Tuesday, 14 April 2020

COVID19 HOME SCHOOLING

We have been in lockdown for 21 days and today my son's have begun their school online learning from home. Mr 12 is set up and already doing his work πŸ‘ Mr 14 hasn't been sorted yet so till he is I'm home schooling him with Maths, Writing and Reading.

We did some timetables today and I'm shocked that he doesn't know all of them so will work on it with him, it's a challenge for me too since I hate numbers so relearning my timestables too.

MAY 4 2020

Now in level 3 and Home Schooling continues into its 4th week πŸ™„

Today Me and Hubby helped each of our sons with different subjects and hubby started to take over. I raised my voice to him saying 'stop taking over, I'm here and when you takeover it makes me feel helpless'.
Hubby backed right off understanding how I feel.

In the past I've been emotionally abused and had my control taken from me so when anyone tries to takeover something I'm doing it triggers me and I get annoyed. Just wanted to share why I reacted the way I did with hubby trying to takeover.

Back to the present.

My challenge with Home schooling is time management to fit subjects in with their weekly timetable and hubby being dominant doesn't help my stress either, always coming home from work and cracking his whip (metaphorically speaking) thinking he's the boss. I feel a lot of pressure expected to do as I did before COVID19 lockdown and now the extra stuff, very physically and mentally challenging.
It's not about just me, my whanau and tamariki are all stressed too πŸ˜”

8 MAY 2020 LOCKDOWN LEVEL 2

Now into week 4 of home schooling I've realised both my son's ages 12, 14 don't know their timetables off by heart 😱 A shocking discovery and now I'm aware this is my main focus.

15 MAY 2020

Last week for online learning and home schooling. Did maths Basic Facts addition, subtraction, multiplication, division. Once finished I praised both my son's for their effort doing their maths thinking its a pain in the ass for them and Mr 14 said to me "I like that you care" πŸ€—



Friday, 20 March 2020

Parent Help School Camp



PLEASE NOTE THIS CAMP WAS WEEKS BEFORE COVID19 


OMG what the hell was I thinking to Parent Help on my son's school camp. How did this happen?

Hubby has always done our sons school camps cos he drives and I don't and camps usually need parents to drive to provide transport to and from camp and sometimes driving on camp. I checked with teacher in charge of camp if me not driving would affect their parent help, no so I gave hubby a break except he did drive us and 2 kids to and from camp. 

So that's how I ended as Parent Help.

The camp was 4 days, 3 nights.

DAY 1

Hubby drives me and our son to school to get instructions where to drive for our meeting place.
That done having teacher tell us Parent Help what our roles are regarding duties and responsibilities. 

We all get into car and drive off. 

Hubby used the GPS on his phone but it was giving wrong directions and we ended off track. I used my data to use my GPS app and it got us back on track and we found the meeting place at the designated time 😊

A quick food/drink break then back on the road to the camp's final destination.

We arrive at camp and to my horror I see tents 😱 I was thinking WTF are you serious. Yes we all had tents to sleep in.
Backtrack when I read the info it wasn't clear that everyone would be sleeping in tents, it seemed we were sleeping in bunk rooms, that's what I was lead to believe.
Anyway we all grab our stuff find our tent and unpack stuff we need. The kids were in groups for their tents, all adults had their own tent 




The camp area was divided into 3 main areas and to get to them there were steps to walk up and down. Top area was bathrooms and kitchen. Middle area was feeding and meeting place. Bottom area was tent site. 

With bathroom it was toilet beside shower with wall in between, no lock so I never showered not trusting full privacy. 

Back to DAY 1. After unpacking we ended going for a walk down to the Warf. Weather was hot and the walk was tiring due to the heat. 
While walking I would stay at the back to be sure no one was left behind, plus I was slow walking so it fit well for me πŸ˜‰

I ended walking with 2 girls and one touched a bumblebee on the ground, yes it bit her. Her finger became red and sore. Once we arrived at the Warf I showed teacher what had happened and we applied some first aid to help relieve her pain. I turned to her and said "What have you learned today?" 
She replied "Not to touch bees". 🐝 
Bees are furry and tempting to touch but with eyes only not hands. 

After walking in the hot sun we all make it to the 
Warf. The kids had choice whether they would jump or not and most did and wore a life jacket, there were 2 parent helpers in water to help the kids in the water, both wearing life jackets too. Safety first πŸ‘

Watching the kids face their fear of heights and overcoming them by jumping off the Warf was great to see, more so my son, he needed encouragement and took the plunge literally jumping in waterπŸ’¦ Felt so proud 😊



The Warf was the highlight of Day 1.

