Karen's Clan

You know that saying? "It never rains, it pours"? Well folks that's how I feel this weekend! I cannot belive the pace of the last two weeks - a friend referred to life during the term as 'warp speed' once,  and I so feel like I'm living in that!

After our interesting start last week and our shocking first day of school, I had so hoped that this week would begin, and remain, better. And we did start better, and then things got a little complicated when on Tuesday an enormous fire threatened to devour the houses along the perimeter of the Estate we live in.


I was at the beach at the time (with two young Zimbabwean girls thrilled to be at the sea!), really enjoying a wind free beach at St James. I had deliberately left my phone in the car, in a rebellious state of just not wanting to be able to be reached all the time at every moment. So imagine my surprise when upon my return to the car I find 11 missed calls! From people I know well who do not panic!!!

I quickly realized how serious the situation was, and managed to raise my parents-in-law to try and get to the house to help. I am so thankful for my neighbors and friends within the Estate who lent a helping hand, as well as our twice a month gardener -without them, my house would not be standing today! So very thankful...but the ash? Well that's another story...it covered the garden like black snow...


 For those of you interested, here's a video my father in law took to illustrate my point!

Overall, now at the end of week two, I can say it's gone better than than week one, although I have had to realize again just how different my children are. I am so thankful I have the privilege of homeschooling them and tailor making their education, although it is challenging and daunting at the same time. After having a tearful meltdown in Brent's arms the one night, I've had to tweak and adjust things, as Aragorn's learning styles are completely different to King Arthur's: it's the subtle challenge of carrying on stretching King Arthur, while at the same time supporting and encouraging Aragorn at the start of his journey. Bended knees people, and a good dose of tears!


Cape Explorers kicked off again this week, and when the outings are ones that I am personally responsible for it seems to knock me for a 6 (I guess especially after the week!). The outing went swimmingly, and I love those kids to bits...but, imagine my surprise then, thinking I was coming home to put my feet up and relax for a bit when I discovered our landlady had employed some folk to strip and replace a roof that has been leaking for years! In the pulling up of the old roof sheeting, ash had re-covered everything! Sob! And they weren't able to finish yesterday...and left a large hole...and so when it poured with rain today...well, need I say more? Sob sob!

So surely, surely, next week cannot top this?

Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can't Lose!!

Today, Belle began her first day in the Tiger's Class....


...complete with a hand me down Tiger back pack which she was thrilled with! Belle's report on her first day? "Mom, I had an awesome day!"
(Oooh, she also had her first ballet lesson which she just loved!)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, ...

(I actually took this :))

I will never forget King Arthur's face when he returned from his morning ride, came around the door and saw this sign - his face lit up and he beamed...from ear to ear. I'm so pleased I followed through with the inkling I had, because it seemed almost a silly thing to do...but it's those small things, the things we can so easily brush aside that speak loudest to  our kids, and even those around us. Somehow, this little sign and taking the photo affirmed them and boosted their whole day (they were so eager to show Dad when he came home too). Aragorn? That boy has been excited for weeks, and his enthusiasm was at an all time high the whole day!

Our day went well. Strike that. The first hour and a half of our day went swimmingly. Braveheart has kindly agreed to take Belle to school on the way to work, which has transformed my mornings. Now without me leaving the house in the mornings we gain so much time. Morning chores were done by 0730, and school started at 8. We got so much done....

Then I decided we would take a break and go off and get our puncture fixed. Well, the day went downhill from there. Let's just say, a Toyota Verso's wheels confound my local fitment centre; it took longer than expected; Braveheart still had my debit card; my new credit card didn't work and then after yet ANOTHER walk to the mall, it failed to work altogether. My day was HIJACKED. By admin. Grr. I had a good cry and a blow out, and said goodbye to the two and half hours of stress, spent the rest of the afternoon doing co-curricular lifting, and then finally got home to make our traditional "Back to School" cake (ahem, this was disastrous, just to top off the day)!

The kids love sticking their toys on a Back to School cake!

 Anyhow. So here I am. Holiday? What holiday?! I know that today will pass, that tomorrow is another day, but seriously, what a way to start the term!

The only thing that keeps reverberating in my mind is (for all your Friday Night Lights fans)


And I may just have to print that out very big and stick it in front of my desk!

Hope your start of school has gone well!

 It's a new season this one....

a busy one, where both Braveheart and I are stretched to the brim...

or perhaps even flowing over a bit?

It's interesting to me, that when you think you can't handle anything else on your plate, God can stretch you even a little bit more...but never to breaking point.

