Welcome to summer! Whether you homeschool year-round or take a break in the summer, these next months can be rich times of getting outdoors, building family memories, and letting your children explore what interests them.
If you’d like some inspiration for intentional ways to make memories and expand your children’s horizons, try a few of these fabulously fun summer activities.
1. Let Your Kids Get Bored
First and foremost let’s remember that it is OK for kids to be bored this summer. It can even be good for them. Check out this article and scroll down for a motivating video about letting your kids pass through the stages of boredom that lead to creative breakthrough and reflective self-knowledge. (You could also check your library for Peter Spier’s funny and inspiring picture book called Bored, Nothing to Do.)
Now for the actual activity ideas …
2. Go to the Farmer’s Market
Head to your local market to explore the produce and talk to the farmers. Pick something new and prepare it with your children. Or give each child a few dollars to browse and buy whatever they want to share with the family.
3. Live Up the Picnic Season
Pack up some peanut butter and jelly, grab a blanket, and head to your backyard or a park. Add something unexpected to your bag, such as a Frisbee or sketchpads and pencils.
4. Head to a Summer Festival
Many towns have a special festival at least once a summer. Look up your options and put something on the calendar now so you remember to go if you want to.
5. Read, and Read Some More
Whatever you do, please read this summer! Read out loud to your children, keep the house stocked with good books for them to read on their own, and let them see you enjoying your own books. Of course, our Summer Reader packages are a great place to start.
We've found the best summer reading for your kids!
Whether you missed some of the scheduled science experiments this past school year, or you want to find new ones to tackle, you might take advantage of your relaxed schedule to attempt a few experiments. Summer is the perfect time to take the mess outside so you avoid the worries of spills and disasters in your kitchen.
7. Get Out the Art
If you didn’t have time for much art this year, or if your children really love it, you might want to bless them with the opportunity to create. Provide some supplies, a vision, and be willing to let the kids make a bit of a mess. Check out ARTistic Pursuits or our other art materials for inspiration.
8. Find a Family-friendly Outdoor Concert or Play
From Shakespeare to a string quartet to your favorite bluegrass group, pack up dinner and make a night out of it.
9. Help Your Kids Build at Fort
Choose a locale in your yard, down by the creek, or anywhere that feels special and exciting. As you know, kids even love a simple blanket fort inside. (Stock it with books and a flashlight if you want!)
10. Get Ideas from Your Kids
Ask your children what they want to learn how to do this summer. Even if they answer with something outrageous, you still might let them give it a try and see where it takes them.
11. Tackle Home Improvement
Let your children help in the planning, budgeting, shopping and the actual work. It will probably take longer than if you did it yourself, but it will certainly be a learning opportunity for everyone. Your kids will feel so proud of the finished product.
12. Tour a Local Farm
Many farms are happy to have visitors–especially eager, “love to learn” visitors. Look online to see what your local farms have to offer by way of tours and visiting hours. Some even let you come and volunteer for a while! If you visit a farm now and in September, you’ll be amazed at the difference from the beginning to end of a growing season.
13. Go Camping
It’s the ultimate family-bonding, nature-appreciating, funny-story-generating adventure. We camped often when the kids were young. I wouldn’t trade those memories for anything!
14. Look for Wildflowers
Do you have particularly good wildflowers anywhere around? Take a camera or some sketchbooks and go explore.
15. Make Homemade Ice Cream
What child wouldn’t be excited for the chance to make and eat real ice cream? Even without an ice-cream maker, you can definitely make it at home.
16. Suggest a Lemonade Stand
Inspire the entrepreneurial spirit in your children. If you want to add some real-life math and money lessons, have your children calculate the cost of all the ingredients they use for lemonade and cookies. Then have them pay you back from their earnings and calculate their true profit.
17. Marvel at the Stars
Look online to see if any meteor showers will be visible soon. Or just pick a clear night to go lay out under the stars somewhere away from city lights. You can be sure your kids will remember that special night for years to come.
Again, please don’t feel pressure to do more than you want to here. If you just need to relax, organize your house, and send the kids outside, that can be great too. But I also know from experience that if you do want to do some special activities this summer, it can really help to make some simple plans or write your ideas down now.
I pray you enjoy the next few weeks of summer with your family!
As we near the end of the traditional school year, many families are looking forward to summer vacation and a change of pace. But what do you do if you’re behind in schoolwork and you were really hoping to be done by the end of May? If you find that you have more pages in your Instructor's Guide than you have weeks left to school, what can you do?
Here are two fixes for when you still aren't finished with homeschool in May (or June...or even July).
Fix 1. Change your expectation of what you need to accomplish.
Do you remember how many textbooks you finished in school when you were growing up? How many math books you finished? Probably ... zero.
Ignore some assignments. Really! It’s okay to skip a book or two and notcheck every box. Instead, remember how many books you have already read! (Take a #sonlightstack photo to document everything.)
Sonlight provides many resources on all topics you study. And while the Instructor’s Guide is a key component of your homeschool routine and daily plan, don't consider it a rigid taskmaster.
Remember, your children will continue learning for the rest of their lives! Kindling that love for learning is a higher priority than checking every box.
So when you still aren't finished with homeschool in May, look at the books you have left and prioritize. Already read about Vikings in two books? Skip the third. Of the remaining books, which ones do you think you’ll enjoy the most? Set the others aside.
Fix 2. Change your expectation of when you need to finish your schoolwork.
This might mean that you shift your summer vacation a little. You can start vacation now, when the warm spring air refreshes the soul, and then return to school later in the summer—July or August—to finish the year when you’re ready to be out of the sun.
Or it might mean that you do modified school over the summer, finishing up the books you didn’t quite complete.
Or, if you are ready to be finished with this year, but want to finish the program you’re currently working through, you can plan to pick it back up in the fall, right where you left off. Some Sonlighters take 16 or 18 months to finish a program. Give yourself permission to do that, if it’s right for you.
Life rarely goes the way we predict. So if you're not where you hoped to be in the IG, your school year is still what it was supposed to be—filled with learning and life lessons, challenges and joys.
