I can still remember the day I decided to get David Paul out of school early to go crabbing. It was one of the few years he spent at a school outside of our homeschool years. I remember thinking - he is my son - if we want to go crabbing, well, we can go. And we did. It felt glorious walking away from school, not because of a doctor appointment, or some other "serious" event, but because I decided we would just go have fun. That was 25 years ago! The rest of his school years were spent at home.
Now that I am on my second round of homeschooling I am actually a little more rigorous with our schedule. But yesterday dawned and Cheyenne said to me that it was going to be almost 80 degrees. Well, my mind immediately went to the beach. So I said "Pack up! We are going to the beach!" And we did.
Edisto Island has become our favorite go-to spot for the beach. Whether we are heading to Botany Bay for all of it's tree boneyard glory, or taking a ride with Captain Michael to the shell island, or enjoying Edisto Island State Park it is all wonderful.
For this day we chose the State Park and brought bicycles. The water was far too cold for me to enjoy, but the shells were beyond bountiful; and though there was haze and a cool undercurrent to the air - we were in heaven.
I am sure people get tired of homeschoolers mentioning "the beauty of homeschooling is the flexibility," but it is entirely true. My children didn't actually skip school yesterday, it actually got expanded! The broadness of homeschooling comes in it's flexibility - the option of learning in different environments and about different environments expands my teaching in a way no book can do. But that is not really the point of this post.
The point is this: We had a wonderful day! And in the midst of January to have a gorgeous day at the beach - well, you just can't beat that! And I will do it again next week if we have the chance!
With Love,
.P.S. - And some days you can play hooky right in your own back yard!