And there's always HOPE.

My season right now is one of humble housework...the basics of family life. Our wonderful helper and part of our family returned to Zimbabwe a while ago, and we have felt it's a season for us to be without help in the house...and so it's a season of juggling more, and fitting in chores into already packed days. As a family, we're learning all about responsibility, and servanthood... something I seem to not know enough about.

I'm loving our journey through this time: its highs and its lows - watching my kids learn to take on chores that are age appropriate, blessing one another when they do each other's chores, watching them learn about sharing the load of a family's work. Braveheart has been a star too, stepping in when he can, as this is his leading for our family in this season. I thought I was a highly disciplined person, but when it comes to housework at the end of one of those days, I realize how weak my will is!

I'm learning about grace...about rhythms ..some days lend themselves to a neat orderly house, and on other days I have to take a few steps back and ask myself what is really most important - relationships or a clean house, and then close a door, or leave a room...a challenge for me.

And so as I juggle my time, this blog is last on the list. I'm hoping I find a rhythm here, truly I do.

Until then...

I recently attended my first Homeschool Educators Expo here in Cape Town, (a convention for those of you from the north!). The Cape Home Educators did themselves proud with a well organised event, and I was really blown away by what I walked away with....no curricula, but a heart full of knowledge and wisdom.

I walked into the building a little after 8, and left again after 5 - for me not to see the sun for a whole day is saying enough don't you think? It made me think, "Gosh, I really must be a 'nerd' to enjoy doing this!" and truly I was invigorated, energized! I realized so clearly, that I love to learn : feed me knowledge, tell me how to do something, teach me - and I am in my element! I soaked it all up - and if any of you reading this are interested in finding out more about homeschooling, attending the lectures at an expo is a good place to start!

I was also so touched to meet other homeschooling moms - some whom I only know from their profile picture on FB (and if you're a HS mom/dad in the Western Cape you really should be a member -  it's a growing community of like minded folk who are passionate about educating our children), and to be met by folk who read this here blog. It's a little nerve wracking that part - meeting people who know me in so much more detail than I know them! To those of you, who shared how much some of my posts have spoken to you, thank you (again!) for having the courage to do that - it inspires me to keep writing my heart.

I wanted to share a few nuggets I walked away with, as they were light bulb moments for me, and perhaps they will be food for thought for you. As I've said, I think I attended all but three of the lectures, so it was pretty intense! (Please note, not much of what follows are my own original ideas - the ideas communicated here belong to the speakers at the Expo)

• Somehow homeschooling parents have a great need of security, and so all too often we can focus on the "how" of homeschooling (how am I going to teach Math, what is the best curriculum for language arts, how am i going to teach three children of different ages etc), and not the "why" (for what purpose am I homeschooling?). 
• Too often we can mistakenly focus on the books and not the child, when it comes to choosing a curriculum - I did have a good laugh at myself during one of Martie Du Plessis' lectures, when she outlined learning styles (I am so 'sequential'!). It makes sense to me now how often we can choose a curriculum for ourselves, to make us feel safe and secure rather than one that would suit our child because its learning style is so unfamiliar to us.
• The current state of education in South Africa sobered me. It is vastly different to the education system I grew up with in Zimbabwe (before our political turmoil) and I was interested to learn this 

Newsweek‘s (16 August 2010) list of the world’s best countries put South Africa at 82nd overall, and ranks our education system 97th out of 100, which is 4th from the bottom. South Africa’s education performance is even ranked below countries like Mozambique, Bangladesh and Iran, states less wealthy or less free. (source)

          Fourth from the bottom in 2010? Seriously? And this is where it ranked last year:

 According to the 2011 annual national assessment figures, the World Economic Forum ranked South Africa 140th out of 144 which is lower than Lesotho and Swaziland. (source) 

• I'm growing increasingly fascinated by the nature of the Information/Digital Age we are presently in. Let me add here some statistics Inesa Van Rooyen of Neruolink gave in her presentation, (another worthwhile lecture): 
• information is doubling every 2 years at present, and by 2017 it's estimated it will double every two weeks; 
• our children have to learn 5 times more the volume of information we did 20 years ago when we were in school; 
• and finally, one edition of the NY times contains more information than people in the C17 were exposed to in a lifetime.

As a result, we have to help our children to work faster and smarter - working harder (which most schools seem to push) is not going to equip them to cope with this. We have to teach them to out-think, out-learn, out create. I loved the idea that we can work with our brains to increase their fitness - something I'd like to spend more time looking into.

