What You Can't Tell By Looking At Us...

By looking at these women, can you guess who makes a living as an adrenalin junkie, or who lost a whopping 30kg? Read on to see that you really can’t judge a book by its cover…

- Lucia Walker

‘I have six children – and I choose to homeschool them myself’

Claudette Hasenjager, 35, lives in Bloemfontein with her husband Denis, 35, and their six children: Tracey, 14, Vadim, 11, Johann, seven, Ondine, five, Olivia, three, and summer, one. She has decided to homeschool all of her kids. I was known for being a nurturer at school, and in matric I was voted the person most likely to have a station wagon full of children. I have two siblings, who I love very much, but I always hoped my parents would have more kids. After finishing school in 2001 I studied fine art and married my first husband the next year. I had Tracey at 21, and after her birth decided to put my studies on hold and bought my father’s carpet cleaning company. I had Vadim three years later and in 2010 – when he was two and Tracey five – I got divorced.

I knew Denis from school but never interacted with him until I saw him at gym a few years later. We dated for a while before getting married in April 2011. We had the same vision for our family – we both wanted a noisy house filled with children. After Johann and Ondine were born we thought that we were done having kids, but little did we know that we’d have two more. We’re so happy with our big family and there might still be room for more children – we’re not sure we’re ready to stop at six!

HOMESCHOOLING