that Flowrs works almost full time as do I! We both miss those carefree days of running in the mountains, indulging our creative spirits and debriefing over good coffee. We have both moved on in different areas and excited about where we are going BUT we are also determined to find time t...

Today was one of those magical days. When chaos reigns in its own happy bubble and I am able to calmly just absorb the splendour that is childhood. These two entertained us non-stop!  My favourite moment was watching the boys practise various moves on the skate ramp while the girls idly chatted on the couch in the sun. I was ever so tempted to photograph the moment but thought better of it. This was taken before the rest of the girls joined the couch The wii was definitely a brilliant buy  I had 15 kids over today for about 4 hours. Most of them Rachels classmates but all them friends to all my kids. These little people have been in my orbit for 6yrs now and have watched both Levi and Faith grow up and they treat them so kindly. Some chill while others.... play tag rugby! The house was full of laughter, hijinx and much merriment. The trampoline, the skate ramp, the wii, the ipad and the spectacular weather made sure everyone found something to do t...

Pamie  poses an interesting question. How do my other children respond to me homeschooling their sister? Background: Lulu is in Gr 3 - currently homeschooled for the grand total of 1 week. ;-) Hooligan is in Gr 1 and Honey is in Gr 6 - both currently in regular school. My IDEAL world looks like this: All my kids at home with me. Learning together as a unit. REALITY looks like this: Hooligan loves school . He is an active, social and busy little boy. Staying at home with his mom and sisters is not something he is keen on doing At All. I also harbour my own fears of teaching a child so young - I feel insecure about instilling the basics of reading, writing and maths. I am willing to re-look this when he reaches intermediate phase if it is something he would like to do. Honey loves school  although she is feeling sidelined right now. She would like to join Lulu and I. I would LOVE this but I do feel that she will ultimately be unhappy. She will miss her friends. She wil...

I went out last night. Much to the shock and horror of my sproggles. 'Mom, where are you going?' 'You mean, out out? Like out the house? But it's dark?' 'Are you coming back?' (???) 'Where ARE you going? When will you be back? Why cant you do this in the day?' I am not quite sure if I should be alarmed or amused at their reactions. Suffice to say I did go out - to an art class run by a good friend of mine. Her enthusiasm spills over and she managed to get me to agree to trying out a silkscreening class.  Terrifying really. Especially as my design is horrifically complicated and I now realise just how tricky it is going to be to execute but anyyyyyyway - it is all good. A rough design with proposed colourway of silver, emerald and violet But am going to swop the emerald and silver around. I really enjoyed doing something new. Something I had never done before. Creative, messy and free. Preparing the screen -...

First off : Charly slept through the night! Hoooooray! This means, of course, she was awake at 530am but I can handle that...it will get better from here. The house-training continues but we are making progress. It was kind of lovely to be able to lounge around in bed for a FULL hour with my man, drinking tea and chatting before waking the kids up and getting on with the day. Definite up sides to this 'work from home' deal. I have learnt (quite quickly I think) that I CAN share space and I DON'T have to have time alone every day! Funny how we tell ourselves things that simply are not true?  This morning I  created a 2 hour space for myself to go for a run with a friend and then to meet another friend for a coffee. I am under no illusion that neglecting running and time with friends will ruin me so I am prioritising pockets of time for myself as necessary. Success in this new lifestyle ultimately depends on knowing my weaknesses and managing them wisely. Th...

Our days have naturally begun to evolve. Despite popular opinion we felt no need to take an  'unschooling'  season. We have easily adapted into a pattern of work that suits us. Our basic schedule looks like this at the moment: 1. Eye exercises (10mins) 2. Mathematics (up to 30mins sometimes longer) 3. English can take many forms : read aloud, self reading, comprehension, copy work, poetry  or grammar / language worksheets. We have touched on other sciences this week which have included: History - Reading Modern Day Hero series (Anne Frank) and discussing the Holocaust. Geography - using our world map to locate all the countries involved in WW2 Science - introduction to electricity, building a circuit, conductors and  understanding how traffic lights work.  We have looked at basic capacity measures while baking as well as estimations. What have I learnt this week? Watching her reading about Anne Frank has show me how much she loves to learn about people -...

Next week is Faiths birthday which marks the beginning of the madness for the next month which sees Rachel and Levi also celebrating their birthdays. Levi will have a party this year. The girls will not. I am so over the party scene I could bust a gut. Three in a month every year is just ridiculous. That is NOT to say we will not celebrate - the girls will obviously be able to have a couple of kids over for a movie/pizza or something exceptionally low-key but there will be no invitations and razz-matazz this year. Next year Rachel turns 13 and Faith will be 10. There will be celebrations for sure. I chatted with Rach this morning about what she would like for her birthday and was rather stunned at the response..... 'Nothing mom. I have everything I need.' Pardon? What? Her friends all have cellphones so I was almost expecting a conversation around a blackberry but she insisted she DOES NOT want a cellphone. Her take on cellphones? 'they are annoyin...

