Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

5 years ago I’m not really sure where I saw myself being, I didn't have a plan, I was just preparing for when the last child left home and I could focus on us and my career. I was living in the UK, 2 years into a career in Child Protection and Lecturing, the 2^nd child left home leaving only the then 11 and 15 year old at home. I was studying for a degree in Psychology and Criminology in order to fulfill and enhance my career until the last child reached 18 and left home. I was talking to my husband about the possibilities of moving up north, Manchester area, after the 2^nd youngest finished his GCSE’s in 2011 and moving the youngest out of Private School back into mainstream to free up my salary allowing us to travel more often and improve our quality of life.

All I really knew was I’d still have a child at home in 2014 and for the next 3 years until he finished school.

In September 2010 all the plans changed for we were asked to move to South Africa with my husbands job and on January 19^th 2014 we will have been here for 3 years. Husband isn’t on a contract, so this is a permanent move until we are told otherwise, either by the company or the government if it refuses to renew our visas.

Based on all the information that was requested from us and never having lived abroad, we trusted the information given to us in regards to work and education and moved lock, stock and barrel 6000 miles from home.

And there the 5 year plan ended, at the end of year 1. I had to give up my studies because of lack of internet and all the issues we had when we arrived as the support offered vanished upon arrival. The youngest left home in August 2013 and returned to boarding school in the UK because the education system here doesn’t support Dyslexic students and I’m still unable to work. The 2^nd youngest now nearly 19 leaves home on January 10^th, like his older siblings before him and all the children will be back in the UK, in fact apart from Hubby and I, our entire families will be 6000 miles away.

I have a new 5 year plan, it involves the following although I can’t guarantee hubbies job won’t take us somewhere else, so my plan involves things that I can do from anywhere I live, in no particular order:

• ·         Finish my degree

• ·         Travel and spend as much time as finances permit in the UK visiting the kids and families

• ·         Continue to build on my CV through volunteer work

• ·         Seek employment based in the UK that I can do from anywhere I live to fund the travel

• ·         Finish writing my book and actively seek a publisher

• ·         Seek sponsorship through my blog to fund my volunteer work

Do you have a plan? Does it keep changing? What things make it change? Health? Finances? I'd love to hear from you.

Special Needs in Main stream schooling in South Africa

I've spent the WHOLE morning googling, I've spent many mornings googling and phoning schools and tweeting and asking and requesting help for my son's education is South Africa.

He is Dyslexic. His school (private) are unable to support him, they even disreguarded his UK assesment forcing us to pay to another one done and guess what? It's the same assessment. They now request we have a new assessment done as the IEB (Independent Education Board) need evidence less than 3 months old.....Do they know something I don't? Has there been a cure since then?

Our most sensible option is to return to the UK. this morning I was chatting to another expat who did just that for their childrens education, but there is no job for hubby in the UK unless he wants to travel Europe Monday - Friday and we don't want a part time marriage. So we nned to explore boarding schools. Our son was at The Downs in Malvern prior to us relocating and the support he had was terrific, but he was at the stage where his next school, Malvern College, and the fees were moving out of our price range and I needed at least another year of my career to be able to fund approx £23,500 per year in fees.

Not being able to work here has removed the option of boarding from us, we don't have rich relatives, nor does hubby as an expat earn the type of money that you hear about. It's a myth. So even if we did return to the UK, it will take me a few years to re establish my career, by which time he will have finished his GCSE's and I wouldn't have been around to provide the additional external support required.

One of his biggest problems is his lack of concentration after his inability to read, write and all the other issues, so all these additional lessons and therapies available out of school hours and at additional, considerable, costs are just not practical solutions.

If you have any experience of the South African education system or of Dyslexia, please let me know as I'm banging my head against the wall while my son continues to fail his school terms.

I cam across this website today. A parent's guide to schooling in South Africa, found a Question that I related to and wept as I read the response:


My daughter has special learning needs. Do regular schools have remedial programmes, or must she go to a special school?


It depends on the severity of the problem and on how well-resourced the school is. In 2010, there were 104 633 children in 423 public special needs schools. There are also private schools for children with severe remedial problems or disabilities.

South Africa has a policy of inclusive education, which includes various models to integrate special-needs children into ordinary schools. However, a lack of resources and infrastructure have meant that this policy has been slow to implement and children who have been mainstreamed don't always get the special education they need.

Some of the better-off schools, both state-aided and private, offer remedial education in one form or another. They employ remedial teachers and run small remedial classes alongside regular classes.