Teacher Marenda Venter initially began writing Grades 4 to 7 math books for her own personal use in the classroom, which eventually led to her developing a curriculum for the foundation phase in the form of textbooks, which she has since published and released to the public.
Venter, who is one of the founder teachers of Pharos Primary School in Jeffreys Bay, and is currently their academic head, head of the hybrid home school and curriculum developer, is a Grades 4 to 7 teacher with 30 years of experience.
Since Venter has always been passionate about curriculum development, she began writing Grades 4 to 7 maths books for her own classes.
As time passed, she decided to also write Grades 4 to 7 Afrikaans language books, with the aim of making them teacher- and learner-friendly, with enough examples and explanations.
Venter, who trains and mentors younger teachers, said she noticed that there was a huge need to show teachers how to integrate subjects with the Bible.
“I, therefore, embraced the opportunity to make biblical values and truths part of all the different learning areas.
“It was placed on my heart to ensure students saw academics from the root of God’s word,” said Venter.
“Someone once said, the things you are passionate about are not random, they are your calling.
“I knew that I had found my calling. God has gifted me with an extraordinary love for writing and developing curriculum content.”
She said it was therefore a natural progression for her to move on to a natural science and social science curriculum, which included YouTube video links to assist the teacher, making the learning process easier and more fun. English language textbooks were then next on her to do list.
To assist the additional language students (Afrikaans and English), she added ‘dictionary blocks’ which showed the meaning of difficult words in the learner’s home language.
After completing the Grades 2 and 3 maths textbooks, Venter said the school’s principal, Fanie Vermaak, encouraged her to continue developing a curriculum for the foundation phase. “I will forever be thankful for the opportunity and push he gave me in that direction,” said Venter.
She said a set of Grade R books, Grade 1 Bible, life skills, phonics and language books were all available in English and Afrikaans.
In November last year, Pharos School and Venter went into a joint venture and decided to make the textbooks available to the public.
The textbooks were also advertised on the Association of Christian School International (SA)’s website page.
She said home school parents throughout the country and especially Afrikaans speaking families, jumped at the opportunity to buy these books.
“To our astonishment, 1 070 books were sold in just the first two months,” said Venter.
“I feel so blessed and it is such an awesome journey I find myself on.”
