5 Homeschool Field Trips You Need to Try This Summer
Thank you to my guest Gwen for sharing these ideas for fun homeschool field trips you can take this summer. Gwen blogs at geezgwen.com, offering family inspiration, discussing relationship goals, homeschool tips and tricks, family project ideas, and much more.
Summer is here! After a long year of hitting the books the freedom of the summer season is highly anticipated and well deserved. Homeschooling families across the country may be changing up their daily schedules but you can rest assured that the learning continues.
Homeschooling is, after all, a way of life. A beautiful way of life that seeks to teach the love of learning itself. Here are some fun summer homeschool field trips that will keep kids engaged until the classroom door swings open again.
Five Fun Summer Homeschool Field Trips
1. Nature Walks and Hikes
Time spent in nature offers learning experiences in abundance (not to mention the health benefits).
Taking guided hikes led by rangers or naturalists is a great way to make sure that the kids are learning while they play. We also recommend Scavenger Hunts, Geocaching, collecting flowers and grasses to press (where allowed) & a picnic as a grand finale to a day spent hiking.
2. A Day At The Lake
Water safety and learning to swim are essential life skills that every child should have an opportunity to learn. But beyond that, a trip to the lake can become an educational opportunity by packing the beach bag with a few necessities such as a magnifying glass, a few sketch pads, nature-themed coloring books, and some blank paper so they can spend their downtime capturing the nature they discover.
You can also help them fold and float paper boats, carefully peek under rocks to see what’s living there while exploring and documenting the natural life all around.
3. Visit the Zoo
The zoo is a great place to visit in the summer. There are so many opportunities to encounter species you can’t experience anywhere else and learn about the importance of protecting endangered species and conservation efforts.
Check the schedule when you arrive as there are always amazing classes and opportunities for up-close encounters to enrich the experience for your family. Take your time going through the zoo so you aren’t just seeing the animals but also gathering all of what the exhibit has to offer. Discuss natural habitats, places of origin, diet, and more.
4. A Book and A Picnic
Start the day with a trip to the library to collect some books on whatever subject is currently intriguing your kids and then take those and some sandwiches and a blanket to the lake or a local park to eat and read in the sunshine. Teaching our kids to slow down and rest is an essential life skill as well as all of the benefits delivered by time spent reading.
5. Volunteer Together
The lessons gained through time spent volunteering are essential ones and the opportunities to volunteer over the summer are endless.
Participate in a waterway clean-up, walk dogs at the animal shelter, visit a nursing home to deliver cookies you made, or help an elderly neighbor with yard work. Whatever activity you choose to lead, your children are learning by your example.
Teaching compassion, empathy, a sense of their own power to be part of positive change, new life skills, and other such matters of the heart will assure your child learns what’s most important over their summer break.
For help finding your local parks, zoos, and picnic areas you may want to check out this post – Educational Trips To Keep Your Family Learning All Year Long which includes a collection of educational destinations that fall into different categories including history, art, science, nature, space, and literature. All of these make for excellent destinations to learn with your family.
“Summertime is always the best of what might be.”
– Charles Bowden
This guest post is part of the Homeschool Summer Fun Series. Make sure to check out the series landing page to learn more about the series and find all of the posts in one place!