That night the kids couldn't sleep cos of their excitement being at camp and were very noisy, took ages for them to sleep. 

DAY 2

Annoyingly some kids woke too early and disturbed others trying to sleep through to the allowed time to wake up 0700. I heard kids running round my tent, looked at time on my phone 0430, I was thinking "Are you kidding me?" Later I found out the kids by my tent were chasing a hedgehog, kids said it was trying to get inside my tent πŸ˜…


All the kids were in groups for their jobs and there were Parents to be sure all groups did their jobs. The everyday jobs were breakfast, lunch, tea and it included prep and cleaning up afterwards. It was great seeing the kids with responsibility and expectations from them, even cleaning toilet. 

For the teacher to get attention she used a whistle and by the end of camp I was happy not to hear that whistle ever again, it drove me crazy with its piercing sound πŸ”ŠπŸ™„

The activity was The Giant Swing. A 30 degrees day so we all had our water bottles. First mission to walk up a hill. I ended right at the back again making sure no one was left behind and again I was slow so best place for me. The hill was murder to walk up in the heat, halfway up I was huffing and puffing trying to catch my breath thinking 'my gym workout is easier than this'.
Finally make it to top of hill πŸ˜€

The instructor tells us all how the Giant Swing works which is required teamwork, everyone had their part to play. Basically we were in a line pulling a rope that pulled the person on Giant Swing up the hill, in the extreme heat it was exhausting. 

It came to my son's turn who is terrified of heights he needed A Lot of encouragement just to have him try. Step by step my son overcame his fear to did it 😊 Felt very proud of him feeling his fear and doing it anyway.



The kids slept well that night 😴

DAY 3

With each day the mornings were getting harder feeling exhausted from daily activities and sleeping in tent on hard ground, plus now have my son staying with me cos he's feeling homesick. It was nice to have his company though πŸ€—

Activity Kayaking. 

We meet our instructor and gather round in a circle saying our names to help them know who we are, it helped me too, I didn't know any of the kids names before camp and this repeated getting to know names activity helped me a lot. Being Parent Help it was important to know how many kids and who they were in our group. 

Instructions given we walk up to grab our safety gear



Once safety gear is on we hop into van and drive to beach. 
We arrive at beach when I realise my water bottle wasn't with me, I had left it behind at the gear shed Doh. Not making a deal of it I just hoped it would still be there when we returned. 
Just as I was getting out of van I lose my hair tie so by the end of activity it was messy and knotty. 

Anyway. We get to beach and Instructor demonstrates out of water how to use our paddles being sure everyone is doing it right. 
The instructor brings us to kayaks and shows us how to use them. Now it was the real deal to use what we just learned out on the water πŸ’¦

Most of us were in double kayaks so both of us had to work together to paddle, my son ended in same kayak as me. Paddling was hard with a strong cross wind that caught us and put us in wrong direction. First time we lost control and ended needing a rescue, sooo lol, good test to know if in trouble help would be there 😜

After that fun experience we started to work together and improved our paddling a lot. Such hard exhausting work, wasn't a fan and other kids felt the same 😒

Activity done we all helped bring the kayaks onto beach and up to trailer. I helped extra by carrying the paddles. I was happy it was over, an experience I wouldn't be repeating anytime soon. Kayaking involves fitness and coordination and when in doubles teamwork is vital. Knowing your left from right is helpful too. 

The kids go for a swim still wearing their life jackets till its time to head back to gear shed. 

Once back at gear shed I'm relieved to see my water bottle is still there 'phew'.
We go through more instructions what to do to get safety gear off and lots of us unzip when we were told not to, easy to forget, yes I did it too but quickly zipped it up before being noticed πŸ˜‰

All gear returned we walk back to camp. 

It was a quiet night 😴

DAY 4

Our last day and by now my energy levels have plummeted feeling exhausted, irritable just happy it's the last day πŸ˜€

Final activity Coasteering. 

As usual we meet up in our groups with our instructor gathered in a circle getting to know each others names. I almost know all kids names in my group now. 

We walk to the gear shed and an important thing I was told to wear thermal underneath swimsuit cos even when wet it still kept warm. We were told to wear shorts underneath and on top of swimsuit to prevent rips. I forgot shorts to wear over swimsuit and like mother like son he forgot too, lucky they had spare shorts we could wear. 



