Camp Like a Homeschooler
Nature time is one of the best parts of homeschooling — and a weekend camping trip is the ultimate homeschool nature adventure. Here’s how to make your homeschool camping trip a fun experience for the whole family.
Don't forget to pack your spirit of adventure and make this year's family vacation one to remember.
“Nature time is one of the best parts of homeschooling,” says homeschool dad Joel Tiegs, who, with his wife Anna, homeschools their three children. “And it’s surprising that it took us so long to make camping a part of that because it’s so obvious that weekend camping is the ultimate nature study.”
The Tiegs family had never been camping before their first family expedition, and “there was definitely a learning curve,” says Anna. “Do not make our mistake and go all-in on your first camping trip. Start with an overnight and work your way up.” Ultimately, though, camping felt like a happy extension of the Tiegs’ homeschool life, and now loading up the car for a camping adventure happens about once a month.
We all know the benefits of outdoor time — reduced stress, improved creativity, deeper connections to the natural world, affordability — and even if you’ve never pitched a tent, you can put together a fun family camping trip that just may inspire you, like the Tiegs clan, to make camping part of your homeschool life. We’ve got everything you need to know to plan that first family camping trip right here.
The Organized Adventure
We’re lucky in the United States, where a road trip can take your campout to mountain peaks and desert valleys, to natural wonders and woodland lakes. How do you choose the perfect spot for your family camping trip? These tips should help you narrow it down.
Keep it within easy driving distance.
Eventually, you may want to venture far and wide, but if you’re newbie campers, stick with campsites within a two-hour radius of your home base. Not only does this make a short drive to your destination, which means no car-lag to deal with when you arrive or worries about getting set up before dark if you hit traffic along the way, says Jen Aist, author of Babes in the Woods: Hiking, Camping, and Boating With Babies and Young Children. Keeping it close to home also takes away that panicked what-if-everything-goes-wrong feeling. “If everything goes wrong, you’ll load up the car, drive home, and try another time,” Aist says.
Stick with state and national parks.
If you’re new to camping, you will want decent bathroom facilities. Trust us: Helping your 9-year-old eliminate in the dark woods with nothing but a headlamp and a roll of toilet paper is not how you want to spend your first camping trip. Most state and national parks have restrooms, often with showers, and other amenities like on-site firewood bundles, running water, and even small supply stores. Check the park’s website (and Yelp reviews) to see what kind of facilities are available to campers.
Do advance reconnaissance.
Unless you’re an experienced naturalist, identifying new-to-you birds, bugs, trees, and wildflowers on the spot can be tricky. Prepare for your campout by spending some time getting familiar with your campsite’s local flora and fauna so that you’ll be able to identify it when you see it. You may still fumble for some identifications, but it’s amazing how much more competent you’ll feel knowing you can probably recognize a few local nature highlights.
Pick two activities.
On an overnight campout, you can reasonably fit in two nature activities: a longer activity the day you arrive and a shorter activity to enjoy between breakfast and packing the next day. The park website is a good place to start — most parks list on-site recreational activities as well as nearby ones. If you’re trying something brand-spanking new that none of you has done before — say, your first family canoe trip — do yourself a favor and look for a guide or beginner’s program that can walk you through the basics. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to choosing campout activities, but including one tried-and-true activity you know your family enjoys and one activity that’s new to some or all of you can be a good plan, says Meri-Margaret Deoudes, spokesperson for the National Wildlife federations's Be Out There initiative, which encourages kids to get outside. (Plan your new adventure for your shorter, morning activity.)
Always Safety First
Camping is an adventure — and while it’s usually perfectly safe, there are a few things you can do to make sure your crew comes back from campouts healthy and happy. When you check into your campsite, be sure to ask for directions to the nearest emergency care facility and the best way to handle after-hours emergencies. You’ll probably never need to use this information, but it’s good to have.