All the best to you as you look to the end of the traditional school year. Whether you keep pressing on or take a break, enjoy these moments with your family and remember: It’s a journey, not a sprint.
Whether you are struggling across the finish line or had the best school year ever, what’s next?! In this video, we'll tackle homeschool end-of-the-year concerns and offer tips to get you to the finish line.
Every once in a while we have one of those years where we fall behind schedule in homeschool. Just kidding! We fall behind schedule at least a few times every year. Usually, I get a head start by beginning school in August; however, this year in an effort to enjoy summer a bit longer, I postponed our back to school date to mid-September after enjoying our family vacation. That choice turned out to be a huge mistake.
Hurricane Irma gave us an obvious aversion to the idea of flying to our destination the same morning Irma pounded through Orlando, FL. We love adventure, but that was too much adventure for us. So the vacation was delayed.
By the time we arrived home from our adventure and started school, Week 1 was glaring at me through the very last calendar pages of September. Much to this Type A mama’s dismay, I was already suppressing anxiety over our late start and feeling behind schedule.
"Breathe in. Breathe out," I told myself.
On top of a late start, our first few weeks of school were just plain rough!
Tenderhearted Boy wanted more work than I could give him.
Dreaming Daughter was spending her history reading time doing exactly that—dreaming. Civil War? Was that in 1774? When they fought the British?
Oh, Lord, help me.
Within two weeks I feared if we continued at this pace we might get through half of our curriculum over the course of our 36-week school year. I was used to playing catch up after the holidays or mid-spring, but this rough and late start was not something I was used to!
I wallowed in a bit of defeat, and then I got a grip and started coming up with a plan. Here are the ways I managed to gain traction and catch up on my homeschool schedule.
1. Use Audiobooks
If, like me, you are balancing two History / Bible / Literature (HBL) schedules at the same time, you may find audiobooks a schedule saver. I alternate a Read-Aloud from each HBL to enjoy in audiobook format. It is much easier to catch up on other subjects when I’m not reading aloud for over an hour a day. As a bonus, sometimes we listen in the car as well.
2. Double a Subject Each Day
This tip is easy. Instead of doing one day's assignment, we cover two. I rotate through the subjects where we are lagging so this isn't a huge burden every day. So for example, on Day 1 we do two History assignments. On Day 2 we cover 2 Science assignments. On Day 3 we check off two Vocabulary lessons. This method helps us make slow but steady progress without overwhelming me or my children.
3. Throw a Big Subject Party
This solution works out especially well for Science. We set aside an afternoon when we knock out an entire week of lessons. I call it a Science party and shorten the lessons a bit. Adding a fun game or activity and a warm pan of brownies with hot chocolate usually helps to motivate my kiddos.
4. Plan to Skip School Breaks
This is always a time saver for my family because we live in a state with serious winters! When my kids' friends have a snow day off from school, we go ahead with school anyway, saving our day off for a sun day later in the spring when we are back on track with our 36-week schedule.
5. Skip Lessons
The wonderful thing about Sonlight is that it gives plenty of resources on any topic you are studying! For example, in HBL B, you may read about Vikings in 3 or 4 different books.
One way to catch up is to look at the schedule, decide you’ve read enough about Vikings and move on! It is okay not to do it all! In the Instructor's Guide, we are given the freedom to skip assignments, but we need to actually do it! I've learned to be okay with not checking every single box.
As homeschoolers, we revel in the freedom not to have our kids doing homework at night, am I right? However, we don’t need to have such an aversion to the idea that we miss a good opportunity to catch up if we fall behind. I have found evenings are an ideal time to get extra school work done. My husband occupies the baby while I offer the older children one-on-one teaching.
If you find yourself falling behind schedule in homeschool like I so often do, I hope some of these ideas help you catch up! Don’t underestimate the power of momentum! Once you decide what way of recovering your year works best for your family, set your plan in motion and the progress will feel really good.
Scheduling Your Homeschool So You’re Not Behind
Now that you know how to catch up on school work when you are behind, let’s consider how you got there in the first place so you can minimize this situation going forward. Notice the word minimize. There is an ebb and flow to life that means you’ll always be swimming upstream to stay on track with your desired timeline. Sometimes you get a bit ahead; other times you get a bit behind. The goal is to stay on track most of the time so that you don’t feel you’re drowning.
If you always feel behind, there are two obvious corrections:
Change your expectations.
Or change your execution.
Change Your Expectations
Maybe you are homeschooling many children or you have a chronic illness. Maybe you’re a single parent with little outside support. Maybe you’re simply not a Type A person, and you need a more laid back lifestyle to feel whole.
Whatever the reason, you may want to rethink your expectations for working through your homeschool curriculum.
There is no magic to 36 weeks. It’s simply the norm of the public school system and the way most homeschool curriculum, including Sonlight, is structured. It's okay to spread out the 36 weeks over 18 months or 2 years!
Reframe your thinking: It's 36 sequential units and not necessarily 36 weeks of time.
One Sonlight mom provides excellent advice when it comes to changing your expectations.
“Avoid deadlines! We don't have to finish in June. We don't have to start in September. A week doesn't need to be done in 5 days. A week doesn't need to start on a Monday or end on a Friday. It's ok to do school on weekends and holidays. It's ok to take days off pretty much anytime you want.” —Jennifer Lauda
If you consistently feel behind, maybe your timeline is not doable for your family. Change the expectation instead of looking for ways to meet something that’s not attainable.
So Are Homeschoolers Behind?
Because homeschoolers have the freedom to redefine for themselves what’s on track, they may be labeled behindaccording to state standards or public opinion. Then the question becomes: Do state standards or public opinion really matter when it comes to homeschooling your child?
Some families have the confidence to totally discard outside standards and set their own course while other families keep at least one eye on what’s commonly accepted as being on grade level. You’ll need to find that sweet spot for yourself when it comes to who gets to define what’s behind in terms of working through a curriculum and the difficulty of the work.
