Being homeschooled doesn’t mean being stuck at home. The best part about homeschooling is that you have the freedom to get out and do something different.
Field trips can be just pure fun, or they can teach a lesson. Often, they’re both, and that’s the way we like to do them. Here are some fun and unique field trips for your homeschool family.
10 Unique Homeschool Field Trips
Visit your state capitol.
Visiting your state capitol (or a local courthouse, if your state capitol is too far for a drive) is a great field trip that you can couple with learning the various portions of government and its functions. Want to delve more? Sometimes local police stations or fire stations are open to hosting a meeting with students.
Go to a historic spot.
Most states have trails or places where famous battles, moments in history, etc. happened. Schedule a visit and act out the steps or walk in the same location it all happened. It makes the lesson more real and memorable. Visiting historic locations is also an excellent way to learn about your state’s history as well. Last year, my children toured a local battleground and museum. Hearing the stories and seeing buildings that remain provided a sobering moment for all of us.
Go to your local post office.
You would be surprised at how exciting the mail process can be. Although this isn’t an overly important lesson, it’s still fun and prepares your young people in little ways that one day will be useful.
Visit a local farm.
This doesn’t have to be your typical farm. It could be a bee farm, strictly food farm, etc. Any farm provides an incredible learning experience. Your children can learn the process of making milk, how we get vegetables, growing vegetables, etc. The list is endless.
Take a tour of the electric company.
Do you have a budding engineer or history buff? Touring an electric company would be perfect to discuss the origins of electricity and how far it’s come.
Visit a local church.
As random as this sounds, there are many behind the scenes things that go on at a church that help keep it running. When I was a little girl, I didn’t realize that big churches have office staff that helps run the different ministries during the week. Seeing a familiar face provide a gift basket during the holiday season made me realize our church’s outreach program.
If you have older children and feel comfortable doing so, visiting multiple religious affiliations in your area may help teach your teens about more than one religion and comparing and contrasting them.
Job shadow.
If you’re blessed to have friends who work as plumbers, electricians, of heating and air, etc. see if you can follow along for a few hours. Not only would it help your children learn neat things about home maintenance but it gives them a glimpse into a type of job they may be interested in for the future. If they’re already interested in a particular field, see if someone is available and would be open to having your young people observe.
Take them to a conservation area for leaf exploration.
Conservation areas are excellent, and it can be fun to identify what leaves belong to each tree. Have them collect as many leaves as they can find, only keeping one of each kind. Then, they can place them in a book and study which tree to which they belong.
Attend the Opera/Orchestra.
I know many kids may not find it exciting at first; however, attending an opera or classical music concert gives them a glimpse into the sophisticated arts and it often ends up being more fun than they expected.
Visit a local bakery.
Touring a bakery is fun, and sometimes, with enough notice, the manager or owner will set up stations so that the kids can help make bread or baked goods from start to finish. What a great home education moment. A few years ago, my children were able to contribute to making doughnuts and even got to fill them. I’ve never looked at doughnuts the same since. The treat was even better when they got to enjoy them on the spot.
As you prepare for their lessons each day, think about a hands-on opportunity that may help the lesson stick. My children often say it’s the hands-on experiences that helped them remember things.
To document their adventures, my children love Apologia’s field trip journal:
What about you? How do you incorporate field trips into your homeschool lessons? Have you taken your children to any of the activities listed? Any other activities you’d like to add?
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These are all such great ideas! My son is now three and I have been discerning over whether or not to homeschool or send him to a local Catholic Academy… I will have to bookmark these ideas in case we do homeschool (or for some fun ideas to do this summer)!
Visiting from the Thank Goodness It’s Monday party! Come see us sometime at MammaTech — we are always looking for guest bloggers (AND we pay)!
Annie
Thanks for visiting, Annie! I know several parents feel concern about homeschooling and wonder if they’ll be able to get out of the house. But the opportunities are amazing!
These are all wonderful ideas for homeschool field trips, or for folks to do with their children in the school holidays. It’s such a good idea to include the Opera/or an Orchestral performance. So often that is a part of education that gets missed! I’ve pinned this post to my Homeschooling board on Pinterest. Thank you so much for sharing it with us at Hearth and Soul.
Thanks, April. 🙂 Sometimes the arts can get pushed aside for other subjects, but it’s all a part of learning. 🙂
Who doesn’t love a field trip! Great suggestions. Thanks for sharing at Home Sweet Home!
Field trips are awesome and a great way to learn new things. The last few field trips we went on, I think I learned more than my children….. I need to do a better job at teaching them how to journal.