Ewwwwww, Boys!

It wasn't until I had my daughter that I realized how truly disgusting boys can be. My first two being boys, it was all I knew. Still, I had an inkling that mine might be a little more, uh, gross than your average boys.
When Goober was three and a half and Crash was one, I baby-sat for my neighbor's girls. Because of that, I would buy cheap cereal from Aldi for them to snack on in the afternoons. A favorite was "fruit loops". One day, I was trying to get caught up on housework while the girls played outside and Goober and Crash were "napping" ( or, rather, supposed to be napping). I began smelling a not-so-pleasant odor. Sniffing, I ended up in front of the boys' room. I heard whispering and giggling. Mentally preparing myself, I entered the room.
There stood Crash, covered in neon green polka dots. Paint? Where did they get... Ohhhh.
Anyone who's ever gone to change their child's diaper after they've been eating something with lots of food coloring knows that shade of green. Goober stood holding a small pillow, with the ruffle wrapped around his fingers. The best explanation my three year old and one year old could give me was that Crash had "gone" and budding picasso Goober had decided to utilize it by taking the ruffle of a pillow, dipping it into the "palate" and painting his baby brother. Of course, in the process, he had gotten it on himself, the bed, the floor, the walls, some toys... . You just can't contain art. I spent the afternoon gagging as I cleaned them and the room up. It wasn't the first, or the last. I've gone through a lot of bleach in the last ten years... . Things have definitely gotten better. They've finally learned to appreciate the "yuck" factor of poo and have stopped using it as a medium, but they've discovered many other ways to gross mom out.
Just yesterday, they managed to do it again. I was rolling out pie crust in the dining room and Crash came in laughing like a maniac, jumping up and down and yelling, "He did it! He ate it!!!"
Being the dummy I am, I said, "ate what...?!".
Crash giggled and said, "he ATE a fruit fly!!!" ( every time we buy bananas we get the stupid things).
I stood there with my mouth open and said, "he did not!".
Crash giggled again and said, "Yeah, he totally did!!!".
Goober came in grinning and said, "yeah. I did- I figured protein is protein".
I started gagging. I never in a MILLION years would've thought he'd be the one to do something like that. :P. I stretched the truth a little and said, "please don't eat fruit flies, they have diseases" ( things you never thought you'd say #2,879). Whether they do or not, I don't care. I know house flies are petri dishes on the wing and to me, fruit flies are guilty by association. Goober had the good grace to go pale and say, "Oh, I didn't know that". I said, "the next time you're hungry, would you please just grab some carrots?" Hysterical laughter.
I can't help but wonder if God isn't preparing me for something big. And gross. Maybe when World War III breaks out, I'll be put in charge of bed pans and dressing gangrenous wounds. Maybe it's just so that when they're all grown and catch their little boys hurling poo diapers around their bedroom or snacking on caterpillars in the back yard and call me in a panic, it'll be my turn to laugh :).

Waltzing to Europe

I home-school our three kids. Even when I was working two full-time jobs, it did not take as much out of me as this does. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE it- I love having a say in what my kids are learning- and making sure they do, but some days, it's a real marathon in emotional and mental endurance. However, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I adore the curriculum I've chosen. It's very time-consuming, but my kids are soaking it up, and having fun doing it.
One thing I absolutely love that came with our second-grade curriculum is "Geography Songs", by Larry and Kathy Troxel. It's basically memorizing geography by setting the list of countries in each section of the world to music. The song always corresponds to the geographical area. For instance, we just finished the Middle East. They're not only learning about that particular area, they're being exposed to the traditional music, reading about their culture and traditions and learning about how that particular country and people interact with their country and people today.
This week, we're beginning Europe. The focus being on Western Europe. The song is a very catchy waltz tune - one two three, one two three, one two three, one... Luxembourg, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, (one two three), Austria Belgium and Netherlands (one two three), France and Mon-a-co, Ger-man-y are allll in West-ern Eur-ope!!!
Often, the kids learn it after just one listen. I wake up with it in my head in the morning and I hear the kids singing it all through the day. Now, it may not mean much to them now, but I do know that one day, they'll hear about something happening in Germany and go, "wait a minute..." and have a better understanding of where it is, what the people and culture are like and it's relationship to the countries around it than a lot of public school kids. I've learned so much more home-schooling my children than I knew before. I think that schools in America have been too nation-centric. I remember focusing hard on our own country and never really even touching on others. I came out not knowing much, except that they existed. Now, I'm all for my kids learning about their own country, and they do, but I think it's a very big mistake to be so self-centered. Our kids will grow up to be adults- some of which may very possibly have careers that deal with other countries and cultures. I think we should at least have a base knowledge. People in other countries have a much better grasp on it than we do.
One thing I've been a little slack on this year with Crash that I made time to do with Goober is to make a point to look up and make recipes from that particular region/country. For example, when Goober was in second grade, We made falafel and a minted carrot dish when we studied the Middle-East. I think this week, it'll have to be something with sausage and sauerkraut ;).