9 minute read
HOMESCHOOLING: REALITY BITES
I HAD A DREAM THAT WE WOULD ONE DAY TRAVERSE OUR GREAT NATION FOR 12 MONTHS, LEARNING ITS SECRETS NOT ONLY FROM THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE, BUT ALSO FROM THE CAREFULLY CURATED BUNCH OF BOOKS THAT I’D STASHED IN OUR VAN. ME, THE ALMIGHTY MUMMA-TEACHER, READY TO BE MY BEST SELF.
My firm but fair alter-ego rising to the challenge, my impressive academics finally appreciated, virtuous patience infusing my being as I impart wisdom upon my offspring with a wave of my pen. And they, eager, eyes wide, minds active, patient, thirsting for knowledge, amazed at my smarts, attentive. We would relish in each other’s company, creating, writing, exploring, discovering. We would calmly complete our daily schedule in just hours, unable to contain our enthusiasm, and siblings would be kind, encouraging, assisting.
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Then Coronavirus arrived. I was forced into homeschooling, unprepared, unwilling, and reality bit - hard.
I must say, that despite knowing I had a challenge on my hands (2 kids, 2 different schools, 2 completely different schedules and sets of expectations…plus a business to run, a husband still at work 12 hours per day and 7 animals to look after!) I began the homeschooling term with wide-eyed enthusiasm. Miss 12 was a breeze. Focused, organised, connected. To be fair, her school had remote learning completely sussed and her week was full to the brim. Master 9? The complete opposite. He learns by doing, not sitting, had just begun at a new school this year so hadn’t had much time to make connections, and his school offered minimal guidance and accountability. I knew where my time was needed.
I created the most epic daily schedule - colour-coded, with wellplanned brain breaks, perfectly ruled lines, and variety of subject matter. Lunch and morning tea were timed perfectly with Miss 12’s so there would be sibling playtime. It was a masterpiece of ingenuity, given the scant guidelines I had to work with, and I was pretty chuffed, thinking I’d nailed the
brief, hoping desperately it would be adopted enthusiastically.
Week one came and went with only the odd grumble about wanting to see friends and finish early (me not him!) Mostly we stuck to the plan, savored the extra time to play, enjoyed science experiments outside and relished slowly eaten cooked lunches. Big tick. Let’s hope it continues.
Week two arrived and resistance began to roar. “I hate writing” (poison to my soul given I’m a writing coach!), “I’m bored with timestables” (fair call, me too, let’s count groups of lollies), “You’re my Mum, not my teacher, you can’t tell me what to learn” (daggers…). And it just got harder and harder.
I insisted he stick to the plan. Probably my first mistake. I used gaming time with friends as a bargaining tool – my second mistake. I got frustrated and said things like “why don’t you GET this, it’s so easy?” – my worst mistake yet.
We fought. We made up. We yelled. We cuddled. We cried. We laughed.
We eventually joined forces in our stance against the futility of some tasks and took to the streets on our bikes when it got too hard. By week 6 I limply insisted on doing the maths, reading and writing tasks - the rest could die a quiet death. But it broke my heart every day that he didn’t want to follow the plan, that
my lifelong love of learning wasn’t evident in him… even though I knew this wasn’t a true representation of his ability, given the completely wonky situation.
I cursed the world for putting me in a position where I argued with my baby over the benefits of learning African drumming rhythms. I wept quietly at night, trying to believe I was doing my best, even though I’d said hurtful and childish things throughout the day. I was pissed off at his school for the lack of innovation and engagement (even though I knew they were doing their best), and for the disparity between my children’s education.
I wondered why I cared so much when he seemingly cared so little. Then I realised just that….that he is still, so little.
Jo Johnson
I’m a coastal dwelling, storytelling, kinda gal. I’m a self-confessed word-nerd, travel junkie, cheese connoisseur and crazy cat lady. (I also have chickens, dogs, 2 great kids and an awesome husband!). I’ve been helping businesses and thought leaders communicate and market themselves more effectively for 25 years through copywriting, content marketing and book coaching. My skills are in distilling knowledge and experience into aligned pieces of work - a book, program, keynote, blog - and in building awareness and confidence in one’s own writing voice.
