A Brilliant Homeschooling Moment
My daughters are in the midst of writing term papers. One of them is writing about slavery and abolition.
This daughter explaining the underground railroad to her dad:
“Well, like it wasn’t really underground…
and it wasn’t really a railroad.”
Vanity…
My girls primped for an hour before going in for driver’s license pictures!
Or not…
My son tolerated me combing his hair before going to the studio to have his senior pictures taken.

14 responses so far ↓
cindy // April 11, 2008 at 6:39 am
“Well, like it wasn’t really underground…
and it wasn’t really a railroad.”
there’s simply no arguing with that, now, is there?
traveller // April 11, 2008 at 8:05 am
Your son is like my 21 year old was until recently…..But now he wants to wear ties to class and dress up. He gave a talk in his Speech class this week on why it was important to have and wear a well-tailored suit. Children are so funny and hard to figure out…..just like adults.
David // April 11, 2008 at 8:08 am
That name “the underground railroad” confused me so much when I was a kid. I have to be honest, I was really disappointed when I found out there was no train tunnel from the Southern states up to Canada. A pretty cruel joke to pull on an ignorant child.
brad brisco // April 11, 2008 at 8:15 am
Very funny, just this morning just before reading this entry my 7 year old home schooler was telling me about the city gateway that he made yesterday out of legos and he said that he thought the “traffic” in and out of the gateway was probably kind of like a subway, “not the sandwich place but the tunnels underground.”
grace // April 11, 2008 at 9:44 am
cindy,
Yep, I’m raising geniuses.
traveller,
We can only hope!
david,
I wonder if lots of kids think of it very literally.
brad,
LOL, “not the sandwich place”. Sharp kid to clarify that point.
Pam Hogeweide // April 11, 2008 at 11:06 am
my 11 year old heard me praying in tongues (a recent return to an old habit!) and he’s like, “Mom, you’re cussing when you do that.” And then he mimicked me, “Shaladam ashiteo damabamass…” I was on the floor side-splitting laughter.
kids.
sonja // April 11, 2008 at 2:44 pm
You give me hope when you write these things. This was an especially lost week … so … I needed it.
sonja // April 11, 2008 at 2:48 pm
For instance here is a sentence from my fifth grader’s paper on Napoleon:
“he had one of the largest empires ever made, it was made in roughly 23 years his army was so so big that I have to make a new word, it was so large it was DOOM-UNGUS!”
I am not kidding. 4 years of hard grammar and this is what he writes. I am doomed.
Peggy // April 11, 2008 at 5:27 pm
sonja … LOL! You are DOOM-UNGUSly doomed, girlfriend.
I, on the other hand, am working to get my 12 year old to stop speaking like this: “My friend, Doug, he is so funny — he is like, WOW, I don’t even know.” Sigh….
thevikingfru // April 11, 2008 at 11:57 pm
What is it about boys? I send my 11 yr. old in to take a shower, and he comes out and I can tell he hasn’t washed his hair.
Me- did you wash your hair?
Son- Oh, no I forgot.
Me- did you wash your body?
Son- um…no I forgot. And I couldn’t find the soap.
Me- you were in there for half an hour.
Son- yeah……
What’s a mom to do?
Mark R // April 12, 2008 at 5:01 am
My son graduated in a suit and sneakers on!!! I think those snapshots you shared tell us of the family you are, and it tells me all is well.
sonja // April 12, 2008 at 9:04 am
LOL … Lori … the same thing happens with my 11 yo. Only he has the audacity to tell me that his sister “took” the soap. Now who takes soap out of a shower? Oh, brother [rolling my eyes] ….
Pam Hogeweide // April 13, 2008 at 9:56 am
my 11-year old confessed that sometimes he doesn’t really brush his teeth. “I’ll rub a bit of toothpaste in my mouth to fool you.” This was during our “fake mom out about brushing teeth” phase.
What is it about the resistance to grooming among boys? Meanwhile, my 14-year old daughter has practically staked out the bathroom as her second bedroom!
grace // April 15, 2008 at 6:46 am
Well, I am glad I’m not the only one. Usually I am convinced that my kids are uniquely strange (and that it is my fault).
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