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Our Reasons for Home Education:

Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Although he was achieving good results, he wasn't reaching his full potential because his love for learning had been destroyed & hence his grades were steadily declining.

Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Completely failed by the system, he hated school, was always tired & homework time was a major frustration for both of us. He was severely frustrated & quickly heading to become yet another ADHD statistic.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Mooikrans

2013_0310_110410Last week the boys attended their 3rd Horse Camp at Mooikrans since we took up home educating. Misha was so excited that he got ahead of himself and was packed and ready to go by Friday evening. We dropped them at Mooikrans Equus on Sunday afternoon and headed off to Hazyview for a week’s rest at Nwanakalile Lodge.

2013_0311_182443Whilst we were out sight seeing & relaxing in Hazyview and surrounds, the boys were having an awesome time learning & having fun together with the other homeschoolers at camp.

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Thanks to Melinda, we received another CD full of camp photos as proof of how much fun the kids had.

 

We returned to Mooikrans on Saturday morning for the prize giving. The kids had to do a camp concert on Thursday and this group had produced their own song for the concert. It was quite a hit with the campers and the parents were blessed with a performance as well.

Pieter jaag vir Sarie…

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With each camp we’ve seen them grow in self-confidence & independence. Misha has changed from an insecure 8-year old when we dropped him for his first camp, to an independent & confident 10 year-old. He no longer stands back with “I can’t do that” until he’s tried & then in amazement exclaims “look, mommy, I can do that…”  This time they even spent the 2 & half hours trip home telling us about all the amazing stuff they did.

Thank you Melinda, for arranging these camps and a huge thank you to Elna & Gavin for the impact that you have had on our boys’ lives since they attended their first camp in 2011.

For more information on Mooikrans Equus & the services they offer visit their website.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

The Parrot's Training ~ Modern Version

Is it just me or does this sound familiar others too?

In The Parrot’s Training, we are told of a golden cage that is built to imprison the wild and uncivilized parrot so that she can be properly educated by the king’s pundits. In addition to the 3Rs, she should also learn who is the Boss as well as be familiar with all the latest global brands. First, the teachers tried stuffing the bird with pages of the official textbooks. That didn’t work.

Then a UNICEF project came with all kinds of child-friendly and joyful techniques. They also taught the parrot about child rights. No improvement. Then the World Bank gave a loan to the king (with austerity conditionalities of course) to build a bigger cage with a nice toilet.

Still, no difference. Then the OECD came with the PISA standardized tests and new a national policy white paper was written. Harvard researchers were invited to conduct studies on the parrot’s brain and multiple intelligences. Nothing worked. Then Apple gave it an iPad and a free high speed Wi-Fi connection. She even got her own facebook page.

But the parrot was not allowed to leave the cage despite her obvious distress. In fact she was scolded for being ungrateful and impertinent.

Anti-depressants drugs were prescribed. As the parrot was overstuffed with information, she internalized her label as a 'slow learner' and a 'failure' and lost her power of self-designed learning.

She became totally dependent on the cage. Her dreams were reduced to being a rat in the rat-race. A deep loss of purpose ensued. Slowly her spirit withered away. In the end, a lot of people made a lot of money on the parrot’s education, everyone benefited except the parrot.

The time has come to more deeply understand the nature of the cage and its impact on each of us and our communities in both the South and the North – beyond what the World Bank economists tell us. It is important to crack open and re-examine our definitions of progress, success, happiness and to look at how our imaginations for social action have been colonized by the cage. We also need to question the assumption that, if we keep adding more and more stuff onto the cage, we can actually fix or transform it.

~ Manish Jain, Shikshantar Andolan

 

… WoW, doesn’t this perfectly describe what’s been happening to most of us these days? I cannot help but wonder how many parrots are still able to fly after living cooped up in a cage for so long…