 A few books on this topic were recommended by various speakers: Teaching a Digital Generation - please o please download this PDF and spend some time reading it. It is such weighty food for thought about the reality our children are facing. This book 21st Century Skills also has an excerpt you can download.

• I loved being reminded by Martie to focus on enjoying learning in these young grades (1-7), and to be more focused from Gr 8 onwards (remember that Karen!). 
• I was intrigued by Martie's mention of this quote:

We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet 

exist . . . using technologies that haven’t yet been invented . . . 

in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.

 —Richard Riley, Secretary of Education under Clinton

•  To educate for the C21st and beyond, she recommends we take our traditional  3 R's and times them by the 7 C's : critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, cross cultural, communication, computing, and careers (learning self-reliance and self direction).

I've found the timing of this carnival quite funny, as in the last few weeks this is the area of my life that is facing the biggest challenge!  Thankfully, this month's carnival host did me the kind courtesy of sending out a reminder two weeks before it was due, and as I sat down to write this, I thought, "Hey! That's an important tool to 'getting it all done', reminders!" Having a reminder, be it on my cell phone, in my diary, or on a hastily scribbled note pad really help me to get it all done.

So, having been reminded for a while, I've been able to think about getting it all done. How do I do that? What is helpful? Here are a few of my 'tools'.

Let's start with school. I think another important tool for me is having a schedule or a plan. The curriculum we use in our home (Sonlight) comes with a schedule provided for 36 weeks. Now in the one and  half years that I've been doing this I have grown immensely in this area. I'm learning constantly how to make the schedule serve me, rather than becoming a slave to it. I've learnt what parts of Sonlight work for us, and what parts don't; I've learned to let those parts go without feeling guilt, and to make it suit our family.

Sonlight's Instructor 's Guide

• I take 10 weeks of the Sonlight curriculum guide and consider this my framework. Then I make a term plan on scrap paper, with blocks, rather than days (so day 1, 2, 3 etc rather than Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc). Sonlight's separate schedules for the Core/LA/Science were too cumbersome for me, but I believe that has changed now. I've found this helpful because when life happens, and we are delayed, I don't feel guilty looking and seeing that it's Thursday and we haven't done any 'school' yet, rather, that we just need to pick up where we left off, on day 2. I streamline our selected learning from this broad guide: for example, I'll look at all the suggested LA  assignments, and select some of them to do, I'll leave out the spelling, and make sure I add in more books for him to read. 
• Then in pencil, I write in my daily journal what I want to achieve that week. As we do it on the day, I tick  off what we actually manage to do with a colored pen. This way I can adjust our week's load easily, but also have a final record of what I've done (which I draw from when I write my son's mid term and end of year report). 

Getting this done takes me a couple of solid evenings at the beginning of the term, and that sacrifice of time is so worth it. On a weekly basis, I try and do the weeks plan on a Thursday during down moments in the morning, or latest by that afternoon (we use a 4 day school week), so that it's ready for us on Monday (I used to do it on a Sunday evening and that was awful!).

my weekly planner

Having a schedule or a plan is essential to my sanity! 

Another tool that works for me is having a predictable routine. Again this is something that happens naturally in our home. My kids and I are early risers, and so we're all awake, fed and ready for the day by about 0730. When King Arthur and I get home from dropping the others at school, we start within minutes of walking through the door. It's just evolved into this over time, and now my son knows what is expected of him. Predictable routines lead to this - children knowing what is expected of them.

In terms of the details of our day, over time we've learnt, through much trial and error, what works for us (we're still learning this: as King Arthur grows, as I learn, as life changes...being open to this change is important!). We settle down to do seatwork first (Maths or Handwriting). This works for us as King Arthur is fresh, and at the end of the day it just doesn't happen well! I've learnt with Maths to keep the lessons short, and with Handwriting, I vary the assignments from day to day: copywork, creative writing,  letters to Granny... anything that is written! Then we move from the table into the lounge where we do Science, Reading and History, and then at the end of school we do all our read-alouds.

However, in my grand plans, I've realized that I even need to schedule in the fun - the art, the experiments, the nature walks etc (perhaps this is even the real school stuff, just a thought!), because I have a tendency to want to tick everything off on the list, and by the time I've done that, I've run out of steam to do the fun things. This is an area I'm still working at, so there's much room for improvement....and watch this space, as it's likely I might throw out everything I'm used to in the coming months! I've been sensing change afoot!

To compensate for this, I've found it really helpful to share school with friends, or to run my own workshops, where I can get around to doing all the fun things I never seem to get to! I'm also fortunate to be around women who are also running things - King Arthur attends a friend's Art club, and music with another lady -  areas that are not my strength.

