About

Who is the owner of the shop?

My name is Karelien Kriel. I am a Mathematics enthusiast, a wife, a mother and a teacher. 

My family and I currently live in Sandbaai, Hermanus, Western Cape. My family includes my husband, Mico, my two sons, Emje and Jaco and always Toy Poms, of which we currently have a Toy Pom called Willow and a Toy-Pom-Sheep-Dog called Lexi.

Though I spent more than ten years teaching, I found my real calling and passion when I started writing textbooks.

As a child, teenager and woman, I always found certain things to be more difficult for me than for other people. It only started making sense to me in 2021 when I was diagnosed with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).

ASD is still misunderstood by the larger population. A large percentage of the Autism population are not people who can’t talk, who make weird noises and throw tantrums when they can’t find the last puzzle piece, as seen in movies. Most of us are like “normal people”. We look normal. We act normal. Autism is mostly an “invisible condition”, which sometimes makes it difficult for us when we communicate with others.

My Vision

My biggest passion is in understanding our children and having empathy and compassion for them, their parents, their teachers and myself. 

I want to help all South African children to understand their work, especially Mathematics, better. With better understanding comes better marks and hope.

Although I want his dream for all South African children, I also want the poorest children to have hope, to be uplifted and to have a better future than their parents.

I believe in quality education and providing quality educational materials.

History and Education

I was born in 1980 in a small diamond mining town called Kleinzee in Namaqualand, Northern Cape. I completed my primary schooling in 1993 at Kleinzee Private School.

At the end of 1993, we moved to Springbok, the main town in Namaqualand. I completed high school at Namaqualand High School in 1994.

Thereafter I started the exciting adventure of university in Stellenbosch, Western Cape. After some setbacks, I graduated in April 2006 and got my B.Sc.(Ed) Chemistry degree at the University of Stellenbosch.

It was a four-year degree that included a 3-year B.Sc. degree, PCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) and 6 months of practical. My main subjects were Mathematics and Chemistry.

After living in Stellenbosch for 19 years, we moved to our “huisie by die see” (our beach house), where we will remain for the rest of our lives.

History of the One-Stop-Edu-Shop

My passion lies with struggling learners and I always found myself writing notes and exercises for them. I wasn’t satisfied with just using what was available in textbooks.

Due to teacher strikes in 2014, I set up a Spring Book for my Grade 12 Mathematical Literacy learners. It helped them so much that I decided to start selling it. With the help of my uncle, the MathLitShop (online shop) was born.

At first, I only sold the Spring Book and then I started adding the many other Mathematical Literacy products that I have written over the years.

The shop became very popular and in 2016, after retiring from teaching, I decided to add Mathematics products too. 

Therefore, I closed the Mathlitshop and opened the One-Stop-Math-Shop in August 2016.

I studied the curriculum for Mathematics of all primary school grades, asked for advice and started setting up products for these ages.

The most exciting time started when I met Dr Cas Olivier. He made me question things and helped me to set up a product for Grade 7 variables. You all know how scared learners get when they see x’s and y’s for the first time. Well, this product made it so easy, it was a “joke”.

Further revolutionary work started when Cas included me in a Thinking Tools course that he presents. It opened up my mind completely and I immediately started writing products where I used Thinking Tools.

I feel extremely positive about Thinking Tools and the influence it has on teachers, parents and learners. I firmly believe it’s the teaching method of the future.

As my sons started reading and writing, I realised I wanted to add other subjects to my shop as well. I closed my second store and opened my final one, One-Stop-Edu-Shop, in 2019.

  • Mathlitshop.com (2014 – 2016)
  • One-stop-math-shop.com (2016 – 2018)
  • One-stop-edu-shop.com (2019 – currently)

Work History

My Personal Policies

I am a one-woman company. As such I have a few challenges. Therefore, the following policies help me to manage my job load and the reason for these policies will be explained below:

  • Be kind.
  • Responses once a day, in the morning.
  • Certain parts of the year I am unavailable during the day, e.g. when marking, and then I communicate once a day, in the evening. 
  • I work when I can. 
  • I do try my best to get to everything as fast as I can.
  • I make mistakes because I am only human and I will correct them.
  • I don’t make examples of work. I have a “buy it or leave it” policy.
  • The official way of communication is e-mail: 1stopmaths@gmail.com
  • I don’t take calls. 
  • I don’t read Facebook Messenger messages. 
  • Use WhatsApp only in emergencies.
  • Proof of Payment via e-mail 

Reasons

  • I can’t be at my computer 24/7 and therefore my promise for the shop and responses to e-mails and Facebook, is once a day, in the morning.
  • This means that orders won’t always be completed immediately, but perhaps only the next morning.
  • Free orders (R0,00) and orders paid by PayFast (R100 or more) are immediately available for download. I work when I can. Unfortunately, I have many medical and mental challenges such as severe allergies leading to severe sinus infections (leading to tiredness due to lack of oxygen), anxiety (GAD), etc.
  • I also have two boys who need love and attention and who must do homework and sports.
  • Therefore, I can’t always guarantee that the products I am writing will be done by a certain date. I do try my best to get to everything as fast as I can.
  • I make mistakes because I am only human. If you find mistakes in my work, send a detailed e-mail to 1stopmaths@gmail.com listing the name of the product, the page, what the mistake is and what the correction is.
  • I will then rectify the mistake, delete the old file in the shop and load up the new file under the same product name.
  • I don’t make examples of work. It’s like fish and chips. Either you buy it or you leave it – you won’t get a tasting sample. 😊
  • My products are cheap so that all South Africans can afford them.
  • I have a buy it or leave it policy because everything is so cheap and I am not prepared to waste time on that if I don’t even know whether the person is going to buy it or not. I have hundreds of products and can’t make examples of everything.
  • I don’t take calls. Calls make me anxious. I often hear something wrong. It is also better to have something in writing. Therefore, the official way of communication is by sending an e-mail to 1stopmaths@gmail.com.
  • I don’t read Facebook Messenger messages. It’s an unprofessional way of conducting business. Please send an e-mail.
  • I prefer e-mail above WhatsApp. It’s easier for me to type on a computer than on my cell phone. Use WhatsApp only in emergencies.
  • I need you to send your Proof of Payment via e-mail to 1stopmaths@gmail.com. Please go to your online banking to set it up so that it sends me an e-mail. The SMSs from the bank don’t contain enough information.
  • I don’t log into my e-banking every day to check who has paid and who hasn’t. It is the client’s responsibility to make sure that I received the POP.

Last Ideas

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I really care about my products and my clients and hope that you will have a positive experience browsing through the shop!