I love my cats. They give me a great amount of pleasure and laughs. Cats have very defined characters and I love the way they tell you what they want. We have five cats. Each one has its own personality.
There is Mommy Cat, who is a shy, gentle kitty that don't demand much. She prefers my company and will wait for the bratlings to be in bed before coming to me for a cuddle. She also "prays" regularly for whatever she needs. Like when the food bowls are empty or the doors are closed.
Then there is Fluffy Cat. She is extremely shy and prefers hiding in the trees, where she can leisurely eye the birds in the garden, without being disturbed by the dogs. She is very vocal and always greats us when she comes in to eat or to complain if she got wet in the rain. A beautiful black, fluffy cat that is everyones darling.
The third lady in the house is Grumpy Cat. She had a fight with a car in her young days, and survived with a broken leg. Needless to say, when it is cold, she is super grumpy. Normally, she is a cuddle cat, who spends her days on either my bed or her favourite bratling's bed. She is most days keen on a cuddle, but after one too many stroke, will attack you teeth and nails. Girly Bratling is her nemesis and the two of them are forever in fights. It is getting better though, now that Girly Bratling has realized she won't win the battles.
Our fourth cat is Garfield in the flesh. He is a beautiful ginger cat that has more names than we can remember. He mostly goes by Makkie or Blondie. He is the easiest cat you can imagine. You want to cuddle him, you just pick him up. As long as he can sleep in the house all day, have a full bowl of food and the occasional cuddle, he is content. He too "prays" like his mother, but because he is normally very content, it is not too often. This is one cat that the bratlings can totally smother with love and he won't complain.
Last but not the least, is probably the cat that is the biggest contradiction in personality you can think. Our "Serial Killer" is a beautiful big tubby cat. At home he is as placid as you get them. Loves the bratlings and allow Girly Bratling to do whatever she wants with him. He loves his evening cuddles after dinner with the bratlings and usually sleeps with either of the two younger bratlings. He has quite a story to tell and it is his story that I want to share with you.
I picked him up in the middle of the road as a tiny kitten. Still too young to really be without a mother. He arrived to a chaotic house and within the first 24 hours of his life with us, got into a fight with the dogs and tore a lung. After another 24 hours of panic, this very wild little kitten was back home with no visible side effects of his fight with the dogs.
He soon became a darling little thing, and is now a very big brat, but adored by all, for he is so loving at home. He loves cuddles and playing. He comes in after his day of terrorizing the neighbourhood and tells us all he did. He now greets the dogs by lovingly cuddling with them. He playfully swats his adopted brother in greeting and then will curl himself around our legs while telling us about his day.
He loves where we live, for his hunting grounds are huge. There are 3 "farms" around us, with lots of open space teeming with life of all kinds. It is thanks to his over eager hunting skills that we now have ducks. He took on a duckling, that he didn't manage to kill. He did bring it into the house to proudly show us his success and now we have ducks. Quack survived and the neighbours didn't want him back. He has since learned not to try and attack our ducks, for they bite back!
Sensibly, the duck farm started to lock their ducks up, so that they don't loose too many to the predators that rules the plains. (My killer cat, falcons, crows and cerval cats) And so our serial killer, had to find new victims. What better, than to chase and catch prey that is no challenge at all?
So he turned his focus onto the next farm, who have a very scatter brained chickens that can't protect their own chicks. It doesn't help that my neighbour refuse to lock them up at night. So easy prey is on hand. Only problem now is that this is causing friction between us and the neighbours, as he is literally killing them off faster than they can breed.
And here the problem of the day. She feels I must lock my cat up until he becomes a house cat. (Fat chance of that ever happening) And I feel, if it were my chickens, I would keep them safe, by building them a proper chicken run.
I hope to very soon have my own chickens, who will be bigger than the cat, so hopefully, he'll learn that chickens are only food if mom serves them up dead.
As for now, well, I wait for my neighbour to come and complain again. What I will say, I don't know, but I hope that God will bless me that day with a angel in front of my mouth. For if He doesn't guard my tongue, trouble is sure to follow.
Here's hoping God will bless us with a solution, that won't mean we have to get rid of our serial killer. He is really just a cute and cuddly little pussy cat, that is driven by his natural instincts.
