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...