Planning Your Vacation Around Your Homeschool Schedule

This post was submitted by Teresa B.

It’s nearly time for spring break! Therefore, my family is ready to break out, play, and learn outside. We are a homeschooling family and we try to do year round schooling with breaks at varying times during the year. We are a family that participates in homeschool consortiums. Our consortium organizes their school schedule around the traditionally expected academic year. We have the “back to school” sense in September, a break at Thanksgiving, long mid-winter break, a spring break, and a long summer break (but shorter than traditional schools).

However, although we follow the traditional school calendar, a lot of flexibility comes into play. We start our school year a month earlier, to take longer breaks during mid-winter, and to take a longer spring break vacation. We are coming up on our three-week spring break and intend to make our vacation full of education. As a homeschooling family, we have the advantage that our spring break can be longer than the traditional one week, allowing us to really enjoy our break without feeling rushed.

I have to admit that a big reason we homeschool is for this flexibility. A huge advantage enables us to plan travel, sightseeing and museum visits. A break is another way of saying the schoolbooks are on our shelves but the learning is not.

For homeschooling families in general, spring break is a chance to get out of the house after a long winter. It is also the easiest way to sneak in some education while you are having fun on your vacation. Everyone knows that vacations stimulate the senses. Therefore, why not stimulate some brain cells too! When my children’s attention becomes stimulated, they absorb more. Exploring new things can give me, their teacher, a fresh perspective. Traveling to new locations opens my children’s eyes and exploring the world as a family is a true education.

Why would a home schooling family take advantage of spring break? There are many benefits ranging from new educational opportunities to time to bond as a family. By going on a vacation specifically geared to education, you have the chance to use hands on learning and see things your family might otherwise miss. Perhaps most importantly, it will help to keep learning fun and a prompt a family adventure full of wonderful memory for years to come.

Are you a homeschooling family? Where would you take your children for an educational adventure?