Our Day, not an ordinary day

Even though I’m in the middle of describing our days of doing school at home, not all of our days fit the cookie cutter model. I have realized that one of the reasons home school is difficult for me is that I am such a Type A personality.

I print out our assignment sheets every Monday, and I love to focus on that list and check off each subject with all of the fun and creativity of a drill sergeant. I don’t like to slow down, get distracted or take days off. I like to keep moving full-speed ahead.

And as you might imagine, that is boring. And it’s not very fun. And it’s part of the reason that I am not in love with doing school at home.

So when we started the year this fall, I made a pact with my kids that we were going to enjoy our time together. I was going to try to laugh more. I was going to try to slow down when subjects were hard and find fun ways to make them understandable.

Because in the end, what will my kids remember more? That we did a sheet of math facts and a handwriting sheet, as usual on a gorgeous day in October, or that we blew off a few subjects and sat under a big tree surrounded by falling leaves and read about knights and castles? Will it really matter in the end that we skipped phonics for the day and that they got to climb a tree and sit high in the branches while I read Robin Hood?

Even though I think it’s important to take our school day seriously and finish each subject, I’m also trying to be better about taking advantage of the time we have together by celebrating the beauty that is all around us. And that is why today we did our math in the car on our way to our outdoor classroom — the arboretum.

I’m pretty sure that we will remember this day for a long time.