Introducing Wendy

This post is written for the February "South Africa Carnival of Homeschooling" carnival, the topic being 

"Introducing you".

I am Wendy, wife to Eric of 20 years ( next month).
 We have three kids who make our lives very interesting! Josh age 16, Keren age 14 and  Zak age 11.
We have home educated forever really.
At age 3, Josh had a brief stint of just over a term in a nursery school, until we brought him home.

 Zak spent a couple of mornings in play school and attended a school for his grade R year. 

Besides that, we have enjoyed learning together at home "forever"!

We live in our beautiful, diverse City of Cape Town....

we have sea and mountains on our doorstep....

 and we love it.

We began home educating when Josh was unhappy at his nursery school, stamping his little three year old feet saying, "I am never ever going back there again!" I began to wonder why he seemed unhappy, and after two days of the same little determined statement, questioned the teacher. She informed me that he had not taken part in any activities at all the previous week!

This did not go down well with us as his parents. We believed that if this was the case, the teacher should have notified us and asked us if there were issues at home, causing him to be unhappy at school.

It was hubby's decision right then and there to fore go the terms fees and bring him home. 

We had however been to a meeting long before this incident, and had learned about home education. At that stage it was very new in South Africa and we had never heard of it before. It was not something we had decided we should , could or would do at the time. Just another option that we had been exposed to.

At the time we took Josh out of school, we thankfully had a number of friends who were choosing to educate their children at home. We dived into the deep end, without much major planning or preparation and began having fun learning at home alongside the other little friends who were also being home educated. We have not looked back on our decision.

Here are some of my favourite things:

1) I love seeing: 

the beautiful and majestic mountains surrounding our city

the waves as they crash into the harbour at Kalk Bay or roll gently onto the beach

my kids smiling faces

my two oldest practising their karate with bold and strong movements

or watching them do ballroom dancing 

my daughters art and crafts that are produced almost daily in some form or another

my youngest playing with our crazy dog
my children growing into young adults, each unique and interesting

my sweet 10 month old nephew whether he is awake, asleep or exploring something new

my kids interacting with their littlest cousin

my husband filling out again after loosing too much weight last year

growth in my veggie garden

and above all God's faithfulness.....

2) I love hearing:

the sound of waves or a river rushing by

birds as they call or chirp

rain bucketing down

my eldest playing his electric guitar

my husbands humming...all the time, no matter what

chatter between my husband and his "princess" (he has always called our daughter that)

hearty laughter of my kids
the kids chatting with one another

my daughter and her girl friends having a good laugh together

my nephew babbling in his own sweet baby language

the voices of my mum or sisters when they call from far

3) I love smelling:

the Cape Fynbos

Jasmine on a summer evening

a wood fire in winter

vanilla, lemons,lavender

 coffee or spicy chai tea

meat on the braai

hubby's aftershave

fresh linen

4) I love the tastes of:

that first cup of coffee

icy cold water with a slice of lemon

hubby's homemade burgers, piled high with onions in balsamic vinegar and basil from the garden

anything that grew in our little veg garden

just about anything my dear sister prepares

tart apricots or passion fruit

lemon meringue pie or lemon cheesecake

aromatic and spicy curries

sour sweets

5) I love the feeling of:

a hug from my hubby and kids

cold water on my feet and wet sand between my toes
muscles that have been worked hard

freedom in wide open spaces

a gentle breeze on a hot day

a warm fire on a cold winters day

fresh linen on our bed

a de-stress massage
a facial or pedicure

This year I hope to:
See my hubby working again.

Be more organised and find the balance in schooling three very unique children, each at very different levels.

Make more time available for my daughter and I to have girly time, just connecting.
Strengthen the bonds with my boys.

Read more with the children and for my own leisure.
Spend more time in the Word.
Get back into a good exercise routine.
Be more relaxed and "don't sweat the small stuff!"