You know to bring a first-aid kid, but don’t forget to add items for your family’s specific needs, such as prescription medications or kid-safe pain reliever and allergy medicine, recommends Anna Tiegs. “On our first camping trip, I forgot my contact lens solution and had to spend most of the trip viewing the world through my near-sighted eyes,” Anna says. “General checklists are great, but everybody has specific things they need to function every day. Make sure you’ve included yours in your kit.”
Set ground rules for safe camping: Everyone needs a buddy, even if you’re only venturing as far as the bathroom, and no one’s allowed beyond a certain visual perimeter. (Big trees, fallen logs, flowering plants, and other clearly obvious natural objects make easy-to-define boundaries.) “After our son Rowan wandered a little too far and scared us all to death, we started tying red bandanas around tree branches to mark the roam-free boundary of our campsite,” says Joel Tiegs.
Encourage kids to talk and sing if you’re hiking or exploring — if critters can hear you coming, they’re likely to hide before you get there, but accidentally sneaking up on wildlife can kick their defenses into action, says Randy Johnson, author of Best Easy Day Hikes: Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Clean up thoroughly after every meal, and keep your food stored out of sight in your car. (If you’re in a car without a closed trunk, cover food with a blanket or towel so curious — and smart — creatures like bears don’t spot it.) Never bring food into your tent. People think of bears breaking into tents for food, but skunks, raccoon, snakes, and other wildlife are just as likely to be drawn to the smells of food.
Check your kids (and yourself ) thoroughly for ticks periodically during your camping trip to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines for outdoor safety. Be sure to check sensitive areas, including the scalp, groin, armpits, and belly button. In addition to sunscreen, use a child-safe bug and tick repellent containing 20 to 39 percent DEET, and spray it on clothes as well as on your exposed skin. Tucking in shirts and pants (into socks or boots) can also help reduce your risk when walking through woods or un-mowed grass.
Teach kids to avoid poison ivy, oak, and sumac with the handy memory aid “Leaves of three, leave it be.” What if you do come into contact with poison ivy? Get kids to quickly soap up in the shower — baths can cause irritation to spread — and apply calamine lotion from your first-aid kit to the affected area.
Take it in Stages
If you want camping to be a great experience, don’t head straight for the woods. Instead, follow this three-step plan to help you get the hang of everything before you tackle your first official wilderness adventure.
The Backyard Campout
Give your equipment an official test drive in a no-stress spot: Set up (and take down!) your tent, build a small campfire, boil water for hot chocolate, and have a sleepover in your new sleeping bags right in your own backyard. This is smart for a couple of reasons, says Jen Aist. You’ll get comfortable with your equipment, you can pop inside for anything you forgot (and make a note that you don’t want to forget it when you’re actually camping out), and it lets kids acclimate to outdoor noises and darkness.
The Weekender
Once you’ve got a backyard campout under your belt, book a Saturday night campsite at a nearby state or national park. Ideally, you won’t need to drive more than an hour to get to a campsite with real bathrooms, fire rings, and a friendly visitor center. Arrive early on Saturday, get set up first thing, and head home after lunch on Sunday. “Think of it as camping-lite,” says Aist. “All the fun but none of the stress.”
The Real Deal
Now that you’re ready for multi-night campouts, let your spirit of adventure lead you. It’s still smart to gradually work up to bigger experiences, like thru-hiking and camping out along the way or week-long camping expeditions, but now you’re ready for whatever Mother Nature throws at you.
What Gear Do You Really Need?
Newbie campers do not need a lot of fancy gear to have a great campout. In fact, first-time campers should check with your state parks department to see if they offer loaner equipment for new campers — in Georgia, for instance, you can borrow a tent and sleeping pads and ask a ranger to help you set things up and get your campfire started on your first trip. If you have friends who camp often, you may be able to borrow basics from them.
Sleeping bag. If you’re going on a summer camping trip, any sleeping bag you already have will be just fine. If you don’t have a bag, don’t spend a lot of money: Look for one with a man-made filler (it’s cheaper and can handle getting wet better than fancier down versions) and keep in mind that the temperature rating is a bag’s absolute minimum viable temperature, so add 10 degrees to figure out comfortable sleeping temperature.
