Natural Distractions

Warm weather brings so many distractions: prepping the pool for summer; hikes in the nature park; parking farther away from building entrances to get more exercise; cleaning up the yard; and the list goes on. Although I’m not much of an ‘outdoor’ person, I do enjoy relaxing outside while visiting with friends and relatives. Last week I had the opportunity to do that while visiting my mom.

My two youngest were daring enough to swim in the lake at Grandma’s house. These two are fish; they had splashed around in our in-ground pool the day before as it was filling. I think the lake was slightly warmer, but not by much!

Church activities and out-of-town visitors are another big distraction. Two of my sons are helping with the Upwards football evaluations this week, keeping them busy after supper each night. My cousin called today and we hammered out plans for her to visit with a few of her children. I say “a few” because she has twelve. Yes, I said twelve, and the ten youngest are boys. She’s only bringing five boys, leaving the other five with their older sisters and father.

How can I best utilize these distractions for educational purposes? I’m hoping to keep the children informed and involved in all that’s happening and being planned. I’ll keep them focused on seeing the world through God’s eyes with guided discussions and questions when possible. I’ll also use the distractions to keep the children busy while I plan out our next unit of study!

This entry was posted on May 12, 2008 at 7:43 pm and is filed under Life Skills, Teaching Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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