schooling

articles

• What if your child can’t go to a mainstream school?
• Homeschooling vs traditional school, a mother’s experience
• Back to school checklist and parent-baby/toddler groups
• Your child’s ADHD, schools and teachers
• Our homeschooling journey
• Why I homeschool my child
• School’s out forever and a new phase begins in my son’s life
• Public vs private schooling
• Playschool and big boy beds
• Pre-school teachers needed
• When can kids miss school?
• Are we educating kids for the future?
• School projects
• Help me find a school for my son
• Surviving sport and school as a single mom

by Stacey Vee, parenting journalist and the writer of an award-winning blog about raising what she calls ‘a whole family with special needs’.  Mom to Travis the Lionheart (5 yrs) who has a rare brain malformation called Septo Optic Dysplasia and baby Ryan, affectionately called the Squishy Gorilla (7 mnths). Read about the Lionhearts here .

“Travis will never go to a normal school.”

It hurt, hearing those words coming from our first-born’s paediatric neurologist, but we needed to hear them. Up until that point my husband and I had been clinging to the belief that if we put in the hard work while our son was a toddler – hours of intense sessions occupational, physio and speech therapy – we could ‘fix’ Travis in time for him to go to ‘big school’. We couldn’t be more wrong.

The thing is: educating a child with special needs is a no-man’s land. The Department of Education doesn’t support nor recognise curriculums that have been adapted for students who are intellectually challenged. Don’t get me wrong, there are schools that focus on children with autism, and remedial schools for children with various learning challenges.

But schools for children like Travis, whose disabilities means that he’ll likely never achieve any kind of independence, never mind make any contribution to the economy…

In the year that Travis would begin Grade 1, which is 2014, we’ll have to apply to the Department of Education for exemption for him to attend mainstream schooling as provided by our government. And that’s it – the only, brief and final contact Travis will ever have with South Africa’s education system.

Unlike in developed countries such as the United States, where state authorities go out of their way to accommodate children like Travis, even pairing him with a carer who’d accompany him to school each day and assist him in class, in our country it’s left up to the parents.

So what were we to do? For families like ours, your options are:

Find a school that caters for children with disabilities and special needs.

We went for option three.

You might wonder, why bother educating a mentally disabled boy? At the risk of sounding like a Hallmark card, it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey. When you look back on your school days, do you remember the time you learnt how to do algebra, or do you remember making your first friend and sharing sandwiches on the playground?

We found a school for Travis, the Wiggles and Squiggles Special Needs Academy in Boskruin, where the principal has adapted the Montessorri curriculum for children like Travis. He has an IEP, or an independent education programme, where each term we work towards simple goals. This year one of his goals is to master his pencil-grip. Last year another of his goals was: learn to blow your nose!

Travis gets a report, and we attend regular parent-teacher sessions. We don’t feel like we’re just going through the motions or wasting our money. Instead of being side-lined by the education system, we’ve re-worked the system to suit us. Travis is in the school of life, and his life has value, no matter

P.S. The photos in this article of my family and I were taken by Noleen Foster Photography

by Nazmeera Moonda, mom to 4 beautiful children, Arabic teacher, loves travelling and cooking, endlessly curious about the world and invaluable Jozikids staff member.

As a mother of four amazingly different children, I have often thought of homeschooling them myself.. My reasons being twofold: financial affordability and to inculcate my value systems .

I felt that my kids would be able to learn at their own pace and cover more subject matter in less time. I wanted to incorporate religious and secular studies under one value system.

I tried homeschooling my five year old when I returned from the Middle East in 2011.  For a while she was happy to learn with me and she picked up very quickly. However, after a few months she wanted to have friends and got bored at home. I noticed too that she became withdrawn even with family members that she was familiar with.

Eventually after 3 months I enrolled her in a preschool and she enjoyed being with kids her age rather than spending time with her 3 year old sister. She has also became more confident.