Sleeping pad. This is the one thing you should probably go ahead and splurge on — which is okay, since a splurge-worthy inflatable pad should cost less than $100. The sleeping pad goes under your bag, between you and the ground, and a good one makes the difference between waking up ready to play in the woods and staying awake all night finding new places to ache.
Tent. If you can’t borrow a tent, buy a lightweight, dome-style tent with flexible poles that sleeps one person more than you need. Tent person-sizes represent the maximum number of people who can fit comfortably into the tent, but if you want to avoid feeling cramped, buy a tent with a little extra room to spread out.
Floor tarp. Buy a sheet of thick, sturdy plastic, and cut a piece slightly larger than the floor of your tent. You’ll pitch your tent on top of this, and it will protect your tent floor from getting torn by debris on the ground. You can buy fancy versions from sports stores, but plain plastic works just fine.
Headlamp. The kids will want flashlights, but make sure you have a couple of cheap LED headlamps so that you can see hands-free for bathroom trips after dark.
Lantern. Nighttime in the woods can surprise you with how dark it actually is. A couple of inexpensive LED lanterns will give you light to cook and see by after the sun goes down.
Campfire Cooking
Cooking over a campfire can be a fun adventure —“it’s like we’re living in Little House on the Prairie” — or a giant pain, depending on how much you enjoy cooking outdoors. We’ve got a few ideas for your campsite cookout — from a super-simple plan that requires nothing more than a little prep work and strategic packing to practically dinner party- worthy recipes that you’ll want to pat yourself on the back for pulling off. Mix and match to come up with your family’s perfect combination of simple and delicious.
The easiest options. All you’ll need to pull off these simple meals is a kettle you can use to boil water over your campfire and a long cooking fork. For lunch when you arrive, prep and pack sandwiches in a cooler or insulated bag. For dinner, cook your favorite hot dogs over the campfire — make sure your cooking forks are long enough so that you can stand a safe distance from the flames. Bring pre-chopped veggies, buns, and condiments in your cooler. For breakfast, use your kettle to boil water to pour over instant oatmeal — pre-measure portions of oatmeal with toppings. You’ll need to bring bowls, plates, and spoons (disposable if you want to keep things simple). You can also use your kettle to make coffee and hot chocolate — you’ll need mugs or insulated cups if you plan to do that.
Breakfast. With a frying pan and a simple cooking grid (basically a metal shelf that acts like a stovetop), it’s not complicated to make eggs and bacon. (Pack ingredients that need to stay cold in your cooler.) You can also thread bacon on a cooking fork, accordion-style, and cook it just as you would a hot dog. If you’re feeling more ambitious, use your frying pan to make a Dutch Baby Pancake, a big, puffed, cake-like pancake that you slice and serve.
Lunch. If you’re aiming for a hot lunch, pack your favorite meats, cheeses, and veggies and a big loaf of French bread. Slice the bread, leaving about 1/4-inch at the bottom of each loaf so that the bread stays together. Spread each slice with butter and mustard and your fixings of choice (you can do all this at home and pack it in your cooler), wrap in foil, and cook over the fire for 15 to 20 minutes, turning frequently.
Dinner. One of the easiest dinners is your favorite chili or stew — made and frozen at home and heated in a Dutch oven over your campfire. If you want to cook something more substantial on site, foil packets of meat, chicken, or fish and vegetables are easy and yummy — just nestle them in the fire and use heat-proof gloves to pull them out when they’re ready. (You can even make a pasta version with goat cheese and tomatoes.)
Dessert. S’mores are classic: Roast a marshmallow to golden brown, and sandwich is with a square of chocolate between two graham crackers. You can vary this by slicing a banana down the middle, stuffing it with mini marshmallows and chocolate chips, wrapping in foil, and cooking it on the fire for about 10 minutes.
First-Time Campout Schedule
Need help figuring what to actually, you know, do on your first camping trip? Here’s a simple schedule for a one-night camp:
Day 1: Morning
Load the car and head off to your already reserved campsite. Plan to arrive around 2 P.M.