I find it helpful to use this morning, when Elijah is at Art, wisely. It's the one morning every two weeks where I have my own head space for two hours, and I try to make sure it is used well. For me, having some personal head space on a regular basis, just to be still is also essential to getting it all done.

It's also helpful to be accountable to someone to get it done - Braveheart is amazing in listening to me week in and week out, when I relate to him our progress. Other times I just need a different perspective, and sometimes friends are able to offer that to me.

But life is not just about school! Over the last few years I've learnt some tools as to how to get "life done"! Time management is my golden key:

•  I schedule things at the same time - so whilst Aragorn is swimming, King Arthur does his reading, or whilst King Arthur does his gymnastics, we visit the library. 
• I've learnt how to plan my meals for a month, and do one monthly shop (which saves me both time and money), and then only shop once a week for fresh things. I'd love to tell you I cook two meals at once and freeze regularly, but the only time that happens is with spaghetti bolaignaise! This used to be the frozen for a meal on nights when we get home after 5. (I must add here, in all fairness, that Braveheart has blessed me by taking this meal on board, as it is his *meal* (he has a knack of making a delicious one!), and he makes it for us now)
•  I've learnt how to streamline buying birthday presents by keeping a birthday list year after year - so, for example, at the beginning of September I know how many presents I need to buy and I try and do that in one go.
• I'm very privileged to have a lady to help me with housework, and her work is such a blessing to us. I've learnt though on the days she doesn't come, to first do what will make it feel like I'm on top of things before anything else. For me, making the beds, a tidy lounge and tidy kitchen counters make me feel like my house is in order, then as the day wears on, I can get to all the other little things. My kids also know how to pull their own weight in tidying things too.
• I guard my time on the computer carefully, and with how I spend it in general. 

Before I go any further I feel it quite important to share something with you. I like being organised. I like order. These things make me feel comfortable, and I like knowing what to expect. But sometimes, even  for me, the best intentions of getting it all done can vaporize in a moment. I've been there these last few weeks, with launching Cape Explorers, attempting to run two blogs, managing family life, and investing in relationships.



What does one do then, when everything seems to go pear shaped?

I simplify. I strip down our life to the bare minimum. What are the absolute essentials I need to get done today?
- for me? (shower, eat?)
- for the house (dishes bathrooms, beds?)
- for the family (get them fed, quality time?)
...and get myself back together with a few days like that. It's no good getting myself into a nervous break down trying to get it all done! And after a few days like that, my perspective shifts and I am on an even keel again!

I do hope you find the time to read this month's carnival, and that we can learn and be encouraged by one another!

Here's to getting it done!

These holidays were a little different for us as a family - usually we have a long list of things we want to do during the holidays, but these holidays I was so shattered form the term we kind of slumped into the holidays...and then it's only now as we come to the end of them that I'm starting to feel relaxed...unwound. I guess that's the point of a holiday! Thankfully Braveheart has agreed with me that we need to take another week off to fully recharge, and so we are - next week we've been given the opportunity to get away, and we are all looking forward to it!

Instead of the usual long list, each boy had only one desire really - King Arthur's was to have a Lego club at his house, and so each Wednesday he invited some friends round to play Lego with him the whole afternoon (if he'd had his way, there would have been a Lego Club all day every day! He even got upset the boys didn't want to play Lego the ENTIRE time they were here!). He had a wonderful time, and built some wonderful creations. I love how Lego is his absolute passion.

Aragorn on the other hand, wanted to have a restaurant. He wanted to cook and serve people and lay out tables and charge people. Plain and simple. And so after some thoughtful deliberation on my part, I decided I could probably manage a "tea-time" restaurant...and so one Saturday, we got to work...

First he designed the covers of the menus, and King Arthur wrote inside each one. Belle colored in the table numbers, and Braveheart helped Jonathan decide on prices - he chose a slice of chocolate cake to be his most expensive, at R4! It turned out to be this day long lesson in so many ways!

he wanted strawberry cup cakes.....

I love this shot! Oaty cherry biscuit hands!

My proud son...so pleased with what he's made, waiting for patrons to arrive. It took a whole day of baking, and I was so impressed that he never complained once!

Aragorn employed his siblings for the afternoon too - he asked Belle to be the Front of House, welcoming guests to their tables....

the guests at their tables...

And at the end, King Arthur added up their bills, and organised the change....


