I had a revelation today. I'm kind of a strange Mom. My kids drive me crazy sometimes, but most of the time I enjoy spending time with them. Most of my friends kids seem to spend a lot of time in their rooms doing their own thing, but ours almost never do. They sleep in their rooms and get dressed in them and that's about it. The rest of the time, they usually like to hang around with us.

As a result, they've picked up some rather odd stuff from us. For instance, I'd bet money that Blake is the only 4th grader at his school who can name all the Marx brothers and can identify nearly any Beatles or Beach Boys song. He's also extremely knowledgeable about the Vatican, Renaissance art, the Illuminati, and religious symbolism because last month we listened to Angels and Demons in the car. He's also big on DaVinci from when we listened to the DaVinci Code and because he did a report on him for school.

I listen to books on tape in the car all the time and when I'm hauling the boys around, they pick up on this stuff. When Matt was growing up, I was big on Zig Ziglar, Earl Nightingale and all that motivational stuff. I still play it at least once or twice a year and he can quote parts of it verbatim. Right now we're listening to a book on my favorite President, Theodore Roosevelt and Blake has picked up on all sorts of interesting facts about him. Which is great because he was a fascinating man.

That's why I refused to have a TV or DVD player in the car. Honestly, I think it's just ridiculous! Our kids are bombarded with TV and video games almost every minute of the day. In the car is one of the few places I can get them to actually pick up a book, or at least to listen to a book on tape. And I actually get a lot of mileage out of my CD player in my car. Zig Ziglar calls it Automobile University and we both learn a lot of great stuff that way.

I think parents really underestimate what their kids can learn and what they might be interested in. They aren't just into 1-2-3 and A-B-C's like the schools try to teach them. When Blake was younger, like 3 or 4, I used to do a lot of home-schooling with him and we learned all sorts of stuff together. When you say Home School, people get an image of a kid sitting at a desk in your living room with some kind of a textbook or something, but it doesn't have to be that way at all.

Since I was a working Mom and didn't have much time, we needed to squeeze in his schooling whenever we could. We would do state flashcards during breakfast, look at the planets or birds of prey during lunch, listen to Spanish tapes on the way to preschool, and learn about the Presidents or famous inventors from his placemats during dinner. And because we broke it up into small, fun sessions throughout the day, he really loved it and there was never any pressure for him. I didn't test, I didn't push, but by the time he was four and a half years old, he could read about 50 simple words, speak a dozen or so words of Spanish, could identify a dozen states and their capitols, and knew all the planets and so many other things. Even better, he loved all kind of classical music and could identify most common pieces within a few notes. Both of my boys are very musical and Matt has been playing in various bands for years.

Fortunately, my daughter-in-law Tammy believes strongly in home schooling as well, so I've been able to hand down all of our educational materials to my grandchildren. If you're interested in learning something about my methods, click here for my post on an easy way to teach your child to read.

It's not about just making your kid the smartest kid in the class or trying to compete with other kids or other mothers, but rather it's a way to ensure that your kid will have a well-rounded and successful life. There's a certain percentage of kids who never learn to read well in school, no matter what help the teachers can give them. I made sure that my child wouldn't be one of them because he was already reading well by the time he got there. And if you're a good reader, you're much more likely to be successful in your life. You'll have a better vocabulary, be a more interesting person, and be able to speak knowledgeably about a great many things. I come from a family where reading is HUGE. I almost never saw either of my parents without a book in reach and our family get-togethers are almost like book clubs. It's always interesting to know what everyone is reading and you know how obsessed I am with books.

I didn't quite know where this post was going, but apparently it's going to be about home schooling, books and all the strange things I've managed to teach my children. All part of Adrians Crazy Life!