Homeschool Essentials: I could NEVER Homeschool without {Fresh Air}
I love Homeschooling. The biggest reason (outside of being able to play with my super cute kids all day long) is being able to pack up and go anywhere I want any time I want.
We did public school for a whole two months. I sucked at it. I was the worst public school mom because I resented the system so much. There was a lot of standing in line, and walking in a line of other parents who were heading to go stand in line. There was a lot of “hurry, it’s time to go” and a ton of “oh shoot, I can’t go to the grocery store because it’s pick up time in 20 minutes.”
We had no control over our time- and I’m not even talking about the time I got a truancy letter for taking my kids to see their biological father for visitation one last time before moving to the other side of the world (I’m still bitter about that one!).
Homeschooling gives us so much freedom.
We can do school on the playground, and practice math facts while swinging.
We can do school anywhere.
Sometimes I wake up in the morning, and think “Why don’t we learn about animals at the zoo?” or “maybe we should go to a castle.”
And we go.
I plug in the audio books, program the GPS and off we go. We play in the dirt. We explore new places. We have FUN, and we learn.
Sometimes I’m not responsible at all. Sometimes we go places just for fun. Sometimes, it’s all about ice cream cones, and running errands at 10 before the store gets crowded, and hitting the amusement part while everyone else is taking finals.
My favorite thing to do is go to the post office between 2 and 3. The post office here never has parking, because the entire community has to pick up their mail…. yes, all mail, letters, packages, everything- it doesn’t come to the door- it comes to this ONE building…. at one building with a whole 20 parking spaces. Most of those spaces are taken by boogers who aren’t even getting their mail. So I go between 2 and 3 when all the other parents on base are standing in line. In line at school, in line at the bus stop. It’s a blissful hour of no lines for me.
I suppose we could be the kind of homeschoolers who are home.
But we’re the kind of homeschoolers who go.
And I love it.
It’s okay to just get out, and let the world do the teaching. There are so many valuable lessons to be learned out there!
I love that about homeschooling too- you can do it any time anywhere. We decided to go swimming the other day rather than regular lessons but my boys still did their independent lessons when they got home that evening. We also used to go to a local garden we were members of and school at the top of a hill there- it was amazingly beautiful and no distractions. I’ve actually spent more time at home this year than in the past 3 years simply because I had a new baby, but in the past we were out and about 4-5 times a week to science centers, children’s museums and zoo’s. Love that about homeschooling!