Extra bonus of home schooling

I've posted before about the benefits for our family to home school.  One of the greatest ones is being able to spend the time as a family when daddy has off, even during the week days, especially after he gets home from a deployment or a TDY!  We also LOVE our field trips, since we get to go to so many different places and see and do various things!!!  However, another bonus is one that most people wouldn't think about.  Nope - it is not sleeping in, doing school in our pajamas (which we hardly ever do).  It is being able to still do school when we are sick!  Yup - that's right!  When we are sick, we STILL have school!  Spring and Fall are our least favorite times of the year to have school, because it is so absolutely gorgeous outside.  We much prefer doing our school work during the summer (and early Fall) and during the "Winter."  Before you think we are absolutely nuts for WANTING to do school during the summer, let me try to explain.... Life here in the south is HOT!  As in you walk outside and realize you shouldn't have taken a bath/shower, because you are drenched due to sweating and the humidity.

When we are ill, we grab our pillows and blankets, and "picnic" down on the living room floor.  And we pull out our school books!  I don't expect the same amount of school to get done, but I do expect some to get done when they are awake.  If my child is healthy enough to read a book when ill, then it can be a school book!  And we don't have to worry about missing out on a nice warm day with a cool breeze to enjoy family time, because we spent a sick day in bed not doing anything productive!

Charleston Tea Plantation

A small group of home schoolers, including our family, decided a field trip to the Charleston Tea Plantation was a must!  This tea plantation is the only one in the United States!  

 After going with our friends, the children decided their daddy, who was TDY at during our first field trip, simply must go with us.  So off we went again!!!
 

The first part of the tour is free and is inside the factory.

Then we walked around outside for a little while, before our trolley ride.

Then we started the trolley ride to see the rest of the plantation.  Only the tops of the bushes are harvested for tea.

Some of the blooms off the tea plants that the trolley guide passed around.

This is where new plants are being started.

If you ever make it to the Charleston area, in the Summer or early Fall especially, try to make plans to go and see the Charleston Tea Plantation!  You will not find anything else like it throughout the United States!  I can assure you we will be going back again!!!

Apple Picking

In the Fall, our family enjoys going apple picking.  We get enough apples to last us until the following season.  For our family, this means lots and lots of apples.  So every year, we pack up our five children and a picnic lunch and head to Justus Orchard in Hendersonville, North Carolina, for some of the yummiest apples in the area!  First, though, we must stop and get some pictures taken :)

Now it is time for some apple picking....

And we only lost one to the youngest.... though we did make him share it!

And then it was time for the yearly height measurements...  They are all getting SOOO big!

Ben wasn't interested in getting measured...

he wanted his apple back!

Looking forward to more fresh apples this Fall!