Change Your Execution
If you think that the problem isn’t unrealistic expectations but more about structure and discipline, then change your execution.
One solution that provides flexible structure is to opt for routinesinstead of schedules. The video below will explain everything you need to know about routines compared to schedules.
Maybe you simply need a more clearly defined curriculum that does the heavy lifting for you. If you’re spending hours each week on a DIY homeschool, you may be exchanging learning time for planning time. Get that time back by choosing a more open-and-go program like Sonlight.
How Do You Motivate a Child Who Doesn’t Care?
The seven tips above help you get caught up in school when you feel like you’re falling behind on your 36-weeks of lessons that you expect to accomplish in the span of 9-12 months. But what if the issue isn’t time management, scheduling, or routines?
Sometimes you fall behind in school due to a lack of motivation. So how do you stay focused when homeschooling?
It’s not uncommon for kids who used to be in public school to resist homeschooling and lack motivation for their lessons. To be honest, they probably had little zest for learning in the classroom, too! But now you are fully aware of their resistance and are the person responsible for working through it with them.
This lack of motivation doesn’t mean that homeschooling is a bad idea. It just means that you need to rewire the connections in your child’s brain which are telling them school = boring.
Try a period of deschooling before you jump back into schoolwork. Just letting them play video games all day or watch TikTok videos is not an effective way to erase that negative brain training. During this time, establish a pleasant daily routine that allows for plenty of sleep, healthy meals, and a bit of daily exercise. Incorporate meaningful activities that don’t involve paper and pencil or books:
organizing an upcoming vacation or a family holiday gathering
meal planning and grocery shopping
Don’t try to sneak in learning. Just let learning happen naturally throughout your day. Talk to your child. Ask questions, listen, and observe. What are they interested in? What gets them excited to learn?
Then partner with your child to create a curriculum plan and weekly schedule that they can be, if not excited about, at least accepting of.
During this transition, your brain may be screaming at you, “We’re falling behind in school! We don’t have time for this!” But shush your brain and invest in this period of healing negative attitudes. Not only can you restore a love of learning but you will also mend and improve your parent-child relationship. What greater investment of time is there?
How to Keep a Kindergartener Focused
Although all children can struggle with focus and motivation, a common question posed to Sonlight Advisors is, “How do you keep a kindergartener focused?” Remember that children mature at their own pace, and your 5-year-old (or 3- or 4-year-old) may not be ready for extended periods of formal schooling. That’s okay! The most useful advice in that scenario is to simply put it aside and try again in 6-9 months.
Unlike the child transitioning from public school, a kindergartener probably has no negative experiences with school to tarnish their motivation. So if working through kindergarten lessons is a consistent battle, that’s probably a sign that your expectations are unrealistic. Try these adjustments:
Opt for shorter lessons, even just 10 or 15 minutes at a time.
Look for a less challenging program.
Switch to play-based exploration instead of bookwork.
Remember that you’re homeschooling precisely so you don’t have to force your child into a mold. So don’t fall prey to the lie that all 5-year-olds should be doing the exact same kind of schoolwork. You can go at your own pace, and you are not in danger of being behind.
For High Schoolers: How to Catch Up in High School Credits
When it comes to high school graduation requirements, you have less flexibility. Your state does have certain requirements for earning particular credits for mandatory subjects. Getting off track during the freshman and sophomore years can set up your upperclassman for a frenzied game of catch up! So it’s best to stick closely to your 4-year plan from day one.
But if you find yourself in the situation of needing to catch up on high school credits, it’s possible!
Summer School
Use any summers you have remaining to study and earn credits. Of course, summer is a much shorter time frame, so the pace is intense! It will likely be difficult to take more than 2 different courses over the summer.
Prune All the Extras
Your teen may need to cut back extras like part-time work or recreation to focus on finishing the required coursework.
Speed up the Pace
Instead of working through a curriculum over a full school year, speed it up to just a semester to fit more in. Yes, this will be a much more challenging route, but it’s doable with a new sense of focus and discipline.
Provide More Accountability
It’s happened to the best of us. We trust a teen to do their work, and it turns out they’ve been slacking off. While giving teens independence is wonderful, your particular child may need more supervision to graduate on time. So get more involved in the day-to-day coursework, making sure assignments are completed and concepts are mastered.
Postpone Graduation
If all else fails, you can certainly extend the high school years and delay graduation for a year as needed. If you’re catching the problem too late, this may be the only option, especially if your teen has missed out on credits for the math courses that build one upon the other.
What if Your Child Is Behind Academically?
Sometimes the sense of being behind is more than just checkmarks on your Instructor’s Guide. In fact, your child may be working through the assignments right on time, but there’s little comprehension or mastery.
If you sense your child is behind academically, first take stock of the situation:
Then move to the solutions. If you are homeschooling a child who is behind in reading, spelling, or handwriting, or are wondering how to catch up in math, here are some great subject-specific articles to read:
As you grapple with a child who is falling behind in homeschool or wade through the feeling of being behind on your curriculum schedule, remember that you are not alone. This struggle is a universal concern, and it may reassure you to hear how other moms are handling it. Download the Sonlight app to connect with like minded parents and gifted Advisors who can give you the practical tips and reassuring words you need.
Sweet summertime. It’s a time of Popsicles and bare feet, sunshine and late nights. If you are like me, you love summer. For homeschoolers and public schoolers alike, it’s a great time to recharge your batteries and enjoy your kids without the added pressures of schoolwork and schedules. However, while we are just as excited as the kids to soak up some sunshine, many of us also are not willing to let three whole months go by without challenging the young minds of our growing children. So what are we to do?
Summer schooling is one of my favorite types of school. It’s just sneaky enough that my kids don’t even realize that we are doing “school” but it’s still prompting them to think and sparking curiosity. In the summer, I like to focus on four main areas: character & bible study, review, read-alouds, and interest driven learning.
