The Butter Battle Book

You already know how much I love my library.   Today, we were there for Wacky Wednesday. The children's librarian, Erin, served up a story time reading of "The Butter Battle Book" by Dr. Seuss, in honor of his birthday this month.  After the reading, Erin showed us how to make butter.  She poured cream into plastic containers and taped them shut.  Each child shook, and shook and shook the cream until it was butter and buttermilk.  Then we had bread with butter and buttermilk.  Heaven.

"The Butter Battle Book" is a favorite of ours.  We've read it many times.  And as I type, I can hear Big Dad reading it to the kids for bedtime story.  Yes, they wanted to hear it a second time today.

But my hands down favorite part of the whole day was back at the library this afternoon.  When Erin had finished reading, Jor Man announced, "That book is really about The Cold War!"  My jaw dropped.  And then I smiled - one of those great homeschooling moments when the kids make me look better than I really am.

I'll let you in on a secret - we haven't "studied" the cold war, at all.  So how did he catch the allusion? -because he was, in fact, correct.

About a month ago, I was searching Netflix for something fun to watch together, and I came across "War Games" starring a very young Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy.  I invited Jor Man to watch it with me (the girls were in bed already).  Funny what you remember about movies you haven't seen since you were a kid yourself.  There was a lot of cussing.  The kids do things that are out and out illegal and immoral (changing their grades, hacking into computers, changing phone bills), and there is some lip-locking between the two.

Although I don't want my child seeing pornographic images that will stay in his head forever, I don't mind a little cussing in a film (we discuss it). And people who make bad choices give us an opportunity to talk about such things without him actually doing them.

So we watched the movie, and I got a chance to explain the cold war to Jor Man - at least as well as I currently understand it.  And it stuck!!  He got it.  

When we got home, he told Big Dad about the connection he had made, and the girls asked "What's the Cold War?"  Jor Man shared his understanding of it - and I thought he did a fine job.  Go figure.  My kid learns best through movies, I guess.  Which is fine with me, since I love them, too.

Wish you were here!