Greetings in the New Year of 2015.
Big changes are happening to us this year Lord Willing.
When I was so ill last year my Dr called my children home from overseas to say goodbye. As I slowly got better my children encouraged me to think about moving to Tasmania – to be near Charmagne. I was not ready for that and said that it was a nice idea and that I would think and pray about it as a long term option. In the meantime Charmagne was keeping an eye on properties that might be suitable coming on the market.
The ideal property came up for sale last year. A block of land with a house and granny-flat which adjoins the Downes’ land was offered to Charmagne for me back in about September 2014 and offered at $50k less than it was being put on the market. However, I said that I was still not ready to move so the owner advertised through agents. Since then we have all thought a lot about this property which is still for sale and I began to feel I would regret it if I did not at least seriously consider this place as a potential future home. Eventually I came to think of this property as THE property that I should buy, so negotiations began in earnest.
I am able to give our official offer on February 9. https://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/tas/sale-residential/23-cordwell-road-franklin-southern/14140464891011?lid=169267869
In this bird’s eye view, the red boundary shows the property we are interested in. The light blue boundary is Josh’s parent’s property. The dark blue boundary is Josh and Charmagne’s property.
To be able to put in an offer on the Tasmanian place I need to sell 4 Tawa Street. So we have been going like crazy getting our home ready to sell. For the next couple of weeks I want to make 4 Tawa Street available to any friends who may be interested in it, if I don’t receive any acceptable offers I will then put it in the hands of an agent.
In many ways I don’t really want to move, however there are distinct advantages for us (Jedediah, Kaity, Grace and me) to move over to Tasmania.
- To be near family in Tasmania and Victoria—especially grandchildren.
- It will be much easier for me to visit Zach and his family in the States (yearly Lord willing—Zach puts money into an account every week towards my tickets) Charmagne will be able to look after the children I leave at home.
- I will be on the land again. I grew up on the land (3.5k acres) and will finish my days on the land (9.9 acres)
- Out of my 8 children only 2 sons will not be on the land once we move. My two youngest girls are looking forward to riding nearly every day. The combined properties have 5 horses and 3 ponies—the girls will enjoy helping to look after and ride them.
The Future:
I am looking forward to the extra family time I will be able to have with all my children—the young ones coming with me, my Australian and USA families. I plan to travel back to New Zealand on a regular basis. My younger children are adopted or under guardianship. We need to keep coming back to visit with their birth families.
Because I will be coming back to NZ on a regular basis and I still have one son in NZ I have decided to carry on with the Home Education Foundation especially while we are going through all the changes with the MoE and the National Library. I am trying to pass on all the experience I have to others, mostly on the internet—email and via FB. It is really encouraging to see so many younger people wanting to serve and help other home educators. So this is not goodbye. I will also be available to do workshops/meetings on my return trips to New Zealand. I will be contactable via SKYPE/Facetime and I will try to get a cheap phone system so that I am available for phone calls.
So if you are interested in taking a look at 4 Tawa Street please contact me over the next couple of weeks—06 357-4399 or 021 0278 2221
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More on 4 Tawa Street, Palmerston North for those interested
A fantastic home for the large home educating family
- Home for the large family or
- Home and Income or
- Investment property or
- Home and Granny Flat
LOT 9 PT LOT 10 DP 9861 CT WN505/110 Land size 900m2 (Freehold) RV $335,000 as at 1/9/2012 Floor size 267m2 Site cover 318m2 35.3% Rates $2876.47
Bed: main house 3-4, extra building up to 3, library could be a bedroom (8 potential bedrooms)
Bath: 1 spa bath
Toilet: 2
Lounge: 2
Garage: 2 car/van
Carport: 1
Character filled rooms
Much loved home built in 1944
Low maintenance grounds
Excellent location close to Russell Street Primary School, PN Boy’s High School, the Hospital, and the CBD.
Features in the main house include three bedrooms and a study (currently used as a fourth bedroom), The dining and family room is open–plan to the lounge and kitchen. The rimu galley style kitchen with stainless steel bench-top and splash-back, stainless steel dishwasher and stainless steel double ovens, well equipped with lots of storage, two pantry cupboards and 12 power points. The lounge, with stunning matai flooring, fan, built in shelving and large cabinet has a large log fire which heats the whole home – no other heating required even on those cold winter nights. The bathroom boasts a spa bath, shower, toilet, and vanity. The house has a second toilet in the laundry. The whole house has been rewired in recent years and is insulated under floor as well as in the ceiling and walls with a heat transfer system to the master bedroom. The main home has also been reroofed in recent years. The 3m by 3.6m conservatory opening off the kitchen/dining area looks to the Northeast soaking in all the morning sun and leads out to a covered porch with an abundant grape vine which is a fantastic area for outside entertaining and access from the garage to the house.
The secondary building is a separate house which was moved to this property in 2004 and refurbished. It contains three smaller rooms and one very large room fitted with a heat pump and alarm. This building is ideal for a home office, rental, granny flat, boarders, etc. Each room has multiple power points and data points since being rewired and refitted a few years ago for use by a home business with several staff.
The third independent structure is a fully insulated recreational room which has been lined, carpeted and is currently fitted out as a library, it has been used as a bedroom and sewing room in the past.
At the back of the library is a garden shed.
There is also a large double garage with a large workshop accessible through the garage or by its own external door.
Behind the main house is a bike shed and a large wood shed with about 18 months supply of dry wood ready to be used.
This property is situated on the corner of a quiet cul-de-sac surrounded by good neighbours. It is a place well suited for pets and currently has a cat and 7 laying hens. The well established raised organic gardens are low maintenance for their size, with concrete paths and brick mowing strips for easy lawn upkeep. There are numerous fruit trees many of which are productive dwarf fruit trees, and a section of the front yard is devoted to a garden of native New Zealand plants.
To see a lot more photos and for more information email me barbara@hef.org.nz if you are interested in our home.
More photos: photos for promotional 240115
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Updated 1 October 2014: Three years on (Craig Smith’s Health) page 7 click here
Needing help for your home schooling journey:
https://hef.org.nz/2011/
And
Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:
Information on getting started: https://hef.org.nz/
and
Information on getting an exemption: https://hef.org.nz/
This link is motivational: http://hef.org.
Exemption Form online: https://hef.org.nz/
Coming Events: https://hef.org.nz/
