field trips

The best part of homeschool is the field trips. We've had a very active homeschool group for the past .... 16 years. It has been the one perfect part of my life. Now it has fallen apart. We are trying to arrange something for this Thursday, but all the main members have grown up and moved away and I'm on my very last year with my very last kid, it just feels like we are scraping the bottom of the barrel. We've had such a good run.

Every month we'd have one field trip and one academic activity. Long trips in the mom vans with the seats all packed with the kids playing cards games and talking. The moms nattering away about life. Visiting interesting museums and historical sites. Eating lunch together. The kids climbing trees and running through the woods. It has just been wonderful.

Some of my favorite memories-- Butt bumping down the smooth capital steps when no one was looking. Gathering the kids together to look at a deer, who promptly squatted down and dumped a load. Finding out how much Mary Todd Lincoln's sister hated her. Watching Lewis and Clark canoe into St. Louis. Touring Powell symphony hall immediately after watching "Phantom of the Opera." Finding out that Daniel Boone's daughter was married to Governor Boggs. Camping together during a torrential downpour. Country day reports, complete with food samples. And, of course, going apple picking every year.

I love homeschooling. I'm going to miss it.