Maridel Willer

This has been a week filled with free and fun learning opportunities for our family.  We enjoyed a symphony concert (music appreciation), a trip to a nature sanctuary (science), and visit to the Astronaut Hall of Fame and Space Center during the annual “free” day for local residents (history and science).

Seek out what you can find for free or low cost in your area to supplement your homeschooling.  Good sources to find free or low cost activities are the local paper and getting on an email list from a homeschool group in your area. 

I have found that I only have to regularly plan math and history topics for our homeschool and all of the other subjects are easily covered by field trips and other fun opportunities that come our way.  For even more learning, we add library books (reading, research) on related topics and scrapbooking (writing, photography and art) after our field trips. 

Call the local attractions and museums in your area to find out if they have times of the year where admission is reduced or free to local residents.  Buy an annual membership to your local zoo or museum, then use that membership to visit others within a few hours drive.  An annual membership is usually less than the cost of 2 visits (one for large families) to an attraction and it can more than pay for itself if you use the memberships when you travel to other cities.

Make sure you leave plenty of margin in your family routine so you are able to take advantage of the spontaneous learning opportunities that come your way!  Read more about building margin here.

Key#1 - Don’t worry if you do not yet know the ultimate destination or the directions to get there.

Key #2 - Believe that you are the best teacher for your children.

Key #3 - Trust God to provide all of your needs.

Key #4 - Guard your heart against doubt and discouragement.

Key#5 - Equip yourself for success.