While travel has been fairly restricted in the last couple of years, it is one of the most educational experiences that a homeschool family can indulge in. Traveling to a new place, even if it’s just for a short weekend, is a great way to step out of your comfort zone and learn new things. As a homeschool teacher you should consider taking a few short trips in each academic session for the following educational benefits.
Better Critical Thinking Skills
Since your homeschool student needs to analyze and process many new things during travelling, they will begin to develop better critical thinking skills. From how to get everything they want to carry into their bag, to what actually needs to go on the trip, there’s a lot of food for thought. They begin to train their brains to think independently to solve problems that may arise.
Expanded World View
Being in the homeschool classroom may provide them with many facts, but they are in a sheltered corner of the world. By stepping out into a hotel, or visiting relatives, they get the opportunity to see how others live. Even simple things like how Grandma uses a wind up kitchen timer to boil eggs while mom uses the timer on her mobile, makes a difference to their world view.
Building on Classroom Learning
If you have covered a historical event in your homeschool classroom, and then are able to physically bring your homeschool students to the location of the event, there will be a huge amount of interest generated. Besides the reinforcement of what was taught in the class, the children will be able to pick up local flavor from the guides and information posts.
Learning about Local Culture
Yes the most drastic changes in culture may be experienced when you travel out of your home country. However, even going from one state to another within the country, will allow them to experience a difference in local culture. The food, the manner of speaking, the clothing, there will always be subtle and some glaringly obvious differences to what they are familiar with back home.
