Learning outside the class

If you are an educator (or brown noser/military person – or those who like authoritarian rule) – don’t read any further because this post may bother you. Seriously. Stop reading now.

I took my kids out of school yesterday. (insert *gasp* here). No, they didn’t have THIS and weren’t suffering from THAT (thank blog!).

I took them out of school to spend the day with myself and their grandmother – completed by seeing Anne of Green Gables (Musical) and lunch downtown. Their teacher’s didn’t like the fact I was taking them out (last time I tell them in advance what “teachable moment” I am planning) – my prince was not happy about taking them out (see reference above to military personnel).

You see – when I was a girl – once a year – my mother would take me out of school for an afternoon – take me on the subway downtown – we’d try on hats in Eatons and have lunch in the Simpsons cafeteria. I remember this very fondly.
As I see it…if a parent (a working parent at that) chooses to take a day and spend it with their child – it is not something to be poo-pooed. Add in attending a musical (my kids do not have a music class or program in school), theatre, Canadian culture and history (oh I love those teachable moments) — and the thrill of dressing up to go downtown (oh yes we DID) — plus making memories — and I chalk all of it up to learning outside the classroom.

And you want to know something else…I don’t feel guilty one bit.