Week 27 - Our Barefoot School House

It has been a slow week for us here at Our Barefoot School House. I say slow because I think know we are tired. It has been a long school year and with three weeks left of our third term - a break from it all seems so very inviting.

English, Afrikaans and the Learning subjects seem to pass without too much fuss, we actually enjoyed the themes, but Mathematics seemed to carry on for way too long. The usual unit a week that is expected from the curriculum doubled to two for this week. That in itself seem to rattle Garren's confidence. It is not that he struggles with the subject, no not at all. What I think has happened is that he has heard from his peers, from the schoolyard last year and the soccer field as well as others talk about how tedious it all is and he has got it into his head that this is how it should be. We are working on showing him that it really isn't that way at all and that a slight change of attitude will alter the mood of the subject. Today went a little smoother and he seemed to focus more at the task at hand than that of the whole week. He may also be excited and trying to get the tasks done so that he can start on his Science project 😉.

For Science we have been learning about Movement and Energy - Input & Output Energy. This week we focused on Movement and Energy found in Musical Instruments. He will have to design and construct a homemade musical instrument with recycled materials. I'll let you know how that goes in the week ahead. 

Themes For Week 27:

English - Caring For Our World.
This theme is carried over two weeks. We have touched on the topic of poverty and global warming. Focusing on reading and interpreting text with visuals. Writing information text and translating and organising graphic information. Our Core Reader is "Working Children" with spelling learnt from the theme itself. Language practice is on Stems, Verb Clauses, Colons, and simple and complex sentences.

Afrikaans - Waarheen Gaan Jy? (Where Are You Going?)
This theme is carried over two weeks. We have touched on Directions and placing sentences in the correct order as per text read. Our core reader for the week was "Liewe Heksie en die roomys" (The Little Witch and The Ice cream). Our poem was "Die Apie"(The Monkey) with spelling practice about "Die Kombuis"(The Kitchen).

Mathematics - Number Patterns and Adding & Subtracting.
Plenty of revision on what has been learnt through the year so far. 

Geography - Processed and Unprocessed Foods.
This week the theme learnt more on Agriculture and Farming but focusing on Unprocessed and Processed Foods. Subject touched on the meaning of processing food and a few ways on how food can be processed. 

History - Transport on Water.
This week we moved forward with the general theme of Transport and focused on Modern forms of water transport. 

Science - Movement and Energy in a System (Musical Instruments).
Moving forward with Movement and Energy - we were focusing this week on Musical Instruments. We covered many African handmade stringed and wind instruments such as the Uguhu (a stringed bow) and the Gorah (a reed pipe). Through the next week Garren will work on making his own musical energy while focusing on the design and solution. He has to use recycled material.

Danika and I built puzzle after puzzle. I think it is time to invest in new ones. The ones we have are of no challenge to her anymore. She is deliberately placing the pieces in the wrong holes and sighing "Oh No!..." then I have to find the correct place for her. How my nearly two year old is testing me to ensure that I am paying attention to her next moves astounds me. There has been ample outside free play too. The weather has been beautiful, all for one day, this week. I have let the younger two play for a little longer in the backyard after sunset before calling them in. We have also replaced the sand in her sandpit in the hope that the transition from my herb garden to her raised pit will go smoothly. I have seeds sprouting that will need to be planted in there soon. We also constructed a very rustic obstacle course to keep her busy on. It is now put away and plans for new wooden pallets to be used are in the works. A little safer than the ones used here as they are really old and weak.

There wasn't in the way of much extramural activities this past week. Garren was recovering from a bout of flu so we thought it best to keep him away from the rest of his soccer mates. But he does have a couple of matches this weekend that he will be playing.

So that's a wrap for our week in homeschooling. How did your week go?
What are you working on on your school desk?

Happy Friday
Love as always, Angela ♥

"Hey Lilly"

On Week Ends

We had family friends come over for Sunday Lunch this weekend.

How is it that it has been just over three months since we last caught up with them? We used to never go a week without some form of visit. Our conversation kept coming back to this and our conclusion to it all is that life is just so much more busier than it was all those years ago when our older boys were small and we were younger and our men weren't out "hunting and gathering" to ensure that we had enough on our table for our bellies and in our home to keep us warm and safe. Times are a little more difficult now and we all have to work a little harder to keep our homes and families just as they are.

Life happens and it happens so very quickly. 

We sat in awe of our young girls, who I swear, were sent to us from the same star. We also paused in deep thought as we watched the older boys play about the garden. In the next year all will change. Both will be finishing off high school and both have plans to venture out into the world.. Continents away from each other... Continents away from us!

