Monday, February 27, 2012

Introducing Wendy


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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!"

5 comments:

  1. What a lovely post and so inspiring! Thanks for sharing Wendy. I hope your year pans out for you all. Praying for ya!

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  2. I enjoyed reading you Introduction. Your list of favourites is inspiring and descriptive. Thank you

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  3. Thank you for sharing yourself with us. Your posts are always so inspiring. I really hope I'll get to meet you in person when we come down to CT in April.

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  4. I've so enjoyed catching a glimpse of you - thanks for sharing!

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  5. thanks sweet ladies,yes Trixi, it will be lovely to meet you!

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