Collaborative Post
When the summer months arrive, it can be very nice to take your usual home education plans and bring them into the outdoors. While this can be a bit of an adjustment to get used to and focusing a little more will be required, it can help you decompress from sitting around the textbook all morning and even leverage your garden area as a great means of learning.
There’s a reason many home educators enjoy bringing their children outside to a meeting area or take their students on trips when they can – getting out in the world helps solidify and demonstrate certain forms of learning that sometimes, the classroom can feel detached from. As a home educator, the possibilities of you getting out and providing this kind of worth can be tremendously rewarding.
In this post, we’ll discuss how to format your garden for this kind of learning, what kind of activities you might schedule, and how this is beneficial for your child. This is all advisory of course, so consider this warm guidance rather than an all-too-serious prescription:
Regular Outdoor Activities
It’s good to get outside and to have a purpose for learning outside which runs in addition to the enjoyable nature of doing so. For instance, you might decide to curate a butterfly garden, which means that your children can see the natural life cycle of caterpillars as they cocoon and eventually become butterflies. Or perhaps you can see little tadpoles in your garden pond, or discuss the different types and classifications of flowers or talk about how vegetables and plants go. There’s a lot to learn from the world outside.
A Learning Area
It’s good to curate a learning area you can feel safe and focused in. For instance, a beautiful pergola can be a great place to set up garden furniture, as you’ll have overhead shelter you can use even if it’s warm with relatively wet conditions. With a table that children can work at more easily, and a portable storage section you can bring out and use your textbooks while placing your laptop there or your tablet on a stand, the more you can teach simply and easily while still being able to oversee what they’re doing.
Comfortable Conditions
Just because you’re outside and learning doesn’t mean you have to endure uncomfortable conditions as a home educator. It can be helpful to find a garden seat that all of your children can use that is both cushioned and has a comfortable back, like a small garden weaved sofa you can use to keep everyone together and on the same page. Purchasing a pitcher for some tasty juice can keep everyone refreshed. Perhaps a small vintage-designed portable radio can help you all practice art together while listening to comforting music. It’s the little things that make home education even more worthwhile, and justifies all the work you put in.
With this advice, we hope you can get the best out of home educating outside.
