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FAMILY LIFE: I come from a Dutch background, and have spent most of my life in the country region of South Canterbury in New Zealand. I am blessed with two wonderful parents who through their love, hard work and devotion have raised a large family of talented adults in their own right.
My father came from a farming background and was orphaned at the age of 9 after serious illness and sudden death took his parents. He came to N.Z. in 1953 after serving in the Dutch Army in Indonesia. Things were not good in Holland due to the war, so Dad decided that New Zealand would be the place that he would raise his children. He worked for a short time on the Roxburgh Hydro Dam before shifting to Geraldine where I, the third of his offspring was born.
We then shifted to a lovely property in Peel Forest where my three younger brothers were born. After selling the property to a neighbor we shifted to Waitohi where again Dad worked on a farm. Just before my baby sister Diana was born we shifted to Temuka. This was to be our family home, the place where we all grew up. Dad is retired now, but is still busy in his workshop fixing or creating something, usually for someone else.
My mother did most of the child rearing, while my father worked to support their seven offspring. She was the daughter of a Headmaster and was able to teach all of us how to cook, bake, knit, sew and do household chores, skills we all put to good use in our lives to this day. Mum lost her mother to T.B. at the age of 20 she then raised her two brothers and five sisters until she left Holland in 1954. She was 27 when she boarded a ship to make a new life in New Zealand and the journey was to take six weeks. She bravely left all her family behind to meet up with and marry my father on the other side of the world.
My brothers are Mathew, an electrician working on yachts in Auckland; Henry, a manager also in Auckland; Will, the fabulous chef formerly of Wanganui and Paratiho fame and now working in Christchurch; and Stan, an auto electrician in Timaru. My sisters are Cathy, an insurance broker in Melbourne and Diana, a marketer in Bundaberg, Australia. There are 18 grandchildren, 8 in the South Island, 4 in the North Island and 5 in Australia, ranging in age from almost 3 years to 31 years.
I was educated at Temuka and married a farmer in 1978. Life on our 610-acre farm was great and the 3 boys we raised loved the wide-open spaces.
In 1989 my second son at the age of nine was diagnosed as having a learning disability, this was a scary time for me as a mother and led me to becoming involved with the local Primary School as parent help, and then to joining S.P.E.L.D., which is an organization, helping children with special learning needs.
I also became involved with Pleasant Point Plunket Society and Plunket Mothers Club, (President, Secretary and Committee member)
The South Canterbury Family and Foster Care Association, (Secretary)
TeNgawai Floral Art, (President and Committee member)
Tots and Toddlers (Coordinator and Tutor) running courses at the local High School, along with teaching Elective subjects for several years.
1995 was not a year I would like to do all over again, but without this tumultuous year the Fingerithmatic Teaching System would probably never have been discovered, well at least not by me anyway. They say every cloud has a silver lining its just not always easy to see that’s all. My 18-year marriage ended suddenly and I had to leave the farm and take the boys from their home, they were happy to come and we started our lives again on a vineyard about 10 minutes away in the Opihi Valley.
In 1996 my landlady put me in touch with an adult literacy organization, South Canterbury Literacy to utilize my teaching skills and to use up some of the spare hours I now had. This was to be a good move, and a way to help others on a voluntary basis while learning and benefiting myself.
On completing the training, I was offered a job at a local horticulture-training unit, this position lasted 3 years. I enjoyed working with the young school leavers and other adults who had slipped through the school system without the 3 R’s.(Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic) I was always looking for ways to help them and encourage them to learn. Helping them, gave me confidence which in turn boosted theirs, which was good for everyone.
In 1999 my manager sent me to The Aoraki Polytechnic, to gain a Certificate in Adult Teaching. It was through this training that I was able to develop this new times table and memory technique, hence this web site, a new company, a new career and a new purpose in life, a new beginning and best of all Help for all those who struggle with mathematics!!
For More about what I have done up to 2004 click on the Newsletters link
Major Relocation
In November of 2004 I left the shores of my homeland of New Zealand to a start a new life in America. Pennsylvania to be exact! Land of Pennsylvania Dutch, so I get to taste a bit of my original history too.
It was a difficult decision to make, as I would be leaving friends and family behind along with the my many students whom I had had the privilege of teaching. After much consideration and a business proposal, I decided to make the changes in lifestyle. This would give a larger number of children the benefits of my teaching system, helping them in changing the course of their lives, as it had already done for so many New Zealand children and adults.
In July of 2005 I thought deeply about how to help American children specifically. I realized that they needed to learn about their own country and since everything was new for me too, I thought that I would help myself learn at the same time.
The States and Capital cities belonging to each state intrigued me, and as there are 100 things to learn and the memory links needed considerably more, I set about designing a new multi sensory teaching program. It took 3 hours in total from sitting down with the printed material from the Internet to having all the capitals linked with the states on my fingers. Now that I have them all on my fingers it will only take minutes for me to teach them to others.
The fingers are indeed wonderful teaching and learning tools. Powerful tools! The 43 Presidents are finding their way on my fingers now!
If you own or work in a charter school, this teaching will be invaluable to your students. A one off fee is all I charge and I teach your teachers the entire system.
