Out of the Ordinary

Day after day of homeschooling can begin to burn you out, that is when you need to do something out of the ordinary. We have not had a day off school since New Year's Day, it is the end of March now. We are in the spring crunch time, trying to get all our school days in and our curriculum too before summer vacation. Normally we try to have scheduled time off - 4 weeks on, 1 off or 4 days on, 1 off, but since when is life "normal." This December I was sick a lot, and used up all that time. No vacation days can leave everyone strained.

Sometimes you just need an out of the ordinary school day. Yesterday I had my daughter start school an hour and a half early so we could drive to a play date with Catherine's and Sara's children. It is amazing how efficient an 8 year can be when there is some place to go. While I had to skip our circle time, Mr. Z got his Kindergarten done and we listened to our read aloud on audio book in the car. Ms. G finished the rest that afternoon. It is very rare that we do anything else in the mornings except school work, just by rearranging our day makes it exciting.

There is something about getting out of the hum-drum daily grind that lifts your spirits and refreshes you. So if you are feeling stiff in this home stretch in the homeschool year, do something out of the ordinary.

Here is a list of ideas for an Out of the Ordinary Day:

• Field Trip - to the zoo, museum, nature park. Plan someplace simple, so you are not adding to your overload. While a field trip can count as a day of school, it will put you a day behind on your curriculum, unless you can fit it into your day. Personally, my children have always been too excited to make school work worth the wild. What is the point of checking it off our to do list if they do not really learn?
• Visit Grandmom and Grandpop. My daughter has pointed out that an advantage of homeschooling is she gets to spend more time with Gram.
  
• Play Date - We don't have play dates in the morning, so this was different for us.
• Outside School - Perfect for spring, and keeps the preschoolers busy.
• Game Day - Play educational games.
• Lunch Out
  

I am sure there are more ideas, please post them if you have them. I can always use more ideas in my arsenal.