School and more school

We have been hard at it getting through loads of work this week. It is actually break up day tomorrow for the Easter holidays but my dear J will have to keep going to catch up the terms work. His curriculum arrived a month late and the trip to Bloem also interfered with his school work.

He has had a great attitude though and has been ploughing through lessons and tests with great determination. I want him to have at least a weeks break before heading into the new term. We have had great fun doing lots of map work for Geography. This was one of my favourite subjects and one that I excelled in for matric. Accountancy is however not my forte and he and Eric have been busy with that most evenings.

For Life Science, he had to do a couple of experiments this week. In one of them, he placed a raw egg in vinegar. Because the vinegar is a mild acid, it ate away the shell. The children were fascinated by this raw egg with no shell but just a membrane!

It sure does look rather creepy!

While I have had to give J's school work a lot of attention, the younger two have been amazing. They have got on with their reading, maths, language,played games together and generally been very tolerant. It has taught all of us to be more patient as there is no way I can split myself in 3. (I am not sure how those teachers in a class of 30 do it!)

Z has kept himself very busy with various science kits that we have. I just love the way each of our children are SO different to one another!

Here is my little hands on scientist having great fun with all sorts of mixtures.... After asking him to clean up the mess, he informed me that is the reason it wont be a good idea for me to visit him when he is busy with science in his own home one day!

Garden and kitchen

After being away for a couple of days, it was lovely to notice that my little garden grew while I was away. I picked some ripe tomatoes and saw that the chillies, peppers, bringals and cucumbers had really grown. I think I inspect it so often that the growth usually seems minimal to me. We have enjoyed fresh lettuce and basil on our sandwiches every lunch time this week.

My sweet daughter had bought me a packet of fresh, hot, red chillies at the home school market day while we were away. The two of us experimented with making our own sweet chili sauce. The recipe called for a lot of sugar so it was rather sweet. We don't use much sugar in our home so we added lots more tomato, garlic and chili and ended up with 3 jars of delicious not too sweet chili sauce. We have been enjoying it with our cheese and lettuce sandwiches!

Whirlwind trip

After seeing our younger two off ,we saw J off late on Wednesday night. He was catching the bus with the Western Province Team to Bloemfontein for National Championships. Sadly on the way to the bus stop, we found out that one of the team members would not be making it. This was a disappointment for J. They had been looking forward to this trip they would be making together. The wind bit into us as we said our goodbyes and he was more than excited for his adventure! (As his mom, I did not find it too easy and felt rather anxious knowing he would be on board a bus through the night. I have never travelled across the country on a bus and don't plan to do so in the future either!)
We woke in the early hours of the morning to make the cross country trip by car to watch our boy compete. All went well as we listened to stories and made the 11 hour journey through our beautiful and varied country.We stopped to enjoy a bite to eat and kept in regular cell phone contact with J.
We finally arrived around 3pm and the bus had arrived at the same time. We contacted J after checking into out hotel and went to meet him at his hotel and take him a bite to eat. It was a brief visit as the team had to board the bus again for weigh in at the competition venue.


J and some team members from Jion.

Friday was spent at the venue. We were all rather tired but it was great to be there and see what it was all about. The venue was huge with 6 mats where different divisions competed continually throughout the day and late into the night. There was much cheering and the vibe was upbeat and the competition stiff!

View from our seats.

Saturdays highlights were Js fight and seeing my sister and her family!




J was thrilled to have his cousins come to see him compete. We appreciated their company and their patience as they waited until after 9 at night to watch him compete in the last event of the whole competition! It was a long day!

He was knocked out of the competition in his first round and felt disappointed. We however are proud that he made the Provincial Team and that he took part. He will now be gearing up for the next big event in Gauteng in just over a months time.

We are truly grateful to all the family and friends who helped in various ways to make it possible for J to compete and for us to be there and support him.

Corn picking

In the midst of all that is going on prepare for the trip to Bloemfontein, K and I spent a little time in the garden today.

For a while, I have thought the corn should be picked, and I didn't want to leave it too much longer. I have been checking it regularly but been uncertain as to the right time to pick....... it is the first time we have grown corn.

What a sweet surprise to see the big juicy kernels. The children had great fun opening them up. It looks as if they were not fully fertilised as the tops were not developed. Maybe we picked them too soon? Anyhow, tonight it was chili con carne with home grown corn for dinner...what a treat!

All geared to go!

There was great excitement when J came home from training today with his Western Province team gear. It included a team tracksuit, beanie, back pack and a badge that needs sewing onto his gi. It is all happening so fast! He was also selected to compete in WSKF nationals in a couple of months time.

Fun run

Alarms went off early this morning as the younger kiddies, a friend and I had entered the Constantia Village 5km fun run. We arrived there bright and early at 06h30.

We took it easy, jogged some and walked some. It was great to be up so early and enjoy the crispness of the early morning. We each received a medal for taking part.

J and hubby headed off to karate training in Camps Bay and then on to Belville for WP training and finalisation of the travel plans for Bloem. An exciting time!

School fun

The younger two had great fun making a "telephone" to see if sound waves travel better through wool or air. This was part of our Zoology lesson. It showed them that sound travels better through wool, much like ocean water carrying sound waves a long way, and enabling whales to communicate with one another even when they are very far from each other.

After trying this outside, they tried to make it work between their bedroom as their own personal telephone!

In the sea turtle lesson, they learned that that female turtles have a very hard time on land when they have to pull their bodies hundreds of meters up the beach to lay their eggs. They had to try and move themselves forward without using their hands or legs to boost themselves forward. Not an easy task!

Our big boy has been fighting a cold this week. Not good timing as he leaves for Bloem very soon. I have let him rest and have been pumping him full of vitamins to boost him. He has however been able to do a fair bit of school work. We have enjoyed looking plant and epithelial cells under the microscope this week.