Snow Days

We don't usually take snow days at our house. The neighbors (public-schooled) have a free day today because we had freezing rain last night that left the roads icy-slush covered. Since we don't leave the house, we have no need to skip school due to weather, although, because we are kind of laid-back schoolers, and because we rely on some electronic media for our schooling, if we had a power outage, we'd probably use that as an excuse. Then again, I might use that as a day to read extra history or do some kind of science experiment I've been saving, or paint ... something we don't do as often.

Nope, we don't need the weather for this mom-teacher to declare a day off. But I wanted to share some reasons for why we DO take the day off from school sometimes.

• "Ugly Gray Days" - Sometimes, when the weather is disgusting, ugly, sloppy, wet, gray and nobody feels like doing anything productive, I just don't force it. We take the day off.
• "The First Nice Day" - Oh me oh my! We live in Ohio ... we wait and wait and wait sometimes for a nice day to finally get here. Once it does, you might as well forget school! The kids head outside to play, the dogs go outside to the kennel, the windows go up, the door stands open, and Momma gets busy cleaning ... because nice weather energizes and inspires me! (And having everyone out from underfoot finally is ... ahhhh, wonderful!)
• "Sick Days" - If I have a child who is sick enough to need care (i.e. vomitting), or they have something that makes them miserable (one just got over a sinus infection and pink eye in both eyes), or they are sick enough to need a doctor, then school is definitely not in session. 
• "Momma is Sick Days" - No substitute teachers here ... if Momma is sick, school is canceled. That said, there are days when Momma is sick, but school work can still be done, albeit a little differently. The kids can watch PBS shows like "Fetch with Ruff Ruffman" and "Wordgirl." They can play educational games on the computer. They can do their independent workbooks. (Now that we're also trying Time4Learning  they can work on their lessons on there as well.)

I will go a little more into "Momma is Sick Days" in another post, because sometimes Momma is REALLY sick, and I want to share my thoughts on this. Until then, what excuses reasons do you use for canceling school?