Ideas and Activities for Homeschooling in North Conway, NH

Homeschooling in North Conway, NH

Activities & Ideas for Homeschooling in North Conway,NH

Lots of folks in New Hampshire do online homeschooling.

I am going to get creative and show you examples of how you can make homeschooling fun and engaging without doing all the subjects online. Trust me, homeschooling is much more successful if you do lots of crafts, experiments, exploring, and group activities!

Four Seasons Lodge is offering discounted midweek dates for small homeschooling groups that want to shake things up a bit! Enjoy our heated INDOOR Pool and 10 bedrooms! www.FourSeasonsLodge.com

Here is our 3 day break down for each grade while homeschooling in North Conway, NH on vacation.

​I know that most are doing online homeschooling in NH but I think hands on is better for many subjects!

I realize that this experience with remote learning is new to a lot of families, but I am a veteran! I'm here to help you use the vast list of things to do in North Conway, NH to keep your kids engaged.

Times are strange, and school may be stranger. With every state doing its own thing with homeschooling, online homeschooling, school schedules and locations, we all need to learn to be a little innovative! 

​As a mom who homeschooled her son for his entire grade school career, I have tried many methods and tactics. Once we found something that worked, we stuck with it!Everyone learns differently and that's why there are so many way to homeschool.

​There's reading, testing, visual learning, physical learning, and some kids that thrive in the school system.

The key to homeschooling success is to learn how your kid learns. Once you do that you just have to put their learning style into practice. 

Now, I've found that the best teacher is action. Something you can see, touch and do is longer lasting than something you just read in a book or see in a class. 

Here are some ideas on how to homeschool while you're on vacation. I'm going to break everything down into a 3-day lesson plan for elementary, middle and high schoolers so that they can still learn while on vacation. ​

Homeschooling Elementary Age Child in North Conway, NH

Language Arts is a subject that is easy to create games with. 

On the first day of homeschooling, head outside with a large blanket and some notebooks and have everyone lay down and close their eyes.  Have the kids listen to their surroundings and then write down what they hear. 

This activity is great for using their auditory skills plus learning to use adjectives! 

Now, it's the second day. We're going to use their descriptions from day one and write a short story about it. Whether it's nature, people, airplanes or dogs–there are no wrong answers! 

As day 3 rolls around, find a short story book that has to do with the outdoors. Pick some items from the book that the kids can find and bring to you, or you can follow them! 

It's a great way for the kids to get active and to work on their word associations. You can also have them spell the things they find (without looking at the book!)

Social Studies is a tough one to make fun, but it's not impossible! Buy some outdoor chalk and get out to the driveway! 

Have them draw the United States (or you can) and then have them name all 50 states! 

Actually, my favorite was playing a card game called, "5 State Rummy". My son and I played it so often that we wore out the cards!

On day 2, if it hasn't rained, go a little further with your U.S. map. It's time to add state capitals, or maybe even the governors! 

Once you're onto day 3, get out that chalk one more time! They're going to be naming the continents.

Draw the outline, let them color them if they want and have them name the 7 continents. You can include your map of the U.S. as well! 

Science is my favorite subject, and it's exceedingly easy to make fun! Put on your hiking shoes, grab some crayons, paper and a clipboard and go leaf hunting. 

Have the kids pick up leaves and make etchings (put the leaf on the clip board, the paper over the leaf and rub the side of the crayon on the paper to make an imprinting of the leaf). Have them identify which type of tree the leaf came from (or maybe even find the tree)!

Once they've done that make sure they write down what type of tree the leaf belongs to. You can even add an extra challenge and see if they can find any animal prints! 

Just make sure to avoid poison oak and poison ivy.

On day 2 set up a small motion censored camera and see if you can catch any photos of wildlife. You can have the kids write a short explanation on what they think they'll find based on what types of animals live in the area.

Once day 3 arrives have them look through the photos to see what they captured. They can then draw the animals and write a short description of the animal and its habitat. Who knows? Maybe you'll see a moose or an ever elusive bobcat!

Math, surprisingly, has a lot of great activities that will get the kids moving. Since it's still going to be warm out for a spell try out the math water balloon game!

