Planning a Sledding Day with Your Homeschool Group

Alec decided he really needed to wash his clothes since he ran out of socks and asked me to help show him how the washer and dryer work.  We had a quick lesson and he was off!  He ended up doing two loads of laundry for himself.  It's not folded yet, but it's all in a basket in his room.  I can't nag him too much since he did wash and dry it himself and that is a huge step! 

We were heading out to meet up with our homeschool group today and go sledding together.


We enjoy meeting up with our homeschool group a few times a month and we're always trying to plan new and fun things to do together.

A sledding day was a fun and easy idea!
  • We could have met at a local park but one homeschool mom offered to host at her house.
  • We all came prepared in winter gear and brought sleds.
  • We picked a sunny day (in winter, when we actually had snow on the ground)
  • We chose a time that would work for most everyone but would still allow the most heat from the sun; in our case we're meeting from 12-2.

We arrived and I have to admit I was daunted by their hill.  It was very steep and, thanks to all the rain and cold weather we've been having, very icy.  Sometimes I think my boys are overly cautious, but not today.

Ian and Alec tried sledding down the hill on their bellies like penguins and then jumped onto their tubes.  Alec raced down the hill so fast (face first!) that he flew right over the snow plowed banks of the hill and landed on the pavement.

My heart was in my throat and I had visions of blood, emergency room trips, etc.  Luckily, he was OK once I got down the hill.  He did hurt his hand and is still complaining two of his fingers are sore but we had no bloodshed.

I think it was a minor injury compared to what we could have been dealing with.  He decided he was done for the day and I was relieved.  I also talked Evan right out of trying sledding.  Ian better understands how to use his feet to slow himself down, how to make himself fall off the tube if he thinks he'll get hurt and in general he's just more cautious.  He continued to sled, and really wanted to try snowboarding too but I didn't think that was the best place to try it for the first time.

 The younger boys and I sat in the snow and watched all the other kids try sledding (many of those wiped right out too and didn't want to try much after that).  We saw an ice boat on the lake in the distance and watched the sail turning in the wind.  We thought that was pretty neat and the kids wanted to know more about it so we looked it up once we got home to learn what it was called and how it exactly works.

The Hill
Alec decided to "just watch"

The ice boat-- do you see it; near the tree line?
Ian and his friend
can you see the ice boat now?  It's that white dot....
Ian gets Alec to try one more sled run using the toboggan and a smaller hill

Once the kids were all sick of sledding we decided to head inside and have some hot cocoa and popcorn.  I love seeing how much they enjoy our homeschool group!   

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