This school year has already been filled with so much excitement and we’re only 2 months in! A few weeks ago I told you about how my sisters in law came to visit us and how much fun we had with them while exploring the city. Last week, my mother, father, and brother in law came to visit, so of course we had plenty of adventures to share with them as well.
We haven’t seen this side of our family for 3 1/2 years since they live so far away (Utah) so we had a lot of catching up to do! Even though I wanted to spend all of my time visiting and not worrying about the lesson plan, I knew that taking another week off from school work would ultimately come back to bite us later in the year. So I had to come up with a way to make their visit as educational as possible. I’m proud to say, I succeeded!
We did so much this week that I couldn’t possibly fit it all into one post, so I’ll be sharing more in depth about their visit next week.
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How to Homeschool When Family Comes to Town
Schedule field trips to share the experience with your visitors
When visitors are coming in from other city’s they usually want to do some sight seeing. This is the perfect opportunity to schedule in educational field trips! We went pumpkin picking, to the science center, and even took an impromptu road trip to Iowa! It’s so easy to make field trips educational too – so take advantage of this!
Plan visiting times for only half of the day
Our family wasn’t actually staying at our house, so we had to plan when we were going to meet up for our visits. This worked out perfectly for us! My husband still needed to work some so while he went to work in the mornings, we worked on as much of our book work as we could before it was time to leave. Whatever we didn’t get done we brought with us, which brings me to my next point…
Do schoolwork in the car (aka “car-schooling”)
Think about all of the conversations that can be had while riding in the car! Talk about the musicians or type of music you listen to on the radio (music class!). Or pack some educational things (like flash cards and journals) in a small bag and have them work on things in the car! I’ll write a future post that goes into further detail about all of the ways you can carschool. As for us? We packed our binders with our worksheets for the day and brought them with us!
Encourage your family members to help out
Is grandma or grandpa visiting? Tell your kids to ask them what life was like for them when they were your kids age. They can go into detail about the games they played, how much certain things cost back then (and how expensive things are now instead), and how people dressed differently (history!). Or, they can teach your kids about the jobs they’ve had and what they had to do to earn a living. Your kids will be interested because they’re learning from a real-life perspective!
These are only a few suggestions as there are so many ways to make things educational! Every situation can be turned into a lesson of some kind, so be creative! You’d be surprised with how easy it really is!
Things We Learned This Week in Our Homeschool (Week 9)
- Stages of a Pumpkin and Apple’s Life (Field Trip)
- How Bees Make Honey (Field Trip)
- What happens to a bone when its soaked in vinegar (4H “Six Easy Bites” Project)
- Different Types of Sugar (4H “Six Easy Bites” Project)
- Run on Sentences
- addition and subtraction regrouping practice
Over all this week was very full – full of family, adventure and yes – even education! Do you still do schoolwork when you have visitors from out of town? If so I’d love to hear your favorite ways to incorporate lessons into your visits! Comment below so we can all read and learn from each other!
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Ah, “car-schooling” YES! These are all great ideas. Even simply having Grandpa read my girls a book has been such a great bonding time for them. And you know those Grandparents always have something to teach us – involving them gives them validation as well. That’s a win-win 🙂 Thanks for posting!
Christy recently posted…Putting The Heart Back Into Homeschooling & Curiosity Driven Reports For PK1Kids
Exactly! Many grandparents WANT to be involved! And oh the things we can learn if we only listen to them 🙂 Thanks for commenting!
There is so much to learn, even with family visiting. We love going to zoos, museums and nature preserves when we have family visiting.
Erin @ Nourishing My Scholar recently posted…A Week in the Life of Unschoolers
Yes that makes the visit fun when you can explore together! Plus, it gives me an excuse to go to some of these places that I normally don’t go to because “oh we can go there anytime”. Ha!
Being a homeschool mom for well over 20 yrs. I learned that just about anything can count towards school hours. It can actually be fun figuring out what subject or subjects an experience, activity, event, etc. will count for! Thinking outside the box is the key!!
Hi Mom! You found my blog! 😀 Yes, its taking some getting used to, but I’m definitely finding it easier and easier to get those hours in! Thanks for helping us get ours last week 😉
How great you got to catch up with family after so long apart! We don’t homeschool, but I think I would just skip a week if we got visitors. Homeschooling perk! 😉 Thanks for sharing at the Thoughtful Spot!
Emma recently posted…The Thoughtful Spot #111