My husband and I have considered re-introducing homeschooling again. In my experience, the only down side is the lack of social interaction with peers where the children can be too sheltered and isolated. The ideal would be to have a network of homeschooling parents with kids of similar ages and to meet regularly or to even have a classroom of kids where parents involve themselves collectively in the teaching process

The advantages of going to a school are the discipline and routine.  Children are more aware of and integrate into our multiracial society which equips them better for the real world. It also exposes them to the harsh realities and existence of bullies and they learn to participate in healthy competition and team activities.

In the end I believe that parents are their children’s most important role models.  If you lead by example the child will adopt those values.  Even if they learn bad habits it can be undone by practically reiterating your principles and values until they are old enough to distinguish between right and wrong.

Its frantic preparing for school time for most of you whose kids return to school this coming week. Here’s a checklist of services you will find on Jozikids that will help you in your preparations.

SCHOOL PREPARATIONS:

PARENT- BABY TODDLER  CLASSES

Weekly classes offered by Toptots, Moms & Tots/Babes, Kindermusik, Clamber Club, The Wendyhouse, Mothers & Miracles and more.

HOLIDAY CARE

Holiday care for last 2 days – most schools reopen on the 18th January. These are places you can also visit with your kids over weekends that are running holiday programs  on Monday and Tuesday.

Purple Cow Centurion, until Jan 17
A restaurant with a playground for kids and supervised activities this week,
Ages 4-10yrs .Time: 7am-6pm

Kinderland Pretoria, until Jan 18
Sandart, bake apple tart, Jan 17
Paint fridge magnets, make chocolate,or Rock Art, Jan 18
Ages: 3-10yrs, special care unit for 1-3yrs
Time: 7am-5pm

Angel Conradie loves her cellphone, camera and notebook; has 8 tattoos, 5 cats, 2 dogs and an ADHD son. She believes she is married to the most wonderful man, bakes for a living as The Cupcake Lady and blogs as Angel’s Mind.

Finding a school where your ADHD child will be successful depends largely on your child. Many ADHDers are capable of coping in a mainstream school if their treatment is successfully managed. Some ADHDers though, manage far better in a small, specialised school. If you are looking for a school like this, check that they are registered with the department of education and don’t assume that small classes and individual attention automatically mean they are equipped to help a child with ADHD and LD.

Once you find a school, the first thing to do is tell your child’s teacher he or she has been officially diagnosed with ADHD. So often we as parents don’t tell our ADHDers teacher about his or her diagnosis and treatment because we want to “see if she notices anything” first. Not telling your child’s teacher to try and prove a point, or to avoid the school “labelling” your child means that your ADHDer doesn’t benefit from concessions they are entitled to- like extra time in tests and exams- from day one!! And it’s unfair to the child and the teacher to expect them to fumble through several weeks of drama before telling the school what’s up. If your child was diabetic or asthmatic, not telling the school would not even occur to you! And it has been proven that children with ADHD have a worse quality of life than asthmatic children!

If the school knows early on that your child- who is most likely just one of several special needs children in his class- is neurologically-atypical, his teachers will be able to focus on him from day one. When it comes to special needs children, teachers need the parents’ help. They are a part of your treatment team and are often the first people to pick up that something is wrong.

The important thing to remember is that you want the teachers on your side, and you want them to know that when you enter their classroom you are respectful of their training AND you are your child’s advocate. It’s a tricky line to walk but if you prepare for meetings it is possible. Make notes before you go to the school, and take a notebook with you to meetings. Give the teacher a copy of your notes afterwards so you have something to follow up on when next you meet. And taking minutes in your parent-teacher meetings is immensely (and surprisingly) empowering! Give out your email address and contact numbers and stress that you are open to communication from the teacher.

And of course, speaking to the school from early on means you can ask for things like:

Be open to communication from the school and keep calm!

by Mandi  Holtshausen, entrepreneur, passionate homeschooling mom to 2 precious girls, visit her blog for a personal insight into their homeschooling  journey.  Follow her on twitter@HomeschoolingSA.   Click here for more information about homeschooling.

Here is an account of what homeschooling has done for our family.