All sorted we drive to location for Coasteering. 

At the top of hill and I feel anxious with my heart racing, taking slow deep breaths to calm myself down. 
Instructor shows us how to climb down the rope leaving space between each person with a parent help in middle and the other at end, yes me. The other parent voiced concern when I said I'd stay at the end of rope and I said cos I'd slow everyone down this was my reason. 
With everyone ahead I started to climb down backwards just holding onto the rope and not being able to see where I was heading freaked me out 😳 I panicked and yelled for help. Yes I needed the instructor to guide me down to the bottom. Again testing if you need a rescue it would happen 😜

Finally get to bottom of hill soo relieved, huffing and puffing to catch my breath back. Instructor voiced concern if I'd be ok climbing uphill to get back, I reassured her Yes and that going downhill backwards not seeing where I'm going was the worst part, I'd be fine climbing uphill. 

More instructions how to walk round the rocks without hurting our hands on tiny barnacles. I hated walking on the rocks, exhausting work. We come to a high rock to jump off into the water. As Parent Help I had to do it to be in the water to help anyone who needed it. Once in water I was happy. Water is my friend πŸ’¦πŸ€—

After Instructor jumped I did too and kids followed. Before we jumped we had to think of our favourite ice cream flavour (clever distraction from feeling anxious to jump). My son was scared but with encouragement he did it 😊 (no pics taken couldn't being in water). 

After jump we get back on rocks, do more walking to another jump a little higher than the last. If any kid didn't want to jump they weren't forced, my son didn't jump and that was okay. Of course I had to and when I hit the water I didn't jump out far enough and hit a rock, not seriously just grazed it with my leg protected with shorts and swimsuit so no big deal πŸ˜‰ Again loved being in the water πŸ’¦πŸ˜Š

After all jumps more walking on rocks till finally we are back at bottom of hill where we started. 
OMG climbing uphill was murder 😱 I was huffing and puffing struggling to breathe till got to the top, taking slow deep breaths to slow my heart rate and get back to normal. At top the other parent help had marshmallows for us to eat, very kind πŸ€—
Funny thing was when offered a marshmallow I said I had dirty hands and when my son reached the top of hill some time after me and was offered a marshmallow from packet he said same thing that he had dirty hands, like mother like son. 

Coasteering complete. Back to return safety gear and dress, yes wearing thermals kept me warm in water and once swimsuit and thermal were removed I shivered brrr. 

Short walk back to camp to pack up our stuff and be sure all rubbish is taken care of. Thankfully we didn't have to take down tents cos another camp was arriving that day. 

All stuff packed we drive to area to have lunch. 

Hubby shows up and gets hugs from my son and me, it felt sooo good to hold him feeling I needed it, felt very homesick and happy to be going home πŸ€—

To sum up I learned many things to pass on to anyone who has thought of being Parent Help on school camp. 

First know how you will be sleeping e.g tents, bunk beds. Sleep is damn important so be sure to bring what you need to sleep well 😴

Bring snacks for everyday, you'll need them to keep up your energy to face everyday activities. I had snacks just for the first 2 days and needed more as my energy reduced each following day. 

The camp checklist for your child, if you think something is unnecessary on the list check with teacher, you don't want to carry extra stuff that's not needed e.g sunscreen was provided for all. 

Get fit. Fitness is vital to cope with everyday activities that are physically challenging always exhausting, lucky to have been going to gym beforehand, even then I still found it bloody challenging to keep up with everyone. 

Patience you will need lots of it, thankfully we got downtime everyday to rest and distance ourself for some ME time, you will need it 😜

You will discover your strengths and weaknesses during camp. My strength was water, weakness heights, hill climbing. Also I'm seen as a nurturer not authority figure, taking charge didn't go well as kids didn't respect me as much as the male parent helpers, mainly boys, being a Mum with boys it's to be expected. I was there to care if kids needed it e.g girl who got bit by bumblebee needed first aid, give certain kids encouragement to feel their fear and do it anyway e.g doing the Giant Swing when scared of heights. 

As Parent Help I did my best not to hover over my son or give him special treatment in front of the other kids, didn't want my son seen as a Mummy's boy, so kept my distance during downtime and was there if he needed me. 