If you have any solutions to suggest, please let me know.
From little old me.
Friday 21 October 2011
Monday 10 October 2011
How did I land up homeschooling my kids?
This is a question we as homeschoolers are frequently asked. Why do you do it? Or how did you start? What made you do it? Well, for every one of us there is a different reason and driving force.
For us the driving force was God. Literally. I didn't really have a choice in the matter. You see, once God has placed homeschooling in your path, you seldom manage to escape. So what is our story?
It started off in a antenatal class before our first child was born. They were telling us how to "child proof" your house. I'll never forget the lady telling us that we must just think about what we did when we were kids and we will have a good idea of what to do to "child proof" our house. Ja, wel! (Yes, sure!) The big brat and I looked at each other and could read the answer in each other's eyes. There will be no way to "child proof" our house!
On our way home, we started talking about what we were like as kids and came to the conclusion that no amount of child proofing our house will help. And surely any teacher or school subjected to our kids will suffer.
You see, their mom was a terrorist in school. I drove my teachers nuts. Looking back at my kids short school careers, there must be some teachers out there still recuperating from having them in class. Not that they were naughty, they were actually very good, by my standards. They are just different and as such a great cause of many a distraction for other children.
OK, so back to the car. It was there that the idea of homeschooling was planted. We lived in a rather small town, and my soon to be born son was the only child in the village. Homeschooling sounded attractive, but would I be able to pull it off?
Big Brat's main concern was the fact that I'm a scatter brain like you won't believe. He works away most of the time, so who would check up on me?
Well, my life did not go according to plan. The Big Bad Wolf came and he huffed and puffed and blew our dreams into smithereens. Before I knew it, we were back in the city. Big Bratling was off to school and Middle Bratling had made his appearance in our lives. Money got tight and I started my own business. Soon I never saw my kids, as they were either in school or busy with a multitude of after school activities. Things started spiraling out of control as we all run ourselves silly in the Rat Race.
Before I was ready, Big Bratling was ready for Grade One. Middle Bratling was in Pre-school learning to write and spell. Now the wheels were coming loose nicely.
Big Brat and I decided that Big Bratling needs to attend a small school as once again our concerns of earlier was making its way into our minds. My homeschooling friends all suggested homeschooling. Big Brat and I was 100% sure that I would not cope, but it was tempting.
Once again Big Bratling needs to find a new school! By now Big Bratling was looking at attending his 5th school in 5 years. And he is only 5 years old. Not a great track record... We had to choose wisely, hmmm...
Never make decisions without God, I have subsequently learned.
The only school we were happy with to send him to, closed its doors rather upruptly just before the start of the his Grade Two year, after almost 6 months of drama. The search for school number 6 was thrown upon us at the start of the new school year. Needless to say, once again there was no school available that suited our principles.
We then went into partnership with some other parents who were in the same situation and tried to start our own school. At the end of my patience with schools, I then joked to my homeschooling buddies, that should this school too fail, I'll have to homeschool. Well, God sure has a sense of humor.
Guess what happened? End of Grade Two arrives and once again, we were looking for a new school. At this point, my homeschool buddies reminded me of my joke at the beginning of the previous year. So what are you going to do Lulu?
With absolutely no knowledge of homeschooling, no training in teaching and with a limited support basis, God threw me into the deep end. We decided not to enroll Big Bratling into anymore schools, as 6 schools in 6 years, was enough. He needed some stability in his life.
Needless to say, if he gets to stay home, so does Middle Bratling. He especially never wanted to attend school. He was always nagging me to stay at home and do homeschooling. To top it of, we discovered that Girly Bratling was to make her entrance into our life.
Looking back, God spend the previous year or two preparing me for it. Financially, we could afford it for me to close up shop. We decided it was enough that the boys almost never saw Dad, for them to not see Mom, when it wasn't needed, was just stupid. So I wasn't working, and I spend some time helping out at the new little school we started, seeing what it takes to teach a small group of kids. I loved being part of my kids lives again.
So there we were. The beginning of Big Bratling's Grade Three year. We had no knowledge of what homeschooling involves. We started off, totally scared out of our wits. The kids and I did not know what to expect or do.