“If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things, then this is the best season of your life.”  - Wu-Men Simplicity comes in the strangest forms. Anyone who has read me for any length of time will know that simplicity is what I long for in every area of my life. I am guessing I am not alone in this. In a world full of noise, clutter and a ' culture of MORE' - simplicity seems as mythical as the pot of gold at the rainbow's end. In the last few days I have found the shedding of my many roles to be utterly exhilharating. I have chosen to focus solely on schooling Faith and have unhitched from many other activities that took much of my time and mental acuity. There is no longer any expectation on me. People know I am now a (*)  homeschooler.  I do not have time to be involved in every activity and committee and and and. ***************** (*)  Call me crazy but I prefer to be called an informal educator. ;-) 

Today was a blank canvas. We were ready to just fill it in in a way that was comfortable to us. I thought it would be fun to document our very first day. This type of post is too personal f or my other blog but I do want to keep a record of this journey. Both Faith and I have a tendency toward Type A behaviours and I wanted to make sure we pace ourselves carefully. The first thing she did while I cleaned up the kitchen was her eye exercises. This is going to be a great way to start each day...in the past eye exercises where always a drama and so difficult to fit into a hectic day. She usually has a headache for a while after these are done. She was able to play with Charly for a few minutes until the headache had abated. We went straight into maths, working in her NumberSense workbook from school. Once that had been done we did drills, math rockets, math flowers etc - just reinforcing bonds and tables. We then headed to the library to get out books. We will be introduci...

Weekend playdates are simply not in our frame. We don't do them. This Saturday, however, I decided to let the kids all invite mates over. I realised our weeks are SO busy that none of them get to engage with their mates outside of school. The result was surprising. It was a wonderful time for all of us. We were each able to get on with whatever we pleased. The grown-ups pottered and did bits around the house. The preteens walked the dog, surfed the net, baked a cake and played Cluedo. The tweens set up treasure hunts and drew and just hung out. The boytjies played soccer, practised slingshot skills, trampolined and played gogos for ages. This is definitely going to be a more regular occurence - no rush, no agenda and just time on our hands for each person to indulge in some of their favourite activities. Each doing whatever they please Getting trickier to photographer the preteens but this is a goodie I was able to set up our workspace for scho...

This has been one of the craziest weeks I have had in a very long time. This morning I am literally sitting at home, still in my pyjamas, just pottering around to try and take a moment to just be.  Last night I stole an hour and lay in the bath watching TED TV - I love listening to these quick, inspiring and often life-changing talks. The wealth of wisdom, creativity and ingenuity online makes for a great way to unwind without watching garbage. In other randomness - I found these leggings for the girls. I think they are uber-cute! Rach is having a bit of a hard time at the thought of her nemesia aka Faith getting to stay HOME instead of going to school. Yes, she understands all the reasons. Yes, she understands why I wont school her now but its really really hard on her.  Initially she was horrified at the thought of being schooled informally. That was only for weirdos and learning impaired kids....but as the week as unfolded she has learnt and seen so much more than...

CHOOSING A CURRICULUM This was  by far my biggest concern when I began thinking about informal education. How do I know what to teach my child? Do I have to buy a full package from one supplier to ensure I get all the stuff? Can I use bits from different places? How do I make sure I dont leave out big gaps of importance? Is one curriculum geared for specific learner types? Can I use an international curriculum or should I look at a South African based one? ***************** Bear in mind I only START schooling on Monday so I am by NO MEANS an expert on choosing a curriculum! In fact I still cant answer some of those questions conclusively. All I am doing is simply sharing my experience and decision- making to date.  The first thing I did was GOOGLE GOOGLE GOOGLE and then GOOGLE some more. Of course you knew that, right?! And I joined the facebook page for Western Cape Homeschoolers.  ;-) I then met with  not one, not two...

About five months ago Russell moved heaven and earth to get 3 Bieber tickets for us to take Levi to see this remarkable lad. The euphoria was contagious and the counting of months, weeks and days began. Tonight was the night. But we are not there. Yesterday I just had a real sense of unease. I did not want to go.  Aside from that I felt Levi had outgrown his interest in Justin Bieber even though he still occasionally enjoys his music. I went to Russell and told him I simply did not want to go. He looked at me blankly and asked why. I could not really give him one answer and I had to just say - ' 'well, I don't have a good feeling in my gut. I just dont want to go. Period.' He was not amused. Or impressed. Non-commital is the word I would use. Undeterred I went to Levi to test the waters. I called him outside and he skipped along while reminding me it was only One More Sleep until the show. My stomach cartwheeled but I forged ahead. ' Buddy, do yo...

The year so far has seen some really big changes in our lives: 1. My kids all in the same school for the first time ever. 2. Russell changing careers and now working from home. 3. Rachel entering the teens and Faith the tweens. 4. My mid life milestone and those ramifications. But the latest development has been the swiftest and most radical change to date. Bringing Faith home, to school her,is by far the most monumental decision I think I have ever made in the short space of her young life. Faith is an unusual child but quite capable of mainstream schooling. She is highly focussed, extremely academic and loves to learn. She is ambitious and structured and there is no reason to take her out of formal education except for the fact that I do believe I can do it better at home and with far less stress on us both. Right now, the class environment she is in is simply not the most condusive to happy learning. There are various factors that lead me to believe she is bored, un...