I loved spending this time with Aragorn, and it was very special for me to see how much this is a part of who he is - he absolutely loves being in the kitchen, and loves serving people. I'm interested to see where this will lead! He next wants to have a  "dinner time" restaurant, so I'll let you know when bookings are open! He used the money he made to pay his brother and sister for working for him, and combined with his pocket money, bought a toy he had been wanting for ages! I'm a proud mamma!

 Elizabeth Ann fell back on the bench with her mouth open. What crazy things the teacher said! She felt as though she was being pulled limb from limb.
 "What's the matter?"asked the teacher, seeing her bewildered face.
"Why - why, " said Elizabeth Ann, "I don't know what I am at all. If I'm second-grade arithmetic and seventh-grade reading and third-grade spelling, what grade am I?"
The teacher laughed. "You aren't any grade at all, no matter where you are in school. You're just yourself, aren't you? What difference does it make what grade you're in? And what's the use of your reading little baby things too easy for you just because you don't know your multiplication table?"
"Well for goodness' sakes!" ejaculated Elizabeth Ann, feeling very much as though somebody had stood her suddenly on her head.
"What's the matter?" asked the teacher again.
This time Elizabeth Ann didn't answer because she herself didn't know what the matter was. But I do, and I'll  tell you. The matter was that never before had she known what she was doing in school. She had always thought she was there to pass from one grade to another, and she was ever so startled  to get a glimpse of the fact that she was there to learn how to read and write and cipher and generally use her mind, so she could take care of herself when she came to be grown up. Of course, she didn't know that 'til she did come to be grown up, but in that moment, she had her first dim notion of it, and it made her feel the way you do when you're learning to skate and somebody pulls away the chair you've been leaning on and says, "Now, go it alone!

This wonderful excerpt is taken from Understood Betsy, by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, and is part of Core B of the Sonlight Curriculum we follow. We've really been enjoying this read-aloud: it's about the gradual blossoming of a very sheltered nine year old girl in the 1900's, as she is exposed to learning in every day life once away from her over-protective and very traditional aunt. This excerpt actually made me go cold, as it just spoke so deeply to me about the way that we label our children, whether or not they are in mainstream schools or schooled at home. 

Our children are so much more than the grade they are in. Their learning should be about so much more than just getting from one year to the next. And on that note, it's been such a beautiful golden week here, beginning to see the fruit of out homeschooling coming out in our eldest child.

King Arthur regaled his siblings with tales about surface tension this week; went willingly on a nature ride all around our estate to find pond skaters; told me that when he grows up he want to be a conservationist. I'm sure Charlotte Mason is the one who mentioned that children should be allowed to make relations with the things they learn, and I can so see this happening in King Arthur. His passion for the world, and looking after it blows me away (yep, he often challenges me on what's to go in the recycling!), and I love watching him unfurl. It's almost too beautiful for words...

this is why I love homeschooling....

I get to be a part of it all.

 

 

 

Picture source

It's true. The time has come, and as I started writing this post, Lewis Caroll's poem just would not leave my head!

Since the beginning of the year I've wanted to do something on Fridays (as we run a 4 day school week and it's technically our 'free' day), and initially thought it would take the shape of a Nature Club. At the beginning of the year I leapt into it with great gusto, and then circumstances caused me to stop, slow down, take a step back and spend many weeks in deep thought and prayer! I'm thankful now, for the way the year started and the time I've had to reflect on this, because now I'm ready to launch something...
 ...a little bit different...
....something a little bit ...
....broader.

On an outing with other homeschoolers to Groote Schurr in the first term, I was struck by three things -

1. There is so much South African history I know nothing about, because I am a foreigner...
2. There is such a historical, cultural and natural richness right here on my doorstep in Cape Town... 
3. Unless I step into this area deliberately (it seems this is my word for the year!) and boldly, it is likely that we, in our homeschooling, will never fully embrace all that is here to be soaked up through experiencing it first hand.

Yes, it's time for another something that involves the whole world! I'm prepping early this year, because events like this always catch me by surprise and leave me frustrated that I didn't make the most of a natural teaching opportunity! (Ahem, this post has been sitting around for over a month now!). As of today, it's officially 78 days to go till they start!

So here are some of my favorites that I've rounded up so far:

It's always good to set the scene and lay a foundation, not only about the history of the Olympic Games, but also about their location this year: London. (Oh I love that we're studying Ancient civilizations this year! Our studies on Greece just happen to fall right around this time!).