Day 1: Afternoon
Set up your tent and campsite as soon as you arrive.
Explore the area around your campsite and define your roam-free boundaries together.
Engage in planned outdoor activity — hiking, canoeing, biking, etc.
Day 1: Evening
Start your fire for dinner around 7 P.M.
Cook, eat, sing, read, stargaze, etc., until bedtime
Day 2: Morning
Plan on everyone waking early and wanting breakfast by about 8 A.M.
Engage in planned morning activity—hiking, canoeing, biking, etc.
Day 2: Afternoon
Be back at your campsite about two hours before checkout time. (After a few trips, you can trim this down to one hour.)
Load up your gear, and head home.
Fun Things to Do on Your Camping Adventure
“Something magical happens when you are outside that doesn’t happen any other place,” says Aist, and a family camping trip is the perfect time to make a little outside magic. If you’re new to camping and nature study, you may need to take a more active role in helping your crew explore the natural world around them. If that’s the case, don’t worry — after a few trips, or even just a few hours, your kids will be playing outside like pros.
Set a collaborative camp scavenger hunt.
Before your trip, come up with a list of nature discoveries you’re likely to make at your campsite. Mix in easy-to-find items (a pinecone, a wildflower, a stick you could use to make a slingshot) with more specific items (a robin, a loblolly pine tree, a bird’s nest). If you like, give everyone an inexpensive camera to record their finds and compile them into a camping discoveries photo book when you get home, or keep a family nature journal as a record of your trip. As time goes by, your scavenger hunts can get increasingly sophisticated.
Set aside free time to just play.
And don’t expect kids to run off and play when you’re doing something cool, like building a fire or setting up the tent — they’ll want to participate in those activities, too, at least the first few times. Instead, set aside time for everyone, including you, to ramble, roam, and explore. Climb trees, look for fish in brook, follow the sound of a waterfall, try to discover the source of that sweet, floral smell. The more you’re willing to demonstrate how fun nature exploration can be, the more likely your kids are to follow suit.
Take advantage of your surroundings.
Parks often have cool natural features to explore, so get familiar with your destination so that you can pack accordingly. If there’s a lake, swimming hole, or lots of brooks and waterfalls, bring your swimsuits. If the park is crisscrossed with cool hiking trails, you’ll want to pack trail packs and hiking shoes. If the park has a croquet lawn or shuffleboard or some other set-up, file that away in your brain as an option in case something else doesn’t go as planned.
Don’t be afraid to do nothing.
Sometimes, it’s perfectly fine to let kids be bored and figure out how to stop being bored on their own. Resist the urge to schedule every minute or jump in with a solution when your kids complain of boredom.
Have night-time activities planned.
Everyone will be tired after a day of active play, but don’t be surprised if the kids are too hyped up to easily fall asleep. Plan evening as a wind-down process: Start slowing things down after dinner by singing and stargazing around the campfire. Read a book or listen to an audiobook. Alternatively, you may want to play cards or a board game by lantern light and save the reading until everyone is snuggled up in her own sleeping bag. Gradually slow down the tempo of your activities until everyone’s ready to go to sleep.
What If It Rains?
Plan your trip with an eye on the weather, but if the forecast isn’t your friend, don’t assume the campout is over. Here’s how to love a rainy campout.
Play in the rain.
In summer, when it’s raining but not storming, a rainy day hike can be refreshing, taking the edge off the heat, and it’s fascinating to watch the nature around you change in wet weather. Put on your rain gear and shoes that can handle a little mud, and continue with business as usual.
Be prepared.
Toss a couple of things into your pack that will liven up an afternoon in the tent — we like our plastic card deck (it can handle a little moisture), a fast-paced but strategic board game (that doesn’t use a lot of pieces), and a couple of ready-to-play audiobooks.
Relocate hanging out and cooking to a covered area.
Bigger campgrounds often have covered cooking and recreation areas, but you can also strategically drape tarps to create dry spot.
