What do you do when mother nature decides on its own that you need to unplug?
On Tuesday, our area received one of the worst derechos ever recorded with winds over 70 mph which my children had not previously experienced. While many people experienced loss of property and a handful of others lost their lives, my family dealt with a lengthy power outage. Grateful that we had lucked out, we took a moment to cleanse ourselves from the screens and well, see how many times people attempted to use the light switches. Everyone was fine with finding alternative things except for grandma who was ready for the kids to go back to school from their unexpected break.
In lieu of physically going to school, we made a school day so to speak at home one of the days. Our day started with reading time with books on the shelf as well as some grade preparation activities books that were purchased the previous summer. When we had our fill, we went outside for back porch recess where every square inch of concrete was covered in chalk. Once the real estate was covered in beautiful pastel colors, all went back inside to special time. The day’s special was art and random wooden pieces from the dollar store were painted the only way that children could. After art class at home, there was lunch.
Creativity with non perishables and picky children was a challenge, but children snacks made up the canned food times cooked with pans on the grill. Following lunch, a timeout from school was met with a well deserved nap. After all the Zs and the studying of the back of the eyelids were complete, it was gym class with jump ropes and soccer balls. The school day wrapped up by writing stores and the girls quizzing each other with various math problems. The girls kept busy and video games were not remotely close to being on the radar. A great time was had by nearly everyone.
The power would eventually come back on and the most of the groceries in the refrigerator were discarded. There would be lights instead of candles and flashlights. What could have been a miserable day was turned into a day of make believe. And besides who can pass up s’mores made by melting marshmallows at the grill!
