A Different Easter 2016

This year Easter was quite different for us as we were missing one of our wee family. It was the first time one of the children has been missing for a celebratory event and was quite odd and certainly a very quiet affair.

The Fashionista went on an Easter Camp with her BFF (and their family who were there as leaders). This camp is HUGE, it's for 13-18 year olds from right up the top of the country down to Gisbourne and had an estimated 5,000 attending! Whilst looking at the photos of the camp online I came across this one of kids coming back from lunch and noticed TF straight away ... can you?


Despite TF being away, we still had our annual easter egg hunt with just Agent Smelly as it didn't seem to be right for her to miss on our annual tradition -- not that she claimed to care. She is a very cruisy child and doesn't seem to like too much of a fuss or fanfare over anything. On the other hand she does have quite a sweet tooth and loves chocolate so it's pretty easy to get her to go on an egg hunt. 

Trying to keep the Fun with One

I have found it is really easy to get stale homeschooling just one child and we don't always have the same fun that we used when there were both girls to do things with. So this month I made a concentrated effort to celebrate a couple of events as I do feel a bit guilty at times that Agent Smelly's days are a bit more curriculum filled.

So on Pi Day 3.14 (14th March) we did a few Pi related activities ... including eating PIE!  

Then for St Patrick's day I made up a couple of wee treat packs (I popped one in The Fashionista's school lunch as a surprise much to her delight) and Agent Smelly was able to eat hers throughout her activities. I purchased the green lollies from a shop in the mall that just sells lollies and chocolates -- the Korean lady working there looking perplexed as she watched me sorting through the different containers so I could grab just the green ones. I did explain they were for St Patrick's day and that brought a big grin to her face. 

I found the 'shamrock nails' in a $2 Shop and threw those in for a bit of fun. 

When I do a 'special unit day', I do not include ANY of regular school work; we make it a day of all new and fun stuff. I feel like it actually revives us.

Similarly to the Pi pack, the booklet had word finds, crosswords, sudoku, word scramble, codeword puzzle, maze, etc. which I printed from free sites. Sometimes there will be a recipe in there, for instance in this case it was how to make Shamrock pancakes.

I always use a few different sites for my print outs because sometimes some of the activities may be too young for her or something we've done before. This gorgeous wee front page and some of the pages I used were from Embark on the Journey's blog page. I just use google or pinterest to find things on the subject that I am wanting to put a book together on.

Because Agent Smelly quite likes music we also listened to some Irish music, folk type and also The Pogues (her dad likes them so we have some CD's). 

I really love doing activities like this -- they learn so much whilst having fun and learning things in a completely different way. 

*Please note this post is delayed posting it's from last year. 

Piano for a Song

Both girls have often expressed how it would be cool to play the piano so recently I saw a rather old piano being sold locally for the grand price of $10.00   So of course I thought 'why not' if they don't take it to it, it's only $10 that it's cost us.  

Bonus is the Papa just loves it when I tell him things like, oh hun can you put the trailer on the car, I've just bought a piano. Well I think that's what it means when he rolls his eyes and takes a big drawn in breath. 

So we are now the proud owners of an old piano, it even came with a stool. It has a couple of sticky keys but other than that it's perfect to start learning on. Agent Smelly particularly has taken a liking to it is so we are looking for piano lessons for her. 

It's been placed in my study ... so I can close the door to save my ears ... I mean so they can practice in peace. 

First Day back at School 2016

Whilst her big sister is off in her uniform in a classroom setting, leaving at the crack of dawn, Agent Smelly settles down to do history ... laying on the couch eating an apple and reading Story of the World (Book 3).  Homeschooling rocks!

Performing Arts for The Fashionista in 2015

I just found a pile of posts sitting in my drafts that I had written but obviously forgot to post it. This is one of them. So please check the dates to see when this was actually written. 


It was a very big year for The Fashionista last year in the performing art area. She chose drama as one of her electives which they did for year 9 and of course she of course had to sign up for everything going as is her way.

