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Monday, February 12, 2007And I Was Worried About Math and Grammar??Lots of homeschooling parents worry that they will leave inadvertent "holes" in their children's education. You know...accidentally leave out something important, like the Declaration of Independence or the first moon landing in 1969. Not that sending your child to a public school ensures that they'll learn these things, anyway, but you get my point. Homeschooling puts a special kind of "pressure" on parents that doesn't really need to be there. Anyway, I've never been one of those homeschooling moms who worries a whole lot about it. Most of the subjects in school are artificially contrived, anyway ("Social Studies?" "Health?"). It all goes back to this: If a child can read fluently, he will have the capacity to learn anything about anything -- for his entire life. That, and a strong understanding of basic math, will give any child a firm educational foundation in life. Well, I've always thought so, anyway. Until this afternoon, when I made a horrifying discovery. My daughters didn't know what pickles were. Well, I mean, they knew what they were -- sour things in jars that you eat. Things called "pickles." "These are cucumbers," I said as I munched on my bread-and-butter pickle slices at lunch today. "Huh?" Rachel said. "I thought they were pickles." I tried not to gape at her. "Rachel, they are pickled cucumbers." "They're cucumbers?" It was Maggie's turn to look incredulous. "How can they be cucumbers?" "Maggie, what did you think they were?" "Pickles." Okay, this was too much. "You thought they were just pickles? Look at the ingredients -- it says CUCUMBERS." "I don't read ingredients." "I can't believe you didn't know these were pickled cucumbers. Pickling is just preserving something in brine. You can pickle lots of different things -- green tomatoes, pig's feet --" "Ears," Rachel piped. (Don't worry; that was in reference to a story we read in our history book about a British merchant who lost his ear by the sword of a Spanish sailor, and consequently pickled it in a jar to show it to Parliament. At least she was listening.) Maggie looked exasperated. "Well, I just thought these were pickles and that everything else was a pickled something else." Now there's a good dose of logic. So all this time I've been exposing my children to fine music and good literature, making sure they write well, testing them in math to be sure they've mastered the last unit, and reminding them daily that reading will expand their minds, vocabularies, and the beauty of life. I wasn't worried about contrived subjects or standardized tests or memorizing useless dates. I was confident that my children were turning out fairly well-rounded, thank you very much. Then my world was shattered by a jar of pickles. What else might I have missed? Do they know that coconuts grow on trees? That applesauce is made from apples? That the turkey on their plate used to have two feet, a beak, and a body full of feathers? Maybe we need to spend the next year on a farm. We are either way too urban or way too technological. Either that, or I simply never thought to mention that pickles are cucumbers. And now I'm wondering how old I was when I made that discovery myself. Probably around thirty or so. Do you think there will be any questions about pickles on the S.A.T.'s? Labels: homeschooling, parenting |
About Me
I am: Mother to five stunningly individualistic children... Writer of young adult fantasy... Passionate advocate for Women At Home... Madly in love with my husband... In need of Organic Gourmet Chocolate on a regular basis. I've got a Paypal account if you'd like to contribute to the cause....
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7of my readers are feeling chatty:
Up until I was sixteen or so, I thought "elbow grease" was something that can in a can from the store. Some kind of old-fashioned cleaning agent.
It was quite an epiphany when I realized what it actually is.
CAME in a can.
Sheesh.
Your kids aren't far off. The English language is terribly messed up. If you have Picked Feet, Pickled Beets, Pickled Tomatoes...why then didn't they call it Pickled Cucumbers?
I hate the English language.
You mean pickles are cucumbers? I never knew that. I thought they were pickles.
But then they are my daughters.... :)
Marshmallows are snowman poop
Snow is pieces that fell off a cloud
The sun goes out at night because God has to change the batteries.
I don't think they'll need therapy Jill, but you might!!! :0)
I'm embarrassed to admit this but to help your daughters feel better, it wasn't until I got to high school where I learned that Mexicans spoke Spanish. I thought people from Mexico spoke Mexican...lol
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