I HAVE BEEN RUNNING BUSINESSES FOR OVER 25 YEARS, OVER HALF MY LIFE. FROM HELICOPTER MUSTERING TO CHILDCARE AND The view fear on the other side of
THEN INTO THE FOOD INDUSTRY INSPIRED BY 3 CHILDREN AND A HUSBAND THAT ALL HAD FOOD INTOLERANCES OF SOME SORT.
I have been focusing on mindset, healing, personal development and developing my higher faculties to be able to work smarter and more in line with my purpose. Little did I know, that this was the perfect preparation for one of the most challenging times we would go through as a business. You know the saying, make or break, well I could see in mid-March this was going to be a huge crossroads in our business and decided to leave town for a week to map out our strategy. To say I also hit the terror barrier, was an understatement, however, this time I recognised that feeling, embraced it as my friend and knew that I was prepared for whatever was to come. I had done the work and was ready.
12 months earlier, to the day, I had actually unknowingly been preparing for something big. Our food business, GF Oats Australia had been tracking well and personally, I had decided it was time for me to become visible. To stand up and be proud about our achievements to date and start preparing to level up to where I wanted to be. I won 2 significant awards against amazing peers both locally and nationally. We won 2 grants, one a marketing and branding package and one a digital grant which enabled us to build 2 new websites to support our brand, improve our digital presence and prepare for the next level of
Over the past several years growth.
The goal was to have all the elements in place before the end of March which was the beginning of our ‘oats’ selling season so to speak. I can honestly say that around midJanuary, I declared online that I thought 2020 was trying to kill me. Lol. Little did I know what was yet to come. I kept touching base with my mentors, working on my mindset, being aware of the story I was telling myself and setting small achievable goals I could celebrate regularly. Alongside all this, I am a daughter to 2 elderly parents, a partner, mother and grandmother, so when COVID 19 struck I found myself quickly jumping into action to ensure my parents were safe on the Sunshine Coast, assist my eldest child make his decision to stay in Germany and ride this out, while one child was moving out of the house with his son, my daughter found herself back in Australia after 2 years travelling the world, gaining the job of her dreams, losing it and simultaneously ending up back at home with mum and now dispatching orders in our GF Oats warehouse. Emotions were high, off the chart really to be honest. We also lost 2 team members during this time and dug in for the ride with 4 of us turning up each day to battle our way through the next challenge that required solving. Our brains were numb, with stock supplies held up, packaging missing, contract packers closing their doors, and logistics overall just a nightmare. The light in this experience was beautiful customers who showed understanding and support every day. I got very visible sharing updates on orders and being vulnerable and honest. Having my daughter to myself for 8 weeks was just fabulous after such a long time apart. Being so grateful we were open for business, the collaboration opportunities that appeared with Legacy, new people who joined our team and the new customers we are now nurturing.
What a ride.
We have made it to the other side, well sort of, but we are stronger and more resilient as a business. Which proves the saying, if you can face the fear, on the other side of fear is the most amazing view and sense of achievement is outstanding. We closed our financial year achieving our turnover goal, creating a wonderful team around us, thousands of new customers, a stronger business looking forward to a bright future creating jobs in our area.
I look forward to the future and the goals that are yet to be achieved in
2020.
Kylie
Martin-Hollonds The journey of food intolerances began for Kylie and her family over 25 years ago when she realised that her children had intolerances to various foods such as dairy, corn, soy, gluten, wheat to name a few. During this time, it was literally impossible to source speciality foods to cater to dietary intolerances. So, it was into the kitchen trailing recipes with new and incredibly hard to source ingredients. She launched her first range of health food pre-mixes in 2000 into health food and in 2009 started importing Gluten Free Oats into Australia. She is based in regional Queensland, Toowoomba, where she is now the biggest importer and supplier of Gluten-Free Oats Nationally and New Zealand.
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