Early on in the year she performed in the Sheila Winn Festival with her high school.

The Festival is an annual event that involves more than half the secondary schools in the country. During the Regional Festival, students engage with Shakespeare's plays by performing 5-minute and 15-minute excerpts from them with schools in their area.

Schools from each region are then selected to go on to participate in the National Festival.
She played one of the dancers.  Unfortunately I was sick and didn't make it but her dad and Grandma when to see the regional one she was in. Their school got best costumes I think, but the 'boys' school that they are affiliated with won and went to participate in the National Festival.

This is a pic from one of her dress rehearsals. On the night they also had colourful ribbons tied around their wrists with bells so they jingled when they performed.

She was fortunate enough to attend a Black Grace dance workshop in Auckland with her contemporary group, Manu Wairua, in April. The group was so blessed as Black Grace is New Zealand's leading contemporary founded by Neil Ieremia (on chair in pic) in 1995.

Each student got to partner up with one of BG's dancers and so got some one on one treatment. MW's 'manager' I suppose you could say (far left in the pic below) told me it was very funny to see The Fashionista doing one rather flexible move with her legs and the male BG dancer she was working with try it, and laughingly make some joke about not being quite as flexible as she was. She came home from this event on an absolute high ... the BG group are really warm, funny, flexible and helpful apparently. They were all given Black Grace t-shirts ... it's 12 months later and it is still her favourite t-shirt!

Post workshop pic of MW and BG ... I love how they felt comfortable enough with them to take a funny picture as some events the kids are quite reserved. 

Performing an exercise with one of the BG dancers.

Her drama class performed a couple of sketches in June to show off what they had been working on throughout the two terms. She was one of two given the narrators role (first pic), in the class production and then she got to perform with some of her friends in a mini piece that they had put performed in class where she was the wicked aunt (second pic).  She got a bit of the acting bug doing this course and performing ... hmmmm

Apologies for the quality of the photo, I had to cut her out of a larger one.

Outside of school she started 'en pointe' ballet and also continued with contemporary. Unfortunately due to her travelling such a distance each day to and from school the added external class were more than either of us could take much more of (I was spending hours on the road each day!) so she dropped ballet as it was three classes a week but still continued with her weekly contemporary class. Here's a pic of her the day she took her exams, which she passed.

All of the members of Manu Wairua, except for The Fashionista, attend the same small character School (120 students in total). This school is a very progressive maori school (although you don't have to be Maori to attend there). One of the very talented lasses, who started the group, has been sitting her High school levels in dance and had to choreograph and perform a repertoire as part of her assessment and as they don't have a lot of dancers at their school to choose from so they asked XXXX to help out.

She practiced with her partner a few times and had one practice with the group before going on that night. They were the finale and did really well. It was a war based theme, with very strong and theatrical music.

It was a great night held at a centre in the middle of Hamilton. Some students performed a scene if they were doing drama, some performed on a musical instrument and a few sung with a band they had in to accompany the students. They were being assessed as they performed their routines and they did so well.

Around the same time she was also rehearsing for her schools annual performance. Her girls high school joins together with Boys High each year to put on a big school performance. They each take it in turns to host and run the event. In 2015 it was Boys High's turn to run the event and they chose Jesus Christ Superstar. She actually was one of two year 9 girls (there were about 300 girls in year 9 but of course they didn't all apply or audition) to get a part as a dancer in the show. She was over the moon as you can well imagine.

There were hours and hours and hours of work putting this performance together. Every Sunday between 1 and 6 she attended rehearsals at Boys High, along with another 1-2 nights a week there also. On top of that the dancers rehearsed through their lunch breaks at school for the special performances they were doing in the show that didn't involve the rest of the case. It was tiring that's for sure. 

They ended up performing about 6 shows in July and I have got to say, trying not to be biased, that the show was just AMAZING. The singers were awesome, the dancers perfectly rehearsed and looked so professional, and the student band (up the back in the pics) just first class. Anyone who saw the show was just blown away by it.

