New Zealand - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

[Wayne Potgieter]

10 hours ago, Steven Knoetze (sk27) said:

I think in general, education lately seems to be a one fit, I am glad to hear of the process Wayne described because we are in the same boat with our son and daughter. Yet we also have the older daughter who tracks more like the son in Wayne's example.

I think the "entertaining" educational model is becoming more and more prevalent though. While I understand the times table thing, how relevant is it in the day and age of computers and smartphones. Don't get me wrong, our kids will learn it, even if we have to do it at home. I think education needs more practical subjects though, for one "how to run a household/personal budget", etc.

I also think a lot of education can (and should) happen at home, but with 2 working parents in a household this is perhaps not always happening. It can't only be the schools responsibility surely? Again, our oldest daughters father believes everything should happen at school, including homework(?), and gives zero additional educational attention. and then wonders why she struggles at times.

Selecting the correct school for your individual childs needs is the most important thing I think,

Our son is now entering Year 9 - the first year of college which I loosely have as Standard 6 in my old dinosaur brain.

He has some optional subjects this year such as Financial Literacy and some technical subjects like food preparation etc. He is quite excited about school this year.

[patches]

Hope all you Auckland dwellers survived the rainstorm yesterday?

We got off lightly with just a bit of garage flooding (which was tragic for me, but overall could be worse).

 

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

On 1/27/2023 at 10:25 PM, patches said:

Hope all you Auckland dwellers survived the rainstorm yesterday?

We got off lightly with just a bit of garage flooding (which was tragic for me, but overall could be worse).

 

I heard 220mm in less than 24hrs. Pretty hectic!!!

 

[davetapson]

On 1/28/2023 at 9:25 AM, patches said:

Hope all you Auckland dwellers survived the rainstorm yesterday?

We got off lightly with just a bit of garage flooding (which was tragic for me, but overall could be worse).

 

Same for us - not much damage, just a puddle in the back of the garage where water seeps through the cinderblock wall which is set into the hillside.  No drains or waterproofing, because why would you in a country that turns to mud for six months of the year...?

[davetapson]

On 1/23/2023 at 11:55 AM, Wayne Potgieter said:

Our experience has been incredibly different.

 

Kiwi education is just different.  They seem to absorb knowledge rather than have it 'beaten' into them.

I was beginning to despair about times tables etc. but know at beginning year 8, they know their times tables well enough.  When and how they learned them, I do not know.

I think Kiwis think that the kid will do as well as the kid will do.  They do have quite a lot of extra support in the classrooms (that as long as they are not overwhelmed, depending on who's in the class) that helps your kid where they are struggling.

They don't do pressurizing thing, which is what drives Saffa's mad.  We feel kids should be driven to exceed and when the schools here don't do that, get all upset.  

Personally I'm not completely convinced the Kiwi's are wrong. Which is not a popular opinion.
 

[patches]

16 hours ago, davetapson said:

Kiwi education is just different.  They seem to absorb knowledge rather than have it 'beaten' into them.

I was beginning to despair about times tables etc. but know at beginning year 8, they know their times tables well enough.  When and how they learned them, I do not know.

I think Kiwis think that the kid will do as well as the kid will do.  They do have quite a lot of extra support in the classrooms (that as long as they are not overwhelmed, depending on who's in the class) that helps your kid where they are struggling.

They don't do pressurizing thing, which is what drives Saffa's mad.  We feel kids should be driven to exceed and when the schools here don't do that, get all upset.  

Personally I'm not completely convinced the Kiwi's are wrong. Which is not a popular opinion.
 

And hey, if they don't do well academically, they can always go into the trades... where the real money is 😅

[davetapson]

Yeah, I think that's exactly it. Here, if you are not academic, there are other options - trades, police, army, stuff that is no longer an option in SA.

And, as they say, chicks dig Tradies... 🙂

[Wayne Potgieter]

Positives about Cyclones....

 

Was supposed to head to Melbourne for a conference today. Wont be going. YAY! was totally not looking forward to it.

Had a six hour power outage, my kids went mental. Told them about load shedding and their faces had all the colour drained from it. Guessing they wont want to go back to SA.

 

[patches]

35 minutes ago, Wayne Potgieter said:

Positives about Cyclones....

 

Was supposed to head to Melbourne for a conference today. Wont be going. YAY! was totally not looking forward to it.

Had a six hour power outage, my kids went mental. Told them about load shedding and their faces had all the colour drained from it. Guessing they wont want to go back to SA.

 

Why don't you like Melbourne? Is it the excess of man-buns or the fact that people in the CBD dress like they're going to a GQ or Vogue cover shoot? hahaha 😉

Just kidding, but I never felt "cool enough" to walk around the street in Melbourne 😅

As for the load shedding, unlucky on that one, but like you say, puts load shedding in perspective.

My Mom arrived from JHB last Friday, and I thin the fact that there's no load-shedding has been the biggest 1st world experience for her so far (granted with this weather we haven't done more than the Matakana Markets and a walk down to Milford beach).

She keeps stressing when I leave lights on and I have to remind her that they're LED's and there's no load shedding, so no need to live by candle light 😅

[Wayne Potgieter]

Just now, patches said:

Why don't you like Melbourne? Is it the excess of man-buns or the fact that people in the CBD dress like they're going to a GQ or Vogue cover shoot? hahaha 😉

Just kidding, but I never felt "cool enough" to walk around the street in Melbourne 😅

As for the load shedding, unlucky on that one, but like you say, puts load shedding in perspective.

My Mom arrived from JHB last Friday, and I thin the fact that there's no load-shedding has been the biggest 1st world experience for her so far (granted with this weather we haven't done more than the Matakana Markets and a walk down to Milford beach).

She keeps stressing when I leave lights on and I have to remind her that they're LED's and there's no load shedding, so no need to live by candle light 😅

Oh, absolutely nothing wrong with Melbourne. One of my favourite cities.

Plenty wrong with being couped up in a corporate office for 12 hours a day for 3 days and not enjoying Melbourne.

[Slowbee]

Thinking of you all you guys and gals up on North Island.

 

Power outages, no internet, roads gone slips etc.

Hope you are all safe!!

[Slowbee]

[Slowbee]

[Slowbee]

[Slowbee]

[Slowbee]

Hawkes Bay, Gisborne, Coromandel, sheesh guys. Hope you are all safe.

The FB group of the TA Brevetis just simply crazy!