If This Is HOMEschooling, Why Are We Always in the CAR?

Field trips and group activities are great, but do not overdo. You do not have to go on every field trip or do every activity. Only the ones specifically beneficial to your students will specifically benefit your students. Trust me — it is a horrible feeling to realize you have lost a valuable day to a useless activity. We are working towards Guilt-Free homeschooling here, so put your students’ needs first and say “No” when necessary. The feelings of the Mom who organized the trip/activity are not more important than your own children.

Also, do not feel that your students are not learning anything if they are not sitting at a table holding a pencil. Do not feel guilty about leaving the books behind in favor of other methods.

Teach them map-reading, directions, finding their way across town and back again — important life-skills. On your way to the grocery store, teach them to notice both street signs and landmarks, both compass directions and right/left turns. Ask them to tell you how to get to the store — instructing you before you approach the required intersection — teach them to “see” their way there in their mind and tell you the full route, if possible. (At 5 years old, my daughter gave perfect directions to an out-of-town adult friend who realized too late that he did not know how to return her to our house from a group activity. My daughter had never been to that specific location before either, but she knew our town’s layout well enough to be able to know which direction home was — even after dark!)

[For more information on cooperative classes and group activities, visit Topical Index: Co-op Groups .]