Since then we have had almost 3 years of hid and run learning. Some times school got off to a running start and we had great successes, and other times we wanted to hid away from the world, for we felt complete failures. Is it worth it? You bet! We love it.
So as to how I landed up homeschooling my kids? Plainly put? It is all God's doing. This is what He wanted and He was going to make sure it happens.
As to why I am still homeschool? Apart from it being really stupid to do something against God's Will? (Bible are full of examples of what happens if you do.)
Having lived this "lifestyle" for 3 years, I cannot for one moment imagine sending any of my kids away from me again. Nor to let them be educated in things that I don't approve off, where I have no say in the matter. I can't possibly expose my kids to the same false pressures pushed onto them in schools from teachers and peers alike. No longer do they need to daily stand up to mockery for their faith or behavior. (I only heard about that horror stories later, when they had been home for a while and they commented how they are so glad they don't have that anymore.) My kids were home, safe and sound. The only bad influence is mom and dad's own sinful habits.
But far more importantly, we are growing closer as a family, not further apart. We are capable of experiencing life together, learning new things together. Yes, things still go haywire. There are still sibling fights, but now it is because they are kids, not because they are stressed to the limit with everything that needs to be done in that few hours between school and sleep.
Everything becomes schoolwork and schoolwork becomes everyday living. We learn as we live, and we live a full life, while we learn. Had my schooling been like this, I might have had a better school report at the end of the day.
Yes the formal part of school is a pain in the you know where for us all, but we deal with it as quickly as possible, so that we can be kids again as quickly as possible. No longer do we need to spend more time than needed on academic issues. My kids finally have time to be children again. Something, most of kids now a days don't get.
I'm still a scatter brain, but we manage just fine. We found a program that compensates for my scatter brain, and the kids luckily got Big Brat's dissipline inbred in them.
Will we keep homeschooling? YES.
Any other questions that needs to be asked? I'll answer them as they come along. For now, we want to get today's school behind us, so that we can go play in the garden.
From little old me.
For us the driving force was God. Literally. I didn't really have a choice in the matter. You see, once God has placed homeschooling in your path, you seldom manage to escape. So what is our story?
It started off in a antenatal class before our first child was born. They were telling us how to "child proof" your house. I'll never forget the lady telling us that we must just think about what we did when we were kids and we will have a good idea of what to do to "child proof" our house. Ja, wel! (Yes, sure!) The big brat and I looked at each other and could read the answer in each other's eyes. There will be no way to "child proof" our house!
On our way home, we started talking about what we were like as kids and came to the conclusion that no amount of child proofing our house will help. And surely any teacher or school subjected to our kids will suffer.
You see, their mom was a terrorist in school. I drove my teachers nuts. Looking back at my kids short school careers, there must be some teachers out there still recuperating from having them in class. Not that they were naughty, they were actually very good, by my standards. They are just different and as such a great cause of many a distraction for other children.
OK, so back to the car. It was there that the idea of homeschooling was planted. We lived in a rather small town, and my soon to be born son was the only child in the village. Homeschooling sounded attractive, but would I be able to pull it off?
Big Brat's main concern was the fact that I'm a scatter brain like you won't believe. He works away most of the time, so who would check up on me?
Well, my life did not go according to plan. The Big Bad Wolf came and he huffed and puffed and blew our dreams into smithereens. Before I knew it, we were back in the city. Big Bratling was off to school and Middle Bratling had made his appearance in our lives. Money got tight and I started my own business. Soon I never saw my kids, as they were either in school or busy with a multitude of after school activities. Things started spiraling out of control as we all run ourselves silly in the Rat Race.
Before I was ready, Big Bratling was ready for Grade One. Middle Bratling was in Pre-school learning to write and spell. Now the wheels were coming loose nicely.
Big Brat and I decided that Big Bratling needs to attend a small school as once again our concerns of earlier was making its way into our minds. My homeschooling friends all suggested homeschooling. Big Brat and I was 100% sure that I would not cope, but it was tempting.
Once again Big Bratling needs to find a new school! By now Big Bratling was looking at attending his 5th school in 5 years. And he is only 5 years old. Not a great track record... We had to choose wisely, hmmm...
