Jan. 16, 2007 - HaHa's from the Homefront

I'm so glad for a sense of humor.  Life is so much richer when you can appreciate the funny things WHEN they actually happen, not just in retrospect.

Yesterday I was one determined Mommy.........determined that homeschool would go better and that I would have the upper hand in the behavior of my dear scholars.  This determination was a byproduct of a few days of very unruly behavior....sliding down in chairs, giving wrong answers on purpose, etc.  So using my gift of impromptu imagination, I just happened on the following idea...........

At the first sign of restlessness, I casually mentioned for them to pay attention because I'm sure they wouldn't want to get a bean.   BEAN?!!  Being sharp little munchkins, they immediately bit.  BEAN?!    Yes..dried beans were the reward system I used yesterday.  At first, I had thot I'd be giving out lots of beans.......but THANKFULLY remembered that children respond to POSITIVE reward even better than to NEGATIVE.......so I revamped and chose some dried white lima beans for the "reward" bean.  The black-eyed peas were still the dreaded bean.  This is how it worked:  Whenever they were noticed doing GOOD, I took a lima bean and wrote their initial on it and dropped it into a canister. (Nice "DING!" as it dropped in).  At the end of the day, I wrote the reward system up on the board........1 bean = 1 chocolate chip (a treat they love!)..........2 beans = piece of candy......3 beans = 5 cents.........and 4 beans = 10 cents.  They loved the system and that bag of black eyed peas never got opened all day!!  WHOOPEEE!!  We had the best day of homeschool that we've had in quite a while.

But back to the humor - now that you have the background to understand it - I was on the computer last evening while the girls had some independant play time.  Suddenly I heard Punkins say loudly "(Sunshine)!!!  You're gonna get a BLACK EYE!!!"   Shocked at such violent talk, I immediately hollered......."What did you say?!!"  Punkins said "(Sunshine) is gonna get a black eye if she doesn't stop it!"  My ire raised, I said "And who's going to give it to her?!"  Amazingly, she said " YOU are!"  Completely "got" by this unexpected kind of talk, I said "Do you realize HOW people GET black eyes?!!"    LOL  My balloon was poked by a little needle and I quickly deflated into laughter as Punkins clarified "You said you'd give us a black eye bean if we acted up!"    I do believe I won't continue with the Black Eye Pea as the "negative".........it would absolutely HORRIBLE to have to try to clear THAT kind of comment up in public!!  "You better behave or Mommy will give you a black eye"?!!!!     YOUCH!  Not what I want!!  I'm sure everyone would believe me when I explained they MEANT to say pea.  Yeah....gonna do something different!!

The other thing that was SO funny yesterday happened when I was asking the blessing before supper last evening.  We were having left over tacos.  Busy getting things on the table, I snagged a piece of the taco-seasoned hamburger.......then said "All right girls, let's pray!"    (That's not a good example, by the way!!)  Well................as I prayed, I said the typical phrase "Please bless the food to the good of our bodies"......(BREATH IN.........AGH!  a piece of HAMBURGER INTO TRACHEA.......CHOKE CHOKE CHOKE" ....."Mommy, are you alright????!!!"........peals of laughter from Mommy!!! )     Can't you just imagine?!  The timing was hilarious.