In our family, school is a little unconventional. Twice a week, we take a break from schooling in our living room and drive one hour (sometimes more if there’s traffic) to Greenville, where my kids attend a classical school on a farm. That’s right, a farm. The barn has been remodeled with some classrooms, there are some picnic tables out under the trees with some chalkboards, and you can sometimes see pigs wandering across the playground. The kids wear typical Catholic school uniforms with their boots.

Every morning, the kids come to the stage for morning prayer and to chant the Divine Office. After that, some head off to their outdoor classrooms, and some to milk a cow or work in the garden. Watching all of the kids spread out across the farm—working in the math workbooks or cutting up a watermelon they just picked—always fills me with a sense of peace. There is something so beautiful about seeing all of the kids out enjoying God’s creation and one another. At recess, the kids take turns pushing each other on the wooden swings or tossing the football in the cow pasture. There’s a stillness at the farm and a peace about my kids when they are “unplugged” and digging in the dirt.

Now more than ever with the beautiful fall weather starting to roll in, I hope to give my kids even more opportunities just to enjoy the simple joys of life and what God has blessed us with in his creation. I encourage everyone else to give their children opportunities to throw rocks in a pond, blow dandelions, or rake leaves. Sometimes there is no better place to meet our Lord.