1. Character & Bible Study for Summer Schooling
I firmly believe in never making Bible study a “school subject.” I would cringe if I thought my kids saw Bible Study in that light. Because of this perspective, we never stop reading the Bible, even on Christmas break, spring break, and summer. The Bible is a standing routine in our home.
Usually our summer Bible Study is a bit more informal though. This summer, I’ve personally been reading through the Psalms, and I’ve enjoyed it so much that I’ve been reading some of my favorites to my children. We’ve had great discussions on what they mean and how we can apply them in our lives.
In years past, I’ve spent summers also working heavily on heart issues. If I know that we have a particular character flaw that needs to be addressed, we use summer break to address it. For example, if my children need to work on respect, summertime provides the flexibility and time to discuss the issue, work through it together, and practice it thoroughly.
2. Review for Summer Schooling
Oh, yes! You know where I’m going with this, right? It’s that pesky subject from the school year that they just never quite grasped. Or maybe you just don’t want them to forget anything they learned this year. After all, you all worked hard to learn all that!
Now, you might be tempted to pull out the worksheets again, but I would caution against that technique. Instead, think of fun ways that you can practice those struggle spots without them really knowing that you are sneaking in some school time.
If they are struggling in Math, play card games or Monopoly! Pull out your Life of Fredstash that you had the best of intentions to use during the school year and read away! For language arts, watch fun grammar videos like Schoolhouse Rock. If they need work on writing, letter writing to pen pals or long-distance family members provides great summer writing practice.
3. Reading Aloud for Summer Schooling
It never ends! Read-alouds are probably one of the things that my kids will remember most from their days at home. We read aloud constantly! Even my incoming seventh grader still loves for me to read to him, and I have no plans of stopping any time soon. Our summer read-alouds do have a different flavor however. In the summer, we generally focus on strictly fun read-alouds, and the best source for fun summer read-alouds is the Sonlight Summer Readers. I’m so excited about this year’s selection, but I’ve also been known to drool over past years’ collections too!
This year, loosen up for summertime and read some laugh-out-loud, truly hilarious, seriously silly stories or a great mystery that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Oh yes, and it never hurts to add in some lemonade and a few blankets on the ground to make summer read-aloud time unforgettable.
4. Interest Driven Learning for Summer Schooling
At the beginning of the summer, I usually will sit down with each child and decide what we would really like to work on this summer. My four children are as different as night and day, so their responses include everything from working on my basketball layups to learning to type.
When a child has a true, intrinsic curiosity, summertime is the best time to explore it. Think about a block of time where you can schedule thirty minutes to an hour of time for your kids to explore whatever they would like. I like to call this The Genius Hour. The kids get a real kick out that!
If your child is a real science buff, it’s an ideal opportunity to go through a Sonlight Science course. You might also peruse through the Sonlight Electives in the catalog to pick out a few resources for your child’s Genius Hour project. Summer is perfect for learning a foreign language or trying out a small business such as lawn mowing. The possibilities are limitless!
Summer schooling doesn’t have to be a fun vacuum. On the contrary, I find that my kids enjoy the fact that many of their comfortable routines from school can continue through summer, only slightly modified and more relaxed.
"My daughter failed kindergarten because she wouldn't sit still." These words from a mom who wrote me recently were just another confirmation of the unrealistic (and unhealthy!) expectations for American kindergarten. Young children are born to explore, interact, and discover. Good education for our children doesn't simply mean as advanced as possible; it means tapping into children's natural curiosity to create a developmentally appropriate learning environment.
Failing Preschool and Kindergarten Because Expectations Are Off Base
Is preschool the new kindergarten? As parents and teachers expect kindergarten to be more academic, preschool has seemingly become a critical preparation time to memorize facts and produce seatwork so that fresh kindergarteners won't begin their formal education woefully behind.
What does a 3-year-old most need in his life? What should his days be filled with? What are the most pressing priorities?
Disturbingly, I feel many in academia might answer "school readiness" as the trend toward early academics grows ever stronger.
A child can ask a thousand questions that the wisest man cannot answer. ~Jacob Abbott
Preschoolers don't need worksheets and flashcards in order to be ready for academic success. In fact, too much seat work at this age can squash children's innate love of learning or even convince them that they are unintelligent. The two most important things preschoolers really need for later academic success is time for free play, and loving parents who read to and talk with them. You can definitely provide those things at home!
While traditional preschools continue to push academics earlier and earlier, you can give your little ones freedom to discover that learning is exciting.
The Missing Ingredient in Early Academics
Academic excellence is a key value for me. As I develop Sonlight with my team, we put a high priority on offering parents the best resources to give children a stellar education. More significantly, we have to identify what a good education is in each season and stage of a child's development. A child of four keeping his head above water in a classroom developmentally designed for a fifth grader does not mean greater success.
So what's the most disturbing aspect of pressuring our kids into classroom academics so young? It's not the fact that children might learn their letters a few years earlier that concerns me. My goodness, many a child hungry to learn absorbs this information early. The terrifying aspect of this trend to early academia is that the method of lecturing and rote answers dismisses a key factor that is necessary to the success and well-being of children, both academically and otherwise:
Children need to listen and be listened to. They need space to ask questions and play with ideas. They need unrushed opportunities for discovery and speculation and uncovering mysteries with someone who loves them. Conversations with an adult who cares are such a pivotal part of early literacy, they are by far as foundational as learning letter sounds. To skip this step and substitute a naming and identifying kind of education for an idea-based conversation robs kids of the very process of how to learn and the joy of doing so.
This article from The Atlantic, "The New Preschool is Crushing Kids," goes into detail about how these trends are being fleshed out in preschools across America, and I think it does a fair job of pointing out what some schools are doing right as well as the dangers. The major takeaway from the article is not whether preschool is bad for children or if they are ruined for life by learning to read before kindergarten. The key idea that learning through discussion with adults is the most productive and effective form of education.
Home: The Perfect Environment for Preschool, PreK, and Kindergarten
The beauty of homeschooling is that you are in the perfect environment for these kinds of conversations to take place. Through homeschooling, you are putting your children in an environment rich with love and discovery and interaction and these factors are the primary indicators of your child's future success in learning. Celebrate that!
