Travelling write along…

Ball-skills bounced its last bounce

It appears ball-skills will be no more. At the end of the school year (closed the 10th) the pre-primary teachers were still very keen for the program to continue. However, the national government has been reworking the school curriculum. All been rather chaotic since the new curriculum sort of begins this year yet...nobody knew what was going on - including many people trying to write the new textbooks.

Yes, that is as bad and chaotic as it sounds. 

Now that school has started, our pre-primary has finally received their new curriculum. I am in the understanding that they are not required to actually begin the new program until Winter term (this is summer). However, the teachers are rather impressed and look to implement it now.

This is good news.

Even better, it sounds like the government is making PE mandatory for this age group. It is done by the teachers, now that the new program gives them time to do such activities (things are pretty standardised here, which is both good and bad).

Due to local politics, the professional organisation will probably be allowed to continue, but not in their current format. It will be smaller, done during free play time, and the sessions will have to be done over the week, rather than in blocks and both they and I were doing it. The key is - no parent is no longer going to feel pressured to do this. No child is going to be left out from learning to stand on one foot and catch a ball just because their parents are not athletic nor have money for sport programs. Children will be getting structured physical education. All of them.

I began the program to fill a hole. While I am not sure exactly on numbers, it is easily around sixty kids that benefited from this program for the past two years. And as much as I'll miss it, I'd rather smile at the idea that a gaping hole is being filled the way it should be - no longer whose parent can write a cheque.

Many thanks to all of you who gave me your support for the past two years. You should have seen all the smiles and the hugs...even now, 'big kids' now wearing school uniforms recognise me and shout out my name. Not sure what exactly we all did - but whatever it was - it clearly still lingers in their minds in a positive way. Again, many thanks.

 

And another year is done...

This morning Mrs B, armed with stickers and cake, said good-bye to another year of ball-skills students. They gave her hugs, smiles and even a lovely prezzie in return. Mrs B managed not to cry, but only just.

It is such a cliche, but it is so true - this year flew by. Last year seemed so much longer, maybe because it was brand new (and I was carrying a baby on my back). And it seems I've agreed to year number three. I won't even have a child in pre-primary. Wow.

To all of you who have helped make this possible, many thanks. 

My morning at ball-skills...

"Mrs B my daddy got drunk and had to go to jail."

Only Wednesday?

Oh my brain. My poor brain. My brain has given up on life. This may be partly due to lack of sleep, some of which is my children's fault, but some of it to do with too much on the brain.

The whole builder thing reached new heights last week. It all boiled down to a clear indication that the builders had no intention of moving to their side of the property, and every intention of continuing to bar us from a significant and rather essential part of our property.

Enter Estate Agent Manager (EAM) whose opinion generally can be summed up to being: You need to be polite. These men have a job to do. So what if it is ILLEGAL. Now put up with it, and by the way YOUR lease is up for a renewal so please sign agreeing to pay full price for land you can only use part of. This, of course, will continue to block you from maintaining your land and you will be fined by your Golf Estate by doing so, but YOU could always pay for a gardening service.

I suppose I could. But I didn't think that was very fair. So I had to consult two legal brains on how to write forceful emails without unnecessary feeling / emotion / accusation and get what you want. They were, um, rather forceful - kind of like a rabid dog bearing its teeth - yet sticking to facts as best as they appeared.

Monday afternoon there was no reply. However, the Home Office did ring. Then I went to adult karate where I left because it was just too awful for words. Also, when you don't have a back up parent for the next few days, risking serious injury to yourself on purpose is not really an option.

Tuesday morning I fired off another email, this time offering even LESS rent than the day before's reduced proposal, then got my butt to the Home Office.

Home Office went well. Moses did everything himself. Not his co-workers. Not the people who are actually paid to do these jobs under Moses. Moses did it -  finger prints and all. He indicated that he thought I'd receive an SMS today with a processing number. (I should have had one in, oh, no later than January). He also indicated that my next visit to the HA would be to pick up my Permanent Residency. 

Raced home, found a Contractor, Estate Agent, EAM, his PA and the Housing Estate Manager all outside my house. I confess not all went as smoothly (or adult like) as we may have all hoped, but progress was made - fence began to move as of yesterday.

