1st Term Wrap-Up

I just figured I'd use my 2 hours waiting for Jesse at his MindLab lesson to create an way overdue update. First I must express I am impressed with this family waiting here with me with their little girl aged about 5. Seeing dad sit flat on the carpet playing with his daughter is a first ever for me. Why don’t we see more of this kind of involvement from parents in public?

It's been a wild roller coaster ride since we decided to relocate for want of creating a better future for the boys. 8 months later we've finally settled in having received our container the day before New Year & for the most part are now all sorted.

Our 4 bedroomed house is much smaller than what we were used to in SA & having taken in a SA friend's 22 year old son, Zane, that pretty much occupies all the rooms. Fortunately we only shipped about 40% of our stuff. There's just no way we would have been able to fit everything here. For lack of space, our classroom has been reduced to just 1 bookshelf in the garage.

For this term Misha attended a Maths Games & Stories as well as a Lego Stop Motion class at YMCA once a week. Jesse did some programming at MindLab although he didn't find it very challenging.

Jesse is also wrapping up his last few units with Alpha Omega Academy, due to be completed by the end of this month. We have signed him up with Te Kura to do his final year with the NZ curriculum so he won't need to do the irrelevant history & government subjects he would have needed to graduate. Instead he will focus on subjects that are more relevant to his future studies. As with AOA, here too he has teachers assigned for each subject but with the difference of being able to go see them in Auckland should the need for individual assistance arise.

Having passed his Learner's licence in August last year, Jesse's been doing most of the driving in & around town for all our activities. I must admit I enjoy having my own private chauffeur around.

As always, I prefer to hang around & wait for the kids rather than spending forever on the roads. One of the biggest adjustments here is getting used to the amount of time it takes to drive to places with the speed limit at 50km/h in town & mostly 80km/h with max of 100km/h in some places on the motorway. Driving still isn't my favourite pass time & will miss Jesse driving once he's got his restricted & is able to get around on his own.

In January we met Rebecca, a teacher from the USA who has since been helping me get Misha back into more structured learning.  In just 3 weeks he's mastered his multiplication tables, which just goes to show what kids are capable of when you meet them at their level & make learning relevant to their interests.

Her Kiwi husband, Ben, has been teaching the boys to play the  "Magic: The Gathering" card game. It is a critical thinking & strategy game which requires a huge amount of reading & comprehension with which we are now addressing Misha's Language Arts.  Thursdays have since become their game nights but they often play together at home. The boys seem to enjoy this & are playing it at home a lot too.

We are loving our new found freedoms & thoroughly enjoy living in a safer environment, with loads of opportunities for the boys future prospects.