Ashleigh WhaleyJune Adventures and Activities.
June Activities:
Homeschooling.
School Year.
Our academic school year runs from June to June, which is different from the mainstream schools. I have found that I have more time in the middle of the year to tackle the school programme payments and to organize the shipping. This takes the pressure off the end of the school year. As it takes a good two months to get the school books from the USA to Zimbabwe, I do need to plan well in advance.
Birthday Boy. 
Outside School. 
Happy Polo Boys.
Birthday Fun.
School continued throughout June, with the odd day taken off for sport and Murray John’s Birthday. We always take a day off school, for a family birthday, in order to celebrate and enjoy a special family day together. This year Murray John had friends come to the farm for the day and they all enjoyed a fast, fun, afternoon horse ride!
Motorbike Goals.
I had given the children the goal of learning the local Shona language, in order to earn a motorbike. They have both achieved this goal and with Murray John’s birthday arriving, I spent a long time searching on the internet for the best motorbikes to buy. Finally, the ‘Bigboy’ motorbikes arrived and we now have two very happy children! Nothing like a motorbike waiting in the garage, to get the children focused on getting their school work done on time!
Homeschooling Friends.
Sadly, at the beginning of the month, Murray John’s rabbit died suddenly. We are not sure what he died of and it was a sad day. In time Murray John will get another rabbit to replace his treasured friend. Otherwise, the rest of the furry bunch are happy and certainly very fat!
Bunny Bath. 
Bunny on a lead. 
Happy Bunny.
Homeschooling Art.
DIY tools.
The children have become DIY crazy and enjoy making varied and useful things. They have saved their money and purchased a number of different tools, from drills to sanders.
Stable name plate made. 
Making a traveling saddle rack out of irrigation pipes.
This month they made saddle and bridle racks and horse name plates for the stables. This is just the beginning of their DIY journey, which should flourish over time.
Horses.
Poppy Long Stockings.
We had to say goodbye to Paula Joy’s first pony ‘Poppy Long Stockings’. It was a very sad day and loads of tears were shed. The memories are precious and so we thank God for blessing us with such a wonderful pony.
Polo Tournaments.
Our first polo tournament was at the end of May. We travelled to Bushman’s Rock Polo Club to play, as a family, in the C division. It turned out to be an awesome weekend, which you can read more about in this post: Our First Polo Tournament Playing as ‘Team Whaley’.
Paula Joy. 
Douglas. 
Murray John.
Since then, we have had another two tournaments, playing as a family, and have managed to win both tournaments. The children’s polo is improving every weekend and they are now starting to get stronger and can anticipate the game better. With constant practice at home, their ‘horse and stick work’ have both improved considerably.
Paula Joy now has the strength to keep up with the adults. Murray John gives it his all however, as he is still small in stature, he struggles with marking. We usually make them take all the penalties, so that they may learn every aspect of the game. As parents our goal is to train them, by not doing all the work for them. We focus on playing as a team and we allow the children to make mistakes and to learn from them.
Prize giving. 
Kids watching polo. 
Happy ‘Team Whaley’.
We are still at the ‘train to compete’ stage of their polo careers. Winning a tournament is just the ‘cherry on the top’. It certainly has been a very busy polo month, resulting in the parents’ bodies being rather stiff every Monday morning!
Pony Fun.
The children have so much fun on their ponies during the week. They are always trying new fun stunts, which can be most entertaining.
Homeschooling Sport.
Cricket.
This month the children played in an academy ‘Baker’s Inn’ cricket match. Paula Joy was a bowler, whilst Murray John was the wicket keeper for the team. They both batted and both went out for a duck! Welcome to the world of cricket! Hopefully, they will do better in their next game.
Golf.
With the mainstream school holidays underway, there are many children’s golf tournaments. The children enjoyed playing in these tournaments, which are always well organised and supported.
June Adventures:
Farm Life.
Dalston Farm.
It was a busy month, with the return of the combine to harvest the maize, The tobacco seedbeds have now been planted and all the young wheat is being irrigated.
Our tobacco is now being sold weekly on the auction floors and it’s now time to get the lands prepared for the next tobacco season…
Visiting the Tobacco Seedbeds. 
Tobacco Bales Loaded for Sale. 
On the Farm Radio.
Zimbabwe Economy.
The country is experiencing yet another Covid19 lockdown so, once again, the mainstream schools have been closed. Electricity load shedding is also back, with random power cuts happening across the nation. As no one knows what July will bring, regarding the spread of Covid19 and subsequent lockdowns, one is unable to plan too far ahead. As Zimbabweans, we have become used to having our country goal posts moved, so we have all learned to simply ‘go with the flow’…
All in all, June was a very busy month, full of activities. We thrive on being busy and thoroughly enjoy our family polo weekends. July is also promising to become action packed.
Keep well, remember to walk in faith and may God bless you!
“The Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials.” 2 Thessalonians 3:3
Please leave your comments below…..
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Lovely to enter into another month of your children’s lives and activities…
As we do not see you very often, this blog brings you all into our lives -in a very meaningful way… May this next month release you from Covid restrictions!