Giveaway: Raising (and homeschooling) Real Men!

August 1, 2011

It’s the beginning of the month, and that means that it is time for another Giveaway with The HomeScholar! This month we have a very special prize for those moms and dads homeschooling and raising boys.

Hal and Melanie Young of Raising Real Men are providing The HomeScholar friends with the chance to win one very special package with a prize for both mom and dad!

The Prize: A Mom & Dad Special!
This prize pack includes ONE print book for home and ONE audio book on cd perfect for use during that workday commute!

To Enter:
The rules for this giveaway are simple! Just leave a comment below telling us your funniest “raising boys” story!

To Win:
ONE winner will be chosen from comment entries below on Monday, August 8, 2011 at 5pm PST using random.org.

Thank you, Melanie & Hal, for your generous gift!

For practical and encouraging help in raising boys, be sure to sign up for The Young’s newsletter! And, as always, please share this contest with your friends!

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32 Comments »

Kristine says:

I don’t know about a “funniest boy” story. They are definitely baffling. I’ve been at a great place with my older girl for several years, but I feel like I have to throw all of the knowledge/experience out the window and start all over again with my son.

But a friend with two wonderful, grown boys just recommended this book this past weekend, and I’d love the opportunity to read it.

August 1st, 2011 at 4:21 am
Joyce says:

My first child was a lovely little girl who never got into anything she had to reach high for. My two boys however were both like monkeys and into whatever they could climb for. We had no tub and I bathed the children in the sink for as long as I could. On two separate occasions I had dishes in the sink with dish soap waiting to be washed. Well, I guess the boys thought it was bath time because both of them had climbed into the sink. Imagine my surprise upon returning to wash those dishes and find a child happily playing with bubbles. How they did not break anything and get hurt is a blessing from the Lord.

August 1st, 2011 at 4:39 am
Carol says:

Thanks for another great giveaway opportunity! My only boy has not been typical in many ways; and although there have been many funny moments – none leap to mind. But a precious time I will never forget was from those sweet preschool years. Whenever he was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he always replied “A daddy.”

August 1st, 2011 at 4:49 am
Mary Seymour says:

My funniest boy story is when my 5 year old signed up for baseball. He was very excited. He marched straigt up to the coach and thanked him for being the coach. Now this made me proud…he thanked him on his own.
The next thing out of my son’s mouth was, “So, how much?”
Coach said, “How much what?”
My son said, “How much are you paying me?
Coach didn’t know what to say.
Then my son added, ” All the players make a lot of money. How much will I get?”

August 1st, 2011 at 5:16 am
Holly Schnakenberg says:

My fourth born is our first boy and when he was still nursing we went to the Texas State Park on the Frio river. While we were floating down the river we stopped to see big boys jumping from the top of a tree into the river below, we were all amazed. As he sat up on my lap I asked him if he wanted to do that too, he looked at me with such sincere eyes and said “da!” then proceeded to crawl out of my arms
He is almost 9 now and he still is ready to say yes to just about anything we ask him.
thank you for letting me share a sweet story with you all.

August 1st, 2011 at 5:28 am
Polly Wallis says:

My son is now 10. I had two girls who were so easy until the teens then this bouncing baby boy came along. He didn’t want to sleep at night (still doesn’t!)and it felt like he was literally bouncing off the walls! He has been a challenge and extreme joy in our lives.
We went to my sister’s house. She has a cat and he is very allergic. I gave him Benadryl and his comment was:
“I need chicken soup to activate the Benadryl”.
The day before he took Benadryl and had chicken soup for lunch. The Benadryl started taking effect about the time he was eating- so he associated the chicken soup with making the Benadryl work! It was hilarious!

August 1st, 2011 at 5:54 am
Merit says:

I have two boys and a daughter, so have enjoyed the best of both worlds! We have always loved camping as a family vacation and one year when the boys were small, my husband and I were relaxing by the campfire and were amused to see them running around the campsite with croquet mallets. We thought we could enlighten them as to how to actually play the game, when they informed us that they were “squirrel hunting” :0)

August 1st, 2011 at 6:07 am
Linda Huff says:

I have two boys. They are now, 12 and 14. I have a ton of stories, but the most memorable one was on a long trip home from Japan when my youngest was only 4. We were on the last leg of the trip when my youngest son was beginning to “lose it” after so many hours of flying and lack of sleep. He wanted to sit next to the window, but unfortunately our family of four only had one window seat and the oldest had already claimed it. Well, a very nice lady was sitting in the aisle in front of us, and offered to give George the window seat next to her. She was so sweet and was trying to engage our son in a game of I-spy. We the proud, exhausted parents, were so relieved, we sat back listening in on their game. We heard, I spy something “yellow” from our son. The sweet lady guessed “is it this or that” many times she asked, but still our son said, “no, it’s not that.” Finally the lady “gave up” and we behind them became curious too. Our son, very loudly with a laugh shouted out…”Your TEETH!”

