Jun 14 2013

Distractions

I have been very distracted this week – so much so that I forgot a bio appointment and a teacher meeting!

I have been feeling crap and I have been busy with Jack’s party AND I am really enjoying Criminal Minds. I find it fascinating how much people can tell about other people by the way they behave.

There has been a lot of other stuff going on this week that has meant I just haven’t really been focused on my blog and I do miss it.

I finished all the baking and icing for Jack’s party this morning and am super chuffed with how it all came out. I decided this year to not get any sweets – we have cookies and car biscuits and cupcakes and cake and chips. The kids also aren’t getting sweet filled party packs – I have made iced cookies for the older children and a small toy for the younger ones.

I really do enjoying party planning.

I haven’t given a proper update on Kiara – the short story is that she is moving to a new school next term. We went through their assessment and they actually do not see any major problems apart from her spelling and feel that she will cope in their mainstream class but they only have a spot in their remedial class. So we are putting her in that class for this year. As soon as they have a space for her she will move. I think it is what she needs. A chance to build up her confidence again, close the gaps and get her to a place where she can cope well with her peers. She seems ok with it now but I suspect we will have an adjustment period when the term starts!

I am at peace with the decision.

How has your week been? Any plans for the long weekend?

Jun 11 2013

Body Worlds and the Cycle of Life

Two weekends ago we went on a little trip to the Body Worlds and Cycle of Life Expo at the Sci-Bono Discovery centre in Newtown. A little bit about the expo.

As the first exhibition of its kind to inform the broad public about anatomy, physiology and health by displaying real human bodies, BODY WORLDS brings a new dimension to the term edutainment. The specimens on display are preserved through Plastination, the preservation process invented by Dr. Gunther von Hagens in 1977 while he was working as an anatomist at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

It is a fascinating expo to go to. There is a wealth of information about the human body displayed in a very real way. Parts of the body are displayed as well as information about how they work, what they do etc. Cameron really enjoyed it, he probably read the most out of all us and had a lot of question. Kiara was a little grossed out but she did still enjoy it. Jack just kept going “boobs”. The expo is held in a part of the Sci-Bono centre and was very busy when we went so we did miss stuff because the rooms were so full that we got swept along with the wave of people but it is still a really awesome exhibition if you want to teach your kids about how the human body works. It is a pretty graphic display of the human body but not in a scary or creepy way – it’s just very factual and realistic. There is a lot of information at each display with interesting facts. So if you have littlies who can’t read then prepare for lots of explaining We moved through the expo quicker than I would have liked because of all the people and Jack was getting a little over stimulated but we then spent ages in the Sci-Bono centre. It is such an amazing place and is suitable for kids of all ages. All three kids had so much fun. If you are looking for something to do indoors during winter then I suggest you get to this expo. It makes for a great day out – it’s educational and fun For more info on the Body Worlds and Cycle of Life go here and for more on the Sci-Bono centre go here. I was not paid to write this post but David and I did receive complimentary tickets to the expo. While I used part of the media release above, the thoughts are my own.

Jun 7 2013

The week that was….

It appears that flu that is going around has caught me. It is really crappy. I felt ok up until yesterday and then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Jack also looks like he has it so the two of us have been chilling trying to get better.

The kids are running riot in the background but they are at least not demanding something from me so I am taking advantage and squeezing a blog post in but it’s going to be quick and bullet points!

Kiara has had a very emotional week. The exams have not gone well for her. She has spent a lot of time on her on in her room. It has made it a little easier for us to explain why we are moving her to a new school next term. Cameron also seems to understand it a little better now.
Cameron has done really well in his exams. I am very proud of him.
I printed out a few wedding photos for a frame I had – it looks so lovely.
Planning for Jack’s party is coming along nicely – I am knee deep in wheels
I still get emails from parents who have gotten divorced and are looking for legal advice. I help where I can but I am not a lawyer. It worries me a little that we seem to have a gap here. People don’t seem to have easy access to basic information about maintenance.
I hit a pothole on Monday and burst my tyre. Fortunately it was close to home so I could walk with the kids home but it was still such a pain and really annoyed me.
I got sent some Dove body lotion this week and I am loving it. Kiara has terribly dry skin and it seems to be working for her.
I am loving the cooler weather – it means I can start making soups. There are few things nicer than a home made soup.

How has your week been? Anything exciting happen?

Jun 5 2013

Are schools obsolete?

I have been playing around with this post for a while now since I watched this video.

In short…

Do I think schools are obsolete – no!

Do I think schools are flawed – yes!

Do I think there is a quick fix – no!

My experience, as a parent, with our education has been black and white, chalk and cheese.

I have one child who achieves, the teachers love him, he does well at all the sports he does. Our education system works for him and works well.

The other child is no less intelligent but she struggles, she doesn’t keep up, despite her best efforts she doesn’t achieve what she needs to. She doesn’t enjoy team sports. Our education system doesn’t work for her.

