Spring Fever

Well, since the mixer is down and out it’s kind of hard to blog about treats and sweets.  However, as I began the slow and tedious process of Spring cleaning today, I was inspired to bring up what I call “Spring Fever”. If you’re a homeschool parent, you most likely know what this means for us. In my part of the country the weather is getting sunny and warm and absolutely gorgeous. Know what that means??? No one in their right mind wants to be stuck inside the house at a table doing school work! This is one thing I LOVE about homeschool!! I, personally, try to do a lot of my “boring” (if you would), stagnant desk work type of school during the winter when we’re stuck in the house anyway. Then, come Spring, I bring out my secret weapons.  This is the time of year that when I get weary of the constant “Can we go outside yet??” I began to find out what kind of outdoor educational things my town or nearby cities had to offer, at a really affordable price or even free! The town I live in is very historical so there is an abundance of resources at my disposal. For example, if I drive 5 minutes down the road, my children and I can stand at the exact spot that the Declaration of Independence was first read in my state.  A couple of weeks ago, we stopped in at one of the historical sites where they gave us a free demonstration of a day in colonial life in our state. He was even decked out in the attire they wore at that time.  The kids learned about what they ate and how they cooked it, they played games they would have played back then, learned how they cooked, bathed, did chores, and how they slept.  We also found out they do guided tours of the historical section of our town and they’re also dressed in colonial attire when they do this. I don’t know about you, but my kids get a kick out of how they dressed back in the 1800’s and early 1900’s.  We also have local museums that are very reasonably priced or free of charge. If you get the membership, you not only support your community, but you can take the kids there as often as you want for the year. We do our nature walks during this time of the year as well. We can learn about our heart rates, and what muscles to use and stretch, what animals/insects we see on our walk. Even make a scavenger hunt for them to do on the walks! So for those of you whose homes get attacked with the Spring Fever plague as well, these types of solutions have worked very well for our family. Find out what resources are available to you in your town, or nearby towns. You’d be surprised at what is offered and what can allow you and your children to not only enjoy the beautiful weather, but maybe even have a hands on Science or History lesson!  You can go to your state or city’s website for this kind of information. I’ve learned more about my town’s history by doing these kind of things with my children than I EVER did in all my years of textbooks in school. If you venture out and try it, let me know what you did and how it went!  Here’s to a cured case of Spring Fever for you and yours!!