Saturday Spot: The Meeting and a School Refresher…

Our school is changing and I have discovered a definite leaning towards studying electives!!! I wrote about having se7en good intentions for our new school year and we seem to have them covered. It really helps, and here was the epiphany for me, if everyone knows what I am aiming for!!! I used to make sure that all our school was done by lunch-time and the afternoons were free to do arting, science experiments, crafting and whatever else my kids were pursuing.

This year I have been starting the day with the things on our “good intention list” and letting the math and language arts and other bookwork in general lag to the end of the day. Basically doing first the things that would normally get dropped from school day when we ran out of time. School has become a whole lot more fun and we are still getting everything done. Everyone here knows their school has to be done by the end of the day and if they start at breakfast it takes all day and they finish by five. If they start at three in the afternoon they take two hours and finish by five… so… we have been spending our mornings doing “the fun stuff”… Lots of arting and art history, lots of kitchen time and food fun and keeping up to date with science experiments. Why this has taken so long for me to figure out I just don’t know. We don’t have afternoon activities we are all eager beavers in the morning and everyone wants some afternoon peace – works for us and that’s why we homeschool!!!

So we had a planning meeting – I know I was impressed!!! And I discovered what they would like to explore in more detail… just throw out some ideas… They had heaps of ideas – all involving elaborate outings – so we had to scale back a bit because, and you will have to trust me on this: World Cup Traffic is indeed something to contend with!!! Not to mention all schools in South Africa are closed for the duration of the World Cup – I know this is a M.A.J.O.R. national event, but it does mean the places we normally visit on the quiet during term time will be packed. So we edited and selected our way through our list and here you are se7en things we will be pursuing further over the next couple of weeks, or until our mid-year break:

1. Food: This continues to be the highlight as we carry on our wander through the River Cottage. The chapter on flour is done, and we are doing dairy!!! But that is another whole post!!



2. First Aid: I never saw this one coming, I have no idea where this idea came from but everyone was very enthusiastic and I am happy to go there. My kids want to know how to make slings and do interesting bandaging!!! Not to mention the Heimlich maneuver – I can’t even spell that!!! There will have to be a basic first aid post… And we will wander our way through the First Aid section of this book:



3. Car Maintenance: I think we may have left this too late!!! Actually our kids have learnt quite a bit of car maintenance but I think the first thing to learn, just as soon as our car returns from the mechanic, is how to replace windscreen wipers… this would be a big home improvement.



4. Garden Planning: They want to do more exciting things and plant more interesting plants in their Lesotho garden, which is right now producing bunches of chillies. It will have to be a bit of garden planning because seriously the torrenting rain and freezing weather are not exactly conducive to gardening.



5. More Listening Time: Please please please will I find some new podcasts for them – and I have a whole bunch it really it is just a matter of me sitting down and hitting download… I guess that’s a potential post!!! I find this one hard to get into gear for – they love listening to things but I find the back ground noise around here can get really – L.O.U.D. I know if every one is listening to something the noise level will definitely come down.



6. More Exercise: I covered this by joining the gym… my goodness are we having fun!!! They want to do more hiking and as I get fitter it could happen!!! Three weeks into our gym regime and we are still ready to dash anytime!!! The kids are loving it and managing heaps of fun games and things. I love that I don’t have to buy fancy sports kit – they go and play in whatever they are wearing. The coaches are great and keep everyone very busy. It is really down to earth good fun. I am discovering a vague level of fitness though really the whole event deserves its own post!!!



7. Bible Truths: They wanted to learn more and the father person is working through this book with them, every night after supper. They are loving it and learning lots, so am I – well worth the effort!!! It is really amazing how much you learn when you teach your kids.



And the se7en + 1th thing is just for me:

8. Deal with the mending: This is an accountability post if ever there was one: In the olden days – and I mean life before blogging I had a little mending bag that I kept on hooks behind the front door… once a week or so I would whip out the glue, a needle or whatever else was required and fix the contents… I have decluttered our house to the point of distraction but I am afraid the small bag of mending has evolved into a bigger and bigger and E.V.E.N bigger bag… in fact it has escaped the bag and our mending is looking for a crate… Needless to say it is not one or two best loved books, but ten and there is a bag of stuff I don’t even want to look at… just how many heads does a mother have to reapply to an Action Man… and since a lot of the best-loved things have been in the bag for so very long I am sure that I could pass “ahem” some of them on… You would think that during the holidays I would have dealt with it – but no we were having far too much fun. It isn’t all mending mind you – it is also many half-started and discarded sewing projects… really we need to make some decisions around here!!!  I am giving myself to the end of term to deal with this and deal with it properly!!!

That’s it – our new “To Do List” And I will let you know how it goes.