autumn. out there.

I might be making a terrible mistake.

I might be doing homeschool really really badly.

I am not sure.

But it’s fall.

Autumn. (If you like the fancy pants name of the season.  And I’m all for any season that has two names.  Just like any kid with two names.  Or more.  You know how I roll.)

It’s beautiful outside.

Leaves are literally drifting to the ground all around our yard in an idyllic fashion.

You don’t need a sweatshirt but jeans feel great.

A crunching sound is created under little size 11 feet.

It’s just too perfect out there

to be

in here.

So I keep shooing all of my band of children outside.

I don’t even have to convince them right now.

They just want to be

out there.

Under our little rickety bridge.  (Creating a clubhouse with sticks and moss and a fishing net they pilfered.)

In the woods.

Drawing with chalk on the driveway.

Just

out there.

So how can I call them in to sit down

in here?

In climate-controlled weather

and conditioned temperatures

and say

sit.

Do

math.

Spell this.

Write this.

When all they really want is to

live

this

outside.

We have so many

cold

wet

winter days

in our future

where you need more than a jacket and your fingers get a little numb

to pass up the bounty that is sitting in our laps right now.

For now

for these days

for autumn

I will teach adding and subtracting in the evening, when the sun has already set, and being inside is more palatable.

I will carry the books to be read to the clubhouse and prop them up with sticks and rest my toes on moss.

A hammock seems like an extraordinary location for a spelling lesson.

And chalk can be used to write words as easily as it can be used to draw a racetrack.

Because

I don’t want to to spend the fall

in here

and miss all of

the autumn

that is

out there.