A bee at the Honeycomb

I make new resolutions regularly, whether it is simply to try to find time to read my book, to make time for ‘date night’ with my husband or have a family day out. As I have mentioned before, my resolution for 2017 was to have adventures I can well and truly say that we accomplished that one! Even as this post is published we are camping at the tranquil Goo Moremi Gorge – really making sure we make the most of the opportunities for adventure in this awesome country. This year, we have two resolutions for the Honeycomb Hub (though I’m sure we shall add more throughout the year!) -firstly, to strengthen our links with other organisations so that if someone comes in with a query or issue, we will have the knowledge of local services and provision to point them in the right direction -secondly we hope to focus on our provision for those with special needs through our honeybees, sensory friendly session and our work with DSAB. As part of this we are strengthening links with a new...

Our tree is wonky and laden with more decorations than branches but was decorated with a lot of heart! I am really looking forward to our first African Christmas, even if it does feel as though it has arrived here all of a sudden and I am not sure we are totally ready! It has also been a very different December to the ones I grew up with – for a starter the temperatures are topping 35° and so snow is even more unlikely than back home, though I actually preferred a crisp, clear frosty morning for the walk to Church on Christmas Day.  I grew up with choir practises preparing for the candlelit nine lessons and carols, nativity plays, pantomimes, advent calendars and carol singing around the village. We would wrap up with thick socks, scarves and hats and greatly look forward to arriving at the Williamson’s house when we would all be invited in for drinks while we sang and, the best bit for a 7 year old, the ceremonial passing round of a box of Quality Street! I love the t...

The Christmas holidays are always much anticipated by children and teachers alike, however sometimes there is so much anticipation that the wait for Christmas seems interminable. When we were small, my mother used to wise up to this and kept us busy. Alongside helping to decorate the house, she used to encourage us to create our own decorations and that our bedroom was our domain, to be decorated how we wished! This led to many happy hours upstairs with paper, tape, scissors and a wide assortment of colouring implements. The only things not allowed were paint and PVA glue (only in the kitchen) but we were allowed glue sticks! I will freely admit that I do not have the biggest attention span and can be very easily distracted and I have often wondered how my sisters and I spent so many hours creating. None of us was hugely artistic, though we did create with a lot of heart. I have come to the conclusion that it is because we had a purpose. We created a work area, had everything we...

Some weeks, something has to give. Sometimes it is the food I cook and we survive off sandwiches and pasta with peas and ketchup (in my house this is a mothering win as my children honestly think it is the best meal ever …. Though big one would think it was even better without the peas!) Some weeks it is the clothes washing that gets left to pile up rather than doing a daily load and then my wonderful Christina arrives on one of her 2 days to be faced with a mountain of laundry. However this week it was finishing a blog post.  Over the past 3 weeks at The Honeycomb Hub we have been working 6 day weeks with Saturday taken up with Rugbees (which we love, teaching 2.5-5 year olds the very basics of rugby) followed by taking our soft play to the Downs Syndrome Association party, the Bull & Bush Christmas Fair or hosting our first party at The Honeycomb Hub. My husband has spent a week working in England and it was our big ones 5 th birthday as well as being open for our first...

At the Studio in The Honeycomb Hub we have a barefoot philosophy. Though some found the concept foreign at first, all our members have embraced the idea. So, why have we decided to adopt this barefoot philosophy and barefoot fitness? Apart from the huge benefit of bare feet not naturally smelling, there are many pros to releasing our feet from the confines of shoes.  To bust a few myths about going barefoot: -One of the worries can be that you may contract germs, however the skin is naturally designed to keep out pathogens. We are more likely to contract germs by what we touch with our hands in our daily life and then inadvertently touching our mouths however we do not go about our daily life with gloves protecting our hands from all we touch. -Injury can be another concern about being barefoot, but losing the shoes actually toughens the soles of the feet, preventing them from injury (not that I would personally recommend walking through a construction site, or n...