Part of the requirements to adopt from Ukraine is the judge wants to see proof that you have a residency. So, if you rent you need to show proof of a lease and if you own your home they want to see a notarized copy of the deed to your home.

Enter another homeschool lesson. My daughter and I set out to our town clerk to obtain several copies of the deed to our home because we are hoping to adopt a sibling pair and need the copies for the dossiers. (And an extra copy should anyone lose a copy of the deed.)

I expected that we would walk in to the town clerk’s office, request the information, they would pull the book, copy it, notarize it and then we would pay and be done. What a surprise when the clerk told us to go to the vault and look it up ourselves. Huh?

The look of dumbfoundedness on my face must have been pretty clear because the clerk then proceeded to explain the steps. I took a deep breath and realized I was going to experience this homeschool lesson first hand, side-by-side with my daughter.

So, walked into the vault and found a locked area that contained all of our town’s vital statistics, such as the births, deaths and marriages. As we looked in awe at books dated back to the 1800s, I could tell this was going to turn out to be a pretty cool experience.

As most parents know, I could have completed the task in a record 10 minutes but realized that this would be a great hands-on learning opportunity for our daughter and quickly determined she needed to perform the task. (Did I mention I had no clue how to do this search?)

We located a large book that listed all the home owners in town. Our daughter looked up our last name, first name and street and identified the book that our deed was located in. We then walked around the vault a couple times as we tried to orient ourselves with how the books were arranged. Once we figured out the order, our daughter quickly located the book volume that contained our deed and then found the pages of our deed. Wow!

In a short period of time she had found the deed to our home and a new interest was seriously sparked. We proceeded to copy the deed, have it notarized and pay for the copies. Throughout this part of the process, she kept asking if we could go back in the vault. Through several questions she realized that we could go back and search our home’s previous owners, see how much they had paid for it and so on.

As our daughter asked questions, the clerks could overhear our conversation. Soon one of them offered some information on how to do title searches in the vault and I realized there was a serious field trip opportunity here. I learned that Town Clerk does field trips for the local kids to the vault and explains the clerk’s job, the records and other interesting facts. So, what would any self-respecting mom, specifically a homeschool mom, do but realize that we need another field trip to the town clerk’s office with some friends.

Don’t underestimate your local town resources. Children can learn about the history of their town and home. They can learn about economics and inflation as they identify home prices over the years, legal documents as they see how deeds are written and notarized, how to do research and of course, communication by asking for help from the clerks. This unplanned errand turned into a great educational experience.

My husband and I have discussed adoption for over five years. Unfortunately due to a variety of factors we were not ready to pursue adoption. This year the time was right and our family was ready. And so we have set out on this amazing journey to grow our family through adoption.

What began as a way of growing our family has presented educational opportunities in some of the most unique places. Periodically, I will discuss some of those opportunities that can, of course, be adapted for all types of families.

Because of our eastern European family ancestry, we decided to adopt from Ukraine. And so began our first educational lesson. Where is Ukraine?

Ukraine was a former Soviet Republic. It was considered the bread basket of the USSR and it is bordered by Poland, Belorus, Russia, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Moldavia and the Black Sea. The capital is Kyiv and Ukraine has been a country that has experienced occupation by many different countries over the years.

In learning more about Ukraine, our daughter has learned about her heritage. What was it like in a communist country? They were not allowed to display religious symbols, food was in short supply and everyone was “equal” as determined by the communist government.

Ukrainians are a group that has persevered in very difficult circumstances. Most underreported is what is known as the Ukrainian Holocaust. During 1932-1933, seven million Ukrainians were killed by starvation when Joseph Stalin decided to create a man-made famine by not allowing grain or ovens in the area.

One can easily learn about the country they live in but what about one of the countries of your family’s ancestry? Have you considered visiting the country? Could your child identify where your family came from on a world map? Do you know one major event that took place in that country?

Learning about your ancestry is fascinating. Connecting the dots to today is amazing. Ever wonder why you like a certain type of food? Do you have certain likes or dislikes but can’t figure out why? Never miss an opportunity to teach your child about their ancestry. By learning about their ancestry it gives children a better understanding of who they are and what their family went through to give them the opportunities they have today. Those lessons should never be lost to history.

