I learned a valuable parenting lesson from my 8th grade geometry teacher. I learned to not obsess on how my kids organize but how they can use what they have to produce what they need. I really apply this lesson in the laundry arena! It has made our lives easier!
When you tell your child to do something do you give them the reason why? Is the reason why they obey without fighting? Here are my 2 cents. This is just how I am, I am not saying it is the only way.
(And yes, I realize now how badly framed this is but I didn’t have the time to redo it;)
Aah, the insight holiday specials give us about our children!
So I was snuggled in with the Nerdlings watching the Michael Buble Christmas Special and on comes Justin Bieber. So these girls start screaming on the show to the point that they are crying. So NerdPie asks why these girls are so worked up over silly Justin Bieber. I tell her that they’re very excited to see this singer that they all think it’s cute and wonderful. She shook her head in disbelief. She says plainly,”They’re freaking out over some person they don’t even know!” So I asked her who she would get excited and freak about seeing. She looks me straight in the face and says plainly, “My dead grandfather.” So I ask which one and she said either of them. We went on to talk about why we both think that this reaction to stars is silly.
Is it wrong to say how proud I am of my 8-year-old little girl that she has not bought in to all this craziness over pop stars. Is this due to the homeschooling or the extreme nerdiness? Either way it’s a win.
Ok, so I have had it with the term breeders. Someone can be a shmuck without blaming the fact they had kids. Dollars to donuts they would still be jerks with out kids! Or are people just jealous. Any way! Here are some of my other thoughts.
(PS, don’t pick on my camera angle. I should get my tripod next week.;)
Danielle over at Babble posted about the 51 year old actor that married the 16 year old (with her parent’s permission). Here is my take! Along with my senior picture. That child (me) was definitely not ready to get married!
CNN has a great piece about girls and clothes. It is by LZ Granderson and called Parents, don’t dress your girls like tramps. He says what I have been screaming for years! Is it Abercrombie and Fitch’s fault that they have tried selling push up bras to 6 year olds? Well, yes and no. They made the poor decision to market it but only because there is a market.
Why do so many parents either dress their girls like tarts or allow to dress like tarts? These kids are well, kids! They are dumb about many things. We don’t let them work or live on their own. Why do parents give them cart blanche when it comes to clothing and sexuality?
Go read the piece! It is great!
So tonight after dinner the Nerdster (my 5 year old son) looks at me and asks if I know what the most precious gem is. I give him the typical mom answer of “What do you think it is?” Then he looks at me with his big eyes and says, “It is a single tear.” Â He was totally deadpan with big, serious eyes. I melted.
Apparently he got it from a dragon book. It isn’t the source of the line but how you use it;). All I can think is lock up your daughters cause the Nerdster is loose;).
Math! While I love math (seriously, love math) and my kids do too, there are still those moments in which my kids want to cry;). But even within such conflict great revelations can be found!
My oldest child has already learned long division but as we all know, that is a talent that can use a lot of practice to perfect. So one of NerdBug’s math assignments recently had long division on it. I corrected his work and he went back to correct them. Then he brings them back and I correct those he previously got wrong.
Well, there was one problem he hadn’t even touched. So I told him to do it. So he erased the problem and rewrote the exactly same thing. The problem was instead of dividing the big number in pieces (486 divided by 15), ie dividing the 48 by 15 he was just guessing what the whole number was. Then just subtracting 486 from the whole so he didn’t have a remainder. So I told him to take it step by step and sent him away.
I told him to first write what 3 time 15 was and subtract. He would say yes and then just erase his previous work and write the exact same guess. 7 times…. Finally he did as told and guess what? His answer had been wrong.
So why is this note worthy? I have been teaching my kids math for many years, this exchange can’t be all that special. Right? Well, it revealed a huge rebellion in his heart. It revealed a rebellion that cropped up a lot in the next couple of weeks (I will let you know if we ever dispatch it;). It boiled down to the fact he was sure that he was right and did not need to give what I said any heed. The Bible says that a fool does what is right in his own mind but a wise man seeks counsel. And it is my job to (try) rid my son of this foolishness.
This whole situation is something that I consider a homeschool win! After all that conflict why would I? Well, I received the opportunity to guide my child’s heart in a way that I would have never could have if he had been in school. I would rather deal with with a child who reveals rebellion through math than the rebellion going unchecked and revealing itself in a much more dangerous and damaging way.
Ok, we can’t deny that Lady Gaga is super catchy and the kids would love it. But I don’t love the lyrics. So when I was looking at Hanukkah videos I saw numerous Jewish Lady Gaga parodies and we here at the NerdFamily have been watching a ton of them. And we love them!!! Who knew Hebrew and Yiddish would lend itself so well;).
These parodies have led to both interesting and hilarious results. Interesting because it has given me plenty of things to explain to the kiddos. Not only what is referenced in the videos on that face of it but why we keep and agree with some of those things and not others. The hilarity comes when you see your 7 and 3 year old girls singing about not seeing someone because they are engaged;). I rolled!
Isn’t it unnerving when you go to take your daughter to a birthday party at Color Me Mine only to have an internal struggle the whole time?
We get there and right off she has to pick out a project to do. If course price is an option that I am in control of but then comes the difficulty factor. I want to let her choose what she wants but I also don’t want to get anything to hard and her get frustrated.
Then we pick colors. I want to have something she has chosen but she can’t really see how it is all going to match up. So do you try to push her toward colors that match up with undertones and the like? Or just let her go with it? An orangey pink with a light purple?
Then the painting begins. I recommend brush sizes but how much more to do you push? Do you push her to edge it right? How about when she accidentally gets a deep cranberry where she wanted light yellow? Do you shuffle to try to get it off or recommend that she do something else? Or wait for her to come up with her own solution? Do you try to help her get rid of brush marks? But how about when that means you would have to help her with the painting?
While the party was fun (it really was) I found myself on this emotional tight rope. I am pulling some strings while trying to not really be controlling while making sure that she felt all the choices were hers. Ugh! I am not quite sure what the mommy rules are with these things and I am sure I messed it up. But she had fun and it so proud of her princess bank. And isn’t it cute? It all seemed to turn out great in the end.