After a long winter break (from approximately the time of my surgery in October which removed a mass roughly the size of a small child from my abdomen) until this week in which we've accomplished little "book larnin' ", we are back at our daily routine and it feels fine.
Today, we got back into our Biology text from the Real Science 4 Kids series, which I believe is the best out there for kids anywhere. Rebecca Keller is a genius!
In our chapter today, we read about cells. It was hilarious to try to make my kids say "golgi apparatus" and "deoxyribononucleaic acid". But they were still, with rapt attention!
It got me thinking about DNA and why we are the way we are. For instance, do I have a messy gene that makes it nearly impossible to keep an orderly home without extreme effort, while others just click? Is it really my fault that I suffer from verbal diarrhea?
I recently had a lively debate via facebook messaging about inner circles of gal pals, and what makes an inner circle, how one qualifies, etc. I think it's all in the DNA. I am not an inner circle girl. I seem to be wired to attract very interesting, but not mainstream, people. I do not drive the "right" car and I do not care. My clothes are from Kohl's, and I only get my hair cut twice a year when I can work up the nerve to spend $40 (plus products) on myself.
The inner circle girls are the ones with the "it" factor. They are lovely, secure, fashionable people who do have the "right" car and the "right" address. Their husbands adore them (another check in the "not" column for me), they are put together. Not one of them would ever think to invite me anywhere, except maybe to be the fat, not cute girl who deflects potential suitors. Is it in our DNA to be inner circle types or not?
My friend asked why people complain to her (she is an inner circle type) about being left out. Are our egos still so fragile, even in middle age, that we are not happy with our social station in life? Are we not happy with our own friends?
For me the answer is decidedly no. From childhood, I have had a yearning to be in the "in" group; on the "A" list. I have accepted the fact that I am too quirky and opinionated, not to mention too short and with ungainly features, to be in the group. I am also afflicted with the people pleasing gene, and will go to great lengths to be part of "it" even if just for a moment. In fact, my BFF Amy and I referred to our desperation for acceptance as the "never-ending quest for popularity."
Most importantly, am I homeschooling because I don't want my own social failings in horrid school to happen to my sweet babies?
I do fear that somewhere in the nuclei of my children this gene is being replicated. My daughter is universally loved, so I think it may have skipped her. The boys are still too young to see, only time will tell.
The whole of who we are is endlessly fascinating to me, and I consider it a privilege to be teaching and re-learning with my children.
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2 comments:
Courtney, I think it's more environment than DNA, and the walls our social circles envelope us in. When planning our class reunions (because I was the chubby girl left out, and I want to make sure that the few outcasts that were and are still friends are still invited), it has amazed me to talk to the "it" girls now, who, for the most part, tell me how lonely they felt in school. I think that sometimes it's that "grass is greener" situation.
We're middle aged?
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