She just loved being with the cast and crew and they really bonded during the rehearsals. She still has some amazing friends, even a couple of males ones, from this event. I think I was the highlight of her year. During this show the acting and performing bug hit her BIG TIME and she now wants to pursue it as a career.

She's the wee angel up the back right. She did a beautiful job.

Photo by Cirrus Photography

Can you spot her? She's the wee one at the front left.

Photograph by Feisty Photography

Waiting back stage to go on.

In November she performed in her new dance academy's recital doing contemporary. She was only in the one dance as it is a large school and the recital lasted for about 2 1/2 hours or more!

When I advised the owner early this year that she wouldn't be returning, who also was one of two of her ballet teachers, she told me that she thought she danced beautifully in the recital and that she was welcome back anytime, which was just lovely as she is a very exacting teacher who does not give praise lightly.

My favourite photo taken by the photographer the school hired - she hates it.

That's her in the front, middle.

The Fashionista becomes a Teenager

I just found a pile of posts sitting in my drafts that I had written but obviously forgot to post it. This is one of them. So please check the dates to see when this was actually written as some are over a year old now. 


My darling Fashionista turned 13 recently. We are in the middle of renovations and she didn't really want a party (well anything we could agree on anyway) so I took her down to our bach with a friend for a couple of nights whilst Agent Smelly was away on camp a week later.

She is a particularly amazing young lady. She is extremely intelligent, well-mannered and a delight to have around. Her determination and courage blows me away at times and I can only look on in awe at what her Papa and I have created. 

Oh for the Love of Onions

One afternoon some dear homeschooling friends of ours (9 kids!) that live locally called to ask if we'd be interested in heading off to some nearby paddocks to collect some onions with them and we jumped at the chance.

Every year once the onion (or potato) pickers have been through the paddocks, our friends  get permission to go in afterwards and collect any produce that hadn't made the grade. They go with another family (of 8!) and this year were kind enough to offer us an invitation to come along too.

Our haul after we have given some away to Grandma and friends.

It was a lovely evening and the girls and I had a great time grabbing the onions off the fields. All that bending and hauling bags was hard work but really rewarding. Agent Smelly spent more time talking to one of her friends so only managed a couple of half bags much to our amusement. The Fashionista despite picking with her bestie did a great job and collected a few bags.

There weren't so many red ones left and those that were, were quite small. We still collected enough to see us through for quite a while. There were loads of brown ones that were of really good quality too, I am not sure why they leave some of them. We got a great haul ... imagine how much our friends got with their crews!!!  These onions would have been simply ploughed back into the ground if we hadn't of picked the left overs so if you live anywhere near some onion fields (or some other produce) write to the people and ask if you can clear out the paddocks after they've finished picking them, you might be lucky like us and be given permission to pop along and clean up.

As we now have onions a-plenty I had the girls help me make some onion soup. We learnt that it used to be made by peasants during a time when they could not afford much and hence was referred to as "peasant soup". The papa and I don't mind it but the girls have suggested I don't ever make it again, even if we end up living as peasants.

COLLINS, Suzanne

Suzanne COLLINS is the author of the extremely popular dystopian trilogy, THE HUNGER GAMES.

When I first read The Hunger Games, it was with the view to see whether it would be suitable for my tweens girls. I decided that it was not at all suitable, I found it terribly violent, teens being manipulated to kill each other in order to survive and an evil, controlling government using people like puppets.

After a while, and much pressure from them for the chance to read it, and discussions with friends who have children of similar ages I decided to let them read and I do not regret it one little bit as it turned out to be an amazing series for lots of discussions.

We discussed the heroine, Katniss, in depth. Was she a hero? She volunteered to take the place of her little sister, whose name had been pulled to enter the fight, in a sort of reality show where teens fight to the death. That was indeed brave but she still entered the game and ended up being 'involved' in some deaths of other entrants. Is it brave to let others die in order to save our own necks?

