As homeschoolers, we are used to thinking out of the box. We know that learning doesn’t only happen at a desk or in a classroom. Our children are learning all the time. Our job as homeschooling parents is to provide them with an environment that facilitates their learning. One such environment is the outdoors, where our homeschooling turns into outdoor schooling.
The outdoors can involve our own backyard, or famous national parks, or anything in between. There are so many learning opportunities outside! From a very early age, our children’s innate curiosity turns them into little explorers, trying to make sense of the world around them. The more settings our children are exposed to the more food for thought they gather. As they process the information they pick up in the course of their explorations, their brains grow and expand, creating more connections and more neural pathways. And that, in turn, sets the stage for more learning.
As one of my homeschooling inspirations, Charlotte Mason, wrote, “By-and-by [a child] will have to conceive of things he has never seen: how can he do it except by comparison with things he has seen and knows? By-and-by he will be called upon to reflect, understand, reason; what material will he have, unless he has a magazine of facts to go upon? The child who has been made to observe how high in the heavens the sun is at noon on a summer’s day, how low at noon on a day in mid-winter, is able to conceive of the great heat of the tropics under a vertical sun, and to understand that the climate of a place depends greatly upon the mean height the sun reaches above the horizon” (Vol. 1, p. 66).
There is much to be learned in the great outdoors, no matter where you live and what kind of climate you experience. Growing up, I spent a lot of time outside. I have fond memories of looking for first flowers of the season in the spring, watching fruits grow and ripen in the summer, and collecting colorful leaves, acorns, and chestnuts in the fall. In the winter, my father would hang a bird feeder on our window. We kids loved putting out food and sitting by the window, watching the birds come and eat.
When I began homeschooling, I was delighted to discover that many homeschoolers share my love for the outdoors. I’ve taken my children on many hikes and nature walks, sometimes with docents and other times just with other homeschooling families. My children learned a lot on these trips, and so did I. It was heartwarming for us parents, raising our children in a digital world, to see their fascination with simple things in life, like tree bark and lizards. They grew up with an appreciation of the amazing world we live in.
If you haven’t yet taken advantage of outdoor schooling, now is a great time! In most places in the world, the weather is getting milder and more pleasant. This month, we will discuss practical strategies for outdoor schooling, to make it easier for you for get started.
Looking for more homeschool information and inspiration? Sign up for our free Year Round Homeschool Convention!
Comments are closed.