The Substitute Teacher

On just their 5th day of school, Brian, Sean, and Colin had the pleasure of experiencing a substitute teacher at St. Anne's Academy today. Mrs. Kelly was away at a church function, so Mr. Kelly (relation) directed the morning session.

After beginning with the Morning Prayer (read twice -- once by Brian, once by Sean), we moved on to the Daily Gospel reading. Mrs. Kelly did not leave specifics in her lesson plan, so Brian had to direct Mr. Kelly to the passage we were working on. He got to the correct page, but we actually read a different section than has been read all week. No problem, the boys picked up on the story of the Transfiguration quickly. Brian identified Jesus and Moses. Sean and even Colin paid attention for most of the reading.

At Colin's request, we next read one of the Magic School Bus books (his favorite, I think in part because he can say "bus"). This book was all about bees. We all enjoyed learning how bees built a hive, store honey, etc.

It was now late morning, and the announcement of John McCain's running mate was nearing. Since the essence of home schooling is discovery and exposure to all sorts of different concepts, I moved the classroom to the family room so we could watch history being made.

I talked with Brian and Sean about what was going on. I explained that there is someone who runs the country, called the President, and the current President is George Bush (a fact that both Brian and Sean remembered much later today). I also explained that there are two people who want to be the next President, and their names are Barack Obama and John McCain. They had a little tougher time with this concept and remembering the names. But they did remember that we want John McCain to be the next President! Yes!!!

As the announcement drew near, I told Brian and Sean (and Colin too -- he seemed fascinating with the TV coverage, maybe it was all the waving flags) that John McCain was about to tell us who he wants to help him as President. I didn't think they would quite grasp the idea of a Vice President at this point. I explained to them that almost all the time, that person has been a man. But this time, it would be a woman. I know that didn't mean much to them, but it made me realize what a historical event we were witnessing. And I'm glad I was able to experience it with my three boys. By the time they are old enough to vote, having a woman on the Presidential ticket will hopefully be no big deal.

McCain/Palin '08!!!