There are some days that we don’t open our homeschooling books. Do you want to know why? Homeschooling can be done anywhere and at any time. One of my favorite ways to homeschool is by using what we have around us. Sometimes that is the indoors of our home and sometimes it is the outdoors of nature. Here is how you can Use Your Surroundings to Homeschool.
How to Use Your Surroundings to Homeschool
Use your home library to homeschool
Most homeschoolers have an impressive library. Use this to homeschool your children. Being surrounded by books is never something you will regret your kids. Use the surroundings of your home library to homeschool your children! Let your children pick an age-appropriate book that they can dive into. When they’re choosing their own books, they’re enjoying a sense of independence. At the same time, they’re improving their reading skills and learning new things.
Related: How to Start Homeschooling – 8 Things You Need to Know
Go outside and explore your backyard
Do you know how many homeschooling science lessons are waiting in the backyard? Everything from bugs to animals can be found in your own backyard. Allow your kids to spend time exploring and learning. Pull out the magnifying glasses and have your children look around in the backyard for any insects they might find. If they see something, try to identify it and gather more information on that insect to provide the kids with a full lesson.
Related: Sneaky Ways to Teach Your Kids Fine Motor Skills
Collect leaves of different sizes, shapes, and colors and then work on identifying them. You can even let the children have an art lesson with the leaves, using them to paint on blank canvases. Get creative in your backyard to teach your children an abundance of new things.
Use your city to teach your kids
There is probably a lot of history to your town. Unless you live in a town with a population of 5, there is plenty to see and do right in your own town. Take walks and explore what your town/city has to offer. This is one of the perks of road-schooling, you get to check out multiple cities and learn a ton. If it’s possible, try to take daily field trips to different places in the area.
Related: 10 Local Field Trips for Your Homeschool
It’s even better if you’re living somewhere close to parks and hiking trails that you can visit with the children. Not only can you teach them about the history of these places and how long they’ve been around, but you can also get in some exercise with everyone. It’s a way to bond with the kids while you teach them new things.
Playing is a great tool for homeschooling
No matter your child’s age, playing never gets old. In fact, playing is the perfect way to use surroundings in homeschool. You don’t need fancy toys. In fact, kids can use their imagination to play anything they want to dream up! I encourage you to allow your kids to use their imagination to play because it will be very rewarding for them. Give your children the freedom and flexibility to choose what they’d like to play with, such as small figurines, a coloring book with crayons, a play fort, or something else. When they’re using their imagination, they’re learning, so don’t be too hard on them or yourself!
Use what you have
There is a large misconception that you need to pay thousands of dollars to homeschool your child, but this is simply not true. You can use what you have around you to homeschool your kids. As they grow older, you may need specific items to help you teach them, but this does not need to cost you a lot of money.
Related: Huge List of Homeschooling Freebies & Free Homeschool Curriculum
For example, a set of blocks can be used to teach colors, shapes, and to help count. Plus kids are learning hand-eye coordination and other important motor skills while playing with the blocks. Besides blocks, you can use other things you have around the home, such as cotton balls, pipe cleaners for crafts, popsicle sticks, and crayons! These are all things you can use for counting, sorting by color, and more.
Watch documentaries as a family to learn more
When you watch documentaries, you’re helping your children learn new things, but you’re making the experience feel more like a trip to the movie theater. You can choose from hundreds of appropriate documentaries on all different things, such as sea life, space, history, and more. Get the children excited for the lesson by popping some popcorn and preparing their favorite drinks, such as fruit juice or chocolate milk.
Related: 16 Kids Educational Movies for Your Homeschool Movie Day
They can look forward to sitting together in the living room, getting comfortable, and watching the film. The great thing about it is that you can pause the documentary when the children have questions that they’d like to ask. That isn’t something they’d get to experience at a traditional school.
Let the children lend a helping hand with breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Teach the children how to prepare food at home with you by letting them help with some of the meals throughout the week. You can get kid-friendly cooking utensils for your children to use to help with chopping ingredients, rolling out dough, and completing other cooking tasks. These hands-on experiences can help children learn and grow. And, it’s always important to know how to cook, right?
Related: Homeschool Lunches Ideas
Using your surroundings to homeschool is just one of many tools you can use. When your kids are having an off day and a workbook isn’t cutting it, look back on this resource to help you. How do you use surroundings to homeschool? I’d love to hear your ideas!
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