One of my favorite parts of homeschooling is the freedom to travel and enjoy unique experiences. Travel adds another layer of enrichment to any pursuit of study, and homeschoolers are fortunate to be able to incorporate real world environments into their academics. We have enjoyed some wonderful field trips, classes, and longer trips as a homeschooling family. Our schedule is more open to accommodate experiences as we are not tied to the traditional public school schedule. In this post, we want to explore three ways in which travel complements any homeschool.
1. There is so much learning to be had! Conventional field trips, day trips, and longer vacations are all amazing opportunities to grow our knowledge and experience base. Make a list of places you would like to visit as a family. It’s one thing to read about a place, but quite another to see it up close and personal. Giving the kids a chance to be part of the planning is also a learning experience in itself. There are many good lessons to be learned in executing travel itineraries.
2. Time outdoors. Traveling affords the opening of possibilities to explore the outside world in all kinds of ways. There are so many local hiking areas, state parks, and national parks. The endless chances to enhance learning with nature, fresh air, and physical exercise abound.
3. Once-in-a-lifetime experiences. We have done indoor skydiving, specialty dining,special access to limited time art exhibits, overnights sleeping with manatees at the zoo, exposure to opera, Broadway musicals and countless live shows, and a chance to observe many people across the country in their day-to-day work lives.
Embrace this time you have to explore with you students. It is a spectacular opportunity to have the relational experiences of which memories are made. Some of my fondest recollections of the years homeschooling go back to many of our field trips and the people that we met along the way.
