When you are homeschooling, conversations tend to happen. Many of these conversations turn into teaching opportunities, others are learning moments, often for the parent.
This week, we fell into conversations about abortion, and about anal sacs.
The abortion discussion: I was driving my kids from their Monday classes where they take History and Art. My son suddenly says, “We debated abortion”. When I regained control over the car, I repeated, “abortion”. “Yes, abortion”, he said. After taking a deep breath, I resolved within myself that the kids in this class were grade 7 and up, with my son being the youngest and the teacher had my permission to discuss adult issues. Then, I jumped into the conversation. Of course, my 10 year old in the back seat jumps into the conversation and announces that abortion is killing babies and it is wrong. (I have never discussed abortion with her before).
My son goes on to tell us about the debate and how the kid who was stuck debating for abortion did a good job, and described his arguments. You young “abortion advocate” said, “just as you would put an intruder out of your house, you should also be able to put an intruder out of your body.” I did have to point out that it is rare to get pregnant without an invitation of some sort. The pregnant person was active in the creation of the child.
By the time he was done retelling the events of the debate, I was ready to yell “Too much information!” However, upon realizing just how judgmental my son and his friends were, against people who had had abortions, I had to add my two cents. I told him that while abortion is against our religion, and we do not believe in it, that it is not our job to judge the actions of another. I went on to inform him that people who have said that they would never, ever, get an abortion, end up doing so, partly because of “good” arguments like the opponent in his class gave.
The anal sac conversation: This one was a lot more fun. The best part is that this time it was my kid s yelling too much information. My son informed me that the dog was rubbing his butt on the floor. I said, “Let’s look up what his problem might be”. After reading a few question and answer sessions on the internet, we determined that is was time for a grooming because small dogs like ours needed their anal sacs expressed. I knew this was a conversation that made them squeamish, but I read on, knowing this was payback for the abortion conversation the other day.
Do you homeschool? What conversations have you or your kids surprised the other with?
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