Then I went to kiddie karate and liked karate all over again. Then Pretoria's Home Office sent me....A PROCESSING NUMBER! If husband had been home, we'd have been popping the champagne. Oh yes we would.

Survived my ball-skills this morning, bought men moving the fence donuts, and now just crossing my fingers that my husband's eye surgery (the one supposedly going to be done during the CT book fair) is actually happening today. (Thankfully family is free to drive him around this time, so I didn't have to lug the kids back - so relieved).

And then...then I'm running away for the weekend. No kids. But I'm letting husband come. Husband and I haven't run away together without kids since ...well, we've never done it. Before kids we had nobody to run away from. Since kids, we've only done it individually.

Can't. Wait. Need. Break.

Working it out

Starting to get my behind in gear and get back into shape. My brain and general attitude towards life does better when I'm stronger. Still not enough daylight to jog, so out came the workout DVD's, but the sunrise tables indicate that I've only got a few more weeks left to wait. It is clearly already having a positive effect. This morning's sessions at ball skills went as smooth as ice.

I've been finding this winter rather hard. Which is a bit odd, given life has not been very hard, nor are the days all that short compared to winters in Oregon, Chicago or England. The children and I even had a very good winter break. Maybe my body is like the imported trees in South Africa that never caught on to the switched seasons, shedding their leaves in the middle of summer. 

But summer, it is not. The mountains got their second dusting of snow  at the start of this week. After I picked up the post yesterday, I sat in my car just gazing at the mountains, which make the most beautiful backdrop to the sea.  A stunning sight, indeed. No photos of that, I'm afraid. But I was pleased to note this morning that I'm not the  only one confused. My lavender is blooming like its been drinking my caffeine and attracted an equally perplexed butterfly. If you are ever in a drought, I recommend lavender - it never seems to die while giving a lovely shot of colour amongst the browns.

I may have learnt something

Balls are very exciting. They make small people soooooooooo happy. Bounce, bounce, bounce and weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee....

Sooooooo exciting. CAN YOU SEE ME - I HAVE A BALL AND IT IS SO, OH SO, EXCITING. Look at meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee......

Yes.

Ahem.

First day back from Easter Break and the children were SO EXCITED!!!! I had a kid in the third group try to get in line each time to come with. BECAUSE IT IS SO EXCITING!

Armed with extra stickers thanks to some nameless sticker fairy and, oh my giggles, we were very excited to be alive and part of ball-skills.

A wee bit too excited. Thrilled. Some teachers complain of lack of enthusiasm. I can honestly say there can be a wee bit too much.

Warm up always goes well. There maybe some quirky events, as life with small children is prone to do, but it is always controllable. But add the balls and off they go - sometimes it is like they can't control themselves. It isn't personal. They want to do well. They want to show Mrs. B that they can do it. But, oh...oh...this ball just makes me wanna....

I have sent children back from class.

I have revoked sticker privileges.

I have tried sitting them down and taking a breather to re-group.

But these tricks often don't work well. They often make the kids feel bad. They always make me feel like a jerk. And it means that in the lousy 20min we have the children are not getting as much out of it as they could.

So I took away the balls. Ball-less ball-skills.

Not the entire time. We did warm-up, ball-less as per norm. Then we had balls. They are progressing very nicely when I have their attention. All you basketball coaches in the grand ol' USA - you only wish you had my kids. Sadly, they'll never actually play basketball. You should weep at such a waste of talent.

Anyway - we would get through as many drills and fun things as we could until the chaos had reached a point where nothing good was happening and, "Put the balls in the bags!"

And they did. Every session. With very little protest they put their balls away and then their ears could hear again.

So we raced. We ran backwards. We did crab walks. We practised bouncing on one foot. (Left and right seem to be a very hard concept for some.) There were big stickers for the winners. And there were stickers for not cheating. As soon as they figured out that they'd still get some sort of sticker if they simply tried to do the exercise right - they focused their energy into productivity. 

Then we did cool down - one last sticker and off they went - children still smiling, I still smiling - everybody still smiling.

Balls are good. Balls are part of class. But I will no longer feel obliged to let them have those balls during the entire time between warm up and cool down.