Needless to say, after that, the lady was silent. We felt terrible and were totally ready to get off that plane. It was one of those “not a clue, boy moments” that will be forever etched in our memory.

August 1st, 2011 at 6:15 am
Pam Moser says:

Many funny stories, but here’s one. My son was 2 1/2 & precocious. My father’s b’day is near Christmas & I got him a red sweater. I gave my boy the wrapped gift to give to my dad, who made a show for his grandson of his gratitude. The boy responded with, “It’s okay, it’s just a red sweater.” He couldn’t understand why we thought it was so funny or our explanation of why you don’t tell the person before they open the gift. After all, it was just a red sweater. Big deal, right?

August 1st, 2011 at 6:38 am
Dawn @ Guiding Light says:

I’m not totally awake yet so hopefully this story will be good enough…I have two boys, ages 14 & 3. The older is doing entomology for 4H so has dead bugs in jars all over the house (so he can then pin them in his collection). Now, ds3 wants the same thing…so EVEN MORE dead bugs and bug boxes around the house. I don’t mind bugs, per sea, but…this is a little much. Blessings.

August 1st, 2011 at 6:38 am
Tammi Ardese says:

My sons are 14, 12, and 5. Most days come with funny stories, some funnier after the fact. Once we were hiking, and we decided to get off the “beaten” path. Our 14 yr. old jumped on top of a log to cross a good-sized stream. Our 12 yr. old, who must prove that he is a real man, and can do anything his brother can do, says, “I can do that!” On his first attempt he landed head first into the water. He jumped up , and said, “Don’t worry, I got this!” He attempted the jump again, and landed clinging to the log with all his might, but slipped off into the water again. The third time, my husband pleaded with him to find another way around the stream. After some thought, he had to admit that it would probably be best if he not try to jump again. Soaked and defeated, he proudly held his head up and said, “Well, I tried, and got to get wet too!”

August 1st, 2011 at 7:51 am
Cordelia says:

When my ds was pre-school age, I felt like I was always on suicide watch. This story highlights his most creative “attempt.”

It was storming outside as I attended to the needs of my 1 yo dd. It dawned on me that the house was awfully quiet, so I looked about for my 4 yo ds; he was nowhere in the house.

Looking out the kitchen window, I was dismayed to see my son on top of the roof of the garage holding aloft a large metal pipe as lightning broke through the clouds all about. In his other hand, was a mass of wires leading into the garage.
Yikes, what mission was this child on?

He had been able to wrestle a ladder to the side of the garage to aid his climb, so what other surprises were in store?

Screaming as I ran out the door, I was greeted by a very happy boy who said that he was bringing his “creation” to life. Yes, inside the garage was his Lego monster/man attached to the bundle of wires.

Ah, the dangers of reading literature like Frankenstein to boys.

August 1st, 2011 at 8:15 am
Deidre says:

The only thing I can think of is when my oldest (now 14) was 3, he told his grandmother he wanted to be a hooker when he grew up. I was horrified where he would even have heard that word. Grandmother was smarter and asked what a hooker was…”Oh, that’s the guy who hooks the plane up when it gets to the airport.” Phew!

August 1st, 2011 at 8:34 am
Stacy says:

When the kids were young, I couldn’t believe what I had to say at times. “No going potty in the front yard.” “You can’t eat rocks — even small ones.” “Don’t carry the cat by the tail.”

But the funniest and the one that surprised me the most was when a friend was visiting with her kids. Our two youngest boys (4 years old) were missing for a while (first sign of danger), so we went to investigate. Eventually they were found in the master bathroom commode, dancing in the toilet together, stripped down to their underwear. Who would have thought I needed to say, “No dancing in the toilets?”

August 1st, 2011 at 8:47 am
Karla says:

I have four sons and love every minute! One of my favorite stories is when the oldest two were about 5 and 7. I overheard them talking, when the young one said heatedly to the older one, “Someday you’re going to grow up and marry a yucky girl!” Stung by this awful comment, the older one replied in kind, “Well, so are you!”

I thought this was so funny and was relaying it to my husband later at dinner. The younger boy chimed in and said, “Mom, you didn’t understand. I wasn’t angry with him.”