Never make decisions without God, I have subsequently learned.
The only school we were happy with to send him to, closed its doors rather upruptly just before the start of the his Grade Two year, after almost 6 months of drama. The search for school number 6 was thrown upon us at the start of the new school year. Needless to say, once again there was no school available that suited our principles.
We then went into partnership with some other parents who were in the same situation and tried to start our own school. At the end of my patience with schools, I then joked to my homeschooling buddies, that should this school too fail, I'll have to homeschool. Well, God sure has a sense of humor.
Guess what happened? End of Grade Two arrives and once again, we were looking for a new school. At this point, my homeschool buddies reminded me of my joke at the beginning of the previous year. So what are you going to do Lulu?
With absolutely no knowledge of homeschooling, no training in teaching and with a limited support basis, God threw me into the deep end. We decided not to enroll Big Bratling into anymore schools, as 6 schools in 6 years, was enough. He needed some stability in his life.
Needless to say, if he gets to stay home, so does Middle Bratling. He especially never wanted to attend school. He was always nagging me to stay at home and do homeschooling. To top it of, we discovered that Girly Bratling was to make her entrance into our life.
Looking back, God spend the previous year or two preparing me for it. Financially, we could afford it for me to close up shop. We decided it was enough that the boys almost never saw Dad, for them to not see Mom, when it wasn't needed, was just stupid. So I wasn't working, and I spend some time helping out at the new little school we started, seeing what it takes to teach a small group of kids. I loved being part of my kids lives again.
So there we were. The beginning of Big Bratling's Grade Three year. We had no knowledge of what homeschooling involves. We started off, totally scared out of our wits. The kids and I did not know what to expect or do.
Since then we have had almost 3 years of hid and run learning. Some times school got off to a running start and we had great successes, and other times we wanted to hid away from the world, for we felt complete failures. Is it worth it? You bet! We love it.
So as to how I landed up homeschooling my kids? Plainly put? It is all God's doing. This is what He wanted and He was going to make sure it happens.
As to why I am still homeschool? Apart from it being really stupid to do something against God's Will? (Bible are full of examples of what happens if you do.)
Having lived this "lifestyle" for 3 years, I cannot for one moment imagine sending any of my kids away from me again. Nor to let them be educated in things that I don't approve off, where I have no say in the matter. I can't possibly expose my kids to the same false pressures pushed onto them in schools from teachers and peers alike. No longer do they need to daily stand up to mockery for their faith or behavior. (I only heard about that horror stories later, when they had been home for a while and they commented how they are so glad they don't have that anymore.) My kids were home, safe and sound. The only bad influence is mom and dad's own sinful habits.
But far more importantly, we are growing closer as a family, not further apart. We are capable of experiencing life together, learning new things together. Yes, things still go haywire. There are still sibling fights, but now it is because they are kids, not because they are stressed to the limit with everything that needs to be done in that few hours between school and sleep.
Everything becomes schoolwork and schoolwork becomes everyday living. We learn as we live, and we live a full life, while we learn. Had my schooling been like this, I might have had a better school report at the end of the day.
Yes the formal part of school is a pain in the you know where for us all, but we deal with it as quickly as possible, so that we can be kids again as quickly as possible. No longer do we need to spend more time than needed on academic issues. My kids finally have time to be children again. Something, most of kids now a days don't get.
I'm still a scatter brain, but we manage just fine. We found a program that compensates for my scatter brain, and the kids luckily got Big Brat's dissipline inbred in them.
Will we keep homeschooling? YES.
Any other questions that needs to be asked? I'll answer them as they come along. For now, we want to get today's school behind us, so that we can go play in the garden.
From little old me.
Tuesday 4 October 2011
God still does miracles.
I serve an AWESOME GOD! Last month He placed it on my heart to give money to churches other than just my church. The only thing was, that my church also needs the tithe we give each month to help pay the bills. Plus, we too have to live on a budget at the moment, there isn't really money spare. So how could I possibly be obedient in this?
See my mistake? I thought WE had to do it. For a moment I forgot that every Dollar earned by the big brat is actually God's. It is only by grace that we receive money of any kind, and we are only stewards of God's money. So I re-thought the situation.
