An Atypical Homeschool Day

I haven't blogged about a typical homeschool day in quite a while, and I'll keep it in the back of my mind to do it fairly soon, since I know how curious y'all are. This post is about this past Monday, when we were all set to go to the Crayola Experience. It's been on our schedule for quite a while, marked as "field trip" on the kids' calendar. But Monday morning as we were starting to get ready, I had this feeling I should check the website to make sure they'd be open. I vaguely remembered something about them being closed on certain weekdays, except in summer. Sure enough, Crayola was closed. I had to break it gently to the kids and decided that since the field trip to Crayola would have been considered a school day, we could find some fun things to do instead of breaking out the heavy academics. We decided to make it a PE and Art Day.

We had recently, accidentally, ended up at a local park area which boasts an "Interpretive Trail." The kids had wanted to check it out, but like I said, we were there accidentally, and had our true destination to get to. (I was lost. With a GPS.) So, the Interpretive Trail was first on our list for PE and Art Day. There were stations along the way to teach us about biofilters, habitats, geology, and more. There was a giant "bird's nest." I'm not sure how much of the information the kids actually digested, but hey, it was still PE!

Afterwards, we found a shady picnic spot.

Our next stop was playground time for more PE. By the time we left, we had racked up about four hours of PE between the trail and the playground!

Finally, we made our way home for Art. Free Choice Painting.

Sometimes it's fun to have an atypical homeschool day.

Ocean City, New Jersey 2014

Watch out, Ocean City, Maryland! We are starting to get used to Ocean City, New Jersey! We had a great time last year and repeated that again this year. We love going to the beach in September! It's less crowded, less hot, and less expensive, which all adds up to more fun! We even rented the exact same beach house as last year. We got to hang out with Justin's parents for the first few days, including some pool time, some beach time, and some playground time. Next, my dad came for a few days, and then we chilled with just each other for a few days.

We spent plenty of time on the beach, where all of my boys demonstrated absolutely no fear of the ocean. The shovels I bought for them last year continue to be a great investment. They could just dig and dig for hours. One day, Alexander dug himself a hole right up close to the ocean, buried himself, and just lounged there for almost an hour, relaxing. Upon arriving at the beach, we discussed which ocean we were looking at, where we would land if we sailed across it, and what sand is made of. Thus, I decided it was an educational trip and should be counted as school days. (Kidding!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We managed to plan better this year, so we were able to get to the boardwalk rides when they were actually open. Again, the kids had no fear. Jack, Kai, and Noah were all right on the height marks for the next "level" of rides, so each of them were riding rides they were just barely tall enough for. I could not believe the rides that especially Noah, my baby was able to get on. They were all in heaven.

 

 

 

We also spent plenty of time at the local playgrounds, wandering the boardwalk, playing miniature golf, and playing games at the beach house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll miss you until next year, Atlantic Ocean!!

*Disclaimer: The photos are a mix of those taken by me, Justin, and my dad. 

Random Pictures!

Sorting through my photos, I've found some gems that don't really deserve their own blog post, but they're too good to just sit on my hard drive. So, here are a few from the past few months.