I’m not the only one! Right?
I know that this has happened to you, at least to some degree. You are in a public place, the library, grocery store or even church, and the children are politely talking to an adult. As soon as mom enters the conversation the tone changes and that question is asked. You know the question. They always ask. I am often trying to juggle a baby that wants to nurse, catch a toddler that is trying to run, telling a teenager she can’t skip school work, answering a million voices asking why we can’t have McDonalds for lunch all while trying to assess what my little informers have shared with this total stranger. It is hard to determine “friend or foe” from the statement/question that was posed, “You Home school these children?”
This is about the time that my little informers start sharing our family ‘secrets’.
“If you can call it that, we don’t even get up until after 9:00a.m.”
“We do home school but some of us can’t read yet.”
“Mom says that because of the new born we are unschooling now.”
“We were tight on money so she hasn’t ordered my books yet.”
“This year our school work is learning how to help mom with the laundry.”
Usually the stranger can’t hear these sarcastic remarks due to the constant rumble from all the voices offering these answers. Thankfully most ‘outsiders’ are not used to hearing so many people talking at once so they can not decipher these lies (secrets. . .exaggerations . . .OK they are completely true but I don’t have a year to explain the reasons to this stranger.) This is one of those situations that I am very thankful we have a bunch of kiddos.
I try to talk loud enough to drown out all the little ones that are selling me out. “Yes, Yes, we do home school. I just love it. I have great children so they make it easy.” Maybe if I speak loud and continue talking this stranger will not hear the little ones at all. “We do a lot of group study and it really has helped our family to grow close. I would not trade it for anything in the world. The day includes several loads of laundry but other than that we get a lot done.” Hopefully this is enough information to answer the persons question and I can move on to the stranger’s next question or chase down the toddler.
The truth is this would be a funny scenario if it didn’t happen several times every day! Can you relate?
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