Outback School Room – meet our Govy
Host: Soudan Station
Written by Taylor – Governess, Soudan Station.
Shane and I are also the very proud parents of two beautiful children (that’s when they’re not bossing us around or throwing a ‘tanty’, and especially when they’re asleep!), Hayden who is five and a half and Lacey-Jane, who is three, going on 13! This year has seen our little man officially start school (which also means Lacey officially started herself in school) and their first year with their amazing Govy, whom they adore, Taylor. We, like many other families living in isolated areas use the wonderful services of Mount Isa School of the Air.
First day of school; Lacey-Jane, Miss Taylor, and Hayden.
Hi, my name is Taylor. I’m the Govy at Soudan Station, I have two lovely kids in the class room with me, Hayden (in Prep) and Lacey (eKindy next year). Govy is short for Governess; someone who is responsible for teaching children through School of the Air. This is my fourth year on Soudan; I spent the first three years here in the stock camp and this is my first year as a Govy and I’m loving every day of it!
Fun and games in the school room.
Our days in the school room are very entertaining and I would like to tell you a little about them. It’s pretty cruisy at the moment with only Hayden doing school work, but Lacey joins in most of the time.
I pick the kids up at 7:30am and we head to the school room to get prepared for the day. We start off with a bit of playtime, then when it’s 8:00am we open our books and start.
Arts and craft; Hayden and Lacey’s favourite time of the day.
First up is English; where we read the book we are learning about and do some work on that (this week is Tom Tom). Then we start maths and after smoko Hayden talks to his teacher, Mrs Mills, on Iconnect and the phone. Iconnect is an internet based way of doing visual learning with students; Hayden and his four other class mates are able to see the activity, in virtual time, that his teaching is doing while listening to her speak over the phone. Hayden generally spends 40 mins with his teacher while Lacey and I play games, but stay close to Hayden just in case he needs help.
Once we have talked to the teacher we have a break and do arts and craft unless our next lesson is Science, because Science is always fun and the kids love doing experiments. Then after lunch we finish off with some History and lastly we have lesson number five and that’s just a fun activity and a choice of whatever Hayden and Lacey would like to do until 4:00pm.
Hayden and Lacey love cooking.
Everyday there is laughter in the class room, the kids and I have a great time. The things they say make me smile, and there is never a dull day in the class room!