i'm mad about the world. it's honestly the best place i've ever lived.
and since we've moved back to the states, i've started to see the benefits of raising our girlies three overseas. they're wide-open-minded. their synonym for change is adventure. they're always on orange-alert for injustice, and fight for the underdog just as hard as they beg us for a new dog.
and? they're killing it in their school's geography bee.
lillie raced through the door last week, though, and breathlessly told me the latest development. if molly answers her question right tomorrow, i'm out!
what didn't you know? i was incredulous.
this is a girl who has slept on red sands, napped along knightsbridge, and woken up on the lido. she knows the proper pronunciation of phuket. when to call it israel, and when to call it palestine. she carries dead-on accents in her back pocket from all the friends and strangers we've collected on our travels, and she can cluck her tongue with the disdain of an old jordanian woman. what didn't she know?
apparently, there's a state called california?
{gasp!} i've never taught them california? are you kidding me? my brother lives in california. i've never mentioned california? see? this is why i could never in a million years home school. because i would teach things like be kind, because karma can really mess with your stomach. and support other women...because if she's doing well, we're all doing well. don't be judgy, especially about tattoos. capital letters are unfriendly. too many ellipses are like bad wine...you'll feel it the next day. and sequins were made for sunshine. as for states? they're awesome. you should visit some. ugh.
but here's where grae saves the day. with her i-can't-possibly-be-bothered-with-this-nonsense tone.
lillie. she deadfaces us. it's the long one on the left.
yes! i gave an imaginary fist-pump and waited for one of my brainiacs to mention how california is also usually pale-pink on the best old-school maps.
so tim mazurek's name might not ring a bell. but lottie + doof should. read the full article here. photos from his home in chicago. fyi. chicago's in the middle.
38 comments:
oh man, you and your girlies three are genius...GENIUS I tell you! I adore you all & your reasons for not home schooling? Are exactly the same as mine! How funny....love. I was always jealous that california got to be pale pink. Hmpf.
xo
Melis
smartie pants girls! i love the "long one on the left" because that's totally how i remembered the states... "one shaped like a mitten, one shaped like a key". boy- pictures and images are so much easier than words for me :)
Fabulous story! Everyday I worry my daughter isn't going to learn about the world living in our backwards county of Pennsylvania. And now I have even higher standards!
Made me smile :)
As a former expat kid (grew up in the UAE), I totally relate. So many benefits of spending part of my childhood overseas that I wouldn't trade for anything. Especially the open-mindedness to all things different and the ability to kick behind at world geography trivia. Go, girlies, go! Plenty of time to learn the states now!
I checked the map in my office - California is indeed pale pink. Genius!
melis and betsy...so jealous of that pale pink! i assumed it was bc everyone's more beautiful in cali and they deserved the prettiest color. i think illinois was goldenrod. ugh.
krissy. that's it! it's bc i'm picture-based?! not dumb! thank you...
scoutie girl...big fan of you. no way your kid could grow up anything but creative and accepting.
and jenn. jealous. the emirates are so pretty-shiny. we saw beyonce outside the burj al arab once. it's like anything's possible there, right? you should start a blog, btw.
new jersey is never pink. it's usually yellow or orange or some other pez-color that isn't pink. i live in a pink state now...that's so strange. and as important geography is (we don't want any child -- or adult -- to think africa is a country and not a continent), the lessons you teach your girls will take them so very far in life.
as for capital letters, sometimes i need them. i can only go without capitals for so long before my little ocd kicks in.
Oh, Miss Karey. God you're amazing with words. AH. MAZING!
See... sometimes all caps can be nice. ;) You make me swoon! Sigh.
i love this story. it's funny, sweet and the writing makes me feel like i'm flipping through real simple. thanks for sharing!!
Oh, this is killing me. I love it all. Thank you for being so fabulous. Go Lilie!
LMAO! love this story - so cute!
israel and palestine. I don't even know the difference. I'm not sure I could point at it on a map to tell you the truth. somewhere over *there* I would wave with a finger.
but california I know.
come visit us!! please say you'll take the girls to disneyland I'll meet you there. we can all take turns riding Dumbo
Swear
Oh how I would love to meet your girls!
Also. Your writing, which is always excellent, is particularly wonderful in this post.
i am going to pretend i am good at geography. but in the same hand that grasps geography i also tentatively hold the correct pronunciation of charcuterie,the proper use of parenthesis and punctuation and the difference between a justification and a rationalization. i can look them up and procure the proper but it's never really on the tip of my tongue.
i don't want my daughter to be afflicted with the same failures, hence our house is decorated with globes and maps. maybe it will sink in for her...
Love this story! It reminds me of lounging with my niece on the floor of her playroom, her puzzle map of the states all around us. California is easy to spot 'cause it's pink!
