3 months ago we left DownUnder to chance an opportunity back home. We left our steady and comfortable job. We took the kids out of a fantastic school. We left behind an amazing church. We left behind an amazing bunch of friends. We left behind a good life in pursuit of a chance in a lifetime. A chance to own and run an oil-palm plantation, in a country that is one of the biggest palm-oil producer/exporter in the world.
So here we are; temporarily living with my kind parents, still looking out for a rental house to live out of. That in itself is a 'shock' to our system. Always having our own home and landlords ourselves, being in a reversed role is somewhat a little hard to swallow. Nonetheless, great lesson to be learnt. Our cargo full of household stuff from DownUnder still sits in boxes, strewn across my parents formal living and outside verandah.
I've chosen to homeschool J & M, despite alot of opinions from very well intended people. I am thinking of only the best for the kids; they do not and cannot yet speak the local language. So placing them in a local school would be very foolish of me. The thought of locking them up into a school term also troubles me as I forsee spending a lot of time in the plantation when it is more established in the near future.
So where are we now?
J is doing great progress with his Homeschool. I admit that we don't stick too much to the work schedule as we still have errands to run during the course of the week. He enjoys Astro (what kids don't!) especially TVIQ. Seeing how educational the show is, I don't reprimand them too much for watching a little more TV than I normally would allow them. I am blessed to have found fantastic piano teachers for J & M. J's piano teacher was a concert-pianist and has a natural love for teaching music to kids. His wife is M's teacher, who is also my new trusted friend (;-). She is lovely with M, very gentle yet firm with M.
J's taekwondo coach is good too. I think she is/was a national coach and trains champion fighter. Yet, she is very kind and gentle with J. She doesn't push or force J into doing things he is uncomfortable with, like sparring! The other kids at taekwondo are also alot older than J. Being only 8, he is probably 4-6 years younger than the lot. BUT they take the time to teach and show him moves, if they see he is lost. He usually is, my poor bub but he tells me he doesn't mind. The look on his face says he enjoys the class.
(more next post)
So here we are; temporarily living with my kind parents, still looking out for a rental house to live out of. That in itself is a 'shock' to our system. Always having our own home and landlords ourselves, being in a reversed role is somewhat a little hard to swallow. Nonetheless, great lesson to be learnt. Our cargo full of household stuff from DownUnder still sits in boxes, strewn across my parents formal living and outside verandah.
I've chosen to homeschool J & M, despite alot of opinions from very well intended people. I am thinking of only the best for the kids; they do not and cannot yet speak the local language. So placing them in a local school would be very foolish of me. The thought of locking them up into a school term also troubles me as I forsee spending a lot of time in the plantation when it is more established in the near future.
So where are we now?
J is doing great progress with his Homeschool. I admit that we don't stick too much to the work schedule as we still have errands to run during the course of the week. He enjoys Astro (what kids don't!) especially TVIQ. Seeing how educational the show is, I don't reprimand them too much for watching a little more TV than I normally would allow them. I am blessed to have found fantastic piano teachers for J & M. J's piano teacher was a concert-pianist and has a natural love for teaching music to kids. His wife is M's teacher, who is also my new trusted friend (;-). She is lovely with M, very gentle yet firm with M.
J's taekwondo coach is good too. I think she is/was a national coach and trains champion fighter. Yet, she is very kind and gentle with J. She doesn't push or force J into doing things he is uncomfortable with, like sparring! The other kids at taekwondo are also alot older than J. Being only 8, he is probably 4-6 years younger than the lot. BUT they take the time to teach and show him moves, if they see he is lost. He usually is, my poor bub but he tells me he doesn't mind. The look on his face says he enjoys the class.
(more next post)
