So, this week we have been visiting family and I have been getting to attend my 20 year high school reunion. (AAAACCCCCKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How did I get so darn old???????) 🙂

Which has necessitated us bringing out homeschool work with us on the road.

Now, many might say – “Take a break, enjoy yourselves. Don’t worry about school work.” And I’d really love to agree with that.

But because of our activities, Co-Op, my work, and our need to deal with PA’s strict reporting requirements this year, we really can’t just take off whenever we feel like it. I need to save those times for when I have to take days for my work events, sick kids, or my own sick days (which I do have, living with a weak immune system). So, school came with us.

I packed ONE bag of school stuff. I was surprised by how well it fit!

Be prepared and just accept that something important is going to be forgotten. This all might have fit so well because I forgot the two folders of “worksheets” that were also supposed to make it in this bag. Doh!

Such is life, right?  So, making lemon-aid out of lemons, we are focusing on getting all of the reading done. Spelling has been done through SpellingCity on the tablet. Math is done on my laptop, when I’m not working. We’ve been listening to math facts songs on our iPod. (Great to harass the kids with on the long drive – Mom and Dad singing them at the top of our lungs in silly voices, Ha!) Big craft projects and those sorts of things will be ignored, we’ll be getting through the basics of what HAS to be done and that’s about it. Worksheets and whatever we can’t live “without” will be combined into next week’s folder work. Most of it will most likely be ignored completely.

At least in our house, “vacation” means we’re getting to do some field trips!

When picking field trips, we try to pick things that we can’t get near our home. Sure, we could go to the zoo, or the local kids’ science museum. BUT, we couldn’t visit a estuary or take a boat tour through a delta to see marine/river habitats! These are local resources available to my hometown area that are pretty unique, and hard to see anywhere else.. AND, they are related to our science topic (ecology, animal habitats, etc) for the year!

Delta Safaris
5 Rivers – Alabama’s Delta Resource Center

Weeks Bay Estuary

And take advantage of any local festivals!

Fall Into Fairhope

So, be sure to check out all the resources at your destination, but don’t forget to see what you might be able to check out during the journey as well! From our car, we pointed out a lot of signs that related to things we studied last year when we were focusing on last year. (“Hey kids, did you see that sign said the birthplace of Daniel Boone?”) We didn’t stop on this trip because we had a 17 hour drive ahead of us, and we were on a pretty tight driving schedule. I do look forward to checking out all those places in the future, though!

But we don’t want this sudo-vacation to be all work and drudgery! So, look for the fun parts as well, after all, isn’t that part of the perks of homeschooling?? We’ve spent time with family, the girls are getting spoiled by grandparents and doted on by everyone, we’ve renewed our love of all fried seafood (I’m sorry Yankee-ville – you just can’t cook seafood the way God intended it to be done), and true Southern sweet tea. (Nectar from heaven, I tell you!) We stopped half-way on our trip to see dear homeschooling friends that I only get to know from online and now our girls are all “besties.” (Don’t you love that age where playing together for an hour makes you BFFs?) We’ve been having a family adventure and enjoying each other. And that’s really important because that can get lost in the stress of the day-to-day nonsense of life. Even for us crazy homeschoolers who are around each other all day long.