To play hooky or not...

Here is my first moral dilemma of homeschooling.  I have told the boys that we will do school Monday and Friday mornings, and Wednesday afternoons.  They ask me every day what the day of the week is, and then they tell ME our schedule now.  However, they already knew that school on Wednesday would be a little different, and would be completed right after the gym.  This was due to a make-up tea party with the fab 4, to make up for the night that Carter decided to fall on the back of his head on a tile floor.  I was morally alright with that, since they would still see their buddies, and they were still doing school.

Then everything went to the wayside when I heard the weather forecast:  90 degrees on September 11.  WHAT?!  90 degrees!  Beach day!  But wait, the boys have school...but WAIT it is SEPTEMBER and 90 degrees when the ocean is at it's warmest point!  And there I debated with myself and a wonderful friend almost all night, and even that morning, about whether it was alright to let the boys play hooky.  I mean, I certainly do not want to start bad habits.  Eventually, they are most likely going to end up in public schools, and will have attendance requirements to meet. Therefore, it is my job as a homeschooling mommy to make them understand that going to school is mandatory.  So,  here was the final verdict:

I just couldn't pass it up.  I made it to the beach 4 times all summer.  That was it.  My final reasoning for going was that the boys would still learn something, even if it wasn't part of our themed lessons.  And, to be honest, I am really glad we ended up taking our random trip.  The boys met some other kids, and had a blast playing with them for the 4 hours we were there.  It also turns out, one of those kiddos lives about 5 minutes from our house.  What are the chances of that?!  The boys were so proud of themselves for different reasons.  Carter actually went IN the ocean, and played.  Pierce rode in the waves and swam under water.  They each accomplished something they had been working on all summer, and now it finally feels like summer can end.

It also meant the boys had make-up school this morning, before we did our scheduled apple picking adventure.  They each had a pumpkin that they could decorate, and that sat with them this morning for story time.  I thought they would really go all out decorating the pumpkins, but they didn't.  To be honest, with them being out late Tuesday night swimming, then being out all day yesterday from 9 am until 6 pm, with only 1 hour for naps, they were fried by this morning.  But we were all troopers, and painted the pumpkins to the best of our abilities.  They also had fun telling me all of the colors that they wanted to use on their pumpkins.  

From there we did a counting puzzle, and played with our "new" Super Why game that our neighbors were giving away.  I was really impressed that Pierce was starting to understand the word families, and trying to rhyme.  Carter even attempted to play...and I modified it so he had to find letters.  Yay!  He knows A and V.  Yippee!

Then we started off the fun.  My wonderful friend found an edible pumpkin clay to make with canned pumpkin and cornstarch.  Add in a few spices, and it smelled AMAZING.  And while it is edible, it is pretty disgusting as Carter found out first hand.  :)  The boys lasted about 15 minutes with this activity, and really got into sculpting and cutting out shapes with the cookie cutters.  I even fell in love with the texture.  

I had already planned on going apple picking with the boys today, and had previously posted the information in one of our home school groups.  It fit in perfectly with our theme of the week (fall fruits and veggies), and plus it would be just plain old fashioned fun.  We traveled over to March Farm in Bethlehem, and tried out their mini corn maze as soon as we got there.  It was the perfect length, before Pierce started to worry about us getting out.  Carter didn't quite understand to NOT knock the corn over at first, but hey.  I'm sure he is not the only kiddo to ever knock over a stalk of corn.  They also have an AWESOME play ground, with little "houses", a couple of climbers, pavilion, bike track (with bikes supplied), and of course the sand and tire pit with all sorts of equipment to dig with.  Yes, we spent about an hour in that play ground.  I sat to the side this time, and did not jump in the pit.  The reason being?  I want them to be comfortable enough to introduce themselves to other kids and try to play, without me prompting it.  That is one of my big social goals this year for both boys.  

Following the playground, we finally made it to the apple orchard.  Carter was alright picking apples, as long as he was able to hold the bag.  Pierce was ever so gentle, and remembered how to pick them from one of the books we read. 

 Once we came home, Carter fell asleep, and that left Pierce and I to making some homemade applesauce.  He doesn't remember me making it last year, and he was so excited that he was able to use the apple corer, peeler, and slicer, with some adult supervision and assistance.  

The best part?  Eating the homemade applesauce right out of the crock pot.  :)

All in all, we had an awesome past couple of days.  The boys were able to learn about tides, seaweed, crabs, and salt marshes, as well as learn about what I had planned.  I have to conclude, that if I want the boys to use their world as a classroom, then sometimes I just need to bend a little.  And this time, I am so glad that I did.