“You want to go read under where?” I ask after I hear my kid’s mumbled request. “You said underwear!” It’s a legit joke; let’s be honest. I love it when I see my kids reading, studying, playing, or cuddling in non-typical places - whether it be under forts, on the trampoline, snuggled with a kitty, outside under an umbrella in the rain, on our swing, in a tree - wherever. When I catch my kids writing stories under their sheets with a flashlight or even sitting on the toilet with a book, my heart fills with joy.

So, it finally occurred to me - why not let them choose where we have our formal school time. Let’s leave the familiar and find new settings and new places - even within your home and backyard! Do you want to ride bikes while we listen to Story of the World? How about making a fort on the trampoline and eating teddy grahams while we learn about bears? Snuggling in my bed together with ambient music while we read our latest read-aloud sounds precious too. How about we practice our math on the driveway with chalk? Let’s try shouting parts of speech on our tree swing as we soar in the air. Let’s dive into fractions with making homemade pizzas while listening to Italian music. If I do one of those per day or even per week, it redefines what homeschooling looks and feels like in my home. Bring in the aesthetic; bring in the beautiful. 

The scents and smells, the tastes, the sounds...it all adds beauty to the experience. Yes, my kids do actually sit and write in workbooks and worksheets - but even those can be an exciting new experience if you gather and work in a new spot. Sit with your workbooks next to an open window or in your patio with the sounds of birds chirping. Prepare your favorite tote bag of activity books and read-alouds and go walk your neighborhood and settle in some grass nearby. When at a table, light a candle and listen to their favorite musician playing in the background. Sit on a pile of comfy pillows inside your camping tent in your living room. Create special spaces in your home, and those familiar, old, discounted, unused corners of a room, apartment complex, patio, or property can become whole new worlds for them. The setting makes all the difference. You only get to do this thing called homeschooling once - they will quickly grow out of all of it, poo-poo everything you suggest, and then move out for a different kind of unfamiliar...so let’s make our home’s unfamiliar the most nurturing place to be before it’s too late. (For more about creating homeschool spaces, download our workbook here.)

“Leave home, leave the country, leave the familiar. Only then can routine experience—buying bread, eating vegetables, even saying hello—become new all over again.” – Anthony Doerr

What are some creative spaces you have set-up in your home for educational experiences? Comment below!