According to experts such as the Yale professor Edward Zigler, a leader in child-development and early-education policy for half a century, the best preschool programs share several features: They provide ample opportunities for young children to use and hear complex, interactive language; their curriculum supports a wide range of school-readiness goals that include social and emotional skills and active learning; they encourage meaningful family involvement; and they have knowledgeable and well-qualified teachers.
What do you notice about his list? All of the elements of a best preschool program are found naturally in the home. Those social and emotional skills don't come through worksheets, but they do come from interactions within your family.
The good news is that the mom mentioned at the beginning of this article brought her daughter home and she is now thriving with a Sonlight education. Her daughter went from feeling like she couldn't learn to loving to learn. Please remember that you are the expert on your children and you can give them exactly what they need at the right time.
Are you looking to get out of the field trip rut of zoo and science museum? This article has unique field trip ideas to add zest back into your day trips!
Not sure how to get started with field trips for preschoolers, how often to take field trips, how to plan them, or where to get a printable homeschool field trip log? This article has you covered!
Are field trips good for students?
Field trips are great for students! They are an extension of learning and one of the biggest perks of being a homeschooler. After all, how many field trips can a public school class have each year? Maybe two at best, right? They take an inordinate amount of planning for a school: boxed lunches, buses, permission forms, chaperones, etc. But as a homeschool family, you can pick up and go with much less preparation. In fact, many homeschoolers take a field trip nearly every week!
What are the benefits of a field trip?
Since you’re reading this article, you probably don’t need convincing, but here are eight concrete advantages that field trips offer your children (and you). Yes, they’re fun, and that’s reason enough! But they offer additional perks, too!
1. Real Life Learning Beyond the Books
Books are great! They are the foundation of the literature-based Sonlight curriculum. But there’s an entire world out there that can be experienced firsthand—beyond the books. While books make far off cultures and distant histories accessible to our children, there are many topics we can see, touch, and hear for ourselves either instead of (or in addition to) a book.
So don’t only read about Native Americans. Visit an Indian mound museum and go deeper! Attend a public pow wow to observe and ask questions.
Don’t just read about plant root systems. Visit a local nursery or botanical gardens and get pointers from the professional gardeners who serve there.
2. Socialization
One of the best parts of homeschooling is being able to open our front door and use our community as a classroom. So much for the stereotype of unsocialized homeschoolers! No way! Homeschoolers are out and about in the community, going on field trips, and interacting with all kinds of people.
3. Motivation
Getting outside the house, exploring new places, and immersing yourself physically in a topic is an ideal way to erase monotony. When you find you’re falling into a boring rut with your homeschool schedule or attitudes are getting prickly, take a field trip! Mix things up! Take an adventure with your kids and experience the wonder of the larger world alongside them.
Field trips raise spirits, renew zest for learning, and give kids a break from the challenging tasks of pencil-to-paper work.
Field trips can be used as a culminating activity after a unit of study—a reward after a period of challenging academic work.
4. Retention
The more senses that are engaged when learning something, the more likely it is to be retained. Field trips are memorable, so kids tend to retain what they soak up on these outings.
5. Family Bonding
Field trips can smooth over the normal annoyances of homeschool family life. Instead of fussing about folding laundry, leave the chores and go explore the zoo! You’ll laugh at the antics of the animals instead of crying over math.
You and your children will create lasting memories of shared moments. When they are adults, these field trips (no matter how simple) are the things they will remember and cherish! So make more happy memories by taking more field trips.
6. Exercise
Many field trips involve quite a bit of walking. Some may even include climbing, leaping, and other physical exertion. In our tech-driven world, let’s not forget that we have bodies that need to move for optimum health! Field trips provide an ideal catalyst for meaningful movement.
7. Awe
Experiencing a sense of awe is a remedy to depression and anxiety. What a gift for our children, and one that we parents need as well!
God’s creation is amazing! So the potential for awe awaits you at any nature-focused field trip destination. Go! And then look, smell, listen, and feel. Let your senses absorb the wonder of God’s creation. The mindfulness and delight will lift your spirits!
8. Small Steps of Career Exploration
In some cases, a field trip gives kids a window into possible career fields. They can get a feel for workplaces and ask questions of the professionals who work there.
What are the disadvantages of a field trip?
The advantages of field trips practically negate the possible downsides, so don’t let these discourage you! But field trips can be a disruption to your normal routine (a feature, not a bug!).
There are field trip logistics that can be possibly annoying: driving distance, parking, where to eat a picnic on premises, rough terrain that makes pushing a stroller a challenge, finding diaper changing facilities, etc. Again, pushing to find solutions is worth the benefit your family gets from the outing!
Some field trip destinations can be pricey, but free homeschool field trips exist! Be sure to ask your desired venues about family passes, special discount days, or community events that are free of charge. Alternate free homeschool field trips with paid field trips to keep costs low, and carpool with another homeschool family to save on gas. Skip the gift shop and take a picnic instead of eating at the kiosks. There are ways to make field trips doable even with a tiny budget.
Bad weather can ruin an outside field trip, but you have the flexibility to move that trip to a prettier day!
There aren’t really any disadvantages inherent in field trips for homeschoolers. But there are small irritations of life that come along with any kind of day trip.
What are good field trip ideas?
The sky's the limit, but here are forty-two suggestions to get you started with homeschool field trips for all ages and grades. Start with lower cost local field trips, and then expand out to more distant destinations as your children mature.
caves
theater, opera, or ballet performances
concerts
local house of worship, especially of a faith that is not your own (Muslim mosque, Hindu temple, Jewish synagogue, Greek Orthodox church, etc.)
factories (like a bakery or an automotive factory)
The weather will influence your choice between indoor field trips and outdoor field trips. Your budget impacts your decision between free field trips and trips that cost money.
