Devil's Lake

I was happy with my decision to keep the kids home from school the minute I made it.  I knew there would be grief about it and I knew several people would not understand.  I also knew that there would be struggles and learning, give and take that had to occur from all of us.  But, sometimes you just got to go out on a limb and do what you feel is best for your group.  After a long summer of adventures with our neighbors, school season returned for everyone and we faced the task of learning how we were going to learn.  I was still not set on how our days would be working, but I did know I wanted to take advantage of learning on the go and being outside.  The first week of "school," Joe took the day off and we all headed up to Devil's Lake to do some lessons, have some fun, and enjoy being a family as we began this homeschooling thing together.  (This post is picture heavy - I had a hard time deciding which ones to post, so they all made it!!!).

...adventure buddies assigned.

Adventure bags ready....

Walking sticks are an essential tool of adventuring.

Collecting weather data at the bottom of the hill. 

Lunch at the top...

...cannot beat the view.

Looks like the adventure buddies needed  to get reassigned.

Sharing lunch with some Daddy-long-legs.

Add collecting weather data at the top of the hill.

Can you see the toad on the moss?  He was a very patient amphibian and endured some good-natured poking and prodding.

Where's Squeaks?!??!

Baby cutie pie.

Baby snapping turtle cutie pie.

They followed mussel trails and grabbed some mussels out of the water!

What's not to love about this?

There are cons to this homeschooling thing.  So, maybe Smoosh won't ever learn how to sit in a seat for extended periods of time.  And Otter will have to suffer through not having a locker or being around his flocks of adoring female fans all day long.  Squeaks might not even know what the inside of a classroom ever looks like.  And Beans, well, who knows what she will miss out on as she is so happy wherever.  We have (and will have) days where nothing gets done and there is yelling and clouds in the house that make the grass look so much greener over there at the brick school.  There are definitely things my kids will not be learning here at home that I don't have the capability or resources to teach them.   On the flipside, the pros, so far, have outweighed those cons and what I can teach them and give them now I hope will make an impact that has far greater outcomes, not just for their brains, but for their hearts and souls.