Many homeschooling families like homeschooling for its flexible aspects. Fun and interactive homeschool activities motivate kids as well as parents. But one of the best aspects of homeschooling is the ability to take field trips whenever you want. If you have been homeschooling for a few years, you may have run out of ideas about where to go on a homeschool field trip. With all the costs involved in homeschooling, field trips don’t have to be expensive. Here is a list of eight affordable homeschool field trip ideas for homeschoolers.
Fine Arts
There are learning opportunities everywhere, but learning doesn’t have to be just academic; it can be artistic. Look for a theatre putting on a children’s play or a local college orchestra or band playing a concert. Want something a little more hands-on? Take them to a pottery studio or paint studios that offer paint and take or a make and take. The children will love to get their hands dirty as they create masterpieces. Take a walk through an art gallery and teach your children to appreciate all art levels, which will impact their life. Most art galleries even offer virtual tours of the gallery.
Museums
You’ve probably thought about taking your children to a museum before for a homeschool field trip. Whether you visit an art museum or a science museum, students will love getting away from home to look around. A guided tour will be engaging, and many museums have hands-on children’s sections. A local school can be at the same time, so schedule ahead if you don’t want to deal with the crowds. Historical museums can bring history alive for students and ensure learning is taking place.
Farms
Local farms are a great place to teach your family where food comes from. Rural life is very different than urban life, and visiting an agricultural establishment can make your kids appreciate farmers and their hard work. Depending on the season, you could visit different farms and see how they operate and the steps it takes to get the farm’s food to the table. Taking a homeschool field trip to a farm could be a free field trip. When you visit a farm, you can find different plants, animals, and machinery. Plan to go at other times of the year to see the various stages of the animals’ crops and lifecycles. If you do year-round homeschool scheduling, plan these farm trips in for a different season every year,
Capitol Buildings
Capitol Buildings is one of the best field trip ideas for many reasons. Each state has a capitol building available for visitation for a field trip. First, you can talk about the history of the building itself. You can also talk about the history of the state, county, or city, whichever capital building you visited. Some capitol buildings offer scavenger hunts on their websites to be completed by students when visiting on field trips. This is a great way to keep them engaged and have time to find specific details while looking around.
Community
If you don’t have time or money to travel outside of your community, there are several places to visit to see how the local government works and local career opportunities. One of the places you can visit to learn about careers and the local government is the post office. Visiting the post office will give your students the ability to view how mail comes into and out of the office. They will learn about postage and the importance of addressing envelopes correctly.
Visiting the fire station and taking a tour is one of the best trip ideas for homeschoolers because it is free and encourages kids to use proper fire safety. It can also influence kids to choose firefighting as a career. Visiting the fire station will encourage kids to help others while having fun. Visiting local places will help show how our world works.
The Great Outdoors
Spending time in the Great Outdoors for a field trip can be quite an educational experience. Taking a hike on a trail can bring your family together. Teaching science on a nature walk may help kids better understand topics. Tie in grammar by making a list of nouns they come across or verbs they do. They can look for certain types of plants, animals, or rocks. Going to the local park is another way to enjoy the great outdoors. Kids can learn the history of the city park or learn mathematical concepts like perimeter and area. Taking a homeschool school field trip to visit a local state park may encourage a love of nature and get kids interested in learning earth science.
Historical Sites
History can be quite dull for kids, but making history come alive will help kids learn to love it. Visiting history near your home or throughout your state sites for a field trip can be a learning experience. Historical sites can include historical architecture, markers, and scenic places. High School students often learn about local history and visit areas where history occurred to get a picture of important events.
Fun Trips
There is a variety of homeschool field trip ideas that include doing something enjoyable. These trip ideas include going to the movies, amusement parks, skating rinks, or swimming. These fun trips will make memories for your family year after year. You can teach money skills by paying admission fees or giving them a budget to spend at the concession stand. It could be physical education if they are physically active. Depending on your state’s homeschooling requirements, skills taught during an enjoyable trip can vary.
Getting away from the computer and the regular homeschool courses is important, and the possibilities for field trip ideas for homeschoolers are endless. There are ways to turn any place into a field trip; as long as the kids learn, it can be considered a field trip. Field trips are one of the many reasons parents decide to homeschool. There is so much flexibility, and this includes field trip ideas. Get out of your homeschool routine by taking a field trip. Your kids will love it, and so will you. Don’t know where to start? Use our list of field trip ideas for homeschooling to get started. Use a homeschool planner to organize your trips for the year in advance.
