It’s summertime! For most of us, that means formal schooling is over. But that doesn’t have to stop the learning fun. You can take your homeschool learning on the road!
Wherever your travels take you this summer, you can plot points of interest along the way. These can be historical sites, nature spots, fun shops, or other unique places that you’ve read or heard about from friends or on the internet.
Depending on how long you have to plan before you leave will determine the depth of study for each location. But don’t let a spontaneous or fast approaching trip stop you from a wonderful learning opportunity. Who knows? This visit may spark a new hobby or a curiosity to learn more about a specific event, future career, or even help set a goal. For example, gem mining. Your destination just happens to cross paths with an area that is rich in gems and minerals. Why not take a few hours, grab a sluice pan, a bucket of sandy “rocks” and have at. Will you strike it rich? Probably not in monetary terms. But you’ll have wonderful memories of a fun family activity and you may spark an interest in gem stones, mineralogy, geology, or even as a tour guide giving educational presentations. While observing, have your children engage the employees or owners of these special places. You can be sure they will have plenty of interesting stories to share!
You can extend this outing by having your children journal their experience. Either in pictures or in words. They can keep their descriptions short and save them for during formal schooling when they have creative writing assignments. This will also eliminate hearing, “I don’t know what to write about.”
Another wonderful thing about taking your schooling on the road is to see nature’s beauty. What a great way to study new ecosystems that aren’t a part of your native region. This is an opportunity to expand your children’s geography, biology, and ecology knowledge plus possibly spark an interest in the pursuit of one.
So whether you’re planning for a trip across the country or just hopping in the car for a spontaneous adventure, there’s always something new to be discovered. Learning can take place anywhere and expanded upon to enrich your children’s horizons!
