Reason #12: Playing in the mud

Playing in the mud....that's what my boys did this afternoon. We're having one of those glorious stretches of sunny fall weather. Clear, sunny, and warm with just a bite of chill in the air. I had plans to keep the fine young gents occupied but when I looked out the window, the plans went out the window. We called the neighbors and headed into the back yard to play in the mud.

The kids had a fabulous time making a river-- first under the filbert tree, then in the garden. Neighbor mom and I had a relaxed time chatting in the sun. The kids played and squabbled and worked it out and ran around and golfed and picked flowers and splashed in the water. Armed with two garden hoses and a whole lot of dirt they created a darn fine river and a really cool mud puddle. We were all mud-spattered by the end of the afternoon.

Reason #12: Time for good old-fashioned play.

Sure, we do lots of teaching and projects and structured learning activities, but time to kick back and just play is not simply an incidental benefit in the way we've structured our homeschool or our family life. The amount of free time we've allowed our children is purposeful. We are a busy family, granted. But even though the Mom Taxi is in service nearly every day, we've worked at making choices that ensure that all the ladies and gents have plenty of time to explore and daydream and dress up and draw and jump and follow their noses. Time to be distracted by "shiny stuff." Time to sit and do nothing. Time to play Hot Wheels and Legos and dolls, sometimes all at once. Time to splash in the mud or to build forts.

One of the things that I've learned from homeschooling is that time is precious. Being home together as a family helps us to guard that precious time. We've seen our oldest lovely lady blossom. After a hellish year of middle school that was all school and homework, she has time for reading and writing and drawing again. Our younger lovely lady is more relaxed because she can take breaks when she needs them. The gents are best friends because they spend so much time just playing. I love seeing the messy creative funny things they come up with when they're left to their own devices. I love these messy funny creative young folk, their discoveries and their playfulness and their wit. Who knew you could make so many things with tape? Or that lavender flowers make a great snack? Or that the worms in the garden have names and personalities?

After an afternoon of mud play I sat down to check my email. A friend sent me the link to a CNN article, discussing benefits of unstructured play. What great timing. I don't know that homeschooling is necessarily the answer for all families to the dilemma parents face when trying to balance activity time and down time, but for now, for our family, the answer is clear.