FIVETRIBE

It has been a very lazy few weeks partly due to shocking weather and the partly due to winter sniffles doing the rounds in our home. Undeterred we snapped up a Groupon offer and headed up the West Coast for 3 nights. We made the most of our time at Club Mykonos despite less than ideal circumstances.  The girls had their first mani/pedi which was fun for them - and kind of milestone-ish for me. For the most part we spent our mornings out and about on the resort - there is so much to do! We played table-tennis, pool, foosball, mini-golf and spent a fun hour in the arcade playing token games. In the afternoons we arbed around as 2/3 kids were not 100's so rest was required. Thankfully we had plenty of quiet things to do with series, books and games. On our last day we drove into Langebaan for some tourist shopping - the kids each had a substantial amount of money to spend as they have all been saving. We transfer their pocket money directly into their Capite...

Sometimes there is so much to say that it is just overwhelming. Day after day I open my blog and sit staring at the blank page. Where to start? How much to share (bearing in mind my kids will read this one day, probably sooner than later!) In some cases I truly believe less is more. At least when it comes to blogging. Not when it comes to clothing. ;-) I will share in broad strokes aka bullets: The man's business is doing well but not without significant time constraints and some serious adversity. He is working harder now that he has in his life; those that know him will realise just how big that statement is. The difference is that now he is ploughing into his own business - something meaningful but that still doesnt negate the pressure and stress that a new business venture entails. I have come to face some of my deepest fears, look them squarely in the eye and realise that in this life nothing is certain and  one has to decide how to make your best play. In doing ...

This August has to rank right up there with one of the least pleasant months in my life to date. It's over - and not a moment to soon for me. Not only was at least one member, at times all 4 members, of my family ill with sinus/headcolds/croup for the ENTIRE month but I also faced some of my own health challenges. And it wasn't a cold.  Suffice to say that in the aftermath I am grateful all over again for the simple things. I am trying to move forward armed with what I have learnt and attempting to shed the fear that could come to claw at me should I allow any space in my thoughts for 'what could have been'. Right now I want to step outside in the bright sunshine and GO FOR A RUN. But that will have to wait for a few more days; instead I will be content watching Faith grapple with a new math concept and later join an old friend for a well-overdue catch-up coffee.

It has been a mixed blessing kind of homeschool day. This morning was rather horrendous as we tackled two  Conquesta papers  (English and Maths). The English was a breeze but while we have tackled multiplication, area and perimeter the Conquesta paper focused on division and fractions. No matter how I tried to explain to Lulu that ultimately we would cover EVERYTHING in maths and that the sequence differs from school/country/curriculum she was just distraught and felt dumb. Anyway, disaster was averted after tea and toast; we persevered and she completed the test to the best of her ability. I glanced at it before handing it in and she did brilliantly - not sure why our kids underestimate themselves? The one thing I am trying desparately to teach her is that getting stuff wrong  DOES NOT  equal failure. She is still so afraid to try answer things unless she is sure it will be the correct answer. School does this; of this I am convinced. Slowly she is beginning...

The last week has been but a blur. Levi had a severe croup attack last week at about 1am on Wednesday morning. He has had croup on a couple of occasions in his 7yrs but this was the worst I have ever seen. We had the emergency services come out and I honestly have never been so afraid in all my 40+ years. Thank God all is well, he bounced back super fast and by morning he was rebuking me for calling the ambulance! Suffice to say we kept him home the rest of the week even though he insisted he was TOTALLY OKAY and he was but that doesnt mean that I have slept much (at all) in the last week. His room is just too cold so he has been bunking with us and as any mother knows you hear every scratchy, raspy and uneven breath. I is very very very tired. He went back to school today but is still nursing a wee cough which will see him avoiding sport for the next few days, much to his horror. He did buy himself some rope this weekend and has been quietly busying himself learning how to tie...

Writing this post a week after the event is not quite the way I had planned - I hate that to some degree I have lost the feel of this special occasion. Faith has been doing tap since 2010 - she is a passionate and gifted little tapper but until this year she did not have the confidence to enter an eisteddford. This year it has been completely different - she was ready - both physically and emotionally. That is not to say the nerves were not full-tilt on this Monday. We did our usual piano and art lesssons but aside from that NO SCHOOL happened. We focused on just chilling and prepping for the big evening ahead. Faith and the other members of the trio did superbly - scoring Honours for their tap rendition to 'I got you under my skin'. There were many hours spent backstage before her performance and the anticipation proved enormous and her teacher is said to have wrapped her in a special 'anti-nerves' blanky! To be perfectly honest my nerves were shot ... but al...

 English is one of my favourite subjects to teach Lulu - there are so many options.  Spending time on grammar, parts of speech and the like is essential but thankfully so many other activities can keep it fresh and current; actually this can be said of all subjects if you take the time to brainstorm new ideas. Some of the things we like to do include: writing blog posts book reviews  word searches writing letters summarising articles of interest  writing stories crossword puzzles reading a variety of books listening to stories or documentaries narration comprehension discussion Comprehension exercise I get such a kick out of some of her writing. This book review made me chuckle - see her response to   "What do you like least about the book?"   (I can see I was rather ambitious giving my poor kid unlined paper to write her answers!) Every day continues to be an adventure - today she only did rote math, piano and art - the res...