We are paid in Dollars, but we live on Rands. So our income is a bit flexible when it comes to currency converting. The stronger the Dollar, the more money we get and the stronger the Rand the less we get. (To put it simply)
Now, those of you in South Africa would have noticed a spectacular nose dive in the Rand value the last month. I hope nobody lost out too much, but that was God's doing. Remember He has power and authority over every thing.
My plan was simple, all we had to do was trust in the Lord and obey when the time arrives. I made it plain to God, how much money we needed to deal with our expenses and to cover our church's tithe, then I promised that any money over and above that amount we will donate to another church in need.
Truth be told, at that stage the Dollar was so weak and the Rand so strong, that we would barely make our own budget, with hopefully just enough to tithe. So you see, the challenge was on.
Over the next 2-3 weeks, we watched in awe and amazement as the Dollar strengthens and the Rand go for a nose dive. We cried with laughter as the financial analysts tried to make sense of it, and they just couldn't. They were looking at the markets and thinking up all sorts of reasons for this. I felt like phoning in and telling them, this is GOD's work. The Creator of all things, the Ruler of ALL! He had a mission and He will see it through.
Today I can proudly announce that God had made available for His suffering church the amount of R10 000! It was paid over in obedience yesterday with much joy in our lives. None of this is our doing, ALL GLORY GOES TO GOD!!!
God has blessed us with so much, the least we could do was to give as much of it back to Him as what we could. In being obedient, God's blessings just keeps us in awe of what a wonderful God we serve.
God not only showed us how much He cares for us, and for His Church, but that the time for miracles has not end. He showed that even the stronghold of Satan, the world's money markets, are at His mercy.
God doesn't hate money, He just don't like the way we treat it. Once you start treating money in a manner pleasing to God, He will bless you with more. Don't believe me, read the Bible. Jesus Himself told us the parable of the ten servants and the ten minas.
What are you doing with your minas? Are you investing in Heavenly treasures?
Or are you leaving God out of your finances?
In God we trust and built.
From little old me
See my mistake? I thought WE had to do it. For a moment I forgot that every Dollar earned by the big brat is actually God's. It is only by grace that we receive money of any kind, and we are only stewards of God's money. So I re-thought the situation.
We are paid in Dollars, but we live on Rands. So our income is a bit flexible when it comes to currency converting. The stronger the Dollar, the more money we get and the stronger the Rand the less we get. (To put it simply)
Now, those of you in South Africa would have noticed a spectacular nose dive in the Rand value the last month. I hope nobody lost out too much, but that was God's doing. Remember He has power and authority over every thing.
My plan was simple, all we had to do was trust in the Lord and obey when the time arrives. I made it plain to God, how much money we needed to deal with our expenses and to cover our church's tithe, then I promised that any money over and above that amount we will donate to another church in need.
Truth be told, at that stage the Dollar was so weak and the Rand so strong, that we would barely make our own budget, with hopefully just enough to tithe. So you see, the challenge was on.
Over the next 2-3 weeks, we watched in awe and amazement as the Dollar strengthens and the Rand go for a nose dive. We cried with laughter as the financial analysts tried to make sense of it, and they just couldn't. They were looking at the markets and thinking up all sorts of reasons for this. I felt like phoning in and telling them, this is GOD's work. The Creator of all things, the Ruler of ALL! He had a mission and He will see it through.
Today I can proudly announce that God had made available for His suffering church the amount of R10 000! It was paid over in obedience yesterday with much joy in our lives. None of this is our doing, ALL GLORY GOES TO GOD!!!
God has blessed us with so much, the least we could do was to give as much of it back to Him as what we could. In being obedient, God's blessings just keeps us in awe of what a wonderful God we serve.
God not only showed us how much He cares for us, and for His Church, but that the time for miracles has not end. He showed that even the stronghold of Satan, the world's money markets, are at His mercy.
God doesn't hate money, He just don't like the way we treat it. Once you start treating money in a manner pleasing to God, He will bless you with more. Don't believe me, read the Bible. Jesus Himself told us the parable of the ten servants and the ten minas.
What are you doing with your minas? Are you investing in Heavenly treasures?
Or are you leaving God out of your finances?
In God we trust and built.
From little old me
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