About Us
“Family: Where life begins and love never ends.” (Unknown)
We are an easy going family of six originally from the beautiful countries of Rhodesia / Zimbabwe (Clive) and South Africa (Jolene and the children), but we prefer to call ourselves “Internationals” rather than South Africans or Africans. We are just so in love with the entire world, and do not want to be “patriotic” to just one continent.
Our story is a very interesting one that is not like many other families’ stories; with a lot of trial and error, experimenting and succeeding, trying and failing. We have therefore lived our life in a very different way, not content with the “norm” but knowing that there is more to this life (for us) than we had been experiencing.
If you would like to know more about us as a family, you can read our story on our other website: The Adventures of 6.
We have discovered a wonderfully free way of life, and we desperately want to share it with as many people as we can.
One of our discoveries is a lifestyle of Child-Led Learning, which we have followed for over 13 years. Our children have never been to formal school, and we feel that they are the glorious individuals that they are because of that. I would never give up this lifestyle of having my children near me all day almost every day, for anything, and truly believe in it. All four of our children absolutely love their unschooled free lives as well.
Out of interest: the definition for “free” in the dictionary is >> “not under the control or power of another“
The other very important part of our lives, that we are so relieved to have come across when our family was starting to grow, was the idea of Peaceful Parenting. You can read more about this in our first eBook…
We also believe in a whole-food plant-based diet and a vegan mindset of not harming animals and nature in any way. We focus on non-violence in every part of our lives and believe in living in harmony with everyone and every thing.
Our Beliefs
We are passionate about:
- Peaceful Parenting;
- A simple uncomplicated lifestyle;
- Learning from Nature whenever and wherever possible;
- Living in harmony with nature (we follow a plant-based lifestyle i.e. we are vegetarians);
- Putting creativity and imagination first;
- Respecting each other every second of the day with everything;
- Learning from life and not only from textbooks or curriculums;
- Making learning fun and interesting;
- Adventure, adventure, adventure;
- Thinking for ourselves, questioning everything, and researching as much as we can.
Our Story
When I had my first amazing baby boy at the late age of thirty-three, I could not bear to be away from this treasure for too long. I decided before he had even started walking that I would not work out of the home, and that he would not be going to pre-school. Besides the painful thought of not being a part of his important growth every minute of the day, and not being able to then protect him from the world that he would encounter, I had also never enjoyed my school days. I do not agree with the schooling system for many reasons, but do not want to go into depth with this topic now.
I decided to find out how it would work if I kept my precious child with me at home and if I did not send him to school. I did some research and discovered homeschooling. I was delighted and dived into finding out more and more about this wonderful topic.
I took a giant leap and followed my heart, and as a result I loved teaching my little boy at home. When I found out that he has a Sensory Disorder, it made it so much easier to help him with this difficult challenge. We were together all day and I could understand him better, learning how to deal with it as he grew.
I then carried on with this way of life when I had my second and third children. How I taught them kept changing over time, as I discovered other methods of educating them on a budget. We have never had a lot of money, and so I found ways to teach my little ones for free or very cheaply.
By the time my fourth angel arrived, I knew exactly how I wanted my children to learn about the world, and the methods that are very successful, hardly costing anything.
I have had many (many) people ask us how we managed to teach our kids at home, especially seen as we have always battled financially. They want to know:
- How we coped with teaching four children (which is considered a large family in some areas)? The first three children were very close together in age and the fourth child arrived five years after the third one.
- What methods we use/used, as we do not and have never had a curriculum?
- How we have managed financially?
This website and the eBooks that are available for download are a part of Teaching Gumboot Kids, and are the answers to these and many more questions.
We hope that the lessons that we have learnt, the advice that we can give, and the encouragement that we pass on, will be of immense help to you. We sincerely hope that you will be able to enjoy this magical special journey of teaching your own children how to find learning thrilling and a fun adventure!
We know that through this way of life that you will learn how to see life through your children’s eyes, and how to actually enjoy learning along with them.
Each day becomes an adventure to look forward to!
