The weather in southern Ohio is about as perfect as it gets. We’re sitting in a that beautiful spot where the mornings and evenings are cool and the middle of the day has a pleasant warmth that will only last a couple of weeks more. So while this amazing time of year lasts, we are taking our school work outside. Some days this means we simply carry our work out to the picnic table that we keep in our front yard and run our day from this spot but other days we pack up all our supplies into individual backpacks and carry it off to a park, down a trail or to a friend’s farm.

The reason that we can make these quick choices and adjustments for beautiful weather is that we choose to keep things simple from the start. We are prepped and ready to go, the boys know exactly what they need to do school on any particular day and we each know our jobs for when we need to “get out.” This process is also what allows us to “car school” when we decide that getting away somewhere nearby just isn’t quite enough.

While you may not have already assigned the “jobs” that make getting out of the house easy, you can still get out of the house and read outside or if you’re feeling extra fun you could allow your children to use sidewalk chalk and do math, spelling or other writing work directly on the driveway. Skip count by any variety of numbers using a baseball and every time you throw the ball you need to say the next number in the sequence. Then, next time the weather looks like it could be amazing, be ready, delegate responsibility or pack yourself the night before.

However, you choose to get out and enjoy this lovely season. Keep it smart. Keep it simple.