I don’t believe the problem lies solely in the fact that classes are larger than we would like them to be or in the fact the teachers feel overworked. I don’t even think that the problem is that Kiara has spelling issues. I think the problem is the way they are taught.

I think Sugata Mitra’s thoughts on exams was spot on. I think the way we assess our children may not be the most effective way to do it.

I don’t think the solution is to make schools obsolete though. I don’t think you can leave a computer in a room with kids and they will get one with learning. They will learn, they will play around with it but they are ultimately still children and need to be guided.

I do think that curriculums could be made more flexible and focus more on teaching children to love learning. One of the things both kids had to learn for exams was condensation, evaporation etc – we learnt it and then took a break and made jelly and actually saw it in action – kettle boils changing the water to water vapor which then causes condensation on the window, the jelly changes from crystals to liquid etc. Why not incorporate things like this into the class room more? Yes you may need 2 lessons to teach it but I am pretty sure the kids will get it. You appeal to the kids who learn auditory, visually and those who need movement – WIN WIN!

The aim should not be getting through the work as quickly as possible but getting the children to understand it and want to learn more.

One of my concerns with homeschooling was that if you don’t follow and accredited programme are you not closing the door, or at least making it harder, for your child getting into University or any form of further education? There are certain fields that require a university degree, like becoming a doctor, lawyer etc. I don’t really want a self taught gynae delivering my kids to be honest.

I also firmly believe that vital life lessons are learnt on the play ground at school. Kids learn to fight for their place in the hierarchy. They learn vital social interactions that teach them lessons they will need in the work place.

My experience with schools has not been pleasant at all when it comes to Kiara and so a talk like this makes sense to me and I want to nod and agree that schools are obsolete but the reality is that they aren’t. Not yet anyway.

What are your thoughts on schools being obsolete? Do you agree? If you don’t what are your suggestions?

Jun 3 2013

Parenting 101

Despite what the Family section tells you at your local book shop there really is no book that can adequately prepare you for raising a child. Yes there is loads of advise about how to get your child to sleep – some of which does work but there is very little on what to do with them once they are sleeping, eating and rolling over.

So here are a few of my tips and some steps you can avoid when raising your kids.

Never let your guard down. If you have more than one kid the playing field is level – 2 against 2 – don’t be fooled by cute faces and sweet smiles – united they are stronger than you and will get you to give them what they want.
Do not think they are old enough for you to have an afternoon nap! They are not. If you do go and nap be prepared to spend the next 2 days cleaning the kitchen and lounge.
Do not spend hours making delicious flavoursome meals – they will probably ask you for 2 minute noodles or rice and gravy.
Don’t take anything personal. Ever. When they yell they hate you or that you are ruining their life – smile and wave! Just smile and wave.
Avoid buying them excess clothes. All that will happen is they will wear them all, in one day and you will end up permanently attached to your washing machine.
Never buy anything white – for you or for your child. It will never remain white despite your best intentions.
Do not buy your child cream soda, sparberry or fanta grape EVER. The sugar high will last weeks and they will be hooked for life.

What tips do you have that parents should avoid?

May 30 2013

Thursday Things

The kids write their last exam tomorrow! I can not put into words how happy this makes me. It has been a long week. I am super proud of them both though for the effort they have put in.

I am really enjoying swimming again. The new workout my bio gave me starts with a 20 minute swim. I actually didn’t even realise I had done my time today I was enjoying it so much.
It is just over a year since I had my hip op – can’t believe how quickly the time goes.
I scrap booked today for the first time in weeks. I had so much fun.
David and I are attending our very first charity dinner tomorrow night. It is the SAVF Colour a Life Gala Evening. I am very excited!
Some of you may know this already but we are officially trying for baby no 4.
I am trying to figure out where we are going to put up our wedding photos. We are running out of wall space Do you have wedding photos up?
If you have a spare 22 minutes please watch this and let me know your thoughts.
Random question – do you have DSTV? If not do you watch TV? If you do where do you get your shows from? And what do you watch?

(Photo was taken by Wenchy – Jack was the evenings entertainment)

May 29 2013

Just another day!

Jack went to his granny yesterday because she was taking him to the zoo today with a friend of hers. I love these little breaks I get – it gives me a chance to catch up on mundane chores.

So today I headed to the licensing department to fetch my drivers license and then to home affairs to change my surname. First stop was an hour long wait in a queue! AN HOUR! Just to collect my license.

Next stop home affairs for another 90 minute wait only to be told that they haven’t updated the system yet to show I am married so I can’t change my surname. GREAT! I wanted to cry.

There is nothing more soul destroying than waiting in queues like that. I hate it. I get agitated and grumpy. It is the biggest waste of time and totally unnecessary. Things like collecting a drivers license should not take an hour!

I was feeling rather despondent on the way home so decided to get some briyani for lunch. I was so looking forward to it but it was so flippen hot I could barely eat it. The half I did manage was really great though

After that I did a few more chores – mundane stuff like buying Cameron keeper gloves, swapping his slippers, fetching my ring, getting green pens for the kids blah blah :-p All rather boring but it needed to be done.

