Their Crystal Ball

Overheard from the backseat of the minivan this morning.

BirdMan: "Hey, brother, what job are you going to get when you're a grownup?"

RocketMan: "Oh, I'm either gonna be a basketball player or a basketball coach."

BirdMan: "Well, if you are a football coach I can teach you a good defense but I don't know a good basketball defense yet."

GooseyGirl: "I think you should be a coach. How much money will you get?"

RocketMan: "Oh, about a million dollars. Then I can buy, 'ya know, extra stuff like a kitten."

GooseyGirl: "Yeah, one from the kitty shelter. And if you decide not to be a coach, you can come work in my pet shop."

RocketMan: "Okay."

Thank goodness they've got their futures all figured out!

Who is the teacher?

Sixty years. Sixty! That's how long the Persian War with the Greeks lasted. Sixty! Considering the average life span at that time I just can't imagine being in a conflict that long. Then after the Spartans and Athenians drove out the Persians they turned on each other and fought for another 25 years during the Peloponnesian Wars.

Today during history we talked about the war between Sparta and Athens. The kids were especially intrigued by the story of Alcibiades (whom I'd never heard of). He wanted to be King and talked the Athenians, weakened from the plague, into fighting the Spartans. They lost horribly so he deserted Athens and turned traitor. What a scoundrel! The kids decided he was very, very naughty. Words like loyalty, trust and leadership were flying around the schoolroom.

What I like most about the classical approach to education is the chronological study of history that moves forward with great depth and repeats the cycle every four years. This year the kids are studying the ancients which covers from the nomads to about 400AD. They've had such fun with Greek history that we've sort of camped out here in the book and wallowed in the Greek myths and gods for a bit.

They know that Athens was dedicated to the goddess Athena and that the Spartans refused to help Athens fight Persia at the Battle of Marathon due to an ongoing religious festival they were having. Today Gooseygirl said, "Mommy, each side thought their gods would look out for them and help them to win their wars."

I said, "Do you think their gods really did help them win or lose?"

She said, "No".

I said, "Well, even today people believe that God is involved in the outcome of war and battles that countries have with each other. What do you think?"

She said, "I think it just makes Him sad."

Some days I teach my kids but most days my kids teach me.

Aliens have landed and they look like my kidlets

When my kidlets were little we couldn't go anywhere without stares and open curiosity from the general public. Once I made my friend Juliet, push our six foot long stroller in the mall just so that she could get a feel for how it felt to draw gaping stares everywhere you go. I found it amusing to walk behind her and watch others watch her. The pointing, the questioning looks, the gasps, it was fun just to see what I must look like when I pushed them in their stroller.

Now that they are six our stroller has been retired and the stares have diminished. Few people can pick out that they are triplets. However, I'm starting to get stares and gapes again but it isn't due to their multiple birth.

It is because they are aliens.

Last summer we took them to the Kentucky State Fair. There was a HUGE world map laid out on the floor and there weren't any people around. So for fun, I had them stand on Kentucky. Then I called out a country or state and they would run to put their foot on that country or state. "Italy!", I shouted. Off they'd go to hop on Italy. "Canada!", I called and they'd run to Canada. I glanced around and saw that no one was anywhere near us so I decided to have a little fun. "Sri Lanka!", I said. They scampered to Sri Lanka. "Belize!", "Madagascar!", "Turkey!". At this point my three were giggling and having a ball running all over the world to the different countries I was calling out.

Suddenly a male voice behind me said, "Mongolia!". I turned around and found a crowd had gathered behind me. There was one man grinning like mad. I turned back around and my alien children were perched on top of Mongolia. "Bosnia!", he shouted next. More and more people were gathering. "Saudi Arabia!", "Poland!", "Norway!". He was trying to trip them up but they just kept running to each country with glee. I was getting uncomfortable and yelled out, "Kentucky!". Once they got there I said, "Okay, time to leave!".

I turned around and a couple was staring at us open mouthed. I smiled and started moving quickly away. I was concerned that my alien children had exposed themselves and not at all comfortable with the public display that had just occurred.

Well, yesterday my alien children exposed themselves again.

We were standing in the olive oil aisle at Whole Foods Market a few steps behind another man who was looking over the myriad of oils and vinegars. GooseyGirl turns to me with her little girl voice and says, "Mommy did you know Athena was born from Zeus' head? His head just split right open and she popped out! Before that he had swallowed her mommy, Metis. Isn't that wired!?!"

At this point I glanced around to see who might have overheard my little alien. Oops... too late. The olive oil man heard. He stopped, turned fully around and gaped at us.

I quickly ducked into the spaghetti sauce aisle and kept moving.