Ashleigh WhaleyMarch Adventures and Activities.
March Activities:
Homeschooling.
A week’s break from school.
March began with a wonderful trip to Nyanga in the East of Zimbabwe. Nothing like fresh mountain air and some down time, to recharge the batteries.
This trip was followed by a celebration of Granddad ‘Pops’ 83rd Birthday, -then back to school for the rest of the month.
School project.
‘Manni’ (Paula Joy’s grandmother), loves doing children’s projects. Grade 7 is the year for a country project which, in our case, is Zimbabwe.
Manni took Paula Joy under her wing and the two of them spent a busy, and most enjoyable month, working together. The end result was a very comprehensive and colourful project, which took care of six months of social studies, under the ACE program. I shall now have the project made into a hard cover book, to be enjoyed for many years to come.
Grandparents leave.
The end of March meant goodbye to my parents, after two awesome months of fun and fellowship. A highlight for them was being able to enjoy watching all the children’s sporting activities. They left with a bucket load of very special memories…
Homeschooling Friends.
All the children’s pets are thriving, with the Siamese kittens continually moving with us, between our two homes. We absolutely love our traveling companions and how they always want to be near us.
We now have three cats in the school room each day!
Homeschooling Art.
This month was full with sport and travel, so no art or crafts where done. However, Paula Joy’s country project is full of drawings which she has done by hand. She has also learnt a lot about page presentation and the choosing and placing of relevant photos.
Horses.
Horses back in work.
With the rain beginning to slow down, the children were able to spend their afternoons preparing their ponies for a horse show. All the horses are now back in work, as we need to get them fit for the up and coming polo season.
There was much activity getting the ponies ready for the show, with cross country, show jumping and dressage needing to be practiced and perfected. Murray John had two ponies, whilst Paula Joy had three, to prepare for the show. This certainly kept them very busy most afternoons.
Children attend a horse show.
The children packed everything themselves, for the two day horse show. They then loaded their five ponies onto the lorry, for the long drive to the show.
It turned out to be a most wonderful weekend! Paula Joy rode Puncho, the pony she broke in all on her own.
It was his first dressage, cross country and jumping show and he ended up coming second, behind Paula Joy’s other pony, Gem. It was such an awesome achievement and really showed off her horsemanship skills.
This was Murray John’s first ever 3 phase event, but he managed to come third on his polo pony, Tula. The cross country jumping is definitely the children’s favourite event.
I always try to get them to a few of these shows, before the polo season starts. I believe that is very important for the children to learn how to prepare their ponies for many different disciplines, as this improves their overall horsemanship skills.
Each horse discipline is an education in itself and our goal is for the children to have a good understanding of all horse sports.
Homeschooling Sport.
Nyanga Golf.
Golf was played daily, whilst we were in Nyanga. The children took on their father each day, with the determination to win! As Douglas makes them play off the same handicap as he does, it’s a very hard task to achieve, however, it does boost the children’s competitive spirit.
Cricket Matches.
March cricket practices, plus two weekend cricket matches, rounded off the sports for the month. The children continue to practice their cricket at the farm, or in town. This month was under the watchful eye of Pops.
The children loved having Pops as their cricket coach and they have both improved tremendously over the past few months. They will continue to play cricket throughout the year.
March Adventures:
Farm Life.
More Rain.
More rain arrived in March, to help finish off the crops, whilst the new banana plants thrived under the wet conditions. The soya, maize and tobacco crops have also benefited from our wet summer.
Water Skiing.
Sunday water skiing on the farm dam is what the kids have enjoyed most on the farm this month.
They love getting the boat out and heading off to the dam. It’s always a fun family day, complete with lunch on the big rock overlooking the dam.
Zimbabwe Economy.
As inflation continues to rise in Zimbabwe it’s becoming harder to survive. Having been through all this before, everyone is now wiser and has learnt not to hold ZWL currency but rather to buy and hold goods. The month started with the ZWL currency at 220 to the USD and ended with a rate of 300 to the USD! .
Travel.
Blue Swallow Lodges, Troutbeck, Nyanga.
Our annual trip to, Blue Swallow Lodges, Troutbeck, Nyanga was awesome and having the grandparents along made for an extra special week. The children played lots of golf, as well as some tennis.
They then spent most afternoons canoeing on the dam and retrieving lost golf balls. With the chilly mountain weather we enjoyed cosy fires at night, whilst the days were spent soaking up the beautiful landscape around us.
It turned out to be an awesome family week, with many fun activities being enjoyed by all. We shall venture off to Nyanga again next year, with the children still determined to beat their dad at golf!
March was certainly a lovely busy month, with lots of special family time, which we truly treasure.
Read more about our annual Nyanga trips here; ‘Nyanga, Zimbabwe – Our Highlands Getaway.’
Until next month. God bless….
We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him. Romans 8:28
Please leave your comment below….
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