Homeschool "Bumps"

There are some things we do very well in our homeschool. We have a plan. We have a set curriculum. We are scheduled. We stay with the task at hand. We have fun.
Some moments are shining moments. Some are, well,..... not. But all things considered, we enjoy and treasure homeschooling as a way of life.

In all honesty though, there are some less "sparkly" moments and some "stuff" that we may need to refine over time (gasp). Hmmm, let me take you down memory lane as I recall some of those less than ideal learning experiences (begin dream sequence now).

Way back in September of 2004, we were making a worm jar for science (oh, stop your gagging and keep following the slime trail with me). The project called for poking air holes in the metal lid of the worm jar. Carl grabbed his poking tool of choice and took to the designated task. All was well until,........."Yeeeeow!" He did it. He poked through the lid and directly into the palm of his hand, which was bleeding like a stuck pig.

But wait, there's more. Ever the former R.N., I examined his hand, only to make a most peculiar discovery. An "x". He had a bleeding "x" smack in the middle of his palm. Whaa?

"Honey, what exactly happened?"
"I cut myself." (to the point, my man is).
"Uh huh. Okay, I gathered that. But what did you cut yourself with?
"A screwdriver." (he, grimmacing and squirming as if his hand might fall off at any second).
"A screwdriver. Uh huh."

Pausing and putting on my "matter of fact" tone, I continued.
"Now I'm just gonna take a wild guess here and say it was a Phillip's head?"
"What clued you in, the branded "x" in the middle of my hand or the blood stained weapon on the kitchen counter?"

I switched into full nursing mode, cleaning and bandaging my injured carpenter of worm habitats, informing him that no, he had NOT had a tetanus shot in the past ten years and yes, he would have to drive to the nearest ER to get one (sigh). I can only imagine the impression left in the ER of homeschooling families that day.

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Olivia, age 7, will need further instruction on the many adhesives available in life. For, she still asks to use "goose" tape for her duct tape eligible projects.
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Economics may be a future challenge, as Olivia also asked if we could buy a Quesadilla for our next car. Quesa what? It took quite some time to figure out that one. Kia Sedona. Que-sadilla.
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Phys Ed may need tweaking.
In soccer this year, Reece (then age 4½) kept missing the goal on his attempts. He tried 3 times or so, got flustered and finally picked up his ball and angrily tossed it in like a shotput.

And in swimming, Olivia swallowed a big mouthful of water and our conversation went like this;
Momma: "What happened? Did you take on water?"
Liv: "I did it on purpose."
Momma: (thinking Liv is being oppositional as she often is when frustrated) "You mean you accidentally swallowed some water?"
Liv: "NOoooOOO...I mean I PURPOSELY swallowed some water."
Momma: "Why would you do that?"
Liv: Because! I thought I could breath under water so I tried it and I swallowed some water."
Momma: Ahhhh! So you ran an experiment to see if you could breath under water. So, what's your conclusion?"
Liv: "That I can't breath under water."
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Let us not forget socialization (all you fellow homeschool moms are already giggling).....
Reece told us he has friends in his Sunday school class named "Goofy, Stinky and Bobby." Naturally. Doesn't everybody?!
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Our preschoolers could use to brush up on identification skills.
We were playing OUTBURST JR., a trivia question game for kids that is kind of like the Family Feud. Liv and I were taking tougher categories as a team while Reece and Cierah (with Daddy's help) had the easier category. Okay, so I chose "Sesame Street characters" for them.

Uh, did you know Big DUCK is a Sesame Street character? And no amount of hinting changed their response to Big BIRD. I dropped a major hint to Reece, saying, "Who lives in the trash can?", to which he confidently replied, "Trashy!"
And mind you, Cierah has been required to watch Sesame Street ABC's *and* Numbers on numerous occaions and still she had no clue.
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And in math...
We work on a big posterboard-sized prop called "Decimal Street". Once when I got the board out, Reece enthusiastically said, "I LOVE Sesamal Street."
Sesame Street meets the decimal system (this coming from the kid who couldn't name a single Sesame Street character during Outburst Jr.).

And you know she's beginning to get math application when your 7 year old says, "Mom, I figured it out and I have 9 more years until I can get my driver's license!" Arghhhhhh!