September 12, 2022

Adventures in Homeschooling

20 minutes

Adventures in Homeschooling ~ Episode 477

When is an adventure really an adventure? When it begins with adventures in homeschooling. In this podcast, we will discuss how to make an ordinary day into an extraordinary, memorable event for your family. Learning is fun and can be totally captivating with the right tools and that being with attitude.

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Many of you may not consider the words adventure + homeschooling as a possibility. Think about it. What words describe adventure?

What makes an adventure special? Is it the mystery? Intrigue? The possibilities?

Well, homeschooling is the opportunity for out-of-the-box educational adventures. And, yes it will take a little bit of planning but your children will thank you! As a homeschool parent, we are inundated with well-meaning relatives who have their own opinion of how you should homeschool. In fact, grandparents can be the worse! How do I know? I’m a grandparent and I’ve caught myself giving my daughter well-intentioned advice, but not necessarily welcome.

I had my chance to homeschool the way I wanted and it was some of the best years of my life. As a “vintage” mom I’ve experienced the ups and downs of homeschooling various ages and subjects at one time and have found that with some strategic planning we can combine subjects and enjoy our days rather than do our duty.

First I want to share some ways to include adventure into your homeschool schedule and then I’ll give you some practical applications and a framework to make it a possibility.

Here are some ways to include adventure in your homeschool week.

Scavenger hunt.

Field trip. Even if it is in the backyard.

Map work. Time the children and have them find a country (or state) you have studied.

Look for all the nouns in the room (or on a car journey). Use this for other parts of speech.

Picnic complete with blanket and food – sitting outdoors or in the living room.

Review time: Ask the children review questions while getting them out of their seats and setting them against a wall at a distance from you. The first person to make it all the way to you, and touch you is the winner. Right answers are given: big step, little step, bunny hop, etc. (Be sure to let the children know that complaining about each other means one step back. Also, be sure to monitor children who will take two bunny hops instead of one, etc.) Have cards ready with the steps to make it fair.

Allow the children to ask you review questions. This helps them tremendously!

Use the grocery store as an example of foods that come from various places and tie this into geography lessons. (Specialty stores are great for this.)

Give the child a math sheet and cut it up into puzzle pieces first. Have the child put together the puzzle, tape it, and then do the problems. (For you perfectionists out there this may be a difficult chore, so you can use this for a review sheet.)

Give the children a thinking test. For example, tell the children to read all of the questions before they begin. Set the test up in a way that the answers are difficult for them, and around number five or six have a statement that says: Place your name at the top of the page, the date, and turn your paper over. Do not answer any of the other questions. This is a test to see if they follow instructions.

Maybe creativity is not something that comes easily to you, so enlist your children or another homeschool friend. And, continue to listen to this podcast there are plenty more ideas where this came from! In fact, be sure to check out

Practical application:

What topics are you studying? Is there a way to include creative aspects such as those listed above?

Take one aspect of a subject and use it for review, or perhaps the thinking test (number 10 above).

Use the subject as a group study for all ages. For example, if you are studying physical science in the middle or freshman year of high school, there are many aspects of science that will overlap the younger children’s studies. When my son was studying oceanography and his younger siblings’ biology, we used some overlapping topics for a field trip.

Use language arts or writing skills to create fun activities such as scavenger or treasure hunts.

Use hands-on activities as much as possible with the younger children, but truthfully older kids love them as well.

However, you decide to include adventures in homeschooling this year, be sure to let us know if there is something that stood out and share!

Thank You to our Network Sponsor – CTC Math!

The post Adventures in Homeschooling appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

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By Felice Gerwitz

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