he's already skipping school

and it is only our second day! With Hurricane Earl on the way and a heat index of 105 we were all a little discombobulated anyway, but proved to be a little more chaotic yesterday with a mixup about Mary's riding lesson, "Oh, Mary was supposed to be there 20 minutes ago? She is still in her jammies, eating breakfast, but I will get here there ASAP."

After I fetched her back home we heard a familiar noise, the chug chug of a tractor, "Will! They are haying if you want to go help!"

So, between babysitting for me and an impromptu invite for the big kids to go to the lake, the only school activity completed was piano practice. (Actually that isn't true. Timmy, Charlie, and Maggie did their school. Mary had woken up early and finished almost everything, but all Will managed to complete was vocabulary and map skills. They are not exactly core subjects so it doesn't count as a school day.) The rest of the afternoon we stayed out of the heat reading books and I watched while they played a game involving riding bikes and a hose. Needless to say they were all dripping and much cooler by the time supper was on the table. This morning I will point to Will's stack of books on the floor and say, "No skipping schoolwork today, Bud!"

edited to add:
with the public school kids sent home at 11:30 due to the classrooms being 104 F (Maine schools do not have AC) and the same neighbor inviting the kids to go to the lake again, Will STILL hasn't finished his work. At this rate he will be in 7th grade until June 2012. But if I let everyone else go and made him stay here to finish his math it would be held against me for the next 5 years. Since I have to work with this child every one of those 1825 days, I just gave him a short break. A short one, for he will have it finished by the time he goes to bed tonight. Got it Bud?