Seriously?

It happens with every baby I suppose. But WHY! It's so GROSS! Rodney had just taken a nap and was playing quietly in his crib. Quietly is never a good thing. Next thing I know Gavin came in and said Owen had taken Rodney's diaper off. YAY. Usually he's just wet right after a nap. NOT SO TODAY! I get in there, and there is poo all over the baby, all over the crib, and all over the walls. Blarg.

And just like other boys before him, he had poop all over his fingers and his mouth. Cringe. Why must babies taste everything? Well, I was going to catch up on my kitchen, but now it's time to clean up something a little nastier.

Public School vs. Homeschool

I keep thinking about this. OVER and OVER. It's a question constantly on my mind. I know my kids enjoy public school, and I enjoy the hours when I have a break. But I'm not entirely convinced this is the best route to go. I'm thinking maybe public school for a few years then home school? I just don't know.

The teachers at our school are great. They're really kind and genuinely want to be there to help these kids. But each class consists of no less than 25 kids. And I know they do a LOT of coloring. Not that coloring is a bad thing, but I'm wondering if the saying, "you can teach kids in 2 hours what they learn in 1 day at school" is true. There are things that concern me about the world we live in. It's getting harder and harder to not let the world have an influence on my children. It's not always really horrible, but not really welcome either.

For example...my children gave an unprompted Christmas video to my little brother away on a mission. I didn't tell them what to say, I just started the camera and told them it was for Uncle Joseph. The first thing they said was Happy Holidays. Now I know that's a perfectly acceptable greeting. But I couldn't help but roll my eyes. That was all they heard at school. No one said Merry Christmas. I know some may say I'm being totally unreasonable...but I ALWAYS say Merry Christmas to everyone. Yet the first thing out of my kids mouth is Happy Holidays. I've never used that as a greeting. It's not the fact that they said happy hoildays. I happen to like the song "Happy Holidays" quite a bit. It's the fact that the first thing they think of was not something their mom said, but what they heard at school. What else will that translate into?

Then there are other things that scare the tar out of me. I've even had times when a child has come home from school with a new word in his vocabulary. I'm not talking curse words, but words that have to do with adult subject matter that NO kindergartner should EVER be talking about. There was no way to know what context he heard the word in, no clue at who told it to him. I told the teacher about it and all they could do was keep an open ear...in a class of 25+ kids. It is crazy how much innocence is stripped away from our younger generations.

There are times when I decide, ok the school is good. My kids are doing well at school. As well as anyone else in their class is doing. They enjoy being at school, and they like their friends. Then other times I think, I know they could be learning a lot more if I decided to spend the time with them. Then I think, maybe I need to do some homeschooling, but keep them in school. Just to see how well I do at it.

Though we have decided to do public school, it still nags at the back of my mind constantly. Maybe we should home school. For those of you who home school, when do you prepare your lessons? Do you do a traditional sit down class time, or just teach them the subject matter throughout the day? Do you take them out every day to go be with other kids for a "recess" time? Maybe do you switch classes with another parent. How much money do you spend on homeschooling a month?

I feel like I know quite a bit about public school, but I pretty much know squat about homeschooling. And I want to know more so I can make the best decision concerning our family. If I do eventually switch to homeschooling, I want to have friends with kids that I can share "class time" with. Also I want to have several materials on hand. Which I would like to have on hand anyway if for some reason we had an emergency and I had to teach my kids at home. So what are some of the things you always have? Games that teach history? Favorite movies that teach math or science. Best online resources. Your class schedule.