• This little Brain Pop movie gives some history and background - my kids love Tim and and Moby! They've got quite a few on Ancient Greece, Greek Gods, Nutrition etc. You do have to register to watch them - it's free for the first 5 days, so watch them all quick!
• I love the BBC's kids history pages, and this is a lovely intro for the Olympics.
• The symbols of the Olympic Games including the rings, the flag, the torch/flame and motto.
• Project Britain also lists the venues and their corresponding sports - older children might like to place these on a map of the Greater London area.
• This link to Geography.org's Planet Sport page has some lovely geography resources - photos of each of the venues; photos of venues before and after building; great studies for KS3 of East London and whether or not Project Britain will regenerate this area with the Olympic games. Love it - the geography teacher in me loves this site!
• Ever wondered what the difference is between Great Britain, the British Isles, and the United Kingdom? Me too. Well, Teacher Vision has made many helpful pdfs for this season, but this one tries to explain it all.
• I loved this Olympic Power timeline too - you can see who the superpowers are in terms of medals won throughout the history of the Olympics.
• I loved all the info here on the Olympic Torch - the relay and the history.
• And no link here, but it would be great to find iconic London monuments - I'm thinking Big Ben, the Tower Bridge etc etc.

• if you're only going to click on one of these links, then do o do click on this one from the Guardian Teacher Network - it's just a treasure trove of all things - great stuff for junior primary, senior primary and even high school (the link between sport and peace, the health risks of mass sporting events, the Olympics and Fair trade - o the debates one could have :)). I think this is my favorite link so far! It's very teacher orientated, but just take away the ideas!
• This is a great collection of FREE printables for the Olympics - there are some one can buy on this site, but the free ones seemed great too.
• There's an official London 2012 Olympic Education program called Get Set, and for us folk living outside of the UK, one needs to enter the international part of the site - Get Set International part of the site. Once you've registered which is pretty simple, there  is a wealth of information (mostly PDF's) under some very broad categories. I learnt today that the two mascots for these Olympic Games grew from two lumps of steel left over from building the large stadium, and are called Wenlock and Mandeville, named after two British towns! Well I never! (I've seen many lessons comparing how the Olympic mascots have changed over the years - would be interesting for high school students to look at the mascots over the years and try and put them in chronological order without knowing their dates - what can the mascots tell us about society?)

• Nice Olympic torch craft for preschoolers and these lovely songs you might want to belt out?
• Love the idea of this living math graph - get your kids to plot some/all of the countries participating, and then daily add how many gold, silver and bronze medals have been won.
• Liked this fun activity of matching the correct sport jargon to the right sport - a worksheet from Teacher Vision.
• Activity Village Summer Olympic page - puzzles, worksheets, printable coloring in pages - galore! Be sure to check out "All About the Games" and the Olympic Crafts.
• Teacher Planet also has a long list of links  - something for everyone!Teacher Vision - oh, what a  delight! So much to feast upon! Some of the links are free, and some you can only use if you're a subscriber. Although I'm not subscribed, I still liked looking at the previews of the things they've made. Their categories include England: Culture and Geography, Lesson Plans, Olympic Politics and scandal and Olympic History and References.
• If you're wondering how to go about planning this into the next few weeks, I noticed the Australians have created this Olympic Education Resource (pdf, give it time to load) to help teachers to plan their units of work - might be worth just browsing through it. There's a lot of very teacher orientated jargon, like learning objectives and specific outcomes, but hopefully it will help your planning!

As with any kind of sub culture, there is a particular jargon that one has to get use to if one wants to become a member of that subset. And, if you're like me, you probably wondered for a while what a "living book" was exactly, and thankfully, this month's carnival seeks to give you just that - an explanation, and an insight into actual examples!

I am a book lover. And a book hoarder. And in spite of annually giving away books, or moving countries, I still have a surprising number. I love them. Unashamedly. It was something I loved as a child, something I could escape into, something that captivated me. I'm one of those readers, that if I get into a good book, pretty much nothing can deter me.... unless perhaps there's a fire. I switch off, seldom hearing anything beyond the words in my head, and have been known to read voraciously for whole days. Now lest you wonder in awe at how I carve that time out when I have three exuberant young children, let me assure you, those days of reading all day are almost non existent. Every now and again, I will stumble on a book of such awe and majesty that I will read in chunks of time...but whole days? A thing of the past. (You can follow what I read, when I have time to blog about it, under the Books on my Bedside Table labels)

So...I tell you that, because it's important to know that I am a book lover. And that therefore I always wanted my children to be book lovers. And so since they were little, I've read to them anything we could get our hands on - King Arthur had his own library card by the time he was one. (I review library books under the label Library Loot if you're looking for good picks!) Braveheart does not share this passion of mine, but he has a library card, courtesy of me, so that we can take out an extra 7 books!

