Short Week

This week has been a little shorter than normal for us. We decided to go to the zoo on Tuesday, as the weather was very nice and we wanted to go again before the heat of the summer. Many of the animals don't really like the Houston heat either, so they're a bit less exciting to watch then. But the kids loved the zoo on Tuesday. We got to watch a baby elephant get her bath, saw a baby giraffe curled up in front of her mother, watched lionesses cavorting about, chimpanzees mimicking human kids, and sea lions popping in and out of the water (my 2-year-old's favorite!).

Apparently this past Tuesday was also the day many local public schools arranged for field trips, as the zoo was much more crowded than the last time we went. Parking was at a minimum, and there must have been 40-50 school buses in the parking lot. Ryan even got knocked over once by another kid running around. Fortunately, he didn't get hurt. Next time, we may call ahead and see how many field trip groups are coming on that particular day!

So we didn't do any school that day, other than the education we got at the zoo. We also didn't do school, for the girls anyway, the next day, since Tuesday evening they went to spend the night at grandma's house and didn't come back until the next day. We could have done some school then, but since we're ahead of things, and since we were going to church that night, I just let them play in the afternoon. I did get a chance to do some one-on-one school with Ryan, though. He loves his picture flashcards!

A few times, when we've had appointments or other field trips during the week, we'll do school on Saturday instead, but tomorrow I have a brunch to go to, so we'll just wait until next week.

We have a few more field trips coming up soon, arranged by the home school group we belong to:  a trip to the wildlife park just down the street from us in about a week (the group rate is much cheaper than going by ourselves), a trip to a "hands-on, interactive learning" event on colonial times at the end of April (just when I'm starting to teach Rebekah about the colonies!), and a trip to a water park near the end of May. We also need to go and pick some strawberries soon at a local farm. We do plan on continuing school over the summer (when it's too hot outside, and most venues are too crowded anyway). So for now, some fun, some learning, some social activities - a nice break from studying at home!