Kid Dates at Mc Donald's

Several years ago now, James - then about age 5 - took a bike ride with his mommy (me!) Bike rides are boring without a destination, and we live in a fairly hilly, very suburban area. Thinking it through, I decided that McDonalds was within range (and reachable entirely by sidewalk!), so we set off on a roughly 1 mile trip passing through the subdivision, a schoolyard, a serious hill on a busy street, and three major intersections. We made it intact (although that hill is a killer!) and enjoyed an ice cream cone in celebration.
Little did we know that this would become a near unbreakable Saturday morning tradition for years to come. All of my kids were early bike riders (Lucy wasn't even 4 the first time she got up and moving) - but I'll save my rant against training wheels and in favor of glide-bikes for later. This post is about Kid Dates. Suffice to say that Grace was ready to tackle the ride when she was between 5 and 6, and we began rotating Saturdays. (Taking both kids at the same time strained both my patience and my nerves as they ride at very different speeds and have different levels of "good sense" around intersections and cars.) Gradually I learned that I could combine the plain old fun of the bike ride and ice cream with some extra school. We haven't been consistent about what we work on, but recently it's been mostly book reports, which they dictate to me while I type them into the computer.
We've also done some consumer math (having a receipt handy helps!), and recently we started doing some typing practice. Sometimes James finishes up his spelling. I won't pretend that the kids don't fight me on this at times, but it's become part of the expectation and rarely detracts from everyone's enjoyment.
We've also gotten to "know" (OK, recognize and exchange greetings with) a group of retirees who tend to be there at the same time of day, which adds to the enjoyment.  Last year I met a grandma who homeschooled her grandchild and exchanged some tips and resources. And last week I got a major bonus. It was Grace's day, and she was in a sadly typical mood where every difficulty, challenge, mistake, and misunderstanding in her work was upsetting her badly. Typing lessons were Not making her happy. Rather less typically I was being pretty patient and encouraging. Eventually we got through it - she finished what I'd decided was going to get done, and been allowed to run off and play. A few moments later an older lady who'd been sitting nearby the whole time came over and said - almost gruffly - "I know you probably don't need to hear this from me, but you're a great mother!" She went on in this vein for at least a minute, and I was glowing at the end. (I also assured her that I most certainly Did need to hear it and much appreciated it!) I know that I have my weaknesses as a parent and a teacher, and I can tell you about them at length. But having a disinterested third party tell me out of the blue that I was doing a great job was - somehow I've used this phrase a lot lately - life giving! (Glad she wasn't there this evening when I was shouting at the squabbling kids at the park...)
Is there a point to this post? Maybe just a theme. Everyone looks forward to our "dates" on Saturdays. They combine exercise, 1x1 mother-kid time, and probably nearly as much school as they get on many of our increasingly disorganized weekday mornings. And yet I often forget to count them when I think back over the schooling we've accomplished over the week just Because they are so fun and relaxed. I wish there was a way to bring more of that feeling into the rest of the week. Of course, then we wouldn't have as much to look forward to. :)