We are hooked up with a really neat homeschooling group in our area.  Not only do they have park day every Friday, as well as holiday parties and field trips throughout the year, but every Monday they meet at our local ice skating rink.  The skating rink hosts “Homeschool Day” on Mondays and we all get in for a discounted price.  (yay for that! $$)  And since the scheduled time for “Homeschool Day” is from 11:30am to 12:30pm,  the place is practically empty except for us homeschoolers!  So that’s very cool.  Literally. 

So this is where we are on most Monday’s.  I love that the time is 11:30 to 12:30 because that gives us practically the whole morning to do our school work.  And when the kids know that it’s Ice Skating Day…well, let’s just say there is no nagging on my part to get them to finish their work.  Whoever goofs off and doesn’t get his or her school work done that morning gets to bring the unfinished work to the ice skating rink and finish it there before going out onto the ice!  Yep, I’m a mean teacher — I know. Okay, so you’ll notice two of the three kids are wearing helmets.  A.J. normally wears a helmet, too, but on this day he could not find his and we were in a hurry to leave the house.  So his little head was not protected on this day, and I was worried the entire hour.  Now see, some of you might think I’m being over-protective by making them wear helmets.  After all, they were the only kids wearing helmets out there  (well, except for my friend Joan’s two girls. Joan and I think the same)  but I will tell you, once you have a kid who suffers from a severe traumatic brain injury due to being hit hard in the head, your prospective and awareness of the brain’s importance is forever changed, and you take all the precautions you can to protect that very delicate brain in your child’s head.  *Add that to being married to a fire fighter/paramedic who goes on calls all the time on children who do not wear helmets while riding bikes, skateboarding, roller and ice skating…and there you have it: an “over-protective” mom who insists her kids wear helmets while ice skating.  Yep, that’s me.

Five-year-old Andrew is having a wonderful experience at the skating rink. These photos are of his first day out on the ice! He hugged the wall the first time around, and then after that he wandered out to the middle of the ice and did great!  He only fell a few times.  He had a blast and was so proud of himself for learning something new!