Encourage a little field trip fun with these easy homeschool field trip ideas!
Homeschool Field Trips
I remember the years when my boys were younger and in traditional school all too well.
While I truly regret not homeschooling from the beginning, I do still cherish all those field trips we went on together.
Once homeschooling entered the picture, I honestly didn’t put much thought into homeschool field trips, though.
We were doing the K12 online schooling thing, and they planned a couple of field trips each year, and that was enough for me.
Online school was overwhelming and all-consuming for our family, so I was thankful someone else did the planning.
That said, once I took on all 3 kiddos and we began traditional homeschooling on our own, coming up with our own homeschool field trip ideas became a fun extra I didn’t expect.
Planning Homeschool Field Trips
Planning field trips can be fun and exciting, you guys!
My kiddos are basically grown now (22, 19, 13), and we don’t take many “field trips” these days.
However, once upon a time I did have littles, and field trips were a huge part of that story.
Since we utilized a 3-day school schedule, planning homeschool field trips was actually pretty easy.
Because, honestly, the hardest part is figuring out how to fit it all in.
All that said, the best way to get started planning homeschool field trips is to brainstorm.
I’m a huge planner girl, and I truly believe that every good brainstorming session starts with a pen, a notebook, and a warm cup of coffee — sticky notes can also come in handy.
During your brainstorming session, make a list of all the places you’d like to visit with your kiddos during your upcoming school year.
It’s ok to go big and make this list larger than you can accomplish in a year, because whatever you can’t accomplish can be rolled over into your next year!
Finally, figure out how many field trips you can realistically take during the year and make sure your top picks make the cut!
For example, we were able to take at least 2 field trips a month because we always had Wednesday off from formal homeschool lessons.
My kiddos attended a bi-weekly science class at our local zoo, leaving 2 Wednesdays a month open for field trips.
Sometimes those days were spent at the zoo anyway, but instead of in a classroom, we were walking, riding rides, and checking out our favorite animal habitats. Other times they were spent picking berries at our favorite farm or viewing birds at the nature center.
That said, our schedule also allowed us to take Fridays off from school.
While this day was mostly a free-range day for my kiddos while I worked on overdue housework and errands, we did sometimes head out for an extra special field trip or library day instead.
Easy Homeschool Field Trip Ideas
Ready to create your ultimate list of homeschool field trip ideas? I’ve got you!
These are just a few of the fun ideas we leaned on (or wanted to) over the years.
I separated these homeschool field trip ideas into 9 different categories.
While there are so many more great options to choose from, I picked a few of our top go-tos for each category to give you a great head start on your own list-building.
I also encourage you to click the links below to check out some of the field trips we took while traveling full-time in our RV!
- Seasonal Activities – apple orchards, pumpkin patches, corn mazes, and holiday events.
- Outdoor Exploration – state parks, national parks (good for roadschoolers), playgrounds, and city parks.
- Hands-On Nature – nature centers, planetariums, and gardens.
- Animal Adventures – zoos, aquariums, petting zoos, and local farms.
- Educational Experiences – libraries, museums, factories w/tours, recycling centers, train stations, and airfields.
- Indoor Movement – trampoline parks, inflatable playgrounds, rock climbing gyms, and skating rinks.
- Local Learning – fire or police stations, state capital buildings, historical places, and post offices.
- Pure Enjoyment – local theaters, bakeries, and game coffee shops.
- Giving Back – embrace volunteer opportunities at nursing homes, pet shelters, and soup kitchens.
While we haven’t had the chance to do every single one of these homeschool field trip ideas, we have many of them!
For example, we made apple cider at our favorite farm every fall, visited our local state park, zoo, and library on the regular, and we had random museum and indoor play place type field trips too!
Not sure how to make some of these homeschool field trip ideas a reality? While most can be done with just your family in tow, sometimes you might need to look at local homeschool groups or co-ops to plan bigger events, such as visiting the state capital building.
You’d be surprised how many places throw a homeschool week filled with fun activities and discounted prices for homeschoolers.
Plus, there are tons of other homeschool resources online that can help connect you with other homeschool families for setting up larger field trips.
Fun Beyond the Field Trips
If homeschool field trips are sometimes too much, but you are looking for other fun ideas for in between lessons, I’ve totally got you!
Consider planning weekday playdates or joining a co-op to give your kiddos some of that much-needed socialization we all hear about; yeah, yeah, I went there.
As a homebody, I truly believe skipping traditional field trips can be a necessity sometimes.
So, instead of heading out, try staying in!
Create a simple looping schedule filled with extra activities, invite other homeschoolers over to holiday activities, work on unique craft ideas, or plan family game nights.
The options are endless, you guys!