Being Parent Help gave both me and my son an advantage by sharing information given to me to help prepare for the activities e.g wear thermals for Coasteering to keep warm. 

I was glad to have this opportunity to Parent Help on my son's school camp, being able to take pics and share this experience with my son will be memorable. 


                          Notes of appreciation ❤️❤️❤️

Monday, 26 November 2018

PARENT HELP

Today was my first time doing parent help at my son's intermediate school for their Top Team Canterbury Sports. When I arrived went to reception to find out where I was supposed to be and was told to sign in. I was like "What do you mean sign in?" I had to use a tablet, type in my name and my reason for being there which was Parent Help. Once done a ticket was printed, a reminder to return and sign out before I left.

Parent help at primary school is very different to intermediate, the primary kids are better behaved than the intermediate. I guess it's an age thing when intermediate kids are going through puberty and controlled by their hormones.  My station was a water one and some kids got silly and threw water over each other. The morning was year 8 and afternoon year 7 and the year 7 kids misbehaved more think cos it was the afternoon and they were all tired, compared to year 8 who did their Top Team in the morning, start of day with lots of energy.

With morning session I had to keep buckets full of water so had a hose in my hand most of the time and since I couldn't move I had the kids demonstrate what to do, as another helper said "I was multi-tasking". In arvo session some kids got out of hand being silly wasting water pouring it over each other and jumping in the buckets full of water thankfully a teacher saw this came over to me and got me to swap. I was grateful they took notice and helped me out of it.

I had some kids that worked well in their teams doing what the instructions said and others let their team down just not doing it at all. One boy tried to argue with me, thankfully at the end to move on to the next one I just said "Don't argue" wrote their score and ignored him. My experience parenting a now 13 year old has taught me if kids don't listen I won't argue and ignore them. For my own sons they have screen time so for any naughty behaviour they lose some screen time, this has been working well, even better for me to not argue with them saves my voice (in the past I've actually lost my voice from shouting way too much). It's called 'Drop the Rope' for any parent who has done a parenting course they'll know what this means.

To sum up my experience with parent help intermediate school it definately had it's moments, I enjoyed it anyway and when I needed help with the kids that got out of hand it was noticed and taken care of, great to have support when needed.

Sunday, 13 May 2018

Mothers Day Fun Run/Walk

Yes my Mothers Day tradition is to take part in The Mothers Day Fun Run/Walk have been doing it since 2013, great way to have time for myself away from "mum this, and mum that". Don't get me wrong I love my sons it's just good to have some time away doing what I enjoy.

How my tradition started was I saw an ad in local newspaper for the event and just showed up on the day, no training at all. It was at Rugby Park, Christchurch and 10 laps. I was last and it was a great last lap with two of the organisers escorting me to the end.



2015 I did the Mothers Day Fun Run/Walk with my Mum at South Hagley Park, Christchurch. The bunny ears above my head are my son's, yes he was there too.


2016 was with my friend.

2017 I was solo and timed how long it took me to walk the 5kms, 1 hour.
Now 2018. Set my alarm 0630 ended waking up 0730 (takes a while for me to wake up). Left to catch bus (don't drive) 0815. Blue Line bus to Central Station, then caught another bus Yellow Line to South Hagley Park. Get off and walk through South Hagley Park to find the Mothers Day Fun Run/Walk, find it 0930 so left home at the best time.

I show up and see my friend, we never planned to meet had no idea she would be here, ended doing walk with her :) The weather was crap, the first MDFRW I've done that didn't have the sun. It was misty and freezing brrr.
Walk took 55 minutes only 'cos my friend set the walking pace I managed to keep up with, she's fitter than me.
Me with my fit friend.
During the walk my friend was with her friend and her friend is a survivor of a heart attack, lucky to be alive and more worthwhile to do this event when registration money goes to The Heart Foundation. The heart attack survivor had a flashback when she saw an ambulance drive by on the road, she remembered her moment it happened and her ambulance ride to hospital, like she was reliving the moment, freaky stuff  being with someone who has a flashback of a traumatic time in her life thankfully with a good ending, she survived.
After the walk I hug my friend "see ya later" and with spits of rain put my jacket and woolly hat on and more walking to find the bus to catch home.


After some walking I don't even know where I am and feel a little anxious till I see buses so I knew I was in the right place to catch one. One thing I have learned when catching bus always ask driver if they are going where you want to go, otherwise you end up going in the wrong direction (speaking from experience I've done it twice). After asking 2 bus drivers if I was on the right bus? " nope", so thanks to them I caught the right ones. I catch the Yellow Line back to Central Station and within seconds arriving the Blue Line bus to get home was already there and waiting, perfect timing.

