Big Sur Academy?

Our first attempt at "off-campus" homeschooling wasn't what I had hoped it would be.

We decided to take a two night camping trip down the California coast to an area called Big Sur, leaving this past Sunday morning. To those of you not familiar with Big Sur, it is truly one of the most spectacular and famous, scenic areas along the entire California coastline. Scary too (especially for those of US who have a fear of heights), as some of the roads wind above the rocky cliffs that drop hundreds of feet straight down to the crashing seashore.

Our departure on Sunday had us driving in pouring rain, the first rain of the fall season. I drove the Jeep which pulls the camper because Steve sits in the back to "help out" our forever, car-sick dog, Chloe (he catches her multiple vomit sessions in a bag, he's gotten really good at the timing). Needless to say (but I will), my nerves were absolutely shot by the time we got there.

We arrived at the campsite by noon and had to set up the tent trailer in the pouring rain, but luckily we were somewhat sheltered under the majestic coastal redwood trees. After we popped it up, cleaned up the mud that soon covered the linoleum floor, we were able to appreciate where we found ourselves. Our site was by far, the best one in the campground, as our door opened up right to the shoreline of the crystal-clear, Big Sur River (large rocky stream). The aroma of the dense, wet forest was everything we were hoping for to calm our busy, city dwelling nervous systems. The rain completely stopped by 2:00 pm, the sun came out and we fired up the grill for lunch.

As we were researching campgrounds, among other great amenities, this campground/resort boasted wifi availability as most campgrounds now offer. I figured that we would do our lessons early in the morning and head out to explore the area in the afternoons. We had brought everything we needed for two days of homeschooling for the boy.

After lunch, Steve walked over to the campground office to get the wireless info. He returned with bad news. The campground itself did NOT have wifi, however the restaurant on the grounds did. Ger-rate! What kid is going to be focused in a restaurant atmosphere? In reality, probably zero to none. And I certainly didn't want to sit in a restaurant and go through his lessons.

Thankfully, I packed a few testing workbooks for literature which didn't need the computer. I brought his math books, so we were able to work off-line and review some of his recent math lessons. I tried to throw a little of science (he's learning "ecosystems" in science) into our river-side play. He read his book each night before bed.

All and all, the actual "homeschooling" was not a complete wash, but only a disappointment as we now need to catch up with some of his skipped lessons over the few days left of this week. All was not lost as I learned my own lesson in the future to ASK if wifi is available at the campsite itself.

The camper is now being packed away for the winter months. This will give up ample time to find THE perfect spot that will allow us to cover all we need to school-wise and still have the experience of being cuddled by the glorious arms of Mother Nature.