No School

Yesterday we had our second annual No School For Homeschoolers celebration.
Quiet by accident last year we ended up at a local lake park on the first day of school with some friends. On the way home as sleepy, sun baked children talked of the fun they had I noticed the yellow school buses dropping kids off. That's when it hit me. Today was the first day of school. So I asked the children if they would have rather been sitting behind desks all day or out playing around the lake and on the big playground with friends. Of course you know the answer.
This year I purposefully planned to go back to this park on the first day of public school. We would celebrate the day by doing what homeschoolers do best. Being flexible and putting the books away for the day. I emailed all of the local homeschoolers I know and asked them to join us. We were joined by three other families. Total we had 12 kids with us and one in utero (my friend Michelle's third child and son!) I think we are well on the way to our own homeschool group. :) We had a picnic and the kids played on the playground or in the sand for hours. When we left all you could see of my baby were his big eyes. He was completely black. He looked beautiful. LOL. I personally love dirty grimy boys. It just looks natural.
The miraculous thing of the whole day was it was not hot. Not really. We had a nice breeze and lots of shade. I prayed hard for the weather, because I felt quiet foolish planning a park day in Florida in August. We had a back up plan to go to a local indoor play area if it was too miserable.
All in all it was a great day. And again as we travelled home with dirty, sleepy, sun baked children I sighed contentedly knowing that they were home with me and I could enjoy days like this with them.