A Lesson From Ferdinand

Today Matt learned about Spain. What I love about these lessons are the stories and games associated with them. So, as we learned that Madrid is a city in Spain which is on the continent of Europe (Matt calls it Syrup), we got to read The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf and drawings by Robert Lawson.

The story takes place in Spain with a young bull named Ferdinand. Ferdinand is different from the other bulls. The other bulls love to run and butt heads and dream of going to Madrid to fight in the bull fights. "But not Ferdinand. He liked to sit just quietly and smell the flowers." He grows into a large bull and when the men from Madrid come to check out the bulls for the bull fights, Ferdinand goes to his favorite cork tree to smell the flowers. However, he sits on a bee and freaks out, appearing to be the meanest, fiercest, and craziest bull of all. The men take him to Madrid and when the fight begins, Ferdinand comes to the middle of the arena to sit and smell the flowers in the hair of all the beautiful women in the crowd. The Banderilleros, with their sharp pins to stick into Ferdy, can't make him angry and attack the Matador. The Picadores, with their long spears, can't make him angry and attack the Matador. The Matador, who wants to use his sword against the bull, does everything he can to anger Ferdinand, but the bull continues to just sit and smell the flowers. Finally, with no fight looming, Ferdinand is taken home and his life is spared.

It's a wonderful story about how avoiding contention can be your saving grace. My children really need to learn that one.

Of course, my messed up mind saw it in a bit of a different light. We are about to re-embark on our quest for a new home. This time around, our options are opened a little more. There are several things we want in a home and we are being a bit more willing to expand our possibilities. So Sunday we went driving around a bit to check out some other areas of the Valley of the Sun to see what's out there. There are some nice areas with incredible schools (I know, What? I don't want to home school for the next 17 years? Crazy!). I'm nervous, though, that our short introductions to the areas may not give us the actual reality of what the areas are like. I don't want to be like the men who come to get Ferdinand: I don't want to think I'm getting one thing and then find out I'm getting something else. It's scary. We plan to spend the next several years in whatever house we find. For a woman who has never lived in one house for more than three years at a time, that's a scary idea. I don't want us to mess this up. I am absolutely prepared to rely on my God given blessing of personal/family revelation. It's about the only way to do this. Sometimes, our eyes will deceive us, but our hearts will always guide us safely.

Just for fun, after Matt's lesson I Googled Ferdinand and found the Disney cartoon. It's about 8 minutes long, but grab the kids and watch it. So worth it!