Gone are the rushed mornings, the shouting in the early hours of “get dressed”, “eat your breakfast” and “have you got everything in your bag?”  I do still make sure that the girls are in bed on time, but they get to wake up when they are finished sleeping, which is early enough.  No grumpy tired faces, only smiles.  On a typical morning we all sit together around the breakfast table and talk to each other over breakfast – something that there was never time for in the past.  Quality time has brought each one of us closer together.  Then after washing and dressing we go upstairs and begin school.  The start of school is usually with a Bible reading and prayer – precious moments are when you hear the concerns, needs and love that come from your children’s heartfelt prayers.  Many of our lessons we do, in summer are under a tree outside.  The beauty of homeschooling is that you can do school pretty much anywhere, including a doctor’s waiting room, in the car, at Grannies dining room table and the botanical gardens.

Being more involved in my children’s education has me seeing learning opportunities wherever we go.  We stop on a wooden bridge to study the chrysalis of a butterfly and wonder what it will look like when it leaves.  We also do a lot of written work; English, Afrikaans, Mathematics and each hold their own challenges.  I must say that I have many “light bulb” moments as I “get it” the second time round!

I remember the days of fetching 2 exhausted children from school, getting into the car and listening to them take the days frustrations out on each other.  It is very seldom now that they have a disagreement, but never a fight.

We, as parents, have had our share of doubt aimed at us as a result of our choice to homeschool our children, even my ability to teach them.  Loving my children and wanting them to be the best they were created to be, gives me the drive and discipline it takes to making their education a success.  The change in my girls, the confidence they now show has been pleasantly surprising to many and their doubts are slipping away rapidly.

My children are no longer self-absorbed; they think of others and are compassionate and kind, always ready to lend a helping hand and really pleasant to be around.  I feel blessed as a mother and feel privileged to be able to spend this time of growth with my girls and not look back with regret at time that has gone by.

I realize that this decision is not for every family, but in the two and a half years that we have been homeschooling, the benefits have been immense and I encourage you to explore this option.

by Minette Tonoli, mom to 2 gorgeous girls  (4 + 9mnths), passionate homeschooler and herb lover. Owner of herbs on line

It was a question that I battled with, as every mom does, when my daughter was almost three. All the little people who were friends of my daughter were starting going to school and the parents seemed well pleased with it, so I thought it should be something that I should start looking into. And I did. I searched and researched playgroups and creches in my area and even a few recommended ones a little further afield. I decided to go have a look at my shortlist of schools and think I visited 10 in the end. I was not happy. I also could not understand why I was not happy. If asked, I could not give a single clear-cut answer of why I thought a particular school was a “no”. They all seemed, well, as good as advertised. Eventually I did send her to a nice little school, but after a week and a bit and the change I witnessed in my child, I was not happy.

Long story short, I decided to homeschool (“unschool”) my daughter and we’ve had tremendous fun the last two and a half years. She socializes plenty with children her own age, and also gets to spend time with children in different age groups – her best little buddy is a boy younger than her while her favourite cousin to play with is a girl a couple years older. She also engages in extra mural activities (swimming, music, gymnastics and library story time) which further ensures she gets adequate mingling time with other kids. That is all besides the play dates that she regularly has. And of course, chatting to me and Daddy and other grown-ups is also an important social skill to learn. She also has plenty of me-time, to have her space and sort out her thoughts and ideas and spends time away from me and has grown quite independent in many instances.

I don’t simply do school at home, to me that is not at all what homeschooling is about. I get led by my daughter’s interests and her advancement and use life and living as our classroom. We don’t follow a particular curriculum and don’t adhere to “school times”. When an opportunity presents itself for learning (and they constantly do), we engage it.

She is doing spectacularly well, without any pushing and prodding from me, and is in most instances far ahead with developmental milestones. I cannot attribute that to homeschooling alone though, I think she just is a bright little spark in any case (which makes it even more challenging for me to ensure her eager mind gets all it needs).

After investigating homeschooling, and practicing it for two and a half years, I can very confidently say that I have made the right choice for us. I have my reasons for continuing homeschooling and that could probably fill a whole booklet, so I won’t go into the particulars here. Suffice to say that the words to the song “Logical” by the group Supertramps pretty much sums it up.