And your own preferences for planning will affect whether you go for easy field trips or those that take more advance preparation. For example, venues like zoos, galleries, and museums are already optimized for easy field trips. But there are a myriad of other locales that can make for a great field trip when you connect with someone who can arrange it for you—think local newspaper, the fire station, a historic house of worship, or a local factory.
There are local field trips and more distant trips. Typically a field trip is a day trip—you return home the same day and sleep in your own bed.
Free Family Travel Guides from Sonlight
But some field trips expand into complete family vacations like these two East Coast destinations for American history buffs.
A Family Travel Guide to Historic Williamsburg
One ticket. Five parks. Seven days. An unforgettable trip. Virginia is home to some of the greatest historical landmarks of colonial America. The Historic Triangle provides a peek into America's journey from English settlement to the independence of a new nation. When you are ready to visit, make the most of your time with these practical, tried-and-true tips.
Enjoy a day or a long weekend exploring Monticello and the surrounding area.Visiting this estate can be a wonderful addition as you study American History. Download this full-color free digital travel guide today to help you navigate Monticello and all the additional historical locations surrounding Monticello.
The most popular homeschool field trips are those locations that are already set up for large groups with ample parking, pre-designed tours, clearly defined hours, and even amenities like picnic areas or shuttles/trains.
These family pleasers have rotating exhibits or frequent workshops/events that deliberately cater to homeschool families. Examples are
nature preserves
botanic gardens
zoos
art galleries
science museums
history museums
historic sites
aquariums
and national or state parks
These locales are typically large and well-established. Visit their websites to see what they offer. Sign up for their email newsletters so you’re always in the know about special events, bargain days, and new exhibits.
Field Trip Planning, Preparation, and Printables
Some field trippers spontaneously jump in the car and head off for an unscripted adventure. But most moms probably prefer to set the stage with some basic groundwork. In fact, field trip planning can be part of your annual curriculum shopping as you lay out a course for your school year.
Free printable homeschool field trip log
A homeschool field trip log can pull double duty as a place to record your plans beforehand and/or a place to document the trips you took afterwards. If you’re required to keep a homeschool portfolio or verify a certain number of school days, a homeschool field trip log is essential! (Don’t rely on your memory alone. Record those field trips!)
PRO TIP: Print multiple copies (or sets)—one for planning and one for recordkeeping.
How do you plan an educational field trip?
For those of you who like to plan ahead, here are seven steps for making a comprehensive field trip plan for your homeschool.
1. Brainstorm fun homeschool field trip ideas
This is the fun part! Looking at the list of 42 suggestions above, jot down the ones that seem appealing to you and your children.
Alternatively, consider your curriculum. What are you studying this term or year? What field trips can you plan to go along with the science and history topics you’ll be covering? What Readers and Read-Alouds have field trip tie-ins?
Don’t rule out field trips for teens! Advanced courses mesh well with learning excursions! Here are some examples:
Chemistry field trip ideas: a manufacturing laboratory, a college research lab, fire department, wastewater treatment plant
2. Look for specific locations
Head to Google and input your desired type of field trip. For example, when you search TV station tour, your local station will likely pop up with contact information to get started! Or search for planetariums near me. Yelp and Tripadvisor are two great apps for reading user reviews of many field trip destinations.
3. Outline the logistics
Once you have specific venues in mind, start charting out the details like hours of operation, ticket costs, special tours/exhibits/workshops, etc.
4. Contact the specific venue for insider information
Don’t be nervous to send an email or pick up the phone to inquire about details. Even established venues like museums and zoos may be able to offer you special accommodations or workshops as long as you let them know you’re coming.
Directly ask for insider tips: “Is there anything else that I should know before we come? Anything that’s not on the website?”
5. Make a field trip calendar for the year
Now you have the information you need to start filling out an annual field trip calendar. Pencil in your ideas based on your curriculum, the weather, and other family events. It’s common to have a monthly field trip, but you may want excursions more or less frequently.
6. Consider providing structure to the trip—or not!
There are different approaches to taking a field trip. Some families drop all the academics and simply enjoy the experience, letting the fun unfold naturally.
Other families read about the place beforehand and assign homeschool field trip activities. These activities provide structure to the trip by giving kids a task to focus their exploration:
a worksheet to fill out
a journal for sketching
a scavenger hunt
If your children tend to race through an exhibit without truly appreciating anything, an on-site assignment can help slow them down and center their attention on key facts.
Check with the venue ahead of time because many of them already offer these activities either in hardcopy when you enter the destination or in digital format for you to print at home.
PRO TIP: If you expect your child to do a written activity at the field trip, bring clipboards or bring homeschool field trip journals with a cardboard backing.
There’s no right or wrong here, but realize that you don’t have to add anything school-ish to justify a field trip. It’s enough to simply soak in great works of art or wander around an arboretum. Your kids are learning!
7. Consider review or documentation—or not!
Once you’re back home, you may want to document the trip or review what you experienced. Again, this step is optional and doesn’t have to be formal or burdensome.
How to write a homeschool field trip report
For upper elementary ages, middle schoolers, and high schoolers, it’s appropriate to assign a written project. This homeschool field trip report can take the format of a notebooking page, a journal entry, a scrapbook page, or a short composition.
Here are the basics to include in a field trip report:
the date of the trip
the full name and address/location of the destination
the significance of the location (if historic)
the primary places/exhibits/topics that were experienced along with a brief description of each
insights, opinions, and reflections
Add these extras to add to the field trip report to make it more of a homeschool field trip journal:
maps
diagrams and sketches made at the venue
brochures
photographs or postcards
actual items from the site (where allowed, of course) such as leaves, moss, feathers, etc.
You could help your kids write a review of the location to post on Google, Yelp, or Tripadvisor.
Or maybe you simply have a discussion about what you experienced. Here are a few discussion starters:
What was your favorite part of today? Why?
What surprised you today?
If we do that field trip again, what would you like to spend more time doing?
Tell me 3 facts about [topic, person, place].
Imagine you have to convince someone to go on a field trip to that place. What would you say to them?
Quiz me/your sibling by asking me three questions I should have the answer to after our field trip today.
