After my Tightwad Tuesday post on packing a picnic, my dear friend Cristi asked what I bought for the picnic at Whole Foods. That got me thinking. What exactly makes a good picnic? Before Anna had to be dairy free and gluten free, we had an old formula. Cheese, fruit, sandwiches, chips, cookies and drinks. Now, that makes a great picnic! We almost never take cheese now, for that would be unfair unless I have a substitute. The formula stands alone without cheese though! However, I am now branching out a little. Whenever we pack a picnic from our home; we choose any variety of things based on what is in the cupboard. We do enjoy taking those little Jif-To-Go packs which I occasionally get mostly free with coupons. We pack those, with celery and carrots for dipping, and maybe apples to dip too. We almost always pack the makings of a meat sandwich and chips. I try to pack some special treat thing; which might include whatever snacks I have gotten recently with my coupons. This might include cookies, rice krispie treats, fruit roll-ups, anything sweet. This last picnic was completely off the beaten track. Three children had blueberry muffins. Everyone shared tortilla chips and guacamole. Anna had salami on gluten free bread. The two boys had salami with no bread. Everyone finished very full and happy with our little picnic! I certainly would have added fruit except that they were filming a television show in Whole Foods and I DID NOT want to go back past the cameras to the produce section once I realized we were in need of a picnic! I confess, I have even made a picnic with Lunchables in the past! The key thing here is the atmosphere... Eating outside is fun, refreshing, and interesting. Certainly, eating outside to facilitate a trip to the playground is always welcome by the children... However, we have even been known to have a "picnic" in the car with a good audiobook after the unwelcome onset of rain.
Ironically, my friend Cristi and I met for the first time (in real life) at a park where we were both supposed to be bringing our own picnics. She was good and brought a picnic, and I was bad and stopped at Wendy's on the way. I remember panicking because we had not the single making of a picnic in our cupboards that day! I was so embaressed then, but now it is too funny to me that she is asking for picnic advice in the comments of my blog! What a fun memory of that day! I'm pretty sure you've got it covered my friend.
I had to laugh about your picnic experience. We have had picnics with friends before and I had to stop and buy lunchables. Then, my friend and I started buying a pizza at Little Caesar's (and used a coupon for free bread sticks.) For $5.38 we could feed all six of us. (Not including drinks, but still---when we halved the cost it was still less than $3.00 per family.) Plus, the kids ate all of it!
Pam
The bottom line is; We try not to insist on parent-led learning or gravitate toward child-led learning. We try instead to focus on God-led learning and ask for His input and perspective on every aspect of our home school. That way, when others fuss about what Dan and I are doing and make me second guess our decisions -- I can go back to our decision process and find God's fingerprints, reminding me that this is His way.
