Studying South Africa

We didn't plan on studying South Africa, but we have been asked to do a talk on South Africa at our home education group.  I only really got excited about doing it after Christmas, perhaps there was just too much to think about over that period, and naturally when I am excited the kids are(well except for Eden and maths).  Of course it is such a vast subject and we only have so much time to do the presentation, and I plan on splitting it up with other South African families too, so we will see how it develops as we go on.  We have started on history, and seemed to get a little fixated on the Bushmen - they were the first indigenous people that were met by the Europeans.  They are an extremely fascinating people.

Eden's watercolour of a Khoikhoi man.

The children do love acrostics- Eden's acrostic:

Buck are grazing
Up sails an arrow
Soaring gracefully through the sky
Heavily plunges into the flesh
Men dancing around the fire,
Aged wrinkly mouths tell their story
Night strikes, but tomorrow is another day

Niamh's acrostic:
Brown little people
Uttering and clicking
Shouting and dancing
Hunting has just begun
Munching all the juicy tender buck
And now the night has come
Nomad Bushmen - in the morning......another place

The amber sparkle 
of a fire 
Crackles and 
retires to embers 
Memories created 
relayed in stories 

Little brown people, 
faces animated. 
Dancing, praising the spirits up high. 
The hunt a success, bellies full. 
Water all around, tranquil.

Parched pans, 
reflecting mirages. 
Chapped lips,
hunger pains. 
Trekking, 
searching,
vast empty plains. 

Caved galleries visited. 
Coded messages 
deciphered. 
Buried water found. 
Another spirit crowned. 

The Bushman, 
 a Nomad. 
Forever, 
wandering. 

Author - Winbow