If you take the summer off from homeschool, chances are you and the family head out for some R&R on a vacation adventure.

But even after school starts back in the fall and throughout the year, you have the flexibility to head out for fun.

And I get it, sometimes you just want to take off your home educator hat and just be.

You should!

But if you?re like me, you see educational opportunities around every palm tree, waterfall, and amusement park ride.

Of course, you aren?t obligated to offer learning experiences while on vacation, but a little creativity goes a long way to help make even time away from home a great time to learn.

Vacation is for relaxing, not homeschooling, right?

Correct.

But entire volumes have been written around relaxed homeschooling where learning takes place organically outside of books and worksheets.

Let?s talk about hands-on homeschooling while on vacation.

A change of environment is a fantastic launch pad for new learning experiences.

If your kids are accustomed to hanging out in your yard or the local park, a trip to the beach or the mountains can become a homeschool university.

You can quietly include organic learning through hands-on activities from the time you leave your home until you return with bags full of mementos and minds full of memories.

Secretly planning for vacation-school

One way to build excitement for ?accidental? learning while on vacation is to read books about your destination.

One of my favorite statements from my kids was, ?Hey! We read about that!?

Some ideas:

• Explore the history of the area.
• Learn about the geography of the area.
• Investigate the weather where you?re headed.
• Read a biography of someone famous from there.
• Find out the famous landmarks and the history behind them.
• Read a novel or historical fiction set in the town you?re visiting.
• Is there a regional art style or music genre your kids would enjoy?
• Include books about the biome, habitats, and creatures living there.
• If you?re headed to the great outdoors for a camping trip, read about pioneer skills and the environment you?ll be visiting.
• You can even expand the anticipation by listening to regional music if the area has a distinct sound.

How to include hands-on activities while you?re on vacation

Travel time can be b-o-r-i-n-g for kids.

Liven up the car ride or airplane trip with small amusement boxes.

Include kid-friendly pieces and add Velcro dots to avoid frantic searches under seats when something goes astray.

Some ideas:

• Build a small pendulum and watch the movement from vertical as the car turns, brakes, and accelerates.
• Print a map of your route and include a small car or airplane and colored pencils to draw landmarks.
• Encourage journaling. Include paper they can fold and decorate.
• Use an inexpensive plastic cutting board and gel stickers or window clings to create scenes. Bonus points if your kids design scenes from an audio book as you listen.
• Combine colorful paper and tape into unlimited designs. Pack a spare roll of tape or two, just in case.
• Or include multi-colored sticky notes to create a diorama by folding the notes to make a backdrop.
• Practice those life skills by having your kids calculate expenses and tips. (NOT a favorite in my homeschool, but we did it anyway. They?ll thank you later.)

You're there! Time for fun!

Once you arrive at your destination, you?ll discover plenty of ways to incorporate a little educational exploration.

Some more ideas:

• What is the geography of the area? What's the altitude? Higher or lower than home?
• Keep a weather journal to compare to the weather back home.
• How does the land compare to what you're used to? Sand? Forest loam? Rock? Snow?
• Have some fun with seawater and density experiments if you?re at the beach.
• Have some fun with snow or ice experiments if you?ve headed to a cold climate.
• Listen to animal, bird, and insect sounds and try to identify what you hear.
• Collect fallen leaves and press into a journal to examine at home.
• If you read a historical story, try to go to the location and re-enact a scene.
• How did early settlers of the area get around? Can you walk a historical trail?
• If you?re doing your own cooking, try a regional recipe using local ingredients.

Are we really going to homeschool while on vacation?

What?s the point of all this? Isn?t it more work for you? This was supposed to be vacation!

A word of caution if you?re like me:

Not every moment of every day needs to be educational. You all need a break. Sometimes when you get caught up in the moment, you forget to stop homeschooling.

You?re definitely on vacation. And just a bit of planning and imagination can keep the work to a minimum and avoid having everyone run away shrieking.

The point is to gently incorporate hands-on learning even while you?re away from your homeschool setting.

You can modify many of the activities in the Online Homeschool Activities Member?s Hub to try while on your trip.

Try a little hands-on learning when you travel. The memories will last longer than the tan lines.