While on vacation we decided to use our certificate for dinner at Foxwoods Casino that we had purchased after having the winning bid at a silent auction. Although I am not a gambler my husband and I do enjoy visiting the casinos once in a while for entertainment. So, we decided to enjoy this dinner as a family even though it was a casino.

As we entered the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation, http://www.pequotmuseum.org/ we discussed the Indians. I pointed out to our daughter that while on the reservation which is where Foxwoods is located, that some of the rules that we have grown accustomed to may not apply. This did not make total sense to her. So, we explained how a reservation is almost like another country within our country. Granted they are not sovereign but they can do things differently.

Upon entering Foxwoods, it became apparent very quickly. When we arrived at the restaurant we were asked whether we wanted a "smoking or non-smoking" table. Huh? Where we live smoking in restaurants has been banned for awhile. So, we asked for non-smoking and proceeded on.

A couple days later we decided to visit Mohegan Sun located at the Mohegan Reservation http://www.mohegan.nsn.us/. Again, we went for food. This time it was a buffet certificate purchased in the same way as the Foxwoods one. After our lunch, we noticed they had a kids section of arcade games. We decided to visit the area to play some games. Unlike all other arcades I have ever seen, this one was very different. See you could not just put in a token and play a game. The way to play was to get a free card an put money on it. While this bugged me, we decided to go along with it and put a couple bucks on the card.

Shortly thereafter I figured out why they use the card. The money disappeared very quickly. It turns out that each game is not 25 or 50 cents. Nooooo, one was 28 cents another was $1.03 and others were 73 cents. Huh? When I went back because I could not figure out why with an even amount on the card we had 23 cents left I learned that Mohegan Sun sets up their arcade VERY differently.

We decided to add a couple bucks more. This time we ended up with .20 cents on the card and I took it to the cashier and asked for the money back. I was informed they don’t refund the money. How incredibly convenient. So, I was suppose to carry a plastic card, that never expires, for 20 cents? Needless to say, I gave it to another kid there and left.

As we walked, we talked about how off a reservation the business would have been forced to refund the money. In addition, the business would never have survived with such weird priced games. The only thing we could conclude was that it was a way for them to make more money.

While we had discussed Indian Reservations and how they came to be, the reality of how they operate differently than the rest of the state and country became very evident in these real life situations. In the end, our daughter learned about why there were reservations, why these tribes decided to pursue their income from gambling, how tribe members get paid on the profits and how a group of people and their culture can survive. As we walked through the casino we saw different artifacts, sculptures, statues, and symbols from each tribe. We located the Tribal Commission and discussed what their role was in the casino. All-in-all I am pretty confident that I doubt our daughter would have experienced a social studies lesson like this in private or public school and we even got to eat while doing it!

He’s the winner, no she did better. The day after a political debate you will always hear the political pundits debating about who the winner of the debate is, but what does your kid think?

We recently watched part of a congressional political debate. I explained the format for this formal way of arguing. As with any communication, there is much more than just the words involved. Appearance and body language, particularly in debates, are very important aspects. As we watched the debate I asked who was making a better impression. Why? Was it because of their clothes? Their tan? The way they held their hands? What made her feel more confident in that person?

Then we talked about the questions. The debate we happened to watch was sponsored by a medical association. As a result all the questions involved medicine, malpractice insurance and doctors. As we watched we discussed why those were issues for that segment of the population. I asked why everything involved medical questions? What was a sponsor?

As the candidates answered the questions we discussed their answers. One candidate kept talking about how wonderful the state legislature was while the other talked about congress. So, I posed the following questions. Why would someone vote for the candidate that keeps saying how great the legislature is doing when this is a congressional position? Would you vote for someone that did not understand the difference between congress and the state legislature? Would you vote for someone that kept praising another political area instead of talking about what they would do if elected?

My goal through it all was for our daughter to analyze the debate, critically think about the answers, see how they looked at the future, how these candidates solved problems, the different aspects of communication and why it all matters. If more people did this you would not hear Monday morning quarterbacks three months later complaining about their newly elected representatives. As one of the greatest countries we have serious responsibilities to not just vote but to vote intelligently and teach our children to do the same.

