Homeschool Confessions: Volume I

I need to start setting a recess timer.


No matter how hard I try, the weather is too beautiful these days to call my students back inside for more school work after their mid-morning break.

They know it, too. They keep their eyes firmly focused on their fun and games so as not to catch the non-verbal cues I send through the kitchen window that indicate it's time to hit the books again.

I can't blame them, though. It's my fault for not being more rigid with our schedule. It's just that, I want them to be out there every bit as much as they do.

In my opinion, they should live out there in that back yard. To play. To touch. To smell. To feel. To create other worlds inside the boundaries of our fences.

In spite of these regular recess extensions, we always seem to get our school work done by day's end if not by the most efficient means. They grab bits of it here and there. They choke down large mouthfuls against their will at times.

Sometimes we have to move our classroom outside, when no amount of states-and-capitals recitation will drown out the seductive summoning of the playset.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing my students a disservice by not holding them to a more rigid schedule. Perhaps I'm not instilling consistent work habits in my children. Maybe they won't know how to function in a work environment someday that requires them to sit for eight hours in front of a computer.

I really should set a recess timer.

But it's November already and the shorter, colder days of stay-inside winter are nearly upon us. I can feel the chill approaching.

When it comes we'll certainly be forced to stay inside in front of our books, warming ourselves with stories of adventures that can only be conjured in our minds and not against the backdrop of the great outdoors.

Until then, I just can't let one drop of warm autumn sunshine go undrunk.