10 minutes after we get home I am upstairs tidying up when I hear “Mooooooom!!!! Cameron broke an egg on my head!!”

And that, my blog readers, is my life right now! Eggs breaking on heads!

How is your week going?

May 28 2013

You just can’t win can you

As you know we are writing exams this week. Monday and Thursdays are Cameron’s club soccer practices. So I decided that we would still make soccer this week as it would be a nice break for all 3 kids – Kiara and Jack run around the soccer fields for 90 minutes.

We got in some maths before we left with the plan to carry on when we got home. Get to soccer a little late and Cameron goes off and we assume our position but then I notice Cameron’s team running around aimlessly, so I walk over to one of the other coaches to find out whats going on. He doesn’t know but the point is the U11 coach is now 30 minutes late, so I pull Cameron off the field and we go home because we are mid-exams.

Well doesn’t all hell break loose with my child. Tantrum and sulks of epic proportions. Refused to study and wrote a note telling me to stop being a bad parent because obviously soccer IS more important than passing Gr 5.

WHATEVER. I ignored him and let David deal with it. Fortunately Cameron has a lot more respect for David when it comes to listening so when David started questioning him about his mood he quickly snapped out of it.

We have decided to move Kiara to a school better suited to deal with her. I am busy with 2 possible schools but the school my mom really wanted her to go to is full with a waiting list of 5 kids and with their classes at 12 – it is highly unlikely we will get her in there.

Anyway she has to be assessed so I told her she will be moving. She sobbed and sobbed. Told me she wants Cameron to come with her and what am I going to do with her uniform and how will I drop her off and so it went on.

We tell Cameron and he heads for Drama Land right along with her. He tells me he also needs help (REALLY? He makes the academic list every term with NO effort so not sure what help he wants) and how will I fetch and drop Kiara (not sure why this is such an issue for them both).

It’s exhausting discussing this with them. I may have lost it with them both this afternoon and was maybe a little too honest about why Kiara needs the extra help and why the only help Cameron needs is a swift kick in his backside.

Some days it feels like, no matter what your intentions are, you just can’t win with kids!

May 27 2013

Watch your mouth

I am feeling a little bit self-censored at the moment. I started writing this post about exams and Kiara and then that Sharenting article popped into my head.

So I decided against sharing.

Then I wanted to write about every day life but then remembered an article I read this morning where the writer said

Call me a cynic but these women are not domestic gurus – they are just doing what women have done for generations, only now they are making a song and dance out of it.

So I decided against that.

Then I considered sharing my thoughts on vaccines since their was an interesting twitter debate about it over the weekend. Even though I am for vaccines the articles posted on twitter reminded me that mom’s still judge one another and rather viciously at times.

So scratch that idea.

Which then didn’t leave me with a whole lot I felt like writing about to be honest. I was also feeling a little bit flat. It seems like whatever we say these days is open for criticism or judgement.

But then I read this! And decided screw it I am going to write what I want, when I want and how I want

So I am a little anxious this week. Kiara writes her first set of exams and we have done a lot of preparation. Verbally she can tell me all the answers – I actually think she may know her work better than Cameron. I just hope she is able to communicate this in writing to her teachers.

If your kids are writing this week – good luck!!

On to the vaccine topic – do you/did you vaccinate? I have with all 3 kids because I have never found a valid reason not to and prevention is better than cure in my opinion. Despite that both the big kids had chickenpox before they were old enough to have received the vaccine.

How cute is my family in our photo booth photo???

May 24 2013

Exams and 300 words a minute!

Kiara’s SS/NS teacher is slowly restoring my faith in teachers. Kiara passed a test this week – this is huge for us and the teacher knows this. She gave her a sticker and a lovely comment in her book as well as mentioning she is doing well in class. Kiara was walking on sunshine yesterday. We needed this a week before exams just to get her confidence up a little. I mentioned to Debby yesterday that I was considering keeping the kids at home today to study because we are just not where I think we should be. There is A LOT of work to cover. I think it is too much (140 pages of NS, 94 pages of English etc) but there really is no point moaning. It is what it is and we have to get through it. So our weekend will be spent studying. Jack is not sleeping properly and I am not sure what to do. He doesn’t actually wake up – he just moans/cries for ages. We leave him and sometimes we get lucky and he will stop but more often than not one of us has to get up and either move him back under the blankets or give him his bottle. It is getting very tiring. Our Moms and Tots teacher told us that by 2 years old kids now around 300 words. I was rather sceptical but let me tell you Jack speaks 300 different words a minute at the moment. Sometimes we have no clue where he learnt them. Driving in the car he goes “car, bike, Cameron, Kiara, dad at work, Debby sick, moon, light, bottle, phone……” and so it goes on, whenever he sees something he knows he says it. It is very cute. It really is amazing how they just take everything in. What are you up to this weekend? Who else is studying?