Let's learn outside!
One of the greatest gifts of homeschooling is freedom – freedom to follow curiosity, to take your time over learning… or even the freedom to close the books and head outside.
As the days stretch long and the sun lingers well into the evening, it’s the perfect time to take learning beyond the kitchen table and into the backyard, the bush, the beach or wherever adventure calls. Because if there is one thing homeschoolers know, it is that learning doesn’t have to happen inside four walls.
Finish summer strong – outside
If you’re wrapping up your Seasons – Summer Core, why not take it outdoors?
Bake your sweet treats for a poetry picnic and read them aloud under the trees. Write your summer bucket list in the sunshine. Plant your summer garden, try pond dipping with a homemade net, or observe local birds as part of a citizen science project. Visit an apiary and learn about the life cycle of a bee. Make seeded paper. Watch life unfold in your own backyard.
Summer learning is made for sunshine. When children can feel the warmth on their skin and hear the cicadas buzzing, concepts come alive in a very special way.
Become an explorer in your own backyard
Our Australian Backyard Explorer Core Program invites children to step into the boots of Australia’s great explorers and then become explorers themselves.
Learn how to find water and food. Collect and classify plants. Recognise bush tucker. Build a shelter. Make a plant press, a simple water filter or even a thermal water bottle cover. Practise navigation skills and create your own explorer’s boardgame.
This Core was road tested by families in real backyards and real bushland, because exploration is best experienced, not just read about.
You don’t need to travel far. Adventure might be waiting just beyond your back fence.
Go bush
Are you ready to Go Bush?
Collect your maps, plan your journey and head out on a family nature walk. Let your senses guide you as you discover new sights, smells and sounds. Learn about the Indigenous significance of your local area. Create ephemeral art from found natural materials. Write flowing free verse and delightful descriptions inspired by what you see.
Sketch birds like an ornithologist. Record plant discoveries like a botanist. Capture it all in your very own Going Bush Book.
Every outing becomes a memory, and every memory becomes part of your learning story.
Nature journals: A simple, beautiful habit
There’s something magical about sitting quietly with a notebook while the world moves around you. A bird call overhead. Ants marching along a branch. The breeze shifting the tall grass.
Our Wild Wonder Core Program gently guides learners into deeper observation through nature journaling, poetry and art.
Study botany, ecology and animal behaviour. Learn about scientific illustration and the naturalists who carefully documented the world before us. Sketch a bird. Examine different types of leaves. Write rhyming couplets. Practice mindful meditation. Stop to smell the flowers.
Nature journaling teaches observation, patience, scientific thinking, creative expression and gratitude. And the best part might just be that it slows everyone down… including us.
You don’t need anything fancy. A simple notebook, pencils, maybe some watercolours. Head to the backyard, a local park, a riverbank, or even just sit on the front step. Ask:
- What do you notice?
- What has changed since last week?
- What questions does this raise?
Let curiosity lead.
Get your hands dirty
If your children love mud, worms and wild questions, I Love Dirt is the perfect excuse to head outdoors.
Why do trees lose their leaves? How does snow stick together? Are all ladybugs ladies?
Go bird watching. Dig for wiggly worms. Create a muddy masterpiece. Plan a butterfly garden. Build an ant enclosure. Catch a cloud in a jar. Look for nests, then try making one of your own. Even cookie moon phases taste better after a day outside.
Sometimes the richest learning happens when hands are dirty and imaginations are wide open.
Outdoor science that feels like play
Science was never meant to be confined to a textbook.
Test which surfaces heat up fastest in the sun. Observe cloud types and predict the weather. Grow herbs and measure their progress. Explore your local ecosystem. Compare soil types. Track insect activity.
When learning happens outdoors, it feels less like “school” and more like discovery… because that’s what it is.
Even ‘regular’ lessons feel different outside
You don’t need a special Core to justify heading outdoors.
Take maths outside and measure the garden beds. Practise spelling words in chalk on the driveway. Read history under a tree. Memorise poetry while walking.
Movement boosts focus. Fresh air refreshes tired minds. And sometimes, a simple change of scenery is all that’s needed to reset a tricky day.
Weekend adventures count too
Homeschool doesn’t clock off at 3pm.
A weekend hike becomes geography. A trip to the markets becomes economics. A beach day becomes marine biology. Camping becomes resilience, teamwork and bushcraft.
When you choose homeschooling, you choose a life where learning is woven through everyday experiences.
The gift of seasons
As summer draws to a close, there’s beauty in noticing the shift.
Seed pods are forming. Leaves are changing. Birdsong sounds different in the morning air.
Taking learning outside helps our children tune in to these rhythms and to live connected to place and season. It cultivates attentiveness, and attentiveness is the foundation of deep learning.
This week, if lessons feel heavy… take them outside.
Pack a notebook. Grab a hat. Open the back door.
You might find that under the open sky, learning feels lighter, more joyful, and more alive.
And that’s one of the true joys of homeschooling.