“Oh, then why did you say that?” I asked.

“Because,” he said, “we were looking at your wedding picture.” Oh, my! It dawned on me that I was the “yucky girl” that poor Dad married!

August 1st, 2011 at 10:44 am
Cindy Fishell says:

I am mother of two boys of opposite personalities but with great imaginations. I love seeing them play well together. Especially when they are playing pirates pretending to be blackbeard and one finding the pirate treasure. We have had lots of laughs tears nothing out of the ordinary stands out. I’ve been reccomended this book but haven’t read it especially since my five year old is testing his bounderies.

August 1st, 2011 at 12:31 pm
Sue Beyer says:

One of our funniest “boy” memories happened when my husband took our 7-year-old son on a special outing. While stopped at the gas station, our son noticed a lady bending over into her minivan & exclaimed to my husband, “She has the biggest weggie ever!” (Apparently, the woman was wearing very revealing “thong” underwear…Yikes!)

August 1st, 2011 at 4:15 pm
David says:

When my son was in the preschool years he would make us all laugh because he could put on the biggest frown. He would put it on when he was unhappy but also when he wanted to make us laugh. Once in a while we would ask him to put on the frown for us to make us laugh. The simple things are so precious.

August 1st, 2011 at 5:35 pm
Cinzia says:

I only have one boy, but he sure is different than rasing girls! We had just moved into our home and the yard had been torn up and was ready to be seeded. One day our son looked out the window and blurted out “I like dirt!”. He was only two years old but he knew that little boys like dirt! We still laugh about that comment today and he is almost ten!

August 1st, 2011 at 5:38 pm
Lisa says:

When our boys were younger (maybe 7 and 10?), they were reading Proverbs (KJV) and discussing the “strange women” in the verses. Our older son asked, “Should we avoid strange women?” to which the younger one replied, “No, just don’t marry them!”

August 1st, 2011 at 6:40 pm
Jeniver says:

I find it very funny that he can make a weapon out of anything. He finds sticks and then he makes them weapons but he also has the “Talent” to turn his pancake into a blaster too. Never would I have imagined that pancakes could be so fun.

August 1st, 2011 at 6:54 pm
Laura says:

I have 3 boys, ages 14, 11, & 8. There are plenty of stories involving the roof, tall trees and phone calls to the volunteer firefighters. But, my favorites memories also include an angel my then-5yo bought for me without prompting from anyone; the time I gave them some crayons and paper and my then-7yo comes back 15 minutes later with a construction paper drawing of one traced hand reaching down from the top of the page and one traced hand reaching up — fingertips just touching — with the words, “I want to touch God” written in black crayon; the times we come out of WalMart and they rush to open my car door for me; the way my shy 8 year old started hamming it up with his brothers and was able to bring a smile out of the shoppers and cash out of their wallets — he got them to fill a Salvation Army kettle in about 2 hours; the way my 10 year old was distressed at watching a crying mother and a shoeless 2 year old walk by; my 14 year old who likes only one girl at church because “she’s the only one who dresses appropriately”. A man’s job is to protect – his community, his family and those who have no one else to help them: my boys are well on their way to being men….with a few stitches, broken bones and scars thrown in as well.

August 2nd, 2011 at 4:52 am
Marian says:

When my now 13-year old son was 6 years old, we were flying back from the East Coast to the West Coast with a brief layover in Texas. My son was sitting next to the window looking out, and as the plane was about to leave the terminal, I told my son, “Say goodbye to Texas.” He whipped his head around and looked at me and said, “We were in TEXAS?………..Were we cowboys?”

August 2nd, 2011 at 7:39 am
Krista says:

When my son was 3 we watched Pinocchio. Remember the scene where the boys turn into donkeys? He was deathly afraid of donkeys for 3 yrs at least. I had to hide the donkey in our manger scene, it would upset him just to see it. If someone said “donkey” he would get anxious and burst into tears. No petting zoos either. He would do the same if he heard one. When Shrek came out, it was a nightmare, Donkey was all over the place. He finally watched it and I think that is what finally got him over it. Our family thought it was hilarious, and it is to us now(he is 16), but at the time it was miserable. Thanks for letting me share. By the way, now I collect manger scenes, how ironic.

August 2nd, 2011 at 9:03 am
Vanessa S says:

With 5 boys there’s a lot of funny happenings around here – and some I just don’t get!! The one that comes to mind right now is when my then 3yo learned that girls don’t have the same body parts, yet they can still go potty. “Hmmm, they don’t have a p**** and they still go potty?” I wonder how long he pondered that one.