We discussed some characters who were indeed innocents who were killed in the "games", thus pointing out that in war there are always innocent people with families who lose their lives.

We discussed Haymitch, who had won a previous Hunger Games, and was an alcoholic and still suffered nightmares many years later from his involvement in the games. We discussed 'Post Traumatic Syndrome" and how so many people/soldiers suffer long after wars are ended and some simply never recover.

We also had a big discussion on classism; the Capitol (the government who ran all the districts) and how these fat cats lived very different lives to those in some of the districts that were poor and suffered greatly. Despite the Capitol being a rather futuristic and over-exaggerated city, we talked about the similarities between that place and our own governments and major capitols now.

Don't get me wrong, I still don't think that the books are particularly well written and they are violent but they do have a way of making you want to read them to the very end simply to see what happens. I would definitely recommend letting your teen read them but I would strongly recommend that you read the books yourself first in order to discuss them with the child as you go along. Also if they are particularly sensitive some of the scenes may upset them.  

The Fashionista (12)     -- 3 out of 5 stars
Agent Smelly      (10)    -- 4 out of 5 stars
The Mama   (over 20)   -- 3 out of 5 stars
 

Balloons Over Waikato

If you are a hot air balloon enthusiast then Hamilton, NZ is a great place to visit for 5 days every March. Each morning the balloons ascend over Hamilton and land somewhere different throughout the day - often a primary school. For the past 15 years they have been holding the Balloons Over Waikato and it is quite an event for the town.




Agent Smelly reading and listening to music whilst waiting for dusk to fall.


This year I took Agent Smelly to the highlight of the Festival which is the orchestrated Balloon Glow Show and a dramatic fireworks finale. (The Fashionista was also there with a school friend and her family and we met up afterwards). Whilst waiting for the "Night Glow" there are bands playing live music which I have to say was really very good. A lot of modern yet popular tunes with some very recognisable older and always popular songs. I quite enjoyed watching the small children amongst the very large crowd dancing away to the tunes. 

The balloons glow to orchestrated music finishing with the best fireworks display in town. Here's a picture taken with my phone. It is a huge even and we were quite a distance from the balloons. Unfortunately the weather was starting to change as we were there so the weirdly shaped balloons did not get put up as they were concerned about the weather conditions.

Photo taken from the Balloons Over Waikato website as linked above.

As it was the rain started, albeit gently, just a few minutes after the fireworks finished and we were walking across the fields back to the car. Unfortunately the final lift off the next morning had to be cancelled due to the inclement weather setting in.

Remembering a camera would have been handy ...

Balloons over Waikato

If you are a hot air balloon enthusiast then Hamilton, NZ is a great place to visit for 5 days every March. Each morning the balloons ascend over Hamilton and land somewhere different throughout the day - often a primary school. For the past 15 years they have been holding the Balloons Over Waikato and it is quite an event for the town.




Agent Smelly reading and listening to music whilst waiting for dusk to fall.


This year I took Agent Smelly to the highlight of the Festival which is the orchestrated Balloon Glow Show and a dramatic fireworks finale. (The Fashionista was also there with a school friend and her family and we met up afterwards). Whilst waiting for the "Night Glow" there are bands playing live music which I have to say was really very good. A lot of modern yet popular tunes with some very recognisable older and always popular songs. I quite enjoyed watching the small children amongst the very large crowd dancing away to the tunes. 

The balloons glow to orchestrated music finishing with the best fireworks display in town. Here's a picture taken with my phone. It is a huge even and we were quite a distance from the balloons. Unfortunately the weather was starting to change as we were there so the weirdly shaped balloons did not get put up as they were concerned about the weather conditions.

Photo taken from the Balloons Over Waikato website as linked above.

As it was the rain started, albeit gently, just a few minutes after the fireworks finished and we were walking across the fields back to the car. Unfortunately the final lift off the next morning had to be cancelled due to the inclement weather setting in.

Remembering a camera would have been handy ...

