Shambolic Living

Awards, Exams, Results

Janine — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 23:07:27 +0000

Tis the season for awards and results. Parents around the country have sat through speech nights and award ceremonies en masse. Some will be celebrating successes, others will be focusing on their children’s OTHER talents rather than academic achievement. If need be tongue rolling can be considered a highly sought after skill if that’s all...

Whatever Happened To The Class Photo?

Janine — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:41:46 +0000

It was school photos last week. As usual, I’d forgotten to pay attention and when I looked at the girls, like really LOOKED at them, on the morning of the photo shoot I realised they really needed haircuts. Every year we get the same dodgy shots of them with unruly hair because I can’t manage...

Educating The Child – The Montessori Years

Janine — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:00:13 +0000

It was a simple query put out on Facebook and Twitter by blogger Louisa Claire Have any of you sent your children to a Montessori Preschool? What can you tell me about it?? Suddenly, I was transported back some fourteen years to when I was a young mum desperately trying to make my mind up...

Designing A Perfect Life

Janine — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:01:32 +0000

Ages ago I wrote a post asking what is a perfect life? It seems a lot of people are seeking the answer to that question because it’s the number one search term used to find my blog, just above “how do you make smores”. I often think how disappointed the searchers must be to discover...

Multitasking Failure

Janine — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:53:09 +0000

Multitasking is an inborn skill for women. We can think 20 thoughts, while simultaneously completing a task with each hand and issuing directions on another topic with our mouth. Sorry blokes, but you do seem to struggle with this, preferring the do one thing at a time approach, and “please don’t introduce another topic when...

Homework an Exercise in Futility

Janine — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 05:42:30 +0000

How much homework goes on in your house? Are you a fan of the after-school revision, assignments and projects? Or do you resent the impact homework is having on your family life? At the risk of launching into a full-blown rant I have to state my view of homework, it is simply an exercise in...