They are just toooooooooo exciting.

Two sides to every nation

Sometimes there is too much to blog. The mind is all over the place and slightly in a funk. Or in a great place. All at the same time. Like this morning, where I took my daughter out to have her hair cut and she was brilliant. And then we went out for ice cream and she was as sweet as the treat. People were complimenting my parenting (ha!) Then we bought Auntie S----- her birthday present and darling child was so good I impulsively bought her a bracelet (R7) that she was looking at with wide eyes.

But then there was yesterday, when my darling was clearly possessed by demons, threw the biggest temper tantrum you have ever witnessed during her swimming lesson, which caused numerous people in the pool to stare at us all with open mouths of horror believing we were drowning the child. Nobody was complimenting my parenting then. In fact, if we were in England, I'm sure somebody would have called child services.

South Africa is a lot like that. A beautiful country with so much to offer,  both in the present and in the future. In so many ways life is very good. I'll probably be going surfing tomorrow. Right now my house is being cleaned by somebody that is not me (a luxury I love, I admit). The sun is shinning. My children adore both their schools. My husband has been working very reasonable hours lately. And we are looking forward to having a lovely guest over during our three day weekend.

But... here is the link to today's paper.

You can click on it tomorrow, I have little hope that it will improve. You will, in all likelihood, not see many headlines screaming about the latest hideous street crime committed. That's because the newspapers are too busy exposing one corruption scandal or abuse of power in the government. Every country has these problems to some degree. The UK looks back at their "expense scandal" and gives a chuckle of the merriment and chaos that caused.

The key difference is that the expense scandal kept the newspapers busy for weeks. Minsters resigned over the incident. Stuff happened. Here - the expense scandal would only be in the paper for a day because the next big stink awaits. And nobody resigns. Nobody is brought to justice. For the past two weeks the outcry from the newspapers has become so loud it is hard to digest it all.

It has become dizzying. It is no longer shocking. It has reached the point where to shock the nation the newspapers would have to print:  "THIS GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG!" Then that person would be fired for not towing the party line. 

Or maybe I'm being grumpy. Rather annoyed the latest ball-skills volunteer did a no show. Perhaps there is a good excuse and I'm being judgemental. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnd...with that I'll shut up before I say something I'll regret.

I have no shame

Hello. To the proud and the few that have read my book...a new website (a spin off of an old one) is now carrying my book. This is good. This means two major RSA web sellers are carrying me.  But... new site has a review section and I have no reviews - not so good.

Writing your own review for your own book is rather tacky. I refuse to stoop that low. I am also sure that it is considered tacky to be begging for people to review your book - but...since nobody but me is going to toot my small horn, I better get over the tackiness of it all. Thus:

If you have read my book and have a few spare minutes to write a review - it would mean a lot. CLICK HERE

I know it is a pain, since you have to register on the site to do so. I know. But I will think kind thoughts towards you...

Thank you. With chocolate sauce on top.

(To those of you who left reviews on the other site - they are still there and I am still grateful).

In other news...Ball-skills. I am not having the greatest week health wise. Not sure if I'm actually sick, but when a woman who jogs on a regular basis starts feeling winded and dizzy after a single flight of stairs - there is something not right. Maybe I could have toughed it through one session today, but not three.

That said, rumour has it there is a lovely woman out there who wants to do something for the school. The school recommended ball-skills. Supposedly we meet next week.

Wouldn't that be great? If it does work out, maybe after the Easter Break we could take all the kids.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Must meet her first and get her to stay. Meanwhile, I'm just grateful that the disappoint children didn't kick me in the shins this morning when I told them no go today.

They have mastered the pouty face.

It's the little things...

It is amazing what throws children off. My daughter will be thrilled she is going swimming, slips - and that's it - no dice. She wasn't hurt. Only startled, but that's that - no way. Yesterday she was singing, "Hip! Hip! Hooray!" on her way to school. But a gust of wind in her face and..."No!!!!!" Suddenly did not want to go in.