April Fools Day ...

It's April Fools Day and I just realised that I forgot to trick The Fashionista before I dropped her off at the bus stop this morning, so I decided that I would simply have to text her and this is what has transpired ...
 
Now first of all we have a painter in doing the spare room, bathroom, hallway off her bedroom, etc. at the moment. It's quite early and he isn't here yet but that didn't stop me.

Me: "Sonny tripped and got paint all over you room!!! So cross right now"
 
TF: "Over the carpet or walls????"
 
Me: "Both!!! Bookshelf, door, wall!!!!"
 
TF: "On my stuff?"
 
TF again: "I'll murder him"  (someone needs some sleep ... )
 
TF again: "What was he doing in my room anyway?"
 
Me: "little bit ... it's 'mostly' coming off" (I was replying to the first line with my old lady fingers but she was firing them through)

TF: "Brilliant! Just great!"

Me: "by the way Happy Aril Fools Day. :p "

Red My Lips 2015

Now I do not usually wear lipstick these days. I am not against it, after years of wearing makeup to an office, I suppose I just enjoy the fact I don't have to "doll up" each day. Through the month of April though I will be endeavouring to wear bright RED lipstick each time I go out or have people over.



This is not about vanity. It is about visibility.

Why, you may be wondering. Well first I will explain what Red My Lips is ...

"Red My Lips is an international nonprofit organization based out of the U.S. We run an annual global awareness campaign where our fierce and fearless supporters rock red lipstick all throughout the month of April (Sexual Assault Awareness Month) to demonstrate solidarity and support for survivors and start important conversations with people in their lives. Red My Lips is designed to raise visibility and awareness about the realities and prevalence of sexual violence, while combatting rape myths and victim-blaming.  

 

We continue to convince ourselves that rape only happens to 'those girls' who 'weren't careful,' 'gave mixed signals,' or 'put themselves in a bad situation.'  This tendency to deny, shame, or blame survivors who come forward only serves to convince other survivors that they are wise to keep quiet, giving those who perpetrate these crimes free reign to continue doing so without consequence. Additionally, we frequently misunderstand rape and sexual assault as something provoked by uncontrollable sexual attraction or desire...instead of what it is: an act of domination, entitlement, and violence.

Wearing red lipstick in April allows supporters to speak out against these damaging myths and victim-blaming attitudes.  It allows us all to stand in solidarity with survivors and refuse to be invisible...refuse to be silent."

Above quote taken directly from the Red My Lips website.


Did you know ...

• that in the UN report of 2011 sweet little old NZ was ranked worst of all OECD countries in rates of sexual violence. That shocked me!
• Only 13% of recorded rapes by the police are actually convicted!  That makes me so freaken cross. Just 13%, how many people are out there having gotten away with it people ... how many!
• 90% of sexual assaults are by someone known to the victim.
• In New Zealand, up to one in three girls will be subject to an unwanted sexual experience by the age of 16 years. The majority of those incidences would be considered serious, with over 70% involving genital contact. As a mother of young girls this stat scares the shit out of me!
• In NZ up to one in five women will experience a sexual assault as an adult.
• There are varying rates for sexual violence offences against males but large scale international prevalence studies have tended to find a figure of one in seven boys.

 So when someone comments on my red lips, which I am sure they will, as frankly it's not a colour that suits me, I can explain why I am wearing it. 

Please check out this very worthwhile cause whether you're a male of female. If you males can't wear red lippy but would like to show support, how about wearing a red tie for the total month! Or you could even wear a pair of red lips on a brooch.

 

No more blaming and shaming, and silence ... lets show support!

Big red lips kisses from me!

Red My Lips website ... http://redmylips.org/
Red My Lips Facebook Page link ... https://www.facebook.com/redlipstick4acause?fref=nf

The A-Z Challenge 2015 Big Reveal

For the last couple of years I have been inspired to join the A-Z blog challenge and I start off with great gusto but always something ends up throwing me completely off (an illness or something) and I have not yet completed one challenge. Last years effort was completely abysmal and I wasn't going to bother this year but a fellow blogger suggested this could be the year that I actually complete it.