Garlic shots, garlic marinated beef on a stick, garlic bread knots, garlic chocolate chip chocolate cookies, garlic mushrooms, garlic jelly, garlic oils, garlic dips, garlic chocolate candy bars, garlic burgers, garlic ice cream, garlic popcorn and the delectable garlic dipped in chocolate fondue. So, did you figure out what they all have in common? Well, yes you are correct, they are all food items, one of my favorite things to experiment with, but that is not what I am referring to.

Have you figured it out? If you said, GARLIC then you would be on to something. Recently, we attended the annual Hudson Valley Garlic Festival in Saugerties, NY and we tried everything just mentioned! We first heard about this festival from some family that lives in the area. So, we decided that we had to investigate this festival dedicated to garlic. Now, I am sure if you are unfamiliar with this website/blog you may be asking yourself what does a garlic festival have to do with homeschooling?

Well, besides the experimenting with many different items made with garlic we learned that there are many different types of garlic. Seriously, until you have tried the white German, red German, red Italian, and French garlic, among others, you have not experimented or explored garlic. Science could easily be incorporated in this learning opportunity and we did include some science in this opportunity.

Of course, one could learn about the economic impact of such an event on a community. By exploring and researching the event, one could learn how the money is used in the community, how the event came about, who contributes to the event and so on.

Then there is the fact that while experimenting with all the food one could learn how to be daring by having a positive attitude and approaching the whole experience as an adventure. While at the garlic festival we had a couple other opportunities to experiment with other foods, venison and alligator gumbo. While our daughter is generally daring with a positive attitude, the venison and alligator somewhat taxed her patience with experimenting. Although, I must say, she did enjoy telling all her friends how she had eaten alligator the next day and seeing their face!

While all of those are great things one could learn from going to a garlic festival, the thing we all took away from the event was just how creative and daring the individuals were who developed some of the garlic uses. After all, can you imagine being the one to come up with the idea to stick garlic in a perfectly good chocolate bar? I mean honestly, what did the friends of this person say? What would your spouse say if you said you came up with a new dessert, garlic cloves dipped in chocolate fondue? Could you keep a straight face if your friend said they had just made some garlic ice cream to add to their pie?

Yet someone came up with each of those ideas. Even if the recipes were passed on from generation to generation, there was someone who was willing to experiment, possibly be laughed at or ridiculed, make mistakes and then try again. Those are amazing lessons and after all isn’t that what learning is all about?

While we have all heard of many people who were willing to fail and try again, the garlic festival offers a unique perspective on this lesson. So, the next time you are afraid to shake things up, try something different, or make a mistake reconsider and remember the garlic festival.

To learn more about the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival visit: http://www.hvgf.org/

As with Cultural Club, which I previously explained, I began something called Cultural Co-op. A co-op is where multiple families gather together either once a month, weekly or more to share resources. Often the sharing of resources takes the form of different expertise. So, for example, if there is a parent who is from China they may teach Chinese or a parent who enjoys science may teach some science lessons.

As with Cultural Club, the purpose of the Cultural Co-op is to investigate different cultures. With the co-op each family in the co-op takes a week and teaches about a specific country or state. They can teach about the country’s history, geography, currency, famous monuments or politics. They can utilize videos, books, food samples, dance, game or songs. Basically anything about the country can be taught in any form.

Recently, our cultural co-op, which meets during what we call Monday Classes because we meet for 8-weeks on Mondays, decided to explore the different cultures of each of our 50 states in the U.S. As someone who grew up in Alabama I decided to introduce this very southern state to these northern kids. But I did not want to do a cursory explanation and so I decided to tackle teaching the Civil Rights Era.

Now some would say 6 to 10 year-olds should not be taught about that era because at times it was very violent. I disagree. The overriding concepts can be taught without teaching about every detail of violence. It was with this premise that I prepared for teaching Alabama.

When I was in college I took many sociology classes. While I learned a lot, I found them more fun because of the many social experiments we were assigned. To this day, I still remember my Professor’s name. One day she broke up the class to teach about class systems and racism. The blue and brown-eyed experiment, as it is known, was first introduced the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 by Jane Elliott to her group of then third graders. The experiment works by dividing the class into the blue-eyed and brown-eyed groups. I decided I would use this experiment to help me teach about the Civil Rights Era.

