A couple of weeks
ago I was asked about my philosophy of home education. I’m not exactly sure what I said, but I am
pretty sure that it sounded as dumb to those listening as it did to my own
ears. I have since come up with a better
answer. Here goes …
I want to squeeze as
much fun … as many good memories …
as possible into the years I have my children at home with me. Now, many of those memories need to center on
your basic, sitting-at-the-desk-doing-math, kind of days. Many days yes, but certainly not all. So, with that in mind, here is a look into
what we’ve been doing outside the
classroom lately.
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| all three smiling ... quite an accomplishment for my non-photogenic family |
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| my beautiful girl |
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the boys playing in the corn bin ...
I guess you never get too old for this kind of fun |
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| a rare picture of me ... sitting in the very stinky hay |
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| ain't he cute? |
A few weeks ago we
made our somewhat annual (read – we want to do it every year but don’t always
get to) trip to the pumpkin patch. We’ve
been doing this since our very first year homeschooling … as a matter of fact,
I think the pumpkin patch was one of our very first field trips to ever attend
and I know it was the first one I ever planned.
This is not something that I ever did as a child (did they even have
pumpkin patches way back then??), but I have loved how much my children LOVE this super fun fall activity. I am sure that they have learned a few things
over the years, but honestly, we aren’t taking this field trip to claim school
hours learning … it is just FUN!
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JW chose a flat one for the
pumpkin stack that is now
next to our front door. |
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| D and his so-ugly-it-is-almost-cute pumpkin |
Of course, some
field trips are both educational and fun.
This was certainly true of our recent trip to the Grand Gulf Military Park in Port Gibson, MS. The children were given the history of the
Civil War battle fought there and then sent off to explore the wonderful park. Oddly, one of my favorite parts was exploring
the old cemetery. Roaming through
weathered tombstones is always such a poignant reminder of our connection to
the past.
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| Our history teacher - the park director |
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| The kids wandering through a section of the cemetery |
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The group - taken by LB from about halfway up the
observation tower ... no one in my family
wanted to go any higher. |
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| JW and his best friend |
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| One of my favorite views of the day. |
We ended our day
with a visit to Windsor Ruins located somewhere near the Natchez Trace, not too
far from Port Gibson. Windsor is the remains of what was once a
beautiful antebellum home. This massive
home has a sad history ~ the man who built it died within weeks of its completion. Later, it was used by both Confederate and Union troops during the Civil War before it
burned down after a guest dropped a lighted cigar or cigarette.
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| Just a little perspective on the massive columns |
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| I took several of these just because the day was so beautiful |
As we walked among the columns (which we
probably weren’t supposed to be doing), one couldn't help but think of the lives
that were lived inside those now imaginary walls.
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A beautiful old tree that was probably
there when the house was built. |
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| A very serious D climbing the jungle gym tree |
While the adults and
teens enjoyed the actual ruins, the younger kids found a tree that looked just
like a jungle gym to them. What a
perfect way to end a wonderful day.
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A bonus for the day ... my friend Marie (and her children
Izzy and Max) rode with us, just to make sure I didn't get lost ;) |
