The Writing on the Walls

Have you ever had a child who liked to graffiti? My fourth child was, by far, my worst about writing on the walls. And doors. And dry erase board with Sharpie. Oh, and did I mention the wall at church? The problem that this darling, then 2 year-old, child had was that she always wrote her name. Well, not actually her name, I mean she was only two, but the letter "R" which stood for her name. When she wrote her "R" on the wall at church, it was hard to deny who did it. There really weren't any other young children able to write whose names started with an "R".

I used to joke that if she was going to write a name on a wall, she should write someone else's name. It would be harder to trace to her if it said someone else's name. Of course I never told her this, I wanted to be able to trace the graffiti to it's author. Eventually this bright little girl learned to spell her whole name and to stop "tagging" the walls in our house. And doors. And dry erase boards, you get the picture.

It has been months since we have had an offence. Or should I say it HAD been months. Today, that precious, delightful, adorable, beautiful child (I am trying to remember as many good things as possible to protect her very life at this point. Don't laugh, if you have children you know what I am talking about!) once again decided to try her hand at graffiti. Today however, she decided not to write on the walls. Or doors. Or dry erase board. Not even the walls at church. On what did she decide to graffiti?

My truck. Yep, my truck. With what did she decide to write on my truck? A rock. Yep. She took a rock and etched a name in it. However, she must have finally learned that "tagging" with your own name was a bad idea. She wrote her brother's name. Unfortunately for her, she didn't realize that she shouldn't eagerly exclaim "I did!" when Daddy asked "Who did this?!"

Perhaps this will be her last attempt at graffiti!

The pictures you are seeing show my reflection and the reflection of my fence in my blue truck. If you look you will see "HOA", part of Noah. She couldn't scratch his name into the dirt, so she decided to scratch it into the truck.

Experiment, Day 1 - The End of Day 1

I know you have been waiting, anticipating the results of Day 1. If you have no idea about what I am babbling, read the post right under this one. You won't really know much more, but you will at least know a little more.

Okay, so after reminding my children of the prior hardships they have had to endure, and assuring the oldest that he did not actually die from the beans and rice, that he is still alive and kicking, I was able to make my point. I believe they saw both the rationality of trying the experiment and the futility of arguing with their crazy momma. All went quite well. Okay, you got me, most went quite well. I do have a four year-old in Kindergarten. She didn't actually do very well. She whined during math, whined during reading and even said "Why do you make us do boring stuff?" But then, she is actually only 4. I give her a little slack.

The three older children did quite well. I saw more diligence and patience at working than I have seen recently. Of course, the first day is usually the easiest. Tomorrow we try again (on a Saturday no less!)

Experiment

I am beginning a new homeschool experiment today. That sounds kind of bad, doesn't it? Oh well, it is what it is, as my dear friend says. Like most homeschool moms that I know, I feel like I am blowing it most days. I was intrigued by an website I read explaining one dad's homeschool theory. While I do not agree completely with him, I was very, shall we say - piqued. How could I use this thought with my kids? Hmmm...

Without trying to explain his lengthy argument or his theory, and without boring you with my plan, I want to document my children's attitude about school and academic progress during the next 29 days (the rest of April) while we experiment. I will try to update as often as I have something to report. If it is boring, well, sorry. You don't have to read it!

Day 1 -
My children are still sleeping unsuspectingly in their own beds. Picture sinister background music as the mad scientist a.k.a. Homeschool Momma begins pulling out the materials needed and planning the peptalk. Eerie laughter as Momma anticipates their surprise and lack of enthusiasm, Ha Ha Ha! (Okay, actually listening to a little praise music and somehow a little Beethoven who managed to sneek his way into my playlist.)

I have it all planned out. I will explain to the darlings how they have survived TV Free August, not once but twice, how they survived rice and beans as part of the crazy pastors fast in October, and most recently how they have survived 40 days (actually 47 counting Sundays) with no pop. With this reminder firmly in their minds, thinking of how it could be worse and how each of these things got easier as the time progressed, and reminding them that Momma and Daddy didn't change their minds so resitance is futile, I will encourage them to look at the next 29 days (minus Sundays so only 25 really) as a great opportunity for growth! Now there is a run-on sentence to be proud of!

First child just awoke. Tune in later to see how it went!