Grab some paper, with some plastic covering (or laminate them), balloons, a sharpie and some water! All you have to do is pick numbers to put on the paper as targets, write equations on the balloons that equals those numbers and get ready to toss them!

The goal is to throw the balloons at the correct targets.

Once you're ready to move onto day 2, grab your marshmallow shooter! If you don't have one, or access to a Bed, Bath, and Beyond then make one! They're super easy to make. Once you have a shooter and a bag full of marshmallows you're ready to go!

Have the kids shoot the marshmallows and then use a measuring tape to figure out how far it got. The one who got a marshmallow the farthest wins a prize! 

Now that it's day 3 it's time to get serious, with bug counting. Have the little ones help you in the garden and tell them to count all of the bugs they can find. It's a great way for them to use their memory, and they might help you dig a hole or two!

Homeschooling Ideas For a Middle Schooler While Vacationing

​English, like I mentioned earlier, is an easy one to make fun. Let's start off the week with an easy one!

Make a word wheel. You can add things like draw it, act it out, say a synonym, rhyme it, use it in a sentence, define it, and name the part of speech. Make it as easy or as hard as you want. 

On day 2 move onto build a story scavenger hunt (outdoors or indoors). Scatter little pieces of paper around the area with random nouns, verbs, and adjectives. 

Have the kids find 3 words from each category and then write a story using those words. 

As day 3 hits it's time to get out the Play-Doh for some Play-Doh Pictionary! It's a great way to utilize art while practicing nouns, verbs and adjectives. 

Social Studies provides us with so many subjects that it can be hard to choose an activity! For the first day we're going to start with sports.

Just using the nickname for the sports team (for instance: Dolphins, Patriots, Yankees, etc) have the kid guess which city those teams are from and then locate that city on a map! 

On day 2, add an extra challenge and have the kids figure out the significance between the teams name and the town. Make sure they back it up! 

They should research geographical, historical or culture information. 

Now that we're on day 3, it's time to draw a map. Pick a spot you frequently visit, like school, the playground, or even grandma's house! 

Have them draw/color a proper map from that location to home. Make sure they include a key and a compass!

Science as always is super easy to make active. Let's start day 1 with a balloon test.

Fill a plastic water bottle with vinegar, and a deflated balloon with baking soda. Place the balloon on the top of the bottle and then shake the baking soda down to the vinegar. 

Now you can watch the balloon inflate "on its own!"

This experiment demonstrates the difference between acids and bases. 

Move onto density on day 2. In one glass, layer different types of liquids like honey, dish soap, water, rubbing alcohol, and cooking oil and watch them not mix together!

Day 3 is a great day to use one more water bottle and some more cool substances. Make your own lava lamp. They're super easy to make and super fun! 

All you need is Alka Seltzer, a water bottle with a cap, vegetable oil, water and food coloring. 

Math and Algebra 1 can be tough to make fun and different, and most importantly, off of the computer. One of the best tools for learning math is creating different games.

On day 1 you get to be a little creative. Make some cards that match the Taboo card game, but make sure they're all math related. 

​Follow the basic rules for Taboo but keep them guessing mathematical terms! 

Onto game day 2, you can create the same type of exercise with Scattergories. Make the list items as simple or hard as you want. You can print math lists off of the internet or make your own!

There's even an online Scattergories dice you can use. 

Now that you're on day 3 it's time to get serious again... with inventing their own games! Whatever your last lesson was on, have them team up or fly solo, and create different games that utilize the math from that lesson.

You can make one too, that way everyone has different games to play and there's no better way to learn than to teach others. Once they make the game they'll have to teach everyone how to play!

Homeschooling a High Schooler While on Vacation

Homeschooling English can really be fun for high schoolers!

The trick is to make the activities hard enough that they stay enthusiastic about it. If you have more than one kid, try this Jeopardy style game called the Unfair Game. 

Set up a point system, questions and numbers. The only difference from Jeopardy is that they don't know if the points are going to their own team or the others if they get it right. Only the teacher knows!

Once you've worn them out on day 1 have them each direct a scene from a Shakespeare play. The best way to grasp the Bards complex language is to act it out!