If the weather is stormy (with thunder and lightning or tornado watches on the radar) or if you’re genuinely miserable, pack up and go home. Your camping trip should be a fun adventure; it’s totally OK to call it quits if you stop having a good time.
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.) This was originally published in the summer 2017 issue of HSL.
Homeschool Field Trip: A Stroll Down Klickitat Street (Red Boots Optional) in Portland, Ore.
The ultimate homeschool field trip: Take a Beverly Cleary-inspired vacation to Portland, Oregon to check out the real-life landmarks that inspired the Ramona books.
Everyone who reads Ramona the Pest imagines what it would be like to grow up on Klickitat Street. Discover the answer for yourself with this Portland homeschool field trip adventure.
Henry Huggins is one of Beverly Cleary’s beloved characters featured at the Beverly Cleary sculpture garden in Grant Park. PHOTO: Travel Portland
THE BOOK: Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary
THE DESTINATION: Portland, Ore.
Everyone who reads Ramona the Pest imagines what it would be like to grow up on Klickitat Street: walking to school in your brand-new sandals, digging up worms in the park to earn money for your first bicycle, and learning how to ride that bike on the sidewalks with a curious dog barking behind you. Ramona’s neighborhood is pure, old-fashioned community, and while you can’t turn back the clock to a simpler time, you can visit the place that inspired it.
Portland is Ramona’s — and Henry’s, and Ellen Tebbits’s — home turf, and Beverly Cleary grew up in a bungalow on 37th Street in northeast Portland, a stone’s throw from the more euphonious Klickitat Street. If you’re interested, there are several Beverly Cleary walking tours that explore Portland through the lens of her classic children’s books — you can plot your route using the guidebook Walking with Ramona: Exploring Beverly Cleary's Portland. Snap a photo beside the Klickitat Street and Tilamook Street street signs. Wander past Cleary’s former elementary school, now named for her, and you can almost imagine you see Yard Ape playing catch with Ramona’s eraser outside. Amble along the sidewalks toward Grant Park — the park that inspired Henry Huggins’ great nightcrawler digging business in the Henry books. You’ll spy three familiar faces: a boy, his dog best friend, and a little girl splashing in a puddle for all she’s worth. These statues — tributes to Henry Huggins, Ribsy, and Ramona Quimby, respectively— are part of the park’s Beverly Cleary sculpture garden, a charming spot with plenty of room for running and playing.
Stroll four blocks to Hollywood Library, where you’ll find a fabulous marble, limestone, and travertine map of “Beverly Cleary’s Neighborhood” on the eastern wall. The 12.5-foot-high map features Henry’s paper route, the gas station that inspired Al’s Thrifty Service Station, and the library where Ramona checks out her beloved Scoopy book. It’s a fun look at the world of Cleary’s imagination inspired by her real-life neighborhood.
It’s also worth taking the 30-minute drive to another library, Gresham Library, on Miller Avenue, a treasure trove for Cleary fans. The two Ramona statues waiting to greet you are twin reminders of why we love Cleary’s most iconic character so much: one sunny, merry Ramona, and another cross, pouting Ramona, capturing the real-kid spirit of Beezus’s little sister. As you’d expect, the library has a great Cleary collection, and you can settle into one of the reading nooks to read a chapter of your favorite together.
Real Cleary fans will want to take the 40-minute road trip to Yamhill, the eponymous town of Cleary’s autobiography, where she lived in “the first fine house in Yamhill, with the second bathtub in Yamhill County.” This little town is the setting of Emily’s Runaway Imagination, and you can see the former Yamhill Bank, where Cleary’s mom started the lending library that inspired the one in Emily’s story. The streets of this town are where Cleary used to play Brick Factory, a game that Ramona and Howie play together on Klickitat Street. The apple tree in Cleary’s old front yard inspired Ramona’s apple eating binge, when she insists to Beezus — who has to agree — that the first bite always tastes the best.