Get off at my stop and arrive home to my sons with a warm "hey mum" and a homemade mothers day card too, my sons are 10 and almost 13.

A shout out to Metro Bus http://www.metroinfo.co.nz/Pages/default.aspx helping me get to and from the Mothers Day Fun Run/Walk, and to the volunteers at the event who stood there till the last person to finish helping us find our way round and giving us encouragement too. Volunteers Rock :)

So another Mothers Day Fun Run/Walk done, looking forward to next years in hope for better weather. Below are 3 links to my You Tube channel of my experience during it. Enjoy and feel free to comment.

https://youtu.be/amv0JsaExu4
https://youtu.be/qfS9LZUWB6A
https://youtu.be/W-NOpKK8se8

                               2019

To get to Hagley Park South where the MOTHERS DAY FUN RUN/Walk is I planned to catch 2 buses but it didn't happen here's why.

I was standing waiting for bus and it was late so my plan to catch 2 buses went out the window and I ended getting off as close as I could to Hagley Park South. Closest stop was on Victoria St/Peterbrough St. Got off and walked to find my way to Hagley Park. From where I got off bus it took me 30 minutes to get to the start of the MOTHERS DAY FUN RUN/WALK. Got off to a bad start arrived 10 minutes after the walkers had started.

I told myself not to stress that I was doing the walk as a personal goal and not to care about anyone else. Halfway took me 20 minutes and the rest 40 mins so to walk the 5 km course was 1 hour (same time as last year).

Despite starting late I didn't finish last and felt proud of my achievement and that I NEVER GAVE UP, yes it was on my mind, even cheating by walking only 1 lap instead of 2, but I would only be cheating myself and that's not me, I walked the whole 5km course 😊

We were lucky to have sun ☀️ cos later in the day it rained ☔. Once I crossed the finish line as soon as I stopped moving I cooled down fast brrr.

2 bus rides later and I arrived home warm and dry 🏑

10 MAY 2020

This years Mothers Day Fun Run/Walk was a very different one. Thanks to Coronavirus Pandemic the traditional event didn't happen, as NZ is in Level 3 Lockdown.
I felt sad it wouldn't happen as this is my highlight every Mothers Day since I started participating since 2012.
I shared with hubby and my sons my disappointment and hubby said they would do a walk with me.

True to his word today hubby and my sons came for a 5km walk substitute for usual event. We measured 5kms using Health app.

Feel sooo loved my family did this with me πŸ‘¨‍πŸ‘©‍πŸ‘¦‍πŸ‘¦❤️



2024.

The Mothers Day Fun/Run Walk is no longer, last event was 2019. I think coronavirus had a huge impact on what was a yearly event.
So sadly The Mothers Day Fun/Run Walk has finished for good.
Below is an email copied a reply when I enquired if the event was on this Mothers Day

Hi Veronica

The fun run hasn’t been going for about four years now as we changed our Heart Foundation support towards helping them get tickets for their lottery program. If you’re near one of our offices or display homes you can grab a free lottery ticket. More details can be found here: Win a Jennian Home - Heart Foundation Lottery - Jennian Homes

The current home ticket giveaway has ended but the next ticket giveaway starts 15 March.

Regards

Ross Blankenaar

So there you have it.

Monday, 9 April 2018

Stubborness

Years ago when my son was preschool age in cold weather he refused to wear his jacket and hat so I came up with this song

Stub born Stub born
Stub born lit tle Vincent
Stub born Stub born
He won't wear his jacket and he won't wear his hat
https://youtu.be/L7qAl3CkI4c

My point is today Vincent now 10 years old refused to wear his jacket, even refused to have it in his school bag so I brought it with us and we walked to catch bus. After we got off bus it took me a while to realise I had left Vincent's jacket on the bus. Long story short I've done what I can to try and get his jacket back.

Yes it rained and my son comes home, sees me and says "I should've listened to you".
He's very strong willed AKA stubborn sooo damn frustrating and to hear him say these words made me smile. Hope we get his jacket back.

11 APRIL 2018

Yesterday I was looking for something in my son's bag and found the jacket I thought I had left on the bus, so who's jacket did I have? or did I not leave it on the bus? Freaky.