Anyway, my point is that whether you should send your child to school at 9 months, 18 months, 2 years or 3 years, should maybe not be the only question – perhaps you should think whether you want to send your child to school at all.

by Joy Robyn Dembo, married, with an 18 year old son and a 25 year old daughter.  Addicted to the www, particularly Twitter. Recruitment Response Handling Consultant and Freelance Copywriter, vegetarian and animal lover.  Here’s her blog.

With almost 8 years between my two children, it was beginning to feel as though I had been at school forever, so you can imagine my elation when my son passed Matric last year and I left school forever!!

My son had decided many years ago that he wanted to be a chef when he left school.  So, not withstanding the fact that he had never cooked anything other than 2-minute noodles and scrambled eggs, hated washing dishes and didn’t know the meaning of hard work, I filled in the 10 page application form for the Hotel School, signed the 21 page contract, paid the obscene fees, bought the R7000-00 worth of books (I always thought you could buy an entire library for R7000!),  paid for the hideously expensive uniforms (1 x suit and 2 times chef uniforms plus accessories),  bought the set of knives that look as though they came out of a serial killer’s boot (I watch the Crime & Investigation Channel a lot!), and paid for all the other incidentals!  You will notice that the words “bought” and “paid for” feature quite prominently in this paragraph.

Day one eventually arrived!

The first two days were taken up by a Wine Course (At an additional cost of R1200-00), and I am proud to say that I am now very knowledgeable when it comes to useless wine, port, sherry, brandy and sparkling wine facts. (If all else fails, I think I am fully equipped to apply for a job as a Sommelier)”

The second two days were dedicated to a Level 1 First Aid Course.  Apparently, by law, you have to do at least Level 1 before you are permitted to work in a hotel kitchen. My son is not a light boy and after spending two days on his knees practicing CPR on a dummy, he was almost crippled.  After taking truckloads of Voltaren and Myprodol, he was finally able to walk again (but only just!!).

Ryan is doing the 3 yr Diploma in Professional Cookery and Kitchen Management, which is divided into academic and practical sections, on a block release basis.  Ryan has been allocated to do part of the practical section first, and has been assigned to a 5-Star Rosebank Hotel.

Horror of horrors!  He is currently doing the 6:00 am (as in getting up in the middle of the night) – 2:00 pm shift.  As you can imagine, after doing this for almost 3 weeks, we are all floating around like Zombies!  But, despite the fact that Ryan has almost cut his finger off twice, and he finally knows the meaning of HARD work, after being on his feet for 8 hours straight, on a daily basis he is learning what it means to take your place in the “working world” and he is actually enjoying his course and savouring the experience of learning something new every day!

Me?  I am spending hours boiling, bleaching, soaking, washing and scrubbing an entire gourmet menu out of his WHITE chef uniform, on a daily basis, rushing to fetch him at 2-00pm, helping my hubby out with the morning lifts (I didn’t know it was possible to “sleep drive”) and fervently hoping that he will get his driver’s license soon and I will, at the very least, be served a Cordon Bleu meal, in the very near future!

By Laura-kim single mom, recently divorced with 2 kids and the author of the blog Harrased mom.

My children have been attending a small private school in my area. It is no where near the level of a Crawford or St Stithians so while I got excellent education I wasn’t paying exorbitant fees.

We were all happy.

But then Kiara headed for Gr 1 and the jump in fees simply was not manageable for me. It would mean that I would be spending a huge portion of my salary on school fees leaving nothing left for anything else.

So I moved them to a public school, with the intention of then saving money, enabling us to start moving forward on our journey to financial independence. HA! Well it has not worked out like that at all.

Last year November I registered them at the said public school and had to pay R5000 to guarantee them a place (I paid R1600 for registration at the private school per child). Then I received the list of stationery and headed off to the shops! HA! What a mission. The lists state clearly that we must buy the names specified, which is great – if only you can find the names specified. So 6 shops later I decided to throw caution to the wind and I bought the products I could find. In total all the stationery and toiletries I had to buy cost me around R1800.