PLANNING YOUR TRIP
Book your stay at the Kennedy School, a schoolhouse-turned-hotel with rooms that still have their original chalkboards and cloakrooms. Guests get free admission to the pool and on-site movie theater.
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is always worth a visit — past exhibits have focused on Star Wars costumes, Pompeii, and Legos.
Powell’s City of Books is the world’s largest new and used bookstore and home to approximately one million books. How can any Beverly Cleary fan resist that?
Ramona might not have actually climbed any volcanoes, but a hike to the playground on top of (extinct) volcano Mount Tabor seems totally in the Ramona spirit.
This was originally published in the 2018 issue of HSL. We double-checked our links for accuracy before posting online, but always do your own research before heading off on a travel adventure!
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Homeschool Road Trip: California Dreaming
Nature study doesn’t get more hands-on than this wonder-packed route along the California coast. See the redwoods, look for tide pools, and explore a landscape shaped by volcanic eruption.
Nature study doesn’t get more hands-on than this wonder-packed route.
Thanks to a unique mix of seashores, redwood forests, lava beds, and other natural wonders, northwest California is a mecca for budding naturalists.
DAY 1
Drop off your bags at the Westin St. Francis in Union Square, and take a visual tour of San Francisco aboard the Powell-Hyde line on one of the city’s iconic cable cars — it’s not the fastest way to get around the city, but it’s certainly one of the most memorable. Share a crispy-crust pizza at local favorite Tommaso’s before heading to Pier 33 to catch the boat to Alcatraz. Book your tour of the Rock in advance because spots tend to fill up for this excellent adventure. When you’re hungry, stroll to Chinatown for a dim sum dinner at Great Eastern; stick around to the browse the shops after your meal.
DAY 2
Load up the car and linger over house-made beignets at Brenda’s French Soul Food before making your way to U.S. 101 and Muir Woods National Monument. Follow the self-guided Nature Trail and Watershed Hiking map for a redwood ecology lesson/moderate hike through Cathedral Grove. You’ll probably be hungry after your hike, so jump back on U.S. 101 and head north to Point Reyes, where you can have a CSA-worthy lunch at Marin Sun Farms (open Thurs.-Sun. during non-COVID times). Then hit the beach at Point Reyes National Seashore. You can learn about the history of shore at the Bear Valley Visitor Center, visit Kule Loklo, a replica of a Coast Miwok Indian Village, hike the trails, visit the lighthouse, look for elk on the Elk Reserve, or just play on the beach. Feast on local, organic Italian fare at Osteria Stellina before checking into your room at the Point Reyes National Seashore Hostel.
DAY 3
Fill up with breakfast at Toby’s Coffee Bar, then spend a little time running around on the beach to prep for the longish drive ahead. The drive north on U.S. 101 to Redwood National Park will take about six hours, but there’s plenty of eye candy along the way. Stop for lunch at the Bluebird Cafe in Hopland and again for ice cream at Living the Dream Ice Cream in Eureka. After you check in at the Crescent City Motel in Crescent City, have dinner with a view at the Chart Room, then play on the hotel beach until bedtime.
DAY 4
Eat a hearty breakfast at Good Harvest Cafe, then swing by the Safeway supermarket for picnic fixings before heading to Redwood National Park. Plan to spend the whole day here, breaking for a whale-watching lunch near the Klamath River Overlook or Crescent Beach Overlook. Some of the giant trees here are more than 4,500 years old, but you can also play in the Smith River, explore the tide pools along Enderts Beach at low tide, look for elk in the Elk Meadow, and seeing what’s on the park’s program schedule for the day. You’ll be tired and hungry at the end of the day, so stop for dinner at Kin Khao Thai restaurant before heading back to your hotel.
