Isaac, Michael,and I had just finished building a fort with the Lincoln Logs and were pretending we were defending one of the forts during WWII. (I realize that there wasn't an actual fort like ours during WWII... but we like pretending.) I decided to make this a "lesson" too by pulling out our DK Publishing "Battle" book to look up some of the tanks. (This is an awesome book for historical battles and leaders with great pictures.)
Isaac piped up , "There's Eisenhower." We flipped back a few pages. "There's Churchill. There's Stalin. There's Hitler." (I thought to myself, I didn't even know who all these people were three years ago.) Isaac (age 5) continued, "...there's a German dive bomber, there's a German Messerschmitt, there's a b-17 Flying Fortress." "There's a Spitfire!" shouted Michael (age 4). "And who flew the Spitfire airplanes?" I asked. "The British did." answered one of them. I silently laugh at how much more my children know than I do about these war planes, tanks, and other weapons. Then we continue turning pages until we get to the 9/11 page (with a picture of the Twin Towers being hit, as well as a picture of Osama Bin Laden). Turn a few more pages to the invasion of Iraq with a picture of "Shock and Awe". Isaac asked what that was. I was not prepared to answer that question...so I read the caption at the bottom of the "Shock and Awe" picture. I read it was when we bombed Iraq with smart bombs and missiles. "Why?" was of course the next question. Again, I was not entirely prepared to answer this question...I was trying to remember...did it have something to do with 9/11...weapons of mass destruction? So I answered, "Well, it happened after 9/11 so it must have something to do with that." Then Zechariah (7 years old) asked, "Why would we attack Iraq if Osama Bin Laden was from Saudi Arabia?" (Ok...now I really am not prepared to answer these questions.) "I have to look that up, Zechariah...I'm not sure."
So, I share this little story to say that homeschooling is not only teaching my children but it is also learning alongside with them. Learning how to learn is kind of our motto. (Something I missed in school.)
A friend of mine suggested posting about what a day of school looks like for us, so I plan on getting that together soon. I'm sure grandparents would also find that interesting.
As I type this the boys have been watching "Tank Battles" (computer generated real tank battles from different wars). "Mom, did you know that the turret on the T-72 turns really slowly?" Hmmm, nope didn't know that either. (However I do know what a "turret" is because they told me a few weeks ago.)
