OUR BUSINESS
As I mentioned earlier, Andre is a fitter and turner. We had only been in the country one and a half years before going into business, and, praise be to God, we are still running the same engineering business, namely Debco Engineering Pty Ltd. We started off in business doing repairs and maintenance, but over the years, design and manufacturing have been more in demand. Many a time our whole family can be found drilling, grinding, cutting, and screwing on nuts and bolts to commercial linen trolleys. I do all the administration and some errands for the business. Oh, and recently, Emma and I are officially the 'freight people', carting trolleys to Sydney.
Debco Engineering Pty Ltd is currently situated in Queanbeyan, NSW, but, Godwilling, one may find it in Collector NSW in the near future.
OUR CHURCH
We all currently attend an Independent Baptist church in Queanbeyan, known as the Queanbeyan Bible Baptist Church. Although we live quite a distance from the church, we try to assist with Youth Group on Fridays (where we also reveal our competitive streaks), as well as the Bible Institute on Wednesday evenings. Most Sundays we drive to Goulburn to pick up Granny and Grandpa for church and take them home later in the day.
OUR THOUGHTS ON THE CM NEWSLETTERS
Each time we receive a newsletter from you all, we feel so enriched. They are such personal peeks into your lives! We so appreciate your openness; recording such delicately personal information for the eyes and contemplation of others. We realise that the home, the family has to be guarded and protected. To willingly divulge previews of your lives with the heart to perhaps encourage, motivate or inspire another is a commendable act.
OUR THOUGHTS ON THE INDIVIDUAL FAMILY STRUCTURE
We would like to comment on the family structure; ~ how different we all are. We each have different sized families and different family circumstances, different cultures and different family history. All in all we are blessed for "....God setteth the solitary in families....". Those of you with babies and toddlers may have different goals and desires for your family, which are probably so very different. Our children are older and more able to take on responsibilities of their own. Our priorities and goals have changed, as our family continues to grow in the Lord, as He teaches us.
With this in mind, we ask that you are considerate as you read on, bearing in mind that what suits one family may not suit the other. Comparing is a trap that we have often fallen into, with resultant frustration. We sincerely hope that you may find something here that may inspire or encourage you, too.
OUR HOMESCHOOLING JOURNEY
We began our homeschooling journey in March of 1996. We had discussed homeschooling our children in the November prior to this. By February and the start of the new school year, we already had cold feet and ended up sending our children back to public school ~ for all of three weeks! Then, took them out again! Oh, the doubts and fears were a bounty within our hearts and minds! We (thought) we needed an instruction package in those early days: How To Homeschool. "Shall we, CAN we teach our children?" Confusion reigned. However, we proceeded with our plans. We designated a room in our home for the 'school'. Fresh paint, new blinds, new built-in cupboards for supplies, counter tops the length of the room, shelves, bookshelves, a computer centre. The schoolroom was ready, the school ma'am was poised, the stage was set....
(Andre and I had also discussed the fact that it would be me, Helen, who would be doing 90% of the teaching, as he was and still is a 'one man show' within the business)
"Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men".
And so, needless to say - my expectations of 'homeschool' were far too high, and I had not, at that early stage, understood the concept of homeshooling, which, I now prefer to call 'hometraining'.
Initially, we went through a number of books and curriculums; A.C.E., Abeka, Rodd and Staff, Horizons, Lifepacs. After many frustrating days, rolling into months and then years, it became apparent (finally!) that these 'conventional' methods of learning from mainly text books were not working. It was the combination of 'text' and 'school' method that we were applying that didn't work out - for us.
I first heard about the Charlotte Mason philosophy of schooling at a Canberra based homeschooling group. I became totally sold on the idea, and excitedly reported my newfound discovery to Andre. He could see how inspired I was and encouraged me in each of the baby steps we took to learn and put this philosophy into practice. To date, I am still learning, and unfortunately, have only put a little of Charlotte's methods into practice. Large projects at work and the arrival of my brother, his wife and two nieces from South Africa living with us for a couple of months, have stalled our good intentions! Nevertheless, this year is a new one, with a challenge ahead, an excitement, a fervour to apply something that we are 'moved' by. A love to learn. It's contagious! And so, dear friends, if at this stage you think we are naive at the Charlotte Mason method of schooling ~ you're right! Please bare with us?