The day was perfect. It could have past for a Summers Day. We ate well, they played well and when the goodbyes came there as always were promises of intentions of more time spent together in the days and months to come.

How was your weekend?

love as always, Angela ♥

Week 26 - Our Barefoot School House

Happy Friday Friends,

Our school week is finally done. It was rather a trying one. Home school activities seemed more of chore than fun this week due to Garren coming down with a flu bug that made him absolutely miserable. But, we are now on the road to recovery. I have been forcing copious amounts of vitamin C and tissue salts number 5 into his system regularly through the days and slathering his back, chest and soles of his feet with Homemade Eucalyptus chest rub oil. We made it through Week 26 but just barely and although we are home free for the weekend I wonder how much he actually took in this week. I say this as our weekly spelling and times table test results left much to be desired.

I am looking into something a little more detailed for art lessons for next year. Something we can focus on with intent. We have just kept school books up to date with colours and presentation this year. And, he has had a Colour Book that was gifted him at Christmas that he works through. I just feel we need to give him a little more options. Do you have any ideas?

We did not make soccer practice at all this week and will not be part of the games for the weekend. He was a little disappointed but I think he really knew that he just wasnt going to be up to that amount of running about. I'm sure next week he will feel much better and be able to participate again.

I have been sharing our past weekly school activities on facebook. What we will be learning for the week ahead with links to the curriculum we use for those who wish to look into the same for their family. But, that has come to an abrupt halt and I do not see myself sharing this on that platform again. After a few weeks of sadly not being able to share any of our posts due to being told our content was abusive I went ahead and deactivated my personal account. I am not too saddened by this at all I might add. I feel that time had come for me to move on anyway. And for me to keep all my thoughts and shares right here on the blog. What do you think?

This week Danika's curriculum for next year arrived. I am still going through the paperwork and will be spending time going through the activities and ideas for her learning for next year during the rest of the year. I like to be organised and have a feel for what is expected of me. So, this should be interesting.

Next year will be lesson planning for not only Grade 5 but for a 2-3 year old as well.
I will write more about this as I go along. I am actually quite excited - it has been so rewarding and so interesting this new life (well not so new anymore) of homeschooling. I wouldn't change all of this for anything in the world.

So, in saying all of this... Here is to new words and pictures and posts.

Love as always, Angela ♥

Homemade Bubbles

I have to admit that for years I have been buying bubbles from the grocery store.

I have tried on numerous occasions to make them but the recipes just weren't working for me. I needed bubbles to flow. Not bubbles that would appear sporadically or one at a time. I most certainly dont have time for that - or the patience - not even the lung capacity to keep up with it once the demands start coming.

Until now...

You all should know by now that when I find a recipe - and it works - I have to share it. Not to brag but really so that if I can make your life easier in anyway ~ hells-bells ~ I am going to. I know that when I was a super young Mamma all those years ago and if someone could have shared how to make things a little simpler, it would have made life a lot cheaper. 

Blogging only came my way after the third kiddo, Garren.

Homemade Bubble Recipe

• 6 cups water
• 1 cup dishwashing liquid
• 1 tablespoon glycerin
• 1/4 cup syrup

pour water into the container you'll be storing the mixture in and slowly stir in the dishwashing liquid

try not to let this foam or bubble while you are doing it.

add the glycerin and syrup and once combine decant into your chosen bubble dispensers.

ours comes from the grocery store that when finished I just cleaned them up and stored them to be reused with my homemade mixture.

happy bubble fun 😊

Love ♥ Angela

 

Planting Seeds + Wheelbarrow Rides

Hello there and brightest of blessings for the new week ahead my friends.

I do hope your weekend was relaxing and enjoyed by you and yours? What did you get up to?

Saturday was pretty glum and miserable with much needed rain. Soccer was cancelled due to this so we didn't need to venture out at all and since all the shopping (miraculously) was done on Friday I didn't have to worry about going out at all, the whole weekend or for the rest of this coming week either in fact. I have weeks were I just cant get all the shopping done for the week ahead in one day, so then I catch up with the rest on the Saturday. (or send Rob with a list to do it for me 😉 ).