August 2nd, 2011 at 12:48 pm
Heidi says:

Love reading the above stories. It’s always good to write them down before we forget.
My oldest son, who is now 14, looks like me…and one day we were discussing this with him. I said, “Oh Max, your dad’s eye color and my nose.” He replies, deadpan, “No mom, I have MY nose.”

August 2nd, 2011 at 2:24 pm
Kelly says:

With 4 boys in our home, teen to toddler, funny things are happening all the time. We have dead bugs in the freezer (for entomology), shells and rocks sitting around for decor and all kinds of visiting critters. One of the funniest stories I recall is the “snake” ordeal. I have not allowed one in my house over the 16 years of mothering boys. I told them only a dead one would be allowed in the house. Well, eventually they found a dead one that had been pecked by a bird. It was in the middle of the county road and they spotted it. They gathered up a box, put the dead snake in it and home it came. What can I say? It was welcome, until the smell got the best of us!! Brotherhood…what a blessing!

August 3rd, 2011 at 8:26 am
Cindy says:

We have 4 boys and have plenty of great memories. Along with the rocks and worms in the dryer, there is never a dull moment. Our story is about our 3rd son when he was 4. We were talking to Grandma and Auntie on the phone, when our son took the keys to the van and strolled out to it and unlocked the door and climbed in. At this point, his brothers told us he was in the van. We open the door, and see the van rolling down the driveway. We run to try and stop it. Fortunately, we had our car sitting on the side of the road and the van vears into the front bumper of the car. This child had put the keys into the ignition and pulled the lever into drive. When we got to him and asked where he was going, he said ” I was going to go get some ice cream.” Luckily he hasn’t driven the car since, but he is 14 and wants his drivers license in a couple of years.

August 5th, 2011 at 10:02 am
Rebecca says:

My oldest son is now 24 and I still have an 11 boy blessing home now. It amazes me how different your own boys can be. My oldest boy was a real tough guy, my youngest, is not:) When there’s boys, there’s always funny stuff going on. I think I’ll give some funny wisdom coming from my oldest when he was about 9. One month my husband and I sat down to tackle the monthly bill paying and Aaron says quite frankly “Well, here’s where ya’ll messed up. Why do ya’ll have bills?!! When I grow up I’m just not going to have bills.” lol smarty pants

August 6th, 2011 at 2:13 pm
Maria says:

“WHERE DO I LOOK FOR THE CAKE?! Does sissy have it? Mom, WHO has the cake? She said ‘IF’ ‘YOU’ ‘SEE’…I DON’T SEE IT.”

This is what my 7yr. old, Daniel, blurted out after our distressed 5yr. old daughter stormed in our back door exclaiming she heard a bad word spoken by a neighbor kid. I told her she could SPELL the word to me, quietly, if she didn’t want to SAY what she heard. So she did. And my son was eavesdropping. Evidently, the letters, whispered by my daughter, WHEN FILTERED by my son sounded like: “IF YOU SEE CAKE”. Needless to say, my son’s appetite for anything SWEET over rode his ability to listen and that is why he blurted out his requests for a hidden cake! On that day I was grateful for the way his brain sometimes filters information through his stomach! This reminds me of the verse Paul says in Romans: ‘To the pure all things are pure’. May our sons retain their child-like hearts as they minister to a world where words need to be filtered! LOL

August 6th, 2011 at 3:34 pm
Dolores says:

I have too many stories to choose from. I have three boys and one daughter. Our oldest was struggling with reading in the early years…math, no problem. I talked with the “Moores” and they suggested to just read to him and build his vocabulary and try again in a couple months and if he still struggles put it back on the shelf. It “clicked” when he was 9, yes, I said 9. He took the SAT at 15, entered the local University at 16, graduated at 21 with a double major. Last week started medical school. I tell you this story to encourage those moms whose boys just want to keep moving….all they need is patience and time!

August 8th, 2011 at 6:56 am
MichelleB says:

I have 4 boys and I could probably come up with tons of funny “raising boys” stories. One thing I do appreciate is that just yesterday we were celebrating my 2nd son’s 11th birthday and he received a Hexbug which he accidentally let into an open space under our cupboards where it fell down a pipe hole into our very nasty crawl space under our 150 year old house. Well oldest son, who is 13, bravely crawled into the space under our kitchen (hubby don’t fit) through many shed snake skins and spider webs to retrieve it for him. He has never been a very courageous kid so this was a real first step into manhood for him and we were very proud.

August 8th, 2011 at 3:25 pm