Since our class was smaller than a regular class I slightly modified the racism experiment. Before I began I explained the purpose to the parents and asked if anyone would have a challenge. All of the parents thought it would be a great learning experience for the kids. When the children arrived, I quickly divided the class by eye color. I only explained that we were going to do an experiment. They were to leave the classroom and re-enter but this time I wanted the blue-eyed kids to walk through the door that was closer to the table. The brown-eyed kids were to walk through the door further away from the table.

When the children walked in, slightly confused, I told them that the blue-eyed kids could sit at the head of the table, while the brown-eyed children would have to sit in the middle. Then I presented PBS video excerpts from “Eyes on the Prize”. Most libraries have this video. As we began I told the blue-eyed kids they would determine when we could start and stop the video. As the video played, I explained certain aspects of the Civil Rights Era. We discussed what it was, why it began, how the black citizens organized, why they marched and did sit-ins, how they succeeded and so on.

I then offered some traditional Alabama foods including pecan pie and a recipe from the Alabama First Lady Patsy Riley, which is included below. Since the racism experiment continued the blue-eyed kids decided who would get served, who could eat first and when they would be done. While the complete experiment lasts two days, ours only lasted about 40 minutes. Nonetheless the kids understood the point. The brown-eyed kids became very irritated that they could not eat when they wanted, had to walk in through a different door, sit in a less desirable section of the table and had no say in the video among other things. The blue-eyed kids became very uncomfortable. Since this is not how they are raised, they did not like making those decisions. And even with a small group of kids the blue-eyed quickly became uncomfortable with hurting their friends.

In the end, I explained how the blue-eyed kids represented the whites while the brown-eyed kids represented the blacks during the Civil Rights Era. (This could be adapted to any type of discrimination, based on race, ethnicity, religion, sex or educational choices.) We then discussed the following. -What is racism? -How did it feel to not be able to do what you wanted as a brown-eyed? -How did it feel to make every decision as the blue-eyed? -As a brown-eyed did you feel like you were being singled out just because you had brown-eyes? -How did it feel to the blacks in the 60’s who were not allowed to sit anywhere on the bus? -Why do you think the blacks walked so many miles to and from work instead of taking the buses? -Would you have wanted to live during that time? Why or why not? -Were the sit-ins, bus boycotts and marches effective? -What did you learn? -Is there anything you would change? -How can you make a difference today in dealing with other people of different races?

In the end, the children gained a better understanding of a tumultuous time in our history, learned about Alabama and decided they did not like or agree with racial discrimination. Someday they will learn all the details of the Civil Rights Era but for now they got it. They learned that discrimination on any level is not right. With understanding they can make a difference in the world.

The following is the recipe from the Alabama First Lady Patsy Riley:

Fresh Tomatoes 3 large tomatoes or more ½ c. white cooking wine 1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese ½ c. Italian breadcrumbs

Cut tomatoes. Place on cookie sheet that has been sprayed with garlic-flavored spray. Spray tomatoes lightly. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese and Italian breadcrumbs. Pour white cooking wine over each slice. Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese melts.

History is another subject that I find fascinating. My philosophy is that it is often taught in such a boring manner that children become lost and not engaged. Whether it is because there is too much information to get through in a set amount of time or because the teacher does not enjoy the subject, the child is often the one left with a bad taste about history.

So what is history? At a most basic level history is learning about the past. I also believe that by learning and studying the past we will not be doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. But the truth is that being concerned about not repeating mistakes is the least of a child’s concerns. They are more interested in getting together with their friends.

The challenge is making history interesting for kids. After all if it becomes somewhat interesting then they will most likely want to learn more. While dates are important, I believe it is much more important for there to be a good understanding of a time period. Often when I visit a historical location, I allow myself to travel back in time. I imagine what it must have been like to live in that time period. What would it have smelled like? What would my concerns of the day have been? What would my role have been? How were decisions made in the town? My mind just continues and I can end up spending hours at a museum or historical location. While my husband considers it a unique ability he does tend to look worn out after several hours. Thankfully wireless Internet and a bench give him a reprieve and allow our daughter and I to continue our exploration.