Then came the best part- the school uniforms of this public school. The girls wear dresses, very pretty little dresses that cost R235 a pop! I couldn’t only buy one and even two is stretching things. I work. I don’t have time to wash and dry uniforms every day. Her shoes were R179 (shoes which I think are already too small, two weeks into the term). The tracksuit was over R500. The golf shirt for her sports activities is R117 for one. she has a sport on 4 days of the week – so again, one is not enough. Her costume cost R170 plus she needed a navy blue towel (Are you adding this all up?)

Cameron fortunately still fitted into his gray shorts and shoes from last year, but I will need to buy new ones next term. But his plain blue school shirt was R75 (it’s PLAIN BLUE). He also needs a sport shirt – at R119 (prices increase as the sizes do) and soccer socks (for cricket also) at R45 for one pair (clearly it costs huge money to put a blue stripe on a sock). His tracksuit was also R500 but I ran out of money so he has the bottom (R300) and a jersey (R39.99 at Pep) – I will get the top for winter. His costume was R100 plus the blue towel.

Let’s not forget the school bags, the lunch boxes, juice bottles – totally R300.

In case all those numbers confused you let me tell you – since November last year I have spent R11 000 on school stuff for my children at a public school. And it is a happy day for me when they come home and don’t ask for something more – these days have been few and far between since school opened two weeks ago.

Now I don’t earn a huge salary but I earn a lot more than most people who are sending there kids to this school – HOW do they manage? How do they find R11 000? I used all my savings, asked their dad for money and borrowed from my mom to be able to afford it.

I am all for uniforms – really I am. But do we need R235 dresses? I don’t buy dresses that cost that much. Do we really need golf shirts for R117? Do the gray socks really need that blue line through them? I honestly don’t think so. The school has major issues with children wearing the correct uniform and I can now see why. Change the uniform and I guarantee everyone will be uniform tomorrow. To me its better having everyone in plain colours than having half the school wearing one thing and the other half another!

My kids have now had to get used to eating peanut butter sandwiches for lunch because I cant afford more than that right now – I am busy repaying my mom and trying to save for next year!

By Gina Jacobson, a mom, a leo.  She works for a  non-profit organisation, is a procrastinator, loves sci-fi, sushi, good books and scrabble.Her blog is made up of A Bit of This a Bit of That.

Aaron is finally going to play school, he starts on Monday 25th January.  I am nervous and excited for him.

We keep mentioning that he is going to school and what a big boy he is.  We tell him that he is going to draw and paint and play on the jungle gym and read stories and play with the other children and make things for mommy and daddy.

I think he is excited to do these things even though he doesn’t really know what we are talking about.

The other big change we are going to have this year is moving into a big boy bed.  Aaron is literally, a big boy, he is very tall and he is rapidly out growing the cot.  My question is, how do we transition him to the bed?

Again, we mention to him that he is going to have a big bed like mommy and daddy.  But does he really understand?  Also, Im worried about him not staying in his bed.  How do we get him to stay there, even if he wakes up?  I would rather he calls us and we go to him than he come to us.

The other question is, should we wait until he is settled at play school or make the move at the same time?  I don’t want to overwhelm the poor kid.

How did you handle these amazing milestones in your child’s life?

By Nomathemba Nkomo , is mother to 2 well behaved,beautiful children.She is passionate about raising loving,happy,intelligent and well behaved children in our country. She is also the principal of Kiddies Cave Pre- School in Kew.

 At Kiddies Cave Pre-school for toddlers and kids up to the age 6 yrs, we pride ourselves on giving  children an excellent foundation for private and public schools. All our teachers and caregivers are experienced and qualified. We also offer activities  such as  ballet, karate and computer lessons.

We currently have vacancies for 2 qualified nursery school teachers who can work 3 hours daily, to start in the new year.

 The love of kids plus a good command of English are essential requirements.

Applicants must please supply us with your name, email address, contact numbers – landline and cell phone and we will be in touch.