For those who don't know what the Ato Z Challenge entails, basically you post something every day in April except Sundays and as there are 26 days (minus the Sundays) that matches the letters in the alphabet. So on April 1, the blog will be about something that begins with the letter “A.” April 2 “B,” April 3 “C,” and so on. You can blog about anything at all as long as it matches the letter of the day.


Having a theme is optional but personally I think it's easier if you do have a theme (especially when I find it so hard to thing of blog ideas at the best of times), so this year I have chosen the theme of "Teen and Tween Books". There might be a slight twist though and I am very much cheating as I have enlisted my two little buddies here to help provide some of the posts. 


It's also recommended that you keep your posts short as what you are asked to do each day, is check out about 5 blogs that are also participating in the challenge (there's a HUGE list of participants). It's a bit of a way to meet some new bloggers and increase your audience I suppose you could say. Frankly, I am not too worried about increasing my audience (if I was worried about numbers I'd have stopped blogging way back ... lol), I just want to finish one darn challenge!  I also quite like reading and finding other blogs from the list. I still follow a few blogs a couple of years later, they weren't even homeschooling ones, which is usually my main focus too.


Anyway if you are mad enough to join me, please do, then let me know so we can support each other ... who's up for it?

Here's the link to sign up, c'mon you know you want to. 

Mana Wairua's First Workshop

This year The Fashionista  joined a recently formed "Youth Contemporary Dance Company" named - Mana Wairua, set up by the amazing dancing son and daughter, of one of TF's old teachers.  Their aim is to perform at festivals and other events.

Last week they were lucky to attend a two day contemporary dance workshop.

 

 

 

 

Cathy Livermore (in the black top on the right) 'discover all that you are' and an amazing dancer and choreographer, took them on the Saturday and again on the Sunday. Cathy is originally from Aussie but has Maori roots which brought her back to NZ to investigate further and she has really become involved in the Maori culture and incorporating it into her dance. She's simply the loveliest, most authentic woman.

 

 

 

Here's Cathy working with the Kila Kokonut Krew, at the factory, who toured Aussie last year along with the Endiburgh Festival.

 

 

Trey Pickett visiting from New Mexico, USA taught them on the Saturday. Trey is the sweetest most beautiful man and he doesn't actually seem to dance, dance simply seems to be part of him, just like you and I breathe, he just dances.

 

"Trey Pickett is an acclaimed performer and choreographer in New Mexico. He was first inspired as a young boy performing with his family when he then ventured into street dancing. Trey's passion for dance has grown through-out the years and has inspired him to share his passion by opening his own dance company, Disciples of Chaos(DC). He has performed in NY, has danced in the UNM dance program, as well as being the first black principle dancer at New Mexico Ballet Company."

 

 

This is from YouTube, there's a few other things on there with Trey also.

 

Anyway TF really enjoyed it but there were parts where she was VERY out of her comfort level. The students were asked to really be authentic and to simply throw themselves into it but there was still a bit of stiltedness and reservedness (I could have just made those words up) in them which I think will go with more time and further experience.


TF hadn't never danced with a male before and the kids all had to dance together and had to sometimes touch and connect, and she felt a bit conscious doing this as a lot of 12 year olds would I imagine. They also brought a lot of Maori spiritualism into it and it is all quite new to her but it was seriously a really great experience and she enjoyed but felt a bit lost at times. It was a steep learning experience for her. She actually has been loving learning more about the Maori culture and dance, so is getting more than she bargained for with this beautiful cultural opportunity being added to her dancing.


How lucky are these kids to get these opportunities to learn from professionals, at such a young age and there's a different work shop coming up soon!!!


If you'd like to follow these kids and their contemporary dance group, they can be found on Facebook on this link ... Mana Wairua - NZ  The more likes and support the better!