This phenomena seems to carry over to slightly older children. The "newness" of me is wearing off. Consequently, ball-skills is becoming a bit more challenging. Last week, not too bad. But one group was sticker deprived. The group after was a bit cheeky. It had not got too bad, but still - oh boy, we were only at stretching! Flipped over to touch our toes and...my hair tie slipped. Pony tail turned into a cascading waterfall of hair and - silence.

Then...

Whoa. 

And the awe of a ton of loose hair kept them on their best behaviour till the end.

Well...this week even my hair could not save us. Chairs. Tables. The crumbling building that was my son's classroom for a month last year, is reaching catastrophic proportions. So after-care will be held in The Hall, which is also The Gym. For reasons beyond reasonable explanations, it is to be set up on Monday and kept that way till Friday morning. Permanent metal tables and chairs. Always. Even though after-care IS, by definition, AFTER school.

That said, there is a bit of room by the stage that is still usable. And it is fine. Nor am I against taking the children outside from time to time, but doing "worm races" and other such things can only be done inside. Oh - and I refuse this year to take the children to the lower field. I'm still traumatised by the peculiar ground's man that almost ran over one kid.

So by the stage we were and...like the gust of wind, like the slip - it was the spark that caused a state of chaos.

?

We had enough room. The weather was pleasant. They even came to class with smiles on their faces. (Okay, often while being naughty they were smiling, too.) The tables were not in our way. Nor were the chairs. The stage, however, proved irresistible to some and people got sent back to class. As did a "kicking" incident and other such behaviour. (Yes, when you are only two feet away from me, I can still hear you even if my back is turned. Truly amazing, that.)

To illustrate the difference: the kicking boys got sent back and LAUGHED. They proceeded to play in the sandbox without their teacher's knowledge. When their devious behaviour was revealed, still were not in the least bit sorry.

The two girls who didn't believe me that I was serious that, "The next person on the stage goes back to class," cried. Tears. I didn't raise my voice. I wasn't even angry. Just adamant that we cannot be on the stage.

Sobs. Hiccups. 

So we started that session in tears, and ended in tears.

Because one little girl threw the ball up in the air...and failed to catch it with her hands - but her nose and mouth did.

Blood.

Oh dear.

Thankfully, somebody else other than me has to deal with the first aid kit.

Needless to say, that poor kid got the two stickers. And whatever the adult equivalent of stickers is...I need some, too.

Sheesh.

Ball-skills 2010

And we're back...

A new year, and mostly new faces. Oh my goodness, some of these names are testing my tongue's flexibility. 

"Why's your name Mrs B?"

"It's short for Mrs Beautement."

Their eyes got so wide. Ha - see, it isn't only me who struggles with names. They all agreed that Mrs B worked for them!

And a new year means...we start from the beginning - all over again. Everything has to be re-introduced, including how to stretch your right arm.  We kept it very basic.

Thankfully, since the children don't know me well (or at all), they behaved beautifully out of pure awe.

The pros have also saved me from (most of) my guilt by phoning up parents and "reminding them" there are still spaces available in the course. This worked with enough folks that the numbers are much more manageable. 

Whew.

Then the head honcho of the pros pitched up at my first class and watched the whole thing.

?

To be fair, she was keeping herself busy tending to something else. But - hello - it is my first day back. MY FIRST DAY BACK. New kids. And really, I don't need that.

And this economy is really hitting people hard. I know, they say we are no longer in a recession - try telling that to parents with no jobs or a job that barely pays. I am glad their numbers increased. But at this point, I'm not taking away business - those kids are now signed up - the bottom of the barrel has been licked clean.

The numbers are still a tad too high. So some of the kids who did it last year were not going to do it this.  Or at least for now until the class gets a wee bit more advanced. The reasoning is that the kids who have not ever had a ball class need a chance.  (True) There is also the concern that because we are starting back at square 1, we risk the been-there-done-that kids getting board. (Valid Worry! - esp with a few of those boys.)

Thus, for a few I think this is the right choice.

But... some kids need as much extra attention as they can get. Even if it means suffering doing it all over again. They want the hugs. They want the stickers. It isn't about the ball.

Those two, I asked for specifically - and yes, it made that session a wee bit bigger. But it is still okay. At least while they behave ;)

But can I just say how much easier it is to run a class without a baby on your back?

Pre-school has so many advantages.