When we started homeschooling we naturally gravitated towards a literature based curriculum. In the last few years of researching homeschooling and starting to homeschool, a whole new world has opened up for me - a world where learning texts come alive, where books are filled with rich and rewarding notions, where ideas make you start to think and imagine - and for this to come alive in subject areas is a true feat, if you think back to the dull dry textbooks you used at school!

And so, without further ado, here are some of our favorites so far along our short journey...



This is my all time favorite non-fiction text that I own. Sonlight recommends Hillyer's A Child's History of the World, but as I've worked with both of these texts this year, Susan Wise Bauer's wins hands down. I find her text to be better structured, and like how she covers the beginnings of civilizations across the world at the same time, rather than following one civilization for a while and then backtracking to study another one. As a family, we've responded to her style more than Hillyer, and both my boys (they're seven and half and five and a half) are really enjoying it - some nights we've read it as a bed time story - that's how engaging it is!

We haven't used the corresponding activity books with this text yet, although they also have had brilliant reviews. There are a wealth of blogs and Pinterest boards on this book though, and so we're adding our hands on activities as we go along.

Our favourite fictional books include:

We've only recently begun this, but it's such a lovely story of life on a sheep farm: it brought back such memories of life on my uncle's cattle farm. There is a wealth of information about the raising of sheep and the nature of farm life, all told through a lively and engaging story about the young farm boy Peter as he grows up.














What homeschool library would be complete without a set of Laura Ingalls Wilders' tales of Prairie life? I remember being captivated by these books when I was a young girl, (and loving the TV series!) and now the pleasure of re-reading them yet again to my children is wonderful!
There's only one twang that rises when I read this. I long to find some living literature written about the Great Trek the pioneers made from the South African coast up into Africa's interior - can anyone recommend anything?








I'm a C.S. Lewis fan, and these never fail to peel back my eyes and allow me to catch something deeper each time I read them. At the beginning of the year I started reading them to my boys as a bed time story, and I was astonished at how rich and rewarding his work really is, even for little kids. It is a feast for the soul!










And this one is for you moms! If you've read Kings and Chronicles and ever wondered what it was REALLY like, and have longed for those Biblical books to come alive to you, then  Lynn Austin's Chronicles of the Kings is worth reading - and this is the cover of just one of the five of them in the series (got to love it when you come across a great author and there is more than just one book!). I learnt so much about the names kings in Israel's history through these historical fictional novels, and about the surrounding nations that I am drawing on even now as we go through our Ancient History curriculum.




And here's two Living Books I would love to get my hands on one day!


And I'm on the lookout for some Math Living books, so I'll be browsing the carnival with great delight!

Happy reading!

This post features on the upcoming SACHS blog carnival...

I thought I'd elaborate a bit on that new season  I was telling y'all about....

I don't know about you, but perhaps when you became a mom you knew exactly what to do, you'd been around countless other moms and babies, and you knew how you wanted to bring up your children. You found it easy to feed, easy to wean, easy to keep house and balance everything. True?
Me? Er, not so much.
Perhaps it was giving birth for the first time in South Korea? I didn't have the faintest clue what on earth I was doing. Quite literally every step of the way - I look back on the birth of my firstborn and wonder how it was possible to know so little - granted it happened in South Korea, we didn't have a computer to our name and the only Lamaze class I found was this dodgy video I bought over the Internet. It's laughable now, really it is. 
Or perhaps the whirlwind of returning to Zimbabwe, selling everything we owned, and moving to South Africa with two suitcases and a 4 month old baby?
Perhaps having been without a community in South Korea for almost a year (we didn't live near any Westerners), or the having to start all over again in South Africa...which for those of you who have moved countries or continents know, is excruciatingly hard.
Whatever it was, (perhaps just plain old motherhood?), I found those first years hard.
Exceptionally.
I had this perception that a perfect mom gave 100% of her time and attention ALL the time to her child. So my firstborn son had my undivided attention from the moment he woke to the moment he slept. No really, I kid you not. I did not do housework. I did not cook. That had to come when he was napping or in bed. There was even a season when Braveheart returned from work and cooked dinner. See what I mean?

Thankfully, time has passed. And here I am now.
I now have three children, who are 7, 5 and 3.
And I have grown up a bit. A lot.
And He has opened my eyes some.
And then some.
And I am surer now of the steps I'm taking as a mother.
I've relaxed into this motherhood thing. (Okay, well truthfully I'm still as intense. But it feels different!)
Who knew this journey would be so bewildering? That it could be so hard, so lonely, so new, so exciting, so daring, such an adventure?

