How do you know you're feeling better?

I think tucking into giant prawns is a very good sign...whether it's the metronidazole or otherwise I am back to feeling human.
A weekend in paradise is just what the doctor ordered!! That and the company of the Hereford team who graciously engaged our children in endless card games & pool play whilst their parents had some much needed downtime.

 

I am treating us girls to an extra couple of nights here in Peponi whilst M takes the others back for work in Muheza tomorrow. It's their first week of school holidays so I think limiting ourselves to only a few days in the hustle & bustle back in town is wise. Although, having spent virtually the last month nonstop in each others company it feels very odd to be here for a night without M.

One of the big pluses (although could be seen as one of the challenges!) of the last month is that we have eaten virtually all our meals together (except for lunches with the girls at school). It is not uncommon in the UK for us to only eat together at weekends as M is usually gone before the girls are up and then more often than not returns to a plate to heat up.

My mind has been turning this weekend as to what happens after these school holidays. We had arranged, after many hours of being passed around in circles, that the girls' schools could keep their places for our return. It turns out that it's not very simple to go off volunteering & not jeopardise your children's opportunities back home. However, a wonderful person somewhere deep in the county council realised that there are many ways of keeping a child registered with a school, other than being committed to a young offenders institution. I digress...but ultimately as long as they are attending school here, then school back home can welcome us back with open arms. And here in lies the problem...school here may well be more than the smallest person can bear, and  may be pushing it a step too far for the middle one. But if we admit defeat on school here....then do I renege on my promise that they can go back to their beloved village school when we get home??

I know plenty of you would also be asking how am I going to manage work for me if I'm home schooling. And yes, a bit of work for me is important for my experience of this place, for my sanity, and for the breadth of things I have to offer (on top of old mcdonald lessons & xmas crafts). So....here's my plan......home school for bit in mornings, then source lovely Tanzanian lady to look after B at home (have realised that although housekeeper is lovely, asking her to engage with 5 yr old whilst doing mountains of laundry each day is pushing it) whilst I work for bit, then home for more 'school' in afternoons. 

Will see how L fares after the holidays - keen for her to do some school, mainly so she has a change of scene for some of the day. But this was never going to be a breeze for our homegirl, who I think would rather have missed her parents & stayed home with the bunnies.

Have been experimenting with home school styles - thanks Mum for those years of ad hoc maths on the beach, trips to museums dressed as romans etc. My conclusion so far is that child led learning really does seem to work! B had stubbornly decided we were not going to do lessons at home. But having asked her what she wanted to do, we then worked through telling the time, counting in roman numerals, currency, counting in 2s, 5s & 10s, researching African wildlife (now how many of you know how many eggs a crocodile lays? or how many of them make it to adulthood? or how many spots there are on a giraffe?), weighing & measuring and writing poetry...all in an hour & a half of intense interest. And she didn't even realise we were doing 'schoolwork'. Cue me reading lots of home school blogs.

But as they say, the best laid plans......trying to do it all never really works- but maybe this will be a happy medium. 

But first I am in travel agent mode, booking our safari for next week and then something for Christmas week. So many amazing things to do in this country.....