As anyone who reads this post probably knows, my husband and I homeschool our children. Although most of their schooling is done at home, we do look for places to supplement their education. One of the places that we have sent the kids for several years is to a science class at a local nature museum. All three boys are currently enrolled and all seem to enjoy their time there.
I was somewhat surprised when the kids got home yesterday and I started asking them about class that day. My oldest son chuckled a little bit and shook his head. He said that their teacher split them into small groups and gave them an assignment to do. They were supposed to check their answers when they were done to see how they did. Two of the kids in the group started looking at the answers right away. When my son pointed out that they were cheating and asked them to stop, one boy said, 'Well, if I can't look at the answers first, I just won't do it', and just sat there unwilling to participate. The other boy, undeterred, said 'We're boys, we were born to cheat', and proceeded with what he was doing. My son thought he was nuts and just did the work on his own. Where in the world would someone even get an idea like that?!
For some reason, this just floored me. I'm not going to pretend that I can shield my kids from all of life's little quandaries by homeschooling them. That's not even a goal of mine. I am very proud of my son though for recognizing what he thought was wrong and refusing to participate. Cheating on some science homework isn't that big of a deal, but I am glad to know that my kids are learning values at home and are willing to stand up for what they think is right. It makes me think that maybe we're doing at least a few things right with them.
Now if I could just get son number two to do his long division...
