Field Trip Friday- When it doesn’t go as planned
We’ve done well keeping up with our master plan to have every Friday be a field trip. I’ve looked at the map, and researched locations that are related to our studies, and really planned a boatload of adventures.
But this week I’m tired. I really didn’t want to go far, and all the kids needed was a chance to run! So, I sent out an SOS to some of the other local homeschooling mothers and suggested we all take our munchkins to a local, free, indoor playplace. It’s out of the rain, the parking situation is perfect for our big American cars, and the store offers all sorts of fantastic things for Mama’s to browse. Of course, it’s educational too, because my kids would get to play with German kids, and they learned to count to 20 in that playplace thanks to these little German children.
The only problem is, being that I don’t speak German (and never considered the scenario), I didn’t call ahead to find out if the playplace would be open. It wasn’t. And I learned the German word “Kaput” means the same thing I thought it did when I hear it in English.
It means there will be no playing with German children today because the playplace is out of commission.
Kaput.
So, we did what any other homeschooling mother would do. We didn’t seek out another educational opportunity, no…. We went to lunch. We drove back to the American bowling alley, where the kids could make as much noise as they wanted without too much judgement, and sat down to chat and eat some fatty food.
And you know, it was really want I needed today!
Mr. Man spent lunch under the table in his Batcave. Mama didn’t mind, because he was mostly quiet, and mostly still, which means her sandwich was enjoyed in relative peace.
I miss Germany! It was in Germany that I was first introduced to home schooling by some other American Military families! That was 16 1/2 years ago. I think your plan to go to have lunch was a wonderful idea! Oh and counting.. well my daughter was a toddler when we lived in Germany. One of her first words was “nein” I remember a fellow american remarking how incredible it was that my 2 year old was counting. I said “she isn’t counting. She’s telling you NO.” LOL. I’m so excited to be following you now!
Haha! Nein is one of the words my 4 year old loves to yell…. at least if he is going to be loud in a German store, he’s doing it in German!