Ashleigh WhaleyHomeschooling Adventures and Activities – Year End 2022.
Year End – Activities:
Homeschooling.
Mum’s Health.
As you have probably noticed, I have not posted anything for three months!..
Towards the end of the year, my health took a serious tumble…
This eventually resulted in a period in hospital, for tests, then major surgery at another hospital. I have, therefore, not been able to do much writing, until now.
During my illness and recovery, life went on around me, with our children and Douglas having to pick up the slack.
My weeks of illness and hospital stays, meant that I was restricted to staying in Harare. The children’s schooling and sporting goals needed serious adjusting, to avoid the normal travelling back and forth, between town and the farm.
Despite this restriction, the children continued to homeschool themselves and managed to participate in most of their sporting activities.
Mum’s Surgery.
The major surgery was to replace two damaged discs in my neck, caused by accidents sustained many years ago. This has meant a lengthy recovery period, which has added another layer of stress to our family… Happily, everyone has rallied around to help me.
The children have certainly learnt a lot about hospitals and major surgery. Their frequent visits, to see me in the two hospitals, were the highlight of my stays.
Homeschooling delays.
Subsequently, due to my two hospital stays, the children experienced added chores and sudden changes in plans. They were, therefore, unable to complete their school year by the end of November. They both needed to press on, into mid December, in order to complete all their goals.
Thank goodness for the flexibility of homeschooling!
Family Motto.
Our motto “The family is a team and the team is the family,” was certainly put to the test, over many weeks! I am now slowly on the mend and hope to be 100%, given time…
As a family, we have all grown in character over the past few challenging months. We thank God for always being there for each one of us.
My next post is all about how I managed to homeschool, throughout my health issues.
Homeschooling Arts and Crafts.
Pony Fancy Dress.
With a horsey fancy dress competition in December, Paula Joy got planning and became very creative.
She chose ‘Alice in Wonderland – The Mad Hatters Tea Party’ as the theme. Murray John’s trusted pony was the table, complete with chequered table cloth and attached crockery! Murray John then became the white rabbit, Paula Joy the Mad Hatter and their friend, Sienna, the Queen of Hearts.
The end result was spectacular and a great deal of fun – plus they had a win, to top it all off!
Horses.
September was a rest month for all the ponies, after their busy polo season.
October/November Summer Polo.
Douglas and the children played Summer Weekend Polo, using all the young horses, who had yet to play polo.
December Horse Shows.
The year ended with a Shetland Pony race, a fun gymkhana, some express eventing and the annual ARC Pony show.
As I was unable to help, the children had to step up and do everything themselves.
This meant training their ponies, packing the lorry, sorting out the required tack, organising the grooms and cleaning their ponies.
At the shows they both managed to get to their classes on time and loved riding so many ponies. It was an amazing achievement and I couldn’t have been prouder. Well done to them both!
Meanwhile, Paula Joy has been spending time training the new young ponies, ready for the next polo season.
Homeschooling Sport.
Cricket.
Paula Joy was picked for, and has been training with, the U19 Zimbabwe Women’s Cricket Team, which recently went on their first cricket tour to South Africa.
She enjoyed the tour and learnt a huge amount, which was all an amazing experience for her.
Unfortunately, Paula Joy needs to be 15 years old, before she can attend an ICC World Cup Competition. She had to step out of the team, so ended the year simply enjoying her cricket at the Harare Cricket Academy.
Murray John has continued attending cricket training and academy matches, which he thoroughly enjoys.
Golf.
From September onwards, the children enjoyed some lessons and rounds of golf. Both children are now enjoying their golf and their handicaps are starting to move downwards. We plan to have a big golf push in 2023…
Swimming.
They ended the year with a week of swimming lessons, for stroke correction.
Year End – Adventures:
Farm Life.
The children have spent loads of time on the farm with their Dad, whilst I was stuck in Harare. Murray John enjoyed driving the digger and excavator, whilst helping build a storage dam.
The wheat crop was harvested in October, so Murray John rushed off to drive the combine, as soon as his schoolwork was completed.
Sadly one of the wheat pivots was destroyed by a bush fire despite the large fire guards we have around the crops.
The farm has received wonderful early rains, which has helped germinate the soya beans, as well as the commercial and seed maize.
The tobacco crop was planted in September, with reaping starting in December.
Murray John has spent his school holidays working on the farm and enjoying just being a boy.
Zimbabwe Economy.
Unfortunately, things just keep getting worse! The power cuts have now become daily. Most people seem to have been reduced to 4 hours of power a day. This is costing us a fortune in diesel, just to run our generators!
The main rains have arrived, causing more pot holes on our already damaged roads. Plus, to top top it all off, the government has not yet paid the farmers for their wheat crops.
This is an extremely stressful time for our country, with many people looking to leave for greener pastures. All very frustrating and very sad.
Hopefully things will improve in 2023, as farmers always believe, ‘next year will be better’…
Happy New Year to everyone and may God bless you, throughout 2023.
Please share our blog with friends and family…
“But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patients wait for it.” Romans 8 vs 25.
Please leave a comment below…..
- Our Victoria Falls Celebration Trip.
- Our Homeschooling Adventures and Activities for May-June 2024.
- What is a Healthy Homeschooling Culture?
- Our Homeschooling Adventures and Activities for March-April 2024.
- Developing Life Skills through a Houseboat Adventure.