Since history encompasses so much time and geographical space, it can be overwhelming. So, where do you start a discussion about history? The wisest place to start is with what the child may be interested in. If they are unsure of what might be of interest to them, then you could start with the toilets. Toilets? Think about it. What child, of any age, is not fascinated with gross things? It is with that premise that I often entice my daughter with history. Frankly, it has worked well over the years.

One memorable time was when we were visiting Colonial Williamsburg (http://www.history.org/). The group we were with headed toward the Magazine, which held the arsenal for Colonial Williamsburg. While this was fascinating for my father, my daughter was clearly becoming board. I asked her what she would like to see and I proposed the Public Gaol. (That would be the public jail to you and I.) We talked about what it must have been like during the colonial times to end up in jail, what might have caused someone to go to jail and how they could get released. We then went on a brief tour of the jail.

But the thing that caught her attention was not the fact that the inmates had no heat and the windows had no glass. Or that the gaoler (jailer) lived there with his wife and five children in a house attached to the jail. Or even the fact that the pirate Blackbeard’s henchmen were housed there and that the jail operated until 1910.

No, the thing that intrigued our daughter was the throne-like toilet in the jail. For a jail, it was quite interesting, I have to admit and I did enjoy seeing her eyes widen as she became intrigued with some history. Inmates would be chained with leg irons to different sections in the jail but all of them could reach the toilet. The toilet was about 5 feet high with several steps going up it where the inmate would then sit and well, do his business. It so intrigued her she got a picture quite literally on top of the throne!

Another memorable time was when we visited the Vanderbilt summer “cottage”. Ok, let’s get real this is quite probably the most inaccurate description of a house that one could offer. The truth is that while the homes were closed after the summer they were really mansions! The Vanderbilts 70-room summer mansion in Newport, Rhode Island is known as the Breakers, ( http://www.newportmansions.org/). It is located right on the Atlantic Ocean. One Christmas vacation we visited the Breakers. We enjoyed it via a self-guided tour which was only supposed to take about 1 ½ hours but to my husband’s dismay, our daughter and I investigated the “cottage” for almost 3 hours.

This time the sheer size of the “cottage” piqued our daughter’s curiosity. She had recently seen the Mark Twain house, (http://www.marktwainhouse.org/), and was convinced there was no house that could possibly be larger. When we drove up and saw the Breakers she had to admit that there really were larger houses. As we toured the Breakers we learned about the Gilded Age, the Vanderbilts and the fact that the Breakers was rebuilt after an 1892 fire completely destroyed the mansion.

As we toured, we once more came across interesting restroom facilities. This time they had toilets similar to ours today. But what was unique was that the bathtubs had two sets of faucets. One set of faucets offered hot and cold fresh water that was collected in cisterns, while the other offered hot and cold salt water. The salt water was pumped up from the ocean and both types of water were stored in holding tanks in the attic. When someone wanted a bath, the water would flow down using gravity to the tub below.

Finally, I have one last historical toilet memory to share. We recently visited Old Sturbridge Village, ( http://www.osv.org/). For those unfamiliar with Old Sturbridge Village, it is a reproduction of what a colonial New England town would have been like and how it would have functioned. This time as we toured the different houses, we came across one that had a chamber pot in the room. If you are unfamiliar with a chamber pot, it was a pot kept in the bedroom so that if one had to relieve themself they could go on the pot instead of going outside. With the right questions, the chamber pot can invoke some creative imagination.

In this case, I asked, “Why is the pot on the floor?” “What was it used for?” “What if you had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night?” Then there is the surefire question that will evoke a response such as, “Ohhh, gross!” The question is, “Could you imagine getting up in the middle of the night and stepping into the chamber pot by accident?”

In the end, history is what you make it for yourself and your child. Asking the right questions to invoke their imagination is a great way to introduce history. In the end though it is most important to be patient and give the kids time to explore and ask questions. After all, do you want history to repeat itself? If it did we could end up using chamber pots again. Ohhh, gross!