Homeschooling Tips
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Take Your Homeschool Outside
1. Nature Study and Hikes
Spring is the perfect time to introduce nature study and hikes to your homeschool routine. Check out books about birds, deer, plants, and trees. Head outside on long leisurely walks to see how many signs of spring you can find.
Look for deer tracks, budding leaves, insects, and nests hiding in the trees. Bring along field guides to discover the types of birds, insects, and plants which are in your area.
Don't forget to bring a camera, colored pencils, and a journal. Take pictures of flying geese on your walk. Stop for a few minutes to take notes or sketch a flower into the journal.
Enjoy spring and nature study with your kids outside.
2. Read at a Park
Instead of reading inside the house, read at a park instead. Take blankets, lemonade, and cookies along with your current read aloud or the individual books the kids are reading.
Curl up together on the blanket with your book. Sip some lemonade, and nibble the cookies. Read for an hour or two while soaking up the sun.
Don't forget to plan extra time to let the kids run and play after they've read.
3. Take Chalk Outside
Grab chalk and head outside. Let the kids draw scenes from literature on the sidewalk. Create portraits of each other or simply draw flowers and animals they've seen lately on the nature walk.
When the kids are tired of drawing, try doing math on the sidewalk. Write out math problems on the stairs. You can also do copy work on the sidewalk, or write silly sentences to be read as you walk up the path to the house.
Try grammar exercises on the driveway. Draw a hopscotch and drill math facts. Use chalk and cement outside instead of pen and paper inside. Everyone will enjoy the fresh air outside in the sun.
There's no reason you have to be trapped inside on sunny spring days. Take your homeschool outside and enjoy the warmth of spring.
Sara Dennis is a homeschooling mother of 6 children ages 4 through 18. After much research into homeschooling in 2000, she and her husband fell in love with classical education and used it as the foundation for their homeschool. Sara blogs at Classically Homeschooling, and you can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Google+.
