What the World Cup Has Brought My Family

I LOVE the World Cup... so does Josh.

When both the United States AND Italy did not get in, I was distraught, sad, angry even.  I vowed I wouldn't watch and wouldn't care.  I was robbed of my favorite teams so, in return, I would boycott the World Cup- take THAT, world!

My reaction, clearly, was irrational and selfish.  One of the most special parts about this particular World Cup was that Nolan and Judah were old enough to get into it too.  Josh and I watched four years ago cheering as we had two one year olds at home.  We kept talking about how fun it would be, next time, to watch with them.  I needed to let my frustration of not having either of "my" teams in the competition go so I could enjoy with my family.  

Nolan and Judah, 2014, 14 months old with their USA pride for the World Cup

So, a month ago, we welcomed the World Cup 2018 into our home.  As an always-in-training global citizen, I knew this tournament would be more than a bunch of soccer games to my family- it would be an entry point to open up a dialogue about other countries, which is one of my most favorite things to talk to my boys about. 

Many of my sixth graders enter my classroom thinking Mexico is a state.  This misconception isn't even their fault- it's a place where our education system is failing our children.  The recent focus on math and literacy skills, while INCREDIBLY vital and important, don't get me wrong, has robbed our kids of having consistent social studies and science curriculum in many elementary schools.  The sciences are where kids build up their schema about the world that help them be better comprehenders of knowledge. Not to mention the empathy and compassion when learning about the environment, plants, animals, and other people and cultures in our world.  When you hardly have social studies time for the first four or five years of your schooling, no wonder you have no global context as an eleven-year-old in my classroom.  As a parent, I do NOT want that for my boys and have vowed for them to have some good global knowledge entering school.  This is why the placemats at our kitchen table are a political map of the world.  My boys may have no idea how to tie their shoes or zip their coats all the way entering kindergarten, but they will know there has been a famine going on in Eastern Africa, a recent volcanic eruption in Guatemala, and where lots of countries are on the map!  It's all about priorities ;)

PS- here's a link to the placemats we have

Anyway, I had NO idea how much the World Cup would enrich my house... no idea.  

Yes, my boys were very curious about the rules of soccer- wanting to know about off sides and what a yellow card was... why some games went into a shoot out and others were declared a tie.  Yes, they were curious to know where countries were on the map and were so surprised to see a lot of our world represented in this tournament.  They too were sad not to see the United States and wondered if Canada had ever been to the World Cup.  These were things I had hoped would be a part of our experience watching this tournament.

Judah glued to the TV cheering for Mexico! 

Also, while watching, Nolan started to be extremely curious about the countries' flags- the colors, the patterns, etc.  This led to an entirely different wealth of knowledge to enter my home.  At first, Nolan just wanted to try and draw some of the flags he was seeing.  It started with Russia. Since they were hosting the World Cup, they became one of his favorite teams to root for.  Once he had drawn the Russian flag, he wanted to make sure to draw the US flag, Canada's flag, and an MSU flag just to make sure he was representing his own allegiances.  We looked pictures of those up on Google so that he could copy.  After he showed more interest wanting to draw other countries' flags, we decided to hit up the library to check out several books about flags.  

The first flag creation- who knew it would lead to many many more! 

Two examples of books we checked out from the library.

Many,  many other flags have since been made- countries in the World Cup and countries not in it.  That alone, the drawing of the flags, would've been enough of an enrichment from the World Cup, but it didn't stop there.  After, there were all kinds of questions about why flags are the way they are.  Why do some flags looks so similar (Like the United States, Liberia, and Malaysia?  Why do flags have the colors they do?  Who gets to pick what a flag looks like?  

Several flags created- Brazil, Panama, Great Britain, Japan, Argentina, etc, etc.

So, we started to read the flag books, not just look at the pictures.  We, all of us, have learned so much- pages and pages talking about the history of countries- wars they fought, when they earned independence from their colonizer, how their flag was adopted and when.  How so many flags with black in them symbolize their rich African history or, for places like Jamaica, of Africans forced to come there to be part of a slave trade and trying to honor that story on their flag.  We learned that many flags with red symbolize blood shed in a war for independence- of brave citizens fighting to be free.  There's blues paying homage to beautiful water access within counties, yellow or white often symbolizing sandy beaches or sunshine, and green to highlight fertile soil or rich vegetation.  You can imagine how these stories have unlocked a wealth of additional questions and discussion opportunities for my boys.  While issues of power, colonization, inequity, natural resources, war, and race are big big themes my boys don't grasp a lot of yet, this tournament, these flags, have helped open the door to their minds and their hearts about places and people around the world.  I am grateful for this wonderful opportunity to learn.  I'm also grateful to Nolan who motivated our whole family to learn and participate- he totally sold this flag passion to all of us.  His excitement and zest for knowledge was contagious to where we all have been obsessed with flags right along side him. 

Nolan with the Colombian flag.

To think, I was going to boycott the World Cup this year.  What a terrible mistake that would've been!! 

Thank you, World Cup 2018, for all that you've brought into my family.  We'll see you in 2022- can't wait!