You give them options of different scenes and they have to be each others actors. If you are only homeschooling one kid, it's time for you to brush up your Shakespeare! 

Shakespeare is quite the project so on day 3 give them something a little easier with the game Codenames! You can play online, with the physical game or you can make it yourself.  

It's a great game that can be quite difficult, even for adults! So get the whole family in on it!

History is one of the most boring subjects to learn as it's mostly reading and dates. If you're homeschooling you have tons of resources to us for history. 

Make it interactive! On day one, we're heading to the kitchen.

You can find ancient and old style recipes all over the internet. First, I highly recommend that every watches "Cooked" on Netflix. 

It's an amazing documentary that really breaks down the traditions of food from different cultures, and how those lessons are passed down through family members. You could start with cooking a dish from your own heritage, and discuss the historical and cultural significance of that dish. 

You might not realize it but culture, agriculture and time really do impact food! You can go even older and try to make some ancient bread which requires patience and concentration. 

Once you're all full and happy we're onto day 2! If you have an old game set of Guess Who sitting around well now is your chance to make it harder!

Write the names (or print pictures) of famous people from history and put them in all of the slots. The kids have to ask a series of questions to cancel out who you are not. It's a great way to exercise their memory on different figures throughout history. 

Homeschooling history can be done outdoors too! 

Head outside and look for old cemeteries, historical sites, historical museums, boundary walls in New England, and much more. Research some of the names from the cemeteries and museums.

It's much more real if you see headstones or plaques on historical houses than just reading from a book.

Day 3 is the day to go outside. I don't know if you know this but the Pilgrims landed in New England. We have an abundance of, dark, but interesting history throughout the north east. 

​North Conway has many historic sites around town, including old buildings, bridges and monuments. However, I'm going to recommend the Flume Gorge. 

It's packed with history and is truly beautiful. There is no better way to learn about history than to go stand in it!

Math can be tricky to make fun for high schoolers. Now, we're going to make them feel real ol' fashioned with math Bingo! You can make it as hard as you want. 

It's fun, easy, and you can give a prize at the end! 

Once the second day rolls around it's time to talk about movies. Try this Box Office Problem. The breakdown is a little long, so just click the link and set it on up! 

​Now that day 3 has finally arrives, try this print out game called What's the Factor! It's another one with a more complex description but it's get the kids brains moving and working with factoring equations. 

Science, last but not least. We're going to start on another spin of a classic game and jump to a periodic table of elements version of Battleship. 

It's pretty easy to set up, just print out 4 sets of the periodic table and set it up like Battleship (if you have the game you can use it and the ships!). They call out coordinates, atomic numbers, atomic symbols or element names to try and sink the others ship. 

On day 2 it's time to give the true crime enthusiasts their day! And, if you don't think there are true crime enthusiasts in high school then you're lying to yourself! Use the PDF as a guide and have them solve the murder. 

It's Forensics in Chemistry! 

​On the last day, do this fun activity that has to with esters and organic synthesis! A complex system that requires a sense of smell and some serious brain power!

You met the challenge!

You've made it! You're teaching your homeschooler in new and exciting ways that'll keep them engaged and enthralled in learning. 

Now, let them refresh their minds and souls and enjoy North Conway,  utilize our beautiful surroundings, historic sites, animals, and refreshing pool to take a break from all the hard work. 

Homeschooling at Four Seasons Lodge - North Conway, NH

Four Seasons Lodge is a terrific lodge to host a homeschooling gathering.

When I homeschooled my son, it was so helpful to have a group gather to do an experiment or dissect a frog or whatever.

We all, even kids have so much knowledge to share with each other. I watched as older kids would help out the young 'uns and times when the young whipper snappers helped out the high school kids!

Four Seasons Lodge has Zoom-able WiFi and the gym is right in the house! I bet you won't have to "do" gym for a week with all the swimming they will do!

Have fun - don't stress, just do the best you can do. No one can teach them everything. I always stived to allow my son to find answers rather than give them to him. I believe finding answers is a very valuable life skill.


Teena Kulakowski

https://www.FourSeasonsLodge.com

Four Seasons Lodge
31 Whiskiers Lane
North Conway, NH 03860

(603)662-5391