This morning it was a lovely day and the little girls were itching to go ride their bikes in the driveway. But my two third-graders had to get some school done. What to do? I couldn’t let the girls play out in the driveway without me, but the boys would need me to help them with school.
The solution? We dragged two kid-sized tables outside, set them in the front yard under the willow tree, and called it our school room for the morning. Yeah, the boys were distracted at times by the girls playing and chatting. But thanks to the incentive of being allowed to play after school, the math got done a little more quickly than usual, and we all got to enjoy the nice day.
Springtime school under the willow tree? Works for me!
I'm Mary, wife to John, and mom to 10 kids ages 3-20. Six of them were adopted, from Ethiopia and Korea. I spend my days applying Bandaids, reminding kids to use their inside voices, persuading kids fractions are useful, cooking spicy ethnic food, and snapping gig after gig of pictures. Very late at night, I write about it all.
Very smart! We’re back to winter-like weather presently, but may have to try this when the weather warms up again.
i always loved having class outside in college! what a treat!
ooooh, I like the sound of that.
My son loves to do his math on our front porch swing when the weather is nice. I’ve even seen him out there with a blanket when it is cold. Seems to work well for him.
I did that quite often when I was homeschooled…I will allow the girls to do that as well, when they get a bit older, so their focus is a bit better…
Fun idea!!
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Good strategy and keeps things positive. I was a school counselor in the elementary schools for 23 years -
That is why I love homeschool!
Sounds like fun!
I tried teaching a class of college English students outside, and discovered that my voice is just not loud enough to cope with two hours of Dickens outside. Also, we were reading ‘Bleak House’ and the sun really didn’t set the right tone! Glad it worked better for you.
Wish I could do that with my own…but it’s cold and rainy here in Chicago. School in the yard would be a wet and muddy mess. So we’ll just school in the messy living room instead
We’ve learned all over the stinkin’ place. Our favorite used to be at Starbucks (I got something yummy and coffee-like and the kids got cookies). Unfortunately, the pyramid scheme people started hanging out there and stalking me as soon as we were packing up. Ugh!
great idea!!!
My kids love schooling outside!!! At the beginning that was their favorite part of homeschooling!!!
jennifer
This post made me smile, Mary. I always love to hear about your resourceful and clever solutions to things.
Wonderful. Did you drag your laptop out there for yourself, too?
Homeschooling, it’s about flexibility and we love it.
Very very good thinking. My biggest obstacle to homeschooling is trying to keep the toddler occupied while the girls work. We may be employing the “outdoor school” mode more often!
I remember when I was in the 2nd grade in Florida, we had school outside under a tree. It was a treat. Great idea.