Field Day. Year Two.

I try not to spend a lot of my homeschooling days trying to match Wildwood Halls of Ivy to the local elementary school.

Worksheets aren’t our mainstay and bells don’t ring on schedule. Bergen doesn’t have to raise his hand and Mosely can excuse herself to visit the restroom without asking permission.

But last year a very typical traditional school activity became a part of our home educating experience.

Field Day.

Probably not an idea generated by me.

(I don’t naturally think of sports-related days of competition. I’m not against it – I just don’t think about it at all. )

But the idea came up in our co-op.

And it turned out to be fabulous.

And revealing.

Last year, sitting on the porch in the aftermath of Field Day we parents all agreed – “We need to do PE next year.”

It was true.

We did need to.

And we did.

It’s been a fantastic and necessary addition to Wednesday’s co-op experience.

So this year – the last day of co-op was our Second Annual Co-op Field Day.

The kids and the moms gathered first.

We all took turns organizing a few games. Games like sack races and three-legged races and the wheelbarrow race.

Goodness, Otto took that one seriously.

There was a baton relay and a balloon carrying race, a bean bag toss challenge.

Eventually the dads all joined the party. At this point our games were divided along family lines.

We carried sponges full of water in a relay game and then we had what has become our annual, slow, drama-filled kickball game.

It’s rough, I tell you.

Husbands vs. wives. Husbands on the same team as wives. It’s messy either way.

Let the kids pitch. Don’t let the kids pitch. Laugh at the kids who wander hopelessly back to the rope swing whenever they should be in the outfield but suddenly reappear when we are up to kick.

A learning experience for certain.

An exercise in patience and plenty of restraint.

And at the end of all the day’s game playing, a family winner emerges.

(Well, emerges is actually the wrong word. There was no “emerge”. One family was pretty much the runaway victors.)

Their prize was the treasured Deformed Horse Award. He’s featured in the picture somewhere.  (I think on top of Caleb’s head you can catch a glimpse of his golden glory.)

And, as the winning family, you are required to display your victory in your home visibly for the entire year.

Yep. A real bonus for winning.

Field Day.

It shares the familiar name you’ve heard.

But I’m pretty sure it has a twist all its own.