Sunday, although still pretty icy, cleared and by mid morning we were able to venture outside again. In fact it even warmed for the rest of it. So much so that we got so involved with outside it almost felt that it was time for a new season of gardening. I found Rob and the younger two outside clearing what was left in the vegetable beds and prepping them for just that. I love when we get to this time of the year. It can still get pretty cold and we're usually hit with a freakish cold front that brings on in snow as close as dammit to our mountain ranges before we can even consider being in the clear for real Spring weather. But, in saying this, there are other ways we can start getting prepared. Like clearing and prepping the beds. AND then dreaming about what will be planted in them.

We have also added gardening to our homeschooling curriculum. Rob and I feel it is so very important that the kids take part in the growing of our food and of course in doing so learn to appreciate what ends up on our plates at the end of it all.

A few months back our grocery store was adding a couple of these sweet little pots with every purchase made at their store. The incentive was (of course) that depending on the amount spent that would determine how many little pots you were given. Clever 😉 right? But, for us, as gardeners it was completely the wrong time of the year for them to be planted. So we kept them to one side for just the right time. We planted all the veggies pot this weekend and have left the edible flowers for another time. Each little pot comes with instructions and it will be up to Garren to keep them going.

He really is so excited about his project. He knows that once the plants are established he will be given his own space in one of the beds to nurture them until harvest time.

Finally we ended off our day in the garden with the inevitable wheelbarrow rides.

This was Danika's first time and in true Danika style she summoned her brothers to be there alongside her through it all.

There is so much to plan for our garden for the months ahead.

i certainly cant wait.

How are your gardens coming along?

Love Angela ❤

Ylang Ylang + Rose Geranium - New Artisan Soap

This loaf bar is just freshly cut and the aromas wafting through the kitchen are amazing.

The colours in this photograph are a little out. More so because this moment is capture in the early evening, so the lighting isn't very good. As soon as they're cured I will photograph them a little better and then add them to our Shop.

I am loving the imperfections here. In the past it would have got me all in a spin. The way the charcoal line smudged down the bar from the slicer or that the one end is not even or flat enough. In the past I would have sliced and diced them into perfect squares shaving off all the best parts - the imperfections.

My Ylang Ylang + Rose Geranium Soap Bars are made with Olive, Coconut + Sunflower Oils as the base. There is an infusion of Bentonite Clay combined in the bar which will draw impurities from the skin (absolutely gorgeous for shaving) + a sprinkled line of Activated Charcoal which aids in pretty much the same way as the Bentonite Clay. One could say this would be a perfect face soap especially if it (being your face) has oily tendencies.

I dont know how I will possible hold out for the next 4 weeks of curing!

 It really does smell delicous in here.

🖤 love, Angela

Catching Up.

It has been way too long since I updated here. It wasn't as if I wasn't here all along. Although this thread has been so sorely neglected, the one that I have been painstakingly updating hasn't. I had promised that my shop would go live once all the my products had been uploaded. But, who would have thought that getting the finer details on my shop would prove to be so difficult. If you have less than 10 products to sell Ecwid is the way to go my friends. It is so super convenient and easy. But, in saying this once I got the hang of my eCommerce application it went a little smoother. If you would like to have a peek at what is on sale or what I may be selling, my Little Acorn Shop is live and thriving - already - thank you! So what have we been up to? This has been a crazy busy month and we still have not seen the end of it. I should have posted about the 5km Women's Challenge that Danika and I took part in, but pushing a pram through our streets with hundreds of other women and mothers alike made picture taking slightly difficult. There is more about that on facebook if you so choose to catch a few glimpses of our morning. We will be celebrating Tristan's 21st trip around our glorious sun in a few days, so a good amount of time has been spent there too. The Hall is hired and spit braai has been booked and the rest of the finer details will be shared after the day. There have also been bouts of various ailments too that come with the changing of the seasons. I do hope we have seen the end of most of them.

Our little side kitchen garden experiment is doing so very well. We have harvested from it at least twice every week this past month. I am pleased - no more monkey invasions! Its not for lack of me wanting to share with them, cause hell - sharing is caring - it's that they flatten everything in their path as they go along and that does not please me as much. So, smaller scale urban farming is more conducive to our little homestead. There are plans to add on another bed in the next month or so. How are your kitchen gardens faring this changing season?

I have been reading "my first 100 farm words" with Danika almost daily now. Of course all the animal sounds have to be made with each animal (how boring would that be without the sound affects!?) Yesterday morning one of the Zulu Kings' (from up over the mountain side) Nguni cows meandered over and passed our home. Of course you can just imagine our delight (well mostly mine) when Danika was able to put a real presence to the words and noises we have been making daily!

All together now... A cow says MOOOO!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53oKvM3BS98]