The past couple of weeks question of "what grade are you in" has popped up. My 7 year old has a cousin who is his age and she is in 2nd grade, so he likes to consider himself as a 2nd grader. The 6 year old thinks that Kindergarten sounds cool and that's what he says when people ask. I have told them that they can say they are homeschoolers, but it seems that they have learned that adults feel the need to "quiz" them. They make it clear with their expressions that they are not trained seals and usually the adult gives up the silly questions.
My 7yr old has been working on reading and we had a really good time with sentence structure and the use of periods as sentence stoppers. Math and science have been his biggest loves lately and he and the 6yr old take great pride in paying for their purchases at the gas station themselves. Which leads me to a tiny rant...we (myself and our 4 boys - DH stayed in the car) went inside a convenience store on Friday night and the decision regarding what non-sticky/chewy candy each of them should buy usually takes FOREVER, but makes them very happy when I noticed out of the corner of my eye that there was someone watching us. I looked over and noticed the cashier was standing there watching us and I was ticked off to say the least. I mentioned to the boys that we were being watched and that it was time to make our way to the counter. Once we reached the counter, the cashier was very rude and ordered us to place all our items on the counter. I explained to him that the 2 oldest boys would be paying for their items themselves and it was important to them to do so. Typically that gets a big thumbs up from the person working and they are glad to help out with the math lesson. Not so much with this guy. The 6yr old made his purchase with exact change, but when the 7yr old handed over the $1.20 for $1.18 purchase, he received no change. I questioned the cashier and he replied, "Does he need it?" to which I replied, "Yes, sir. It is his money." Not exactly what I was thinking in my head, but much nicer said outloud.
Then I had to have a conversation about being on point with the boys. It's already a crazy world, but as homeschoolers we are a pretty laid back family. My sons are fairly easy going and think the best of people. They are always surprised when people are rude. I had to explain to them that people have prejudices that we aren't always prepared for, but need to be. Because we were a family of young children at the candy isle, this person assumed we would be more likely to steal. If my husband would have been in there, it is possible that he would have had an issue with him because of race. Anyway, it is really hard to balance being a nice person with being prepared for other people's baggage...
Ok, enough of that and back to some cool stuff.
We examined a grasshopper yesterday and found (and picked up) a cool caterpillar that I need to research and find out more about it. Cool website for those with nature loving families is www.acornnaturalists.com
Enjoy these beautiful fall days and hug your family!
Peace & Blessings.
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