But I feel my wings unfurling. I feel a new wind beneath me. I am who I am now, and I'm at peace.

And this what I am seeing now, in this season.
The most important thing is not that I am the Best Parent Ever.
Or that I am the Best Mother.
Or that I am even a Homeschooling Success Story.

Nope. The most important calling for me, first and foremost should be my calling as a wife.

For that's what I was in the beginning, a wife - before the Clan was conceived,  and that's what I will be primarily, when my clan has cleaved.
But I don't want to only re discover the joy/beauty/importance of being a wife in 20 years time.
No.
In the here and now, I want to remember that I am Braveheart's helpmeet. His companion. His lover. That our intimacy is important. Our communication is key. Because you see, without this a marriage may crumble. Slowly start to decay. Or at the very least settle down into mediocrity.
And I'm having none of that.

A year ago Braveheart and I stood at a serious crossroad in our marriage. The kind of crossroad that slams you in the face, takes you by surprise and leaves you breathless, trembling, wondering how on earth you could be the couple facing such a crisis. Now, looking back, I'm glad Braveheart proved to me how much he wanted us to last. That he chose to fight. I'm thankful I chose to fight.

And I know this: It really is a fight to guard the heart of your marriage.
To guard it so that it will last. Fiercely protecting it.
Show me a strong marriage, and I will show you happy and secure children. The presence of raw real Love securing and affirming them in who they are, day in and day out.
  (..and to those of you who may be single/widowed parents reading this, please know that I do truly believe God can stand in the gap for you, but, well, it's even harder when you're on your own, and my heart goes out to you...)

And so God has laid it on my heart to start focusing on the heart of my marriage. To start paying attention to it with the same passion I approached parenting (okay, so ask yourself - when did you last read a good book/blog/article on marriage? And when did you last read a book/blog/article on parenting, motherhood or something of a homeschool nature? Food for thought huh?). 

Now perhaps you're one of those lucky women whose close girlfriends are just around the corner. Women whom you can share your soul with and with whom you have history. Godly women whom you can talk to about marriage and sex and Real Things without feeling awkward, ashamed or like you're betraying your loved one. O perhaps you have an awesome Mom who shared everything with you and with whom you share everything.

Me? Again, not so much. My dearest oldest friends live in other countries, and with the Zimbabwean diaspora, most live on other continents. I'm slowly making good friends and as the years pass by, there's recent history here...but for those of you like me, I wanted to share some communities I've recently stumbled on that exalt marriage, and Oneness, and Intimacy. And I hope that they will bless you. And that together, we can be Super Wives, not just Super Moms!

One Flesh Marriage - Brad and Kate blog here and I love that you can read both a wife and a husband's viewpoint on the same subject....

Hot Holy and Humorous - J says, "I am...a Christian, a wife, a mom, a writer, and a work in progress. What I write about in this blog is the kind of stuff I would talk to my closest girlfriend about in confidence, but plenty of us don't have someone who'll chat biblically and bluntly with them. Read my posts to see how sex in a Christian marriage can be HOT, HOLY & HUMOROUS!"


Intimacy in Marriage - Julie Silbert says, "I am simply a Christian wife with a heart to offer hope, encouragement and resources on this sensitive topic. I am like a lot of you, in that I juggle a full life. I am a wife, a mother, a friend, a family member…and the days seem to fly by a bit too fast. It’s crazy! I love the Lord and I am tremendously grateful for the call on my heart to come alongside other women in their journeys. We are not quite as alone in it all as we sometimes feel.


The Romantic Vineyard Tom and Debi Walter say, "Our prayer is that this site will provide couples many ideas and resources for growing their marriage to glorify God in all things! Notice the tabs at the top - these will lead you into different “rooms” in our vineyard; each one with it’s own purpose."

CWIVES - "CWIVES or “Christian Wives Initiating, Valuing, and Enjoying Sex” is your trusted resource for biblically-based, practical advice for making your marriage sizzle God’s way. The I, V, and E parts of sex don’t always come easy to women, particularly after the honeymoon glow fades, and the laundry, bills, and children pile up. And when wives don’t prioritize or value sex, we don’t initiate sex very often—if at all. We can become sexual slackers, not doing our fair share to make our marriage sizzle!"


To Love, Honor and Vaccuum - Sheila Wray Gregoire is a Christian speaker, columnist, and author. She's written five books, including the upcoming The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex. She loves speaking about marriage, parenting, and keeping our eyes on Jesus.