DAY 5
Wake up early and pick up breakfast on the road as you head toward Oregon on U.S. 199. It should take a little more than two hours to reach Crater Lake National Park. To get amazing views of this landscape, caused by a volcanic eruption 10 times more powerful than the 1980 Mt. St. Helen’s eruption, take the just-under-1-mile hike to Watchman’s Point. Have a leisurely lunch at the Annie Creek Restaurant, then settle back down in the car for the 2.5-hour drive to Lava Beds National Monument. Make advance reservations to join one of the ranger-led Fern Cave tours, where you can still see pictographs left by Native Americans centuries ago. Take the easy 0.8-mile hike to Symbol Bridge and the Big Painted Cave to see more Native American artwork. Call ahead to arrange dinner at the Winema Lodge in Tulelake, and you’ll be ready to settle in for the night.
DAY 6
Have breakfast at the Lodge before following CA-36 south to Lassen Volcanic National Park. Follow the moderate, three-mile Bumpass Hell trail to see bubbling hot-water pools, belching mudpots, and steaming fumaroles at the park’s largest hydrothermal area. To experience the after-effects of a major eruption first-hand, take the Devastated Area interpretive trail, which chronicles the Lassen Peak eruptions of 1914-17. Make reservations for a hearty lunch at Drakesbad Guest Ranch, located inside the park. Once you’re back in the car, it’s about a four-hour drive to Lake Tahoe. Enjoy some authentic tacos at Taqueria Jaliscos, then check in at Lakeland Village, where the kids can splash in the lake-view pool until bedtime.
This was originally published in the summer 2014 issue of HSL, but we’re in the mood for some vicarious travel right about now. We updated some information when we republished this online in 2021, but always double-check before relying on travel information!
Homeschool Travel: A Mixed-up Tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City
It’s the ultimate spring break getaway: Take your favorite readaloud, choose a destination inspired by it, and hit the road for a family vacation that’s the perfect homeschool mash-up. Chances of pulling off a ninja sleepover at the Metropolitan Museum of Art get slimmer every year, but that doesn’t mean planning how you’d do it isn’t a ton of fun.
It’s the ultimate spring break getaway: Take your favorite readaloud, choose a destination inspired by it, and hit the road for a family vacation that’s the perfect homeschool mash-up. Chances of pulling off a ninja sleepover at the Metropolitan Museum of Art get slimmer every year, but that doesn’t mean planning how you’d do it isn’t a ton of fun.
The Book: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
The Destination: New York City
In The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, two suburban Connecticut kids hatch a scheme to run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City — and for three magical days, they succeed in camping out inside the museum.
It’s easy to see how Claudia and Jamie might have succeeded in a more low-tech world the minute you walk through the doors: The Met is huge, and you can get lost here for hours. To follow in the Kincaid siblings’ footsteps, you’ll want to come in with a plan—you can download the museums From the Mixed-Up Files walking tour from the museum website and arm your phone with the museum’s handy app to make the most of your visit. Start, much like Claudia and Jamie, with the restrooms. The best (and usually least crowded) restrooms are by the Chinese art galleries — look for the glazed huzi (that’s a fancy word for urinal) standing opposite the restroom doors. Alas, the new-fangled doors are the kind that automatically stand open unless they’ve been locked, so hiding out after hours there would be tricky.
Next you’ll need to scope out a place to stash your stuff. Of course you won’t really be able to interact with the exhibits this way, but the fun’s in the imagining! The Greek exhibition is a good place to start, since there are plenty of conveniently sized urns and terracotta kraters. Or follow Claudia’s lead, and plan to tuck your violin case in a Roman sarcophagus — there’s a particularly fancy marble one on display in the Roman Sculpture Court that features Dionysus surrounded by the four seasons. The Japanese screens in the Sackler Wing Galleries might also be a convenient spot to stash a case—at least before the museum installed motion detectors.
Finding a place to sleep is fun. The bed Claudia claimed as her own on her extended Met sleepover is no longer on display, but you can still find plenty of elegant places to imagine spending the night. The uber-posh 18th century furniture in the Lauzun Room was so opulent and expensive that even the wealthiest people didn’t use those beds for sleeping: Instead, these carved and curtained beds were where they received official visits at home. Gallery 521, which celebrates the decorative arts from the long and elegant reign of Louis XIV, also houses some pretty spectacular beds.
