Well sort of…One of the things I enjoy about homeschooling is the freedom to do just about anything. We can choose to study as much as we want, as little as we want. We can stay at home all day long or go anywhere we want to go. Well, again, this school year we have chosen to go almost everywhere we want to go.A few years ago, I did what I call my trial homeschool experience. I was deciding how this new venture (adventure) was going to work for our family before

I really had to decide. Our days and weeks were full of hopping in the car and going somewhere in search of fun. As the trial period came to an end, I thought, “hey, this homeschool stuff isn’t so bad after all.”

We had literally driven up and down the northern coast of California for many of the different places we visited. We took in Charlotte’s Web at the Mountain View Center for Performing Arts, road the train at the California State Railroad Museum, walked along the shore imagining airplanes taking off and landing at Crissy Field, drew our names in the sand on

Ocean Beach, and picked our pumpkins at Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm. We put many miles on the car, but enjoyed everywhere we went.

This year, many things have changed. I have to file a Private School Affidavit (PSA), which means our trial homeschool days are over and now we are in real school. I do realize that every school day can’t be spent on the road, but still want to include our outside adventures as part of our school program, regardless of the price of gas.

I found this really cool book that lists several places in our area where I would love to take the children. My intention is to work our way through the book, not in one school year, and visit many of the places. I have also searched online for more local places to visit since we are still relatively new to the area. I’ve made a calendar through the end of the year of field trips that

we are going to take. We will do at least one per month and may add a few others as the opportunities become available.

I’ve already added a few local places which include Apple Hill (how ’bout them apples?) and we’re headed back to Bishop’s, which has become an annual field trip for us. A little further for us is the Jelly Belly Factory (I

made the mistake of promising “all you can eat candy”) and the Exploratorium. We will probably visit that later because I’m still trying to decide which of the many exhibits, etc. to attend.

Sitting at a desk can be interesting, entertaining, and educational, but so can running around town and checking out what’s going on outside and around us.