Kaīnga Tupu, Kaīnga Ako, Kaīnga Māmā

20/05/2024

20 Mei 2024

E tuku reta ana a Oike - Oike is sending letters.

19/05/2024

Kia ora anō e te whānau!! He wā tino roa!

It's been ages since my last post. So much had changed since my last post.

Hemiere is nearly 6 and has been attending Poroti School since February.

I have started working full time as a Kaiako/Tutor for Kaimahi/Akonga/Staff/Students in training with Kōhanga Reo in the Mid North.

Oike and Salvaje have been attending Raurimu Kōhanga.

However, with tangihanga and mauiuitanga recently alot of reflection has happened and we have decided to homeschool Hemiere at home. He wasn't happy at school, it's been early 630am wake ups to catch his ride to school at 730am, travelling with people he jist met, staying late or getting picked up early to be in time for the babies at Kōhanga or my mahi.

1st day at home again, the two lils Kōhanga is closed with tangihanga.

Created a Pouaka Reta - Mailbox for all their millions of drawings instead of tossing to the rubbish. They learn to draw, write their name and date, kōpakihia/fold and tukua/send in the mail box.

They are now running around with poi hau/balloons, laughing and playing together - happy as!!

01/08/2023

Motoka horo - Fast cars are the kaupapa for today.
Ko ahau te toa - I'm the winner!
Kaua e whawhai - Don't fight.
Kia horo! - Faster!
Timata - Start!
Haere! - Go!
Haere tonu - Keep going!

05/07/2023

Oike taking care of our last surviving Spinach hehe and not digging it out whoop!
At the end he says "Hey whys there a peg in our garden?" and tosses it out lol

05/07/2023

Kia ora e te iwi, it has been a minute since we've been on. We have had so many haerenga/journeys since the last time I was on this page. We have cooked, travelled, spent time with whānau, gone shopping, learnt new kupu, slept, cried, grew in confidence and fought hehe.
One of the key wānanga I've been having with myself is to move away from turning our whare/house, our kainga/home into a 'school'/'classroom'. Hemiere (4 years old) since finishing at his daycare has asked "Mum our home doesnt look like a school?" To which I've answered "Yes, it's our kainga where we learn, it's not a school like your daycare" To which he has responded "oh ok" lol

Photos:
Oike digging in our raised gardens. I heard him singing "Digging up our plants" lol I reminded him that we won't our spinach to grow again so we dont want to dig up that one.
Oike eating his fried eggs that he cooked with my support (his fav), salted, counted, talked about and said his karakia for.

19/06/2023

Hōhepa te Pūru - Always loved this pukapuka in my Kohanga time with our big kids and now the little ones love it too!

15/06/2023

Mātakitaki mai e te iwi - Watch this fams

59.8K likes, 839 comments. “Team spend as much time with your kids possible. ✌🏼”

14/06/2023

Kia ora e te iwi! Rā 3 - 7 - Day 3 -7!
Well that just flew past ay?
We have been busy as with Oike's 3rd rā whānau/ birthday on Saturday, Lincoln's 14th bday Monday, sick babies down with hand foot and mouth aue!! Babies having their Dad in the kainga and hearing English and Niuean and realizing our Mama and us speak Māori whoop!
While in Auckland for Lincoln and Oike's combined birthday cakes, kai, day off school and movies yesterday we spent time with their whānau Niue. We all giggled as Hemiere sat amongst his Aunties, Dad and Grandpa speaking flat tack in Niuean, turns to us all and says "Hey are yas speaking Māori??" Lol
Every language that isn't englsih must be māori I guess lol
I can see the pride and value in him speaking more kupu māori each day, telling anyone he meets his kupu māori for this and that lol eg: someone says shut the door, Hemiere will say the māori word for door is kuaha lol he's counting everything in māori up to 10 then saying we aint kua mutu tekau mā....what Māmā?
Oike is singing so much more and a mixture of reo māori and reo pākeha. He loves me singing Paraihetia o niho the brushing teeth song while he brushes 20x per day now lol
Salvaje is here soaking it all in too which is awesome! Anyway we have a trip to Kaikohe to do some whānau visits apopo so yay. Pōmārie e te whānau xo

09/06/2023

Rā tuarua - Day 2
Few differences with today. I had a dentist appointment so the 3x lil men were with a whanaunga for a few hours. I explained to Hemiere that she was coming to look after them and that she doesn't speak māori, so he might hear me speak to her in english but that i willkeep speaking to him and his bros in maori. He reckons "oh ok māmā ill say english to her ok?" Lol. When she arrived he runs to greet her. As soon as she was inside and I put the jug on he says to her "I can speak maori!" Lol She replies "that's good, I use to when I was little, don't lose it like me, you kept speaking it all the time ok Hemi?" He replied with pride "Ae!"

Yesterday Hemiere got a lil overwelmed and said "can you say a lil english word to me please mum come on" Although difficult to hear him ask, I decided to follow through on our kaupapa, as it was only Day 1 so I pulled out some emotion cards so he could show me how he was feeling and express his self. Today we played with the cards and I shared kupu hōu with him. He loved it. Today he had all the 'sad' faces in the kahore pile and all the 'happy' ones in the Ae pile.

08/06/2023

Rā tuatahi - Day 1
I didn't speak english in front of the babies at all today. Had to hide in room when answering calls in english aue lol
Looking forward to holding these interactions with Hemiere, Oike and Salvaje in te reo māori anahe. Mā te wā.

08/06/2023

Tēnā rā tātou katoa,
Nāu mai haere mai ki Kaīnga Tupu, Kāinga Ako, Kāinga Māmā - Home of growth, Home of Learning, a Home of Māmā (all things simple with a sprinkle of Mother's aroha)
As many of you know I have been teaching te reo māori/tikanga alongside Te Ataarangi for over 20 years. I am a 2nd language learner of our native language Te Reo Māori o Aotearoa. I have 7 tamariki earthside. I was training and working at Kohanga Reo when the 4 older ones (18 yr old,16,15 and 13) were born and grew so they naturally spoke Te reo Māori as their 1st language. However I had noticed with my 3 younger ones (4, 2 and 1 yr old) that our use of te reo Māori as a whānau, at home and around our little ones has diminished. Although they understand sort've the speak english most of the time. Nā reira, I have removed them from their daycare and have decided to grow them at home in our, their reo, te reo Māori. While researching Homeschooling I could not find any other whānau homeschooling all in te reo Māori, so if you know any, let me know please so my pēpi and I can hang out with them sometimes and kōrero Māori. Kia māori te wai, kia māori te kai, kia māori te reo - May the water be māori, may the food be māori, may the language be māori!

̄ori