Genius.
From Colorado...somewhere in the middle-ish on the left.
this made me giggle..and i needed a giggle today--desperately needed it. i hope you blog until you are an old woman because i want to know what becomes of your girlies. i'm sure they will be fabulous women!
How did you get to be so adventurous and so brave to take your girlies 3 from here to there? I am dying to know more of your adventures and how they came to be. I think breaking down different accents and then of course trying to speak in them is of utter most importance. I speak in an English accent almost half of the time. Ask anyone that knows me well or listen to my voicemail (people who leave me a message and then talk to me in person must think I am a strange bird).
xx
ps thanks for the sweet comment... oh and it was Kirsten..ms. simply grove. She really told you hello for me... she is the sweetest!
awesome post! Thanks for the uber sweet comments today.
my word travel is THE best teacher, kids just get stuff that all our adult induced brains try to filter, file and decipher.
had to laugh about the sibling exchange here, reminded me of a convo on a plane between my two boys. Charlie - 'i LOVE paris, i think it is my favourite country so far' (totally pain au chocolat biased vote btw)!! Fraser - (mandatory eye roll too) 'it's not a country, its a City, gees get it right will ya'. Charlie - 'i don't care, it's MY favourite and it can be a whole country if i want it to!!'.
found it hard to interfect and give motherly direction - i mean, who doesn't want Paris to be a whole country?!'
Joslyn was absolutely correct when she proclaimed you to be an excellent writer (and wickedly funny). What a great post. We here in the pink, long state on the left would welcome a visit from you guys!
brandi and shayna. i'm coming to visit. done and done.
uncle beefy. capital letters are ok, but a comment from you that reads AH. MAZING. is perfect! thank you! {you NEVER leave comments, so i took this one very seriously!}
jackie. real simple? i wish. that's a nice thing to say...
estelle...i LOVE your blog! checked it out the other day after your comment. very cool.
kay...i always giggle when you write lmao. i just do. xoxo.
richie. i've got to intro you to shayna. if you and i ever meet, i know you'd LOVE her!
and gabrielle? always makes my heart leap when you leave a comment. it's like part celeb sighting and part friend and all parts lovely. thank you.
krista. seriously. your own blog full of all the comments you've leftg here. poetry. pure poetry.
foxywedding. LOVED your post today.
ZDub. snorted. thanks for pointing our your location in a way i could understand. now. which color.
and sherry? i am an old woman. feeling it today, too. xoxo.
lalalalalalovely. i just wanted to write that. xoxo. i love it when the brave sleeps so you can comment away.
apt #34. i am seriously digging your sight. every post is a stunner. stop it.
and jules. no idea you had babes! i thought you were a teenager with all that fresh genius on your site! i mean it. you must've had those boys when you were ten, right?
I believe living abroad should be a requirement for all kids...brilliant minds bloom when filled with an array of beauty and culture.
So happy to be back! Thank you again for the heart. racing. kick-ass guest post!
you make me smile so very much, you and your little troop of sprites and wildebeesties!
xox,
susan
I love that Lillie!!
that is absolutely hilarious.
and it was the sink. yuck.
cali? a state? my girls sadly couldn't name more than a few... and reminding them that they're in the u.s.a. is even tougher.
we're jonesing for some good 'ole u.s. geography - not that i don't appreciate my girls knowing about india. but we just won't live here forever.
seriously, we won't.
o.m.g. i love you, and yes i was 10 actually.
I have a 12 & 9 yr old, and had one of those nasty scary birthdays last year, the kind that end with a zero, and the first number was between 3 and 5. Don't make me say it - still in therapy.
Worst bit though is that the kids found out the truth, i had them fooled that i was in my twenties for the last five or so years, and now the jig is up!! :| not happy!
Karey, you're cracking me up! But you're also sooooo right on about the benefits of living overseas. Your children will not only know the Left Bank from the West Bank, but they'll care what happens there. And that's what really, really matters.
Where abroad did you live?
I grew up in Belgium before moving to New York City for college and wouldn't trade that experience for anything. anything. anything. When people ask I always tell them there are truly no words to describe it. The experiences, the people, the cultures, the perspectives. Your kids will certainly thank you one day!
(And yes, the geography lessons, amazing!)
You are amazing with words. Crazy talented. I so enjoyed reading this post... thank you.
-maria
So, so good. Loved being a fly on the wall, so to speak. Your stories are the bestest.
I'm a daughter of a school principal - but if that is what you would teach your darling girlies, that is a good enough reason for all children to be home schooled! x
Wait. Hold the phone. I lovelovelove this one too!
awesome.
and wait, you´re back in the states? Oh, I am just feeling so not caught up around here.
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