Ashleigh Whaley
February Adventures and Activities.
February Activities:
Homeschooling.
February was a very wet, rainy month, for us here on the farm, so we pushed hard with school work and reading.
I am finding it hard to find good, wholesome books for the children to read. Books that are not filled with demonic things like wizards, witches, magic spells etc.
Bear Grylls Adventure Series. 
Murray John Reading.
Thankfully Bear Grylls has a wonderful book series for boys, which my son is so enjoying.
Learning Shona.
The children are learning to speak one of the local languages of Zimbabwe, which is ‘Shona’. They have lessons whenever they are in Harare and then speak the language to our staff members. They are certainly becoming more competent. Their end goal is to be awarded a farm motorbike, once they are completely fluent in the language.
To improve your child’s Shona see “Bha Bha Hwai Nhema” You tube channel.
Dress Sense.
Murray John, a typical A type personality, always likes to dress and look the part. He arrives at school every day in his farming attire, consisting of a Case work suit, a khaki long-sleeved shirt, socks and work boots. I so enjoy seeing him dress just like his dad!
Daily Uniform. 
School in Dad’s office 
Gone!
Mum’s Away.
I had to dash to Harare this month with an injured dog, so Paula Joy and I headed off for two days. Murray John stayed on the farm and did his school work in his father’s farm office. This he enjoyed thoroughly, starting his work at 5am, in order to be finished by 9.30am. He could then head off on a tractor for the rest of the day!
As both our children’s academic goals for the week are always organized on a Monday, they know exactly what they need to achieve. It’s wonderful seeing the results of years of training on how to set attainable weekly goals and how to ensure that they achieve them.
Homeschooling Friends.
One drippy, wet Sunday, the children took to making a new guinea pig and rabbit house, out of old pieces of wood. It took them the whole day (from 5am to 7pm) and they both remained fully focused, until the job was completed.
Finding the Materials. 
Starting to Build. 
Hammer Work. 
Saw Work. 
Platform. 
Drill Work. 
Adding the Roof. 
All Done!
Homeschooling Art.
Paula Joy had fun with paints and drawing this month. She shows great talent for drawing and gets inspiration from Pinterest. She has recently completed some lovely work, which she shares with family members. Meanwhile, Murray John continues to be intrigued as to how things work. His idea of art is pushing the lawn mower!
Paula Joy’s Funky Ostrich.
Horses.
As this month was extremely wet and we were unable to do much riding, we took to working our horses from the ground.
Thanks to the Downunder Horsemanship (Clinton Anderson) fundamental program, we made enormous strides in teaching our horses to become more respectful.
Paula Joy training Poppy. 
Murray John stretching Duke.
Paula Joy spent a great deal of time with her pony ‘Poppy’ and had a rewarding time teaching her many new skills.
At the start of the program, I gave the children the challenge of a USD50 reward, if they were able to stand on their ponies’ backs and crack a whip. The ponies also had to be standing on a tyre mount and should remain calm throughout… After several weeks Murray John, working with his pony ‘Monty’ , was the first to achieve the challenge. Well done Murray John!
The children love spending time helping the grooms with their stable tasks.
feeding the horses. 
Leading a horse.
What amazes me is that, after 40 years of working with horses, I have finally found someone who can help me ensure that our horses and ponies become safer to ride. We shall continue to learn from Clinton Anderson and I urge any horsey people out there to follow his methods.
Out ride on the farm.
Homeschooling Sport.
Sadly, as we are still in lockdown, there is no sport allowed in Harare, which is very disappointing.
February Adventures:
Farm Life.
Dalston Farm.
The maize and banana crops have thrived with all the rain. However, the late soya bean and tobacco crops do not like their roots getting too wet, so they are struggling a bit.
Irrigated Tobacco being reaped.
The irrigated tobacco crop is now in the shed waiting to be graded, whilst the reaping continues on the dry land tobacco crop.
With a new qualified farm mechanic on the farm, Murray John spends every spare minute in the workshop learning from ‘Macdonald’.
Helping in the Workshop. 
Fixing a Tyre.
We had friends visit us this month. Tony took the children out for a shooting lesson, using his pellet and shot gun. Under Tony’s guidance, the children took turns at firing at targets.
Off to Shoot. 
Shooting from the Truck. 
Shooting with a Shotgun.
Thankfully, as all the dams should be full by the end of summer, Douglas will be able to plant a large wheat crop this winter.
Dalston Farm Pump House.
Trinity Rock Farm.
With the irrigated tobacco crop now in the shed, and a much smaller dry land tobacco crop being reaped and cured, it was time to start grading the irrigated tobacco crop.
Checking the barns. 
Scale fun! 
Tobacco storage.
The grading shed was opened and grading begun…
The children love seeing how this farm works differently to the Dalston farm and they enjoy making comparisons whenever we visit the farm. This month they checked out the tobacco bale scale, to make sure that it was accurate.
Read more in “Creating Agricultural Entrepreneurs Whilst Homeschooling.”
Trinity Rock farm dam has filled and is spilling, so there is plenty of water for the next season.
Trinity Rock dam spilling.
Zimbabwe Economy.
The country is still in lockdown, with all schools and sports facilities closed. It’s so sad to see rural farm children not being educated again, -as they did not have much education for the whole of last year! It makes no sense to have farms operating, whilst farm schools remain closed…
I fear that the repercussions from these decisions will be enormous. Sadly, we could end up with another generation of poorly educated citizens. We need to continue to pray for Zimbabwean education to be resumed, as soon as possible.
Environmental Awareness.
With all the rain came masses of ducks and water birds, into our rapidly filling dams. Also, the fish are once again multiplying rapidly. It always amazes me as to how fast fish can multiply in a formerly empty dam.
Geese and Duck having fun in the rain puddles.
God bless…
“God’s love and kindness will shine upon us like the sun that rises in the sky.” Luke 1:78
Please leave your comment below….
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