Homeschooling offers the opportunity to school when and where you like and the option to take advantage of some unique learning opportunities. Take the National Park Service (NPS) for example. The NPS administers well over 400 sites across the country, all of which boast opportunities to learn about our natural world or history. About half of them have formal Junior Ranger Programs. The Junior Ranger Program deputizes kids into the ranger family through park-specific activities which are completed through the park visit in the outdoors and at the visitor centers.
Our three kids have loved learning at the National Parks for years. As youngsters, the junior ranger badge (typically a pin awarded by a park ranger upon completion of the junior ranger assignments) was often incentive enough to tackle assignments in the NPS booklets, but even as they have grown the activity books have helped them focus on some of the important reasons for preservation and even given them the opportunity to work together to learn and grow.
Learning about dinosaurs at Dinosaur National Monument, UT
With parks and monuments in every state, whether at home or on the road, you’re never too far from a park. You may be most familiar with the scenic parks of the NPS system like Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park or Everglades National Park. Not only do these 62 scenic parks offer breathtaking, classic American views, but they also are home to an incredible variety of flora and fauna, geological curiosities as well as the history of many explorers and conservationists. You may not be as familiar with the extensive collection of historical sites, battlefields, monuments and more natural wonders of the full parks system. There are currently 421 sites throughout the U.S. and its territories ranging from homes of former presidents to rivers and waterways.
We live in the mountain west where we have access to familiar parks like Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve and Rocky Mountain National Park. In addition, to the southwest, we have also had ample opportunities to explore the remnants of and learn about early native peoples. All around us, there are sites commemorating early America migration and trade routes.
There are even some sites preserving important locations and artifacts from World War II and the Cold War within a day’s drive we have visited. With a little research on https://www.nps.gov/index.htm, you will find ample opportunity in your neck of the woods to have an enjoyable, hands-on, learning experience for the whole family.
Mesa Verde National Park, CO
Online resources can allow you to learn at home and plan for a future trip. The National Park Service website has links to junior ranger program materials as well as other opportunities to explore subjects such as paleontology, early American history and famous writers.
See https://www.nps.gov/kids/index.htm for information. With access to these materials, you could begin planning future activities with work at home today. This weekend may not provide the opportunity to sneak off to Washington D.C. but this coming summer may and with some planning you can connect learning now to an experience later. There are also searchable materials for teachers. See https://www.nps.gov/teachers/index.htm for more information and resources. You can search by subject matter and grade level. You might enhance your unit on Hispanic Heritage with some materials from the NPS and dangle a future trip to Spanish Missions in the southwest as a family road trip and a face to face encounter with history.
Learning about Zion National Park at home through Jr. Ranger materials
The parks teach a lifelong love of learning, conservation, physical activity and an appreciation for history. You can take advantage of materials the NPS has developed to learn remotely, on site or to prepare for a future trip. One last item of note is to highlight the National Parks Service offers 4th graders and their families a year of free access to the parks. If you have younger students, check out more about “Every Kid in a Park” by visiting: https://www.nps.gov/kids/every-kid-outdoors.htm
Mount Rushmore National Memorial, SD
Nathan Manley is a certified teacher and coach with a master’s degree in education. He has taught multiple subjects, every age group, and from Jamaica to California. Between his three children, his family has experience with public school, private school, charter schools, hybrid programs, and full-time homeschool. He believes music and film produced after 1989 is “meh.”