Our "Not the First Day of School" Field Trip

Yesterday the local public schools began. Ideally I had hoped for us to also begin our regular homeschool schedule, but alas, I still have some organizing to do. We've been doing math and handwriting for a couple of weeks now, but our whole Sonlight schedule needs to wait a little. As much as I want to jump right in...for one thing, I forgot to order the Language Arts pack for Charis and LA activity sheets for Arden. When I ordered Core 2 with Advanced Readers, I guess I assumed that everything Charis would need was included, but after review, I realized I needed to get the LA separately. Good thing we have free shipping!!

Anyway, I decided it would be fun to do something completely different on the day that all the neighborhood kids were enjoying (?) their first day of school! You know, to celebrate NOT going to school! I surfed online a bit to see what was happening in the area and finally decided that we'd go to a place we used to take the kids when we lived here before, the Boonshoft Discovery Museum. I made this decision a little after 8 a.m., and I have to admit I'm rather proud of myself for being so spontaneous! (That's not normally like me!) I packed a picnic lunch for us, nursed Lucan, and loaded the kids into the Suburban, along with the stroller, diaper bag, water bottles, picnic blanket, and of course lunch.

The parking lot was nearly empty when we arrived--ah, another perk of homeschooling! I purchased the military family membership for $59, which allows us free access to the museum for one year, plus free access to some other places and half-price or discounts to others, including the Columbus Science & Industry museum, one of our favorite places in the area. The Boonshoft is much smaller, but in a way that's good--I was able to manage all 5 kids without going too insane. They have some nice play areas, including a "town" where the kids can shop for groceries, sort recyclable materials, doctor sick animals, be involved in court, etc. One exhibit that will end this weekend was on dragons, and all the kids enjoyed playing in that area, as you can imagine! Dress up costumes, puppets and a theater, plus lots of hands-on activities tickled their imaginations.

We spent 3 hours at the museum before coming home to give the little ones naps. Charis, Tobin, and Arden then did math and handwriting, so all in all, it was a pretty well-rounded day of homeschooling!