Using Vacation Plans as a Basis for Lessons

Everyone has some memories of school or lessons where they learned about something or someplace that sparked their imagination. You wanted to visit the place; see the sights you had heard about. With a little careful planning, every vacation can be this experience for your children. The nice thing about vacations is that everyone takes them. Whether the vacation is to the local zoo, camping and hiking, overseas, or to museums, they can all be used as the basis for teaching. 

First, plan what you are doing on your vacation. If you are going to an amusement park, water park, or theme park you can learn about the history of roller coasters, the physics of water rides and roller coasters (especially force and friction), or the history of the characters and animators there (learning about Walt Disney as a person is actually pretty cool). Most museums have an education section on their web page that can help you plan activities. The Smithsonian Museums actually have lesson plans, virtual tours, and other suggestions to help prepare for your visit there. At the least, look at what exhibits are at the museum and help your children learn more about the things in the exhibit – they will be more interested in the museum when you go there. 

Space the lessons out so that you finish about a day before you go on vacation. Create some short coloring pages (or download them) for plane, train, and car rides that emphasize the things you are going to see and do. Take activities that your children would normally do – like video watching – and see if you can tie them into things you are going to see. If you are going to a theme park with characters, see if you can watch a movie with your child’s favorite character on the way there. 

Then, once the planning and learning have been done, it is time to go visit the place everyone has learned so much about. Keep talking during your vacation about things that you have learned before you went and how those facts interact with what you are seeing. Take plenty of pictures so that you can make a real (or virtual) scrapbook with memories and fun facts. 

Lastly, have lots of fun. There is nothing like seeing everyone involved having fun to make sure the kids (and adults) remember their vacation with fondness.

Natasha Wunderlich 

I’m a homeschooling mom who made the choice to homeschool because I saw how rigid schools were and noticed how fluid my son’s learning style was and how hands-on his learning style was. We have been at it for over 2 years now (we started when he was 2) and are enjoying our time together. Learning and teaching has brought us closer together as a family. I do believe in structure and lessons, not simply free form schooling, but those lessons are child-centered and directed by his interested. We are moving on through Kindergarten and 1st Grade material now, and watching him learn and grow is awesome. You can find me on: www.wunderfulhomeschool.wordpress.com

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