What to carry with you on a field trip?
If you’re not sure what to take along on your field trip, call the venue and ask! Find out what kinds of amenities they offer and what they suggest.
Aside from that, you already know the basics: snacks, wipes, a few adhesive bandages, drinking water, sunscreen, hats, etc.
Unique field trip ideas
Because field trips have the potential to be so powerful, and because we have such an abundance of resources in our communities, it’s important to think beyond the norm to get our kids—and ourselves—out there, gaining fresh experiences and better understanding. Nearly any place that’s not unsafe for kids has the potential to be a field trip destination.
Any process, any job, any business has fascinating aspects to uncover on a family field trip for homeschool. Simply drive around your community with an open mind. Nearly every business you see is potential fodder for a field trip!
That locally owned coffee shop? Yep!
The beauty parlor? Why not?
The dentist’s office. For sure.
That manufacturing plant? Probably!
Start with your connections. Ask friends about their place of work, their family businesses, their connections. Having a contact smooths the path to set up a family tour and an unlikely field trip destination. Most folks are thrilled to show off what they do to a handful of kids (and an interested parent). So don’t be afraid to ask!
Your community is full of experiences, and those experiences can easily be tied to your curriculum. Here are four examples to get you started with fun homeschool field trip ideas:
1. Small Engine Repair Shop Field Trip
Kids (and adults) of all ages will be fascinated to see what goes into maintaining and repairing the many machines we use every day. Lawnmowers, chainsaws, generators, and scooters all fall under the small engine category.
The history of these machines is intriguing, and it’s a great introduction to more complex engines, too! This field trip ties in nicely with any of these books (or programs):
Even better than flying on a commercial airliner is the experience of walking and talking with the pilot of a General Aviation (GA) plane. These smaller models operate under the same principles, and are in much wider use than the jumbo jets we board to fly cross country. You may be able to arrange to tour the actual facility or even take a short flight! If you’re reading these books, a field trip to an airport fits well:
Pick a country, and find a shop! From the delicacies of Asia to the exotic (to us) foods of the Middle East, chances are excellent that you’ll have a market hidden somewhere in your community that specializes in foods of other lands. While you can order individual items online, nothing beats walking the aisles, smelling the smells, and seeing what’s on offer on the shelves.
There are so many Sonlight books that tie in to this field trip, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that HBL F: Eastern Hemisphere is crying out for a whole year of such outings!
4. Radio Station Field Trip
If you’re reading Catching Their Talk in a Box or Window on the World, or your child is studying physics, definitely make time for a trip to a local radio station. Choosing a smaller, local station to tour means the chance to walk into booths and likely get an up close and personal glance of the inner workings of a broadcast in progress. Missionaries of the past and present have utilized radio as an evangelism tool, and the science behind it is fascinating.
Where to get the best homeschool field trip ideas
Need inspiration for field trip ideas for kids? Marry books and field trips as often as you can to cultivate an adventurous learning environment. Here are examples:
Getting out and seeing firsthand the elements of a story or work of nonfiction cements it in our understanding. Not only do children hear how the mail system works in Richard Scarry’s What Do People Do All Day, but then they see it in action when they visit the post office. All the senses are engaged!
The details that may have escaped them in the book are suddenly prominent and yes, maybe even a door is opened to a new occupational calling. You just never know!
Suggested Field Trips by Age
The list of 42 ideas above are for all ages, stages, and grades, but admittedly some destinations are more suitable for younger or older students. Here’s how to work out your field trip decisions based on ages or grades.
Field trips for toddlers & preschoolers
Since toddlers and preschoolers are probably still napping, you want local field trip ideas that won’t require lots of driving. Thanks to the mid-day pause for nap time, you’ll choose trips that can be done in the morning or afternoon but don’t demand a full day.
Avoid stodgy venues where quiet is expected and children can’t touch things. Instead opt for field trips with lots of hands-on, active exploration and frequently changing things to observe.
Your best bets are anything related to animals:
zoos
aquariums
animal shelters and preserves
an aviary
butterfly gardens
Or any venue that has a nature or science slant:
children’s museum
arboretum or botanic gardens
science museum
parks
Call ahead or scour the website to find programs or exhibits especially designed for very young children to touch and physically experience the content.
Children at this age are still developing vocabulary, so exposing them to new experiences and talking about what you see is invaluable.
Outdoor or large open spaces where it’s okay to run are ideal for little kids. And you’ll want to consider field trip spots where strollers can drive easily when little legs finally tire.
Keep field trips short in duration and leave while everyone is still happy!
Homeschool kindergarten field trip list
Although some parents consider kindergarten their first year of formal schooling, there’s no need to restrict yourself to learning at the kitchen table with books, pencil, and paper. Field trips are rich learning experiences for 5-year-olds since so much of the world is brand new to them!
During grades K-2, think of field trips as opportunities to expose your child to the larger world and don’t worry about retention or academic tie-ins. Just get out there and immerse yourself in the joy and awe of all the field trip options in your local area.
Save the elaborate, far-off destinations for later years when your child has more maturity and physical stamina. At the kindergarten through second grade level, you’re still enjoying repeat visits to the places you frequented during the toddler and preschool years:
zoos
aquariums
animal shelters and preserves
an aviary
butterfly gardens
children’s museum
arboretum or botanic gardens
science museum
parks
Now your visits may last a bit longer (no need for that daily nap!) and may include more actual academic material. For example, you may stand and listen to a zoologist give a short talk or show your child key facts on a display board.
You’ll want field trips at this stage to still be very tangible. For example, touring a cave where a child can touch the damp stone, smell the wet air, and hear water dripping is more age appropriate than an opera, a tour of a house of worship, visiting the county courthouse, or a science lab excursion where the experience is more abstract or passive.
Opt for trips where you can get your kindergartener involved:
picking strawberries at a farm
making gravestone rubbings in a cemetery
making a sculpture in a special kids room at the art museum
How often should you do field trips in kindergarten homeschool? As often as you and your kindergartener would like to! Aim for at least monthly at this age, giving yourself a few mulligans to skip a month here or there depending on other family dynamics, health concerns, etc. Your kindergarten field trips could be as often as weekly if your family is up to it!
