As it’s time to go back to school, one excellent approach to begin the new homeschool year is by including outdoor learning. Explore these family-focused outdoor activities that can be adapted to suit almost any grade level and enhance your children’s understanding of their core subjects.
1. Study the Natural Setting in Your Town
Incorporate natural studies into your homeschooling program by including visits to nearby parks to observe and learn about the local plants and animals. Encourage your children to keep a notebook or tablet to document their findings and make sketches of the various plants they encounter. Engage in activities like birdwatching, collecting rocks, or exploring nearby ponds or lakes to gather water samples that can be examined under a microscope. Additionally, there are several other enjoyable options to consider.
- Building a birdhouse
- Going on a photography tour at your local park
- Planting a flower or vegetable garden and studying the plants’ life cycle
- Using a magnifying glass to study insect life
- Going fishing and taking notes on the fish you catch
- Visiting a local farm and learning about the animals and crops
With limitless possibilities, the great aspect is that they enhance skills in science, math, writing, technology, critical and creative thinking, and much more! Through the power of your imagination alone, you and your children can have an amazing shared experience, appreciating the abundant variety of nature in your locality, all the while enhancing their academic skills.
2. Cultural and Historical Studies
Every town and community possesses its own distinctive narrative that is expressed through its culture and history. Take the opportunity to explore local historical societies, cultural museums, or the local town hall, which house fascinating artifacts related to the history of your town. It is possible that Native Americans once resided near your community, or that immigrants from various countries settled in your area in the distant past and left an indelible impact on its architecture, cuisine, or art.
Enhance your children’s research, writing, and technical skills by encouraging them to create a report or presentation on the history of your town using Google Slides, Keynote, or PowerPoint.
3. Join a Homeschool Group or Enjoy Activities with Friends
If you are involved in a homeschooling group or have friends who homeschool, reach out to them and coordinate enjoyable outdoor activities together. Consider holding classes in a park or organizing a field trip to a nearby location, such as an aquarium, museum, nature center, zoo, or even a fire station run by the community.
Promoting social skills in children is crucial for a comprehensive education, and bringing together kids of various ages accomplishes this. Kids, based on their age group, have the opportunity to engage in a wide range of activities that encourage social interaction, such as creating crafts, constructing model rockets, playing hide and seek, going on camping trips, exploring outdoor markets, and more.
4. Consider Roadschooling
Roadschooling is becoming increasingly popular as families choose to take their homeschooling on the road. During this time, families travel to various locations where their children can fully engage with different cultures, environments, and historical sites. By doing so, children are able to absorb information, ask relevant questions, and employ their critical thinking abilities to analyze and evaluate their learning experiences.
Due to the locations they typically explore being unfamiliar, this educational opportunity is consistently thrilling and invigorating. Additionally, it provides great adaptability: certain families have their kids engage in core subjects via an online curriculum in the morning, and subsequently, they embark on adventures and acquire knowledge during the afternoon. This is an efficient approach to integrating outdoor learning into your child’s education.
5. Read the aloud outside.
One of the most cherished memories is created when you read aloud to your children. As the weather gets warmer each year, one of the first activities that come to my mind is reading a book outdoors.
Bring your children together outside, whether it be on the porch swing, the hammock, the patio table, or even a picnic blanket. Creating a picnic lunch and laying out a blanket to enjoy the meal, read, and bask in the sunlight adds an extra element of enjoyment. Alternatively, you can also consider taking the book and picnic to a nearby park.
6. Physical education.
Keeping up with exercise can be challenging during the winter months. Being cooped up indoors for a prolonged period can make outdoor exercise sessions especially liberating. Consider heading to a nearby hiking trail, local park, or even a spacious field. Engage in activities like tag, running laps, timed races, playing catch or frisbee, and more. Regardless of whether you refer to it as P.E., track and field, or simply exercise, remember to enjoy yourself and get your heart rate up.
7. Going for a walk in nature
Nature walks provide an excellent opportunity to discover new things and breathe in some fresh air. The walks are a splendid method for focusing on the smaller details, pausing to observe, listen, and explore. Their purpose lies in detaching from daily routines and the hectic pace of life while observing the wonders of nature. Bringing along a camera allows for capturing photos of creatures and plants.
Begin by sketching the fascinating animal or plant life that you come across. Take a moment to sit down and document your observations in a journal. Analyze the illustrations of animals found in nature guides. Preserve leaves by pressing them between the pages of your journal. Nature walks provide an opportunity for children to develop an understanding of both botany and biology.
8. The subject of Arts and Crafts
Although art class is undeniably enjoyable during homeschooling, the mess can occasionally seem a bit overwhelming. If you occasionally find yourself avoiding crafts or artwork due to the mess, contemplate shifting the activity outside!
After going outside, your children have the opportunity to engage in watercolor painting, gluing, and sprinkling sparkles to their satisfaction. If you have saved any messy art concepts for later, this would be an ideal moment to experiment with them. Want more excitement? Encourage your kids to create impressionist paintings by arranging a board on an easel and splattering paint onto the canvas!
9. The activity of gardening involves thinking step by step.
Gardening provides children with a greater amount of knowledge than we typically acknowledge. It presents a wonderful chance to observe and understand the process from seed to plant. Watching this process unfold is a thrilling experience for children as they sow seeds, nurture them, and witness growth. Additionally, gardening could be a valuable addition to a botany curriculum.
10. The study of insects.
Are your children captivated by the unsettling allure of insects? Even if bugs cause you discomfort, it is important to nurture and support their amazement and interest. Engaging in an insect study can be an excellent method to incorporate outdoor learning! Equipped with a magnifying glass, a camera, and a field guide, your children will unveil a whole new world. Additionally, exploring which insects pose potential risks can be done during these insect studies.
11. Gain knowledge in survival skills by acquiring the ability to construct and sustain a fire.
Learning basic survival skills is important, and it is often an enjoyable topic for kids! While building a fire may seem potentially dangerous, it is a valuable skill. If your children are of suitable age and it is both legal and safe in your locality, utilize outdoor time to showcase the process of starting and maintaining a fire. Based on my own firsthand experience, I can attest that it is more challenging than it may initially appear!
12. Construct a birdhouse.
At some point, many children desire to construct a birdhouse or feeder, and the reasons for this are readily understandable. Witnessing the birds gathering around their own crafted object and selecting to appreciate it, even briefly, is an enjoyable experience.
Moreover, constructing birdhouses offers an opportunity to educate your children on fundamental construction skills, such as measurement, hammering, and comprehending instructions. Additionally, birdhouses allow your kids to express their creativity by painting and decorating them according to their preferences.
Step 13: Gather Tadpoles.
If you have access to local ponds, why not try catching tadpoles yourself? It’s a much more enjoyable experience for kids and a memory they will surely cherish. Instead of buying a tadpole kit online, you can simply scoop them up from the pond using a jar. Remember to keep them in the pond water to ensure their well-being.
