You Know You’re a Homeschooler When…
My husband works at a local private school. He brings home little surprises like discarded library books, broken chairs, and dead computers. He even brought home a planter once.
Books, of course, are the best. Now the whole series on horses by Marguerite Henry is stacked on the hallway shelf.
The computers are autopsied and components transplanted into my salvaged machine, so it can store my plethora of downloads without excessive groaning. I’ve learned to appreciate the wall of computer carcasses.
The ergonomic desk chair was great until it fell apart, and I landed on the floor.
At the end of school last year my husband collected garbage bags full of notebooks, copy paper, and pencils. I thought those supplies would last us for years, but the way Sunshine has taken to drawing we may run out of paper in three and a half weeks. The pencils have a way of disappearing, too, just ask Dana.
Tonight something unexpected came home with my husband. While I was printing out a recipe for dinner, he set a small cylinder on my desk.
At first, I thought it was a container of wax for making pottery to go with the bags of clay he hauled home a few weeks ago. Then I looked again.
A sheep’s brain, fully extracted, and preserved in cloudy liquid floated on my desk. Not exactly what I wanted to see right before slicing leftover pot roast.
Bug’s reaction to our co-op dissection of an eye reveals my feelings precisely.
Not bad perks, Renae! Even the brain. I think I lost mine somewhere over the course of the week. Are you sure it isn’t sitting on your desk?
Maybe all our pencils just end up at undisclosed private schools to be dragged home by industrious collectors of needed stuff? They have to go somewhere…
Now THAT is a homeschooling Dad. :D
LOVE IT!! My smile for the day. The wonderful things us homeschoolers find as treasures. How big is a sheep’s brain?
Did you know that computers contain minute amounts of gold? We have a neighbor who is retired that takes old computers apart and removes the gold. I forget how many computers it takes to make an ounce… but hey- what a cool homeschooling hobby! :p
That’s so funny!
This would make a great meme. Finish the sentence with an experience of your own, “You know your a homeschooler when…”
I bet that would be fun to read. Maybe not as unexpected as a sheep’s brain, though!
Co-Ops are neat things. We’re just now getting into those, whereas the only think we’ve done so far is co-op soccer.
Ok. Eeew and COOL!
Ha! Ha! I think a sheep’s brain is way up there on the list for interesting and unusual homeschool supplies. I don’t think I’d care to look at it while working the pot roast either. :D
Ewwww and how cool! Those are my first 2 reactions. The most we get from my telephone installing husband are boxes, various wires and cords (for art) and an occasional phone to take apart and put together. My girls would freak about the brain. Might be kind of fun to watch! lol
VERY cool Renae! Dh works at Lowe’s, and he brings home nifty ‘throw-aways’ too, but not notebook and pencils, and definitely not computers! We did get a nice water cooler that he pushed the dent out of for free though last month!
NOT sure I would wan the brain either. I concur with Bug… ewwwwww..
Oh, that’s good…eeew, but fun too. Now, where to keep it until you “use” it, right? LOL My hub used to be the maintenance guy at a college and he used to bring home all sorts of useful *stuff* too, though never anything so interesting as a brain! LOL The best I got was a solid-old-but nice microscope when the college upgraded to new ones, oh and some really neat vintage glass slides of fine art prints we still love to hold up to the light and look at every now and then.
I live for these moments and expressions on the faces of my children.
Thank you all for sympathizing with me.
Dana,
The brain on my desk is much smaller than I know yours to be. You’ll have to keep searching for it. And now I’m thinking about all kinds of misplaced brain jokes. I sure could use an extra one. ;)
Aimee,
The brain is very small, so I’m thinking it is from a baby. Or maybe there is a reason God compares us to sheep so often. ;)
Sunniemom,
Well, I told my husband that he needed to be getting the gold out of the computers, too. He laughed. He said that’s like getting flour out of waffles. Not sure how accurate that is, but it fits with his theme of explaining computer stuff in kitchen terms, so I will understand.
Charity,
You’re right. Maybe we should start one. With all the creative homeschoolers out there, I know there would be some great stories to laugh at.
Beth,
Yeah, I have no idea where to store it. For the moment it is still sitting on my desk. Maybe I’ll put it in the garage closet, but what if I forget it is there? I don’t think I would enjoy that shock.
Did you say Sheep’s Brain?
Emily,
Yes, yes, I did. I guess I could’ve said sheep brain instead. Would that be more grammatically correct? ;) Either way it’s still gross.
Sheep brain as learning tool…
Good.
Sheep brain as apetizer…
Not so good.
Great post! We haven’t gotten around to dissecting a sheep brain yet. Perhaps that’s in our future. :)
Very funny! I was just thinking the other day about things I never thought would be me before I started homeschooling. (I never thought I’d be reading a blog about a sheep brain!) So, let me kow if you write a “You know you’re a homeschooler when…” for audience participation. I’d love to read more and put my 2 cents in!
[...] collection of Marguerite Henry’s horse books was rescued from the trash. Library books thrown out to make room for new stories. Brighty of the Grand Canyon taken home only [...]
[...] collection of Marguerite Henry’s horse books was rescued from the trash. Library books thrown out to make room for new stories. Brighty of the Grand Canyon taken home only [...]