Go Big with Family Travel

It’s that time of year when all the conversation seems to center around school starting. Where we lived previously, the public schools didn’t start until after Labor Day. At our new home, they start by mid-August! Quite the change!

We recently went to a family gathering nearby and everyone wanted to know when our “first day of school” was. Truth was, we had a family backpacking trip planned for when everyone else was starting and I had a split second of guilt as I thought about telling them that. But then I realized: no way, no guilt! This is the beauty of homeschooling!  We can do what our family needs, when our family needs it!

So my answer to all my in-laws was that we were starting school on Monday too and it was going to begin with a three day backpacking trip!  It was kind of funny to watch them process that. Then my 14-year-old nephew said he wanted to be homeschooled too!

Even after all this time, I still have to take the time to change my mindset from a) worrying about what others think, and b) moving away from thinking about school as the traditional subjects taught in public school. I don’t always have those problems, but sometimes they creep up again.

And even if we hadn’t been starting school right when everyone else around us was, that’s ok. Again, we do what we need to for our family. You do what you need to for your family! And a lot more counts as “school” than what we realize sometimes.

And our first day of school was amazing.