Unschooling

[Disclaimer:  Don't read if you are easily offended, very polite, a fan of Dr. Laura, or find denim mini skirts offensive.]

Although we have made the decision to homeschool Sofia, the approach I'm taking is not unschooling.  Ray, on the other hand, appears to be a firm believer of unschooling.  (Ok, I just thought that would be funny to say).  First, it started with the vowel sounds when she was in preschool.  It took him five minutes to unschool her the long and short vowels sounds and four weeks at Challenger to get her back on track.

Today during lunch, Sofia commented that she preferred black olives to green olives.  Let me preface this by saying, no one in our family eats green olives at home (although we do use olive oil exclusively, but that has nothing to do with this). I replied that green olives are actually healthier than black ones, and it is the green olives that are used to make oil. She said she didn't like them because they were hot.  I thought that was weird and told her that olives aren't hot.  I admit to never eating a green olive.

We then have an enlightening conversation about where olives come from, olive trees, seeds, etc. etc. Very educational.  Sofia wanted to know more.  I told her we would talk more about seeds in our science lessons.

The previous conversation resumes. She tells me it is the red thing on them that is hot.  In my ignorance of olives, I tell her there is no red thing in green olives.  At this point, Ray pipes up, "Oh yes, there is too a red part in olives".  To which, I retreat and admit that I did not know this.  He follows this with, " .. it is called The Pimento".  Hmm, "That's odd.  Pimento means 'pepper', like a red pepper", I say questioning.

Then, after I think he's checking his e-mail on the kitchen laptop, he enthusiastically (I'm learning to use nice words) offers this to throw in my face from Answers.com (an authoritative source of the world's most important knowledge), "It IS the PIMENTO".

I stand corrected and somewhat confused.  But who am I to argue having no first-hand empirical knowledge.  Later, I go to check my mail and read the page he pulled up.

What is the red thing in olives?

It's a pimento, a type of red pepper. It isn't a natural part of the olive... it's put there as a flavor enhancer, to counter the natural bitter taste of a freshly-picked olive.

Not being a fan of literature, apparently he only read the first three words.  Sadly, even the next two words, had he read them, might have given him pause to stop from making a donkey of himself.  But such was the need to put me in my place on a topic of great importance not only to me, but humankind, that he could not wait a second more.  So he declared himself the winner of his self imagined throw-down with the same description of "pimento" I had given him.  It boggles the mind.

Homeschool education is going to be tougher than I thought.

Hopefully Ray's Math Minor will be of use when Sofia is in high school seeing as my BA.s' focus was of the liberal arts (foreign language to be specific).