Claudia and Jamie manage to see most of the museum by trailing school groups, but you can chart your own course. Follow the crowds to the Egyptian exhibition in the Sackler Wing — the highlight is the fully reconstructed Temple of Dendur, but you’ll also want to look for the elaborate Egyptian jewelry that captured Claudia’s attention and the smug carved cat who reminds Jamie a little too much of his big sister. Claudia visited the 16th century French chapel now in Gallery 502 to meditate on the sin of stealing people’s wish coins from the fountains, but it’s a peaceful, beautifully carved place to refocus your mental energy. Jamie thinks the Renaissance galleries will bore Claudia, but exhibitions like the Venetian gallery with its dazzling paintings by Titian and Veronese and the Castle of Velez Blanc patio, filled with fantastic sculptures, are anything but dull. The real magic at the Met, though, happens when Claudia discovers something she wasn’t looking for, so give yourselves some time to wander and see what you discover.
By now, you’ve probably worked up an appetite. On your way to lunch — at the cafe in the American Wing, where Claudia and Jamie bought snacks, or down to the cafeteria, which is probably as close as you can get in 21st century Manhattan to the Horn and Hardart Automat where the Kincaids spent their breakfast budget — stop to drop a coin in the fountain with two frolicking cherubs in the Charles Engelhard Court in the American Wing. (The Fountain of the Muses, where the Kincaids bathed and change-gathered, has since moved to South Carolina.) You never know when your quarter might come in handy.
Planning Your Trip
For maximum mixed-up vibes, start your New York City trip by rolling into Grand Central Station and hoofing it for the 45-minute walk north to the met. stay at the nearby Garden Suites Hotel by Affinia — the Hotel Wales, which we recommended when this was published, has since ceased operation. Other museums near the park include Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the American Museum of Natural History. Central Park is a great place to get your wiggles out: Highlights for kids include the Ancient Playground (named for its proximity to the Met’s Egyptian wing), boat rentals at Loeb Boathouse, the beautifully manicured Conservatory garden, or the rugged waterfalls and woods in the park’s northwest corner.
This was originally published in the spring 2018 issue of HSL. We’ve updated links for online publication in 2021, but always double-check before basing your travel plans around online recommendations!
Homeschool Road Trip: Water World
The ocean is your fellow traveler along US-1, and there’s plenty of fun to be had in and out of the water as you travel down Florida’s southernmost tip.
Explore the shore in the Florida Keys.
The ocean is your fellow traveler along US-1, and there’s plenty of fun to be had in and out of the water as you travel down Florida’s southernmost tip.
DAY 1
Pick up your car at the Miami International Airport, and fuel up with eggs and bagels at Coral Bagels before moseying over toward US-1 South. It shouldn’t take you much more than an hour to reach Key Largo’s John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Get oriented with a 2.5-hour glass-bottom boat tour of key segments of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, then take the kids scuba diving or snorkeling through the park’s coral reef. Check into a comfortably minimalist room at the Rock Reef Resort, and clean up before heading out to a dinner cruise to the Pilot House restaurant aboard the African Queen—yes, that African Queen.
DAY 2
Have breakfast and a Key Lime muffin at Harriette’s Restaurant before making the short drive south to Tavernier. The Florida Keys Wild Bird Center is home to some pretty amazing birds, including great horned owls, peregrine falcons, black-bellied plovers, and more. (All the birds with permanent homes at the Center are unable to live in the wild because of injuries.) Head south to Islamorada for a fried seafood basket at the Hungry Tarpon, then pick up a 2 p.m. fishing charter at Robbie’s Marina to test your luck in the “sportfishing capital of the world.” If you get lucky, the Hungry Tarpon will cook up your catch for dinner before you check in at the Pelican Cove Hotel. Spend the evening splashing in the water in the pool or along the hotel’s private beach.
DAY 3
Wake up early to beat the breakfast crowds at Midway Cafe and Coffee Bar, arguably home of the best cup of coffee in the Keys. Then head back to Robbie’s Marina to pick up picnic