On Monday night, Ian asked, "Mom, can we start school tomorrow?" He was fresh home from a four night, five day trip to a black powder rondezvous where some of his Boy Scout peers gave him a hard time about homeschooling. Of course we can start. Why wait? I was going to wait until I had all my materials and they were all perfectly lined up and ready to go... but that isn't reality for me. If I waited until every thing was perfect, I would never start. And sure enough, the first morning brought Lula spilling her smoothie all over the counter and needing a bath. Messy Adventure #1.
I got Evie started on her Teaching Textbooks (the boys are still waiting for theirs to show up) and put Fiona in charge of watching Heidi... "Mom, Heidi is leaking poop all over the floor!!!" And sure enough, not only was her diaper leaking, but as she crawled across the floor toward me, she left little, ummm... "tracks" every time her bum hit the floor (she crawls in the one knee scoot style). Messy Adventure #2.
Kai was supposed to go get neutered on Tuesday morning because we qualify for the free program. The only problem was they don't accept reservations and only accept dogs under 70 pounds. Plus, it was at 6:45 AM on a day where Mark had to leave early and I cannot transport Kai and babies in the same car. So the neuter was cancelled and I didn't get a day off from Kai-os (that's a joke: get it? Chaos? Kai-os? Okay, nevermind). And sure enough, he barfed up a chew stick, not too much longer after I cleaned up Heidi's mess. And barfed again on his bed. Messy Adventures #3 and #4.
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| Standing on the trampoline??? Noooo! |
I should have just quit right then and there, but I really wanted to prove to myself that I could keep my cool and not let chaos throw me off. After all, my whole year could go this way and little kids/dogs make messes. We need to just go with the flow and have peace like a river. Enter
A is for Apple, my PreK lesson. Daniel knows the letter A, so we talked about foods that start with the letter A. Apples were the obvious food since Evie brought in three bags of Apples the day before. Why alligator meat was number two on his list is a mystery. Somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind, I knew of a project that involved cutting apples in half and using them as paint stamps. It only took a few seconds for me to regret starting this project. Messy Adventure #5.
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| Apple Stamping: FAIL |
What we did accomplish for all four was reading (I Can Read It, A Lion to Guard Us, Indian in the Cupboard, and Lord of the Rings), history (reading Pedro's Journal), creative writing (design a LEGO structure and describe it), and cultural studies (watching The Lego Movie and discussing human behavior/communication).
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| Perfectly socialized, thank you. |
Today, we did a little more of the same. Ian and Shane started their own history lessons and it was Lula who leaked a nasty diaper on the floor. I had to run into town for milk and bread and ran into a few people I know. We homeschooling moms face a lot of questioning, some critical, when the homeschool topic comes up. Especially on the first day of school for the local school district. Most of the questions revolve around "socialization" and "sheltering." The parents of my boys' fellow Boy Scouts are no different. Some even believe it is their job to "socialize" my sons. And some of the Boy Scouts give my sons a hard time for being homeschooled and pressure them into behaving badly as part of their "socialization." Well guess what (
getting on my soapbox)??? My boys
are socialized by your stupid definitions. They know all the bad words and
how to not rely on them to express themselves. They know what pornography is and
how to walk away from it plus they know how damaging it can be to their minds and their futures. They know all about girls and
how to respect them as human beings. The italicized parts are the homeschooling side of socialization; your sons won't get that at public school from their peers because it isn't "cool" to have morals or standards. And guess what else, you judgmental parents who think you know what is best for my children, and just shrug off bad behavior because boys will be boys??? I completely reject your idea of socialization. If what I see and hear your boys doing is being "socialized," count us out! For us, "cool" is another word for "lame." Rant over.
Peace like a River.... peace like a river....watch out for the rapids and the large rocks....peace...peace....