Field trip ideas for elementary students
Grades 3-5 are a sweet spot for homeschool field trips! These children have the physical stamina for full day trips and are growing in the mental maturity to appreciate more abstract types of experiences. They generally have the self-control not to touch what shouldn’t be touched. They are curious and can ask great questions of docents and guides. You’ll see children at this stage start to make connections between their book-based lessons and what they experience on field trips.
So basically, anything from the 42-item list above that interests your elementary students is fair game! Even if some of the content goes over their heads, it’s still exposure to new ideas! If a field trip seems a bit too advanced for your elementary student, just cut it short or inject additional context to make it more understandable for them.
Virtual field trips for homeschoolers
What can you do instead of field trips? The pandemic has taught us all the value (and yes, limitations) of virtual experiences as a substitute for in-person events. Sometimes a field trip is simply out of reach. In those situations, turn to virtual field trips to meet the need.
How does a virtual field trip work?
With a virtual field trip, you use the magic of the internet to explore a place you can’t visit in person. You rely on live cams, 360° virtual tours, virtual reality tours, and even live online video conferencing sessions held on-site.
If these tools are new to you, here are fun homeschool field trip ideas that are totally online:
What are the best virtual field trips for students?
Large and well-known zoos, science museums, art galleries, and history museums make for the best virtual field trips simply because they tend to have top-notch websites with the video tours and live webcams you’ll want to access. State and national park systems are good options as well. Smaller venues, while fascinating in person, often don’t have the digital resources to provide a great virtual field trip experience to online users.
How do I create a virtual field trip for students?
1. Choose a website (or a series of related ones).
The education departments of zoos, museums, and parks strive to make their facilities accessible to the maximum number of users, so scan their websites first for all the resources they have to offer: curriculum, printables, videos, virtual tours, live web cams, live and recorded workshops, lesson plans, etc.
2. Set your child loose on the website to freely explore.
You will likely want to be nearby to enjoy the discovery process alongside them.
3. Or give your child an activity to do while exploring.
This step is totally optional. But if you feel the need to document the learning, there are plenty of ways to do it! Provide more structure with printables, worksheets, scavenger hunts, or notebooking pages.
Choose a curriculum that does the planning for you so you can spend more time on field trips with your kids.
Each month the Sonlight team will choose a current family to highlight by sharing their #sonlightstories. If you’d like to shine a light on your family, apply here for a chance to be featured.
Meet the Birch Family!
Marcus and Meghan with their five children ranging from 18 months to 9 years, along with a dog and cat, school year-round. They have found that this works best during the busy weeks while Marcus works full time, and Meghan maintains her "Planting Birches" YouTube channel.
The Birches decided to homeschool while pregnant with their first child. Sonlight stood out for a few reasons:
It was all-inclusive; they could be confident they were not forgetting anything.
The family loved the spiritual aspect, from reading the Word, Scripture memorization, and reading accounts of God's work in the lives of His people. Meghan was over the moon with excitement!
Sonlight is literature-based, making history personal and alive.
We love the opportunity to train up our children, to be their number one influence, to have more access to their heart, and to be there for the questions, the wonderings, the lessons." -Meghan Birch
Different, Delightful, & Difficult
The Birch Family has found that every day presents a different challenge. Currently, with their three oldest they do their Table Subjects™ time on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and do all their Couch Subjects™ on Wednesday and Friday. If they were to go on vacation or want to do Holiday School, there is no catching up for them to do because they school year-round.
“Once you find a rhythm, you just step back and let the curriculum do the work. While we have certainly made it our own in particular areas, my children have become excellent learners... They LOVE to learn!” ~ Meghan Birch
An added benefit to keeping the school routine year-round is that it is good mentally for the family. After the last two pregnancies, Meghan struggled with post-partum anxiety and found it hard to keep going. She felt that she was doing a disservice to her kids while she was struggling. The stability of their homeschool schedule with the kids progressing and Marcus' encouragement to think long-term beyond the moment kept her motivated to get through the hard times.
Homeschooling Expectations
Meghan reminds us that going into it with the right expectation makes all the difference. When you know you can start where they are at, they might quickly progress. If it is hard sometimes, you may want to give up, so go slow. Take little bites, and then you’ll find your groove. Sometimes you will fall, but when you keep going, it gets easier.
"Our oldest was easy peasy, and I thought this is awesome. I could homeschool anyone. Then you’re humbled by the second one and realize you know nothing. Being there to see him push through his reading struggles has been amazing." ~ Meghan
The Birch family has been able to slow down and speed up when needed to match their children's needs. It has been amazing to go at their pace and not push. They switch things up from some days on the bed to some days at the table. It has been incredible to see them become more independent.
"Seeing them reach those milestones and seeing them grow, that’s priceless. Homeschooling really teaches them not just what to learn but also how to learn. It teaches them critical thinking skills." ~ Marcus Birch
Emotional Intelligence
A Large fear about homeschooling is they would not have the right social skills if they were not around other students. The Birch family has found the opposite with their children, and they have developed a better sense of emotional intelligence because they are homeschooled.
"They’re not perfect, but when they have these arguments or don’t want to do something, we have the opportunity to train them vs. them being trained by someone without the same values or other kids." ~ Meghan Birch
Part of what the Birch children learn is from their parents, but they do have siblings and do have times where they argue about things. The Birches have this environment at home where they can learn to be merciful, forgive, and share whereas, they may not learn those skills in a traditional school environment.
“We’ve asked our kids if they’ve ever wanted to go to school, but they like using Sonlight. That’s really important for us. We want them to enjoy it.” ~ Marcus Birch
The Birch Kids Weigh In
Israel (9) loves to read to all his siblings. Ezra (6.5) excels in math and loves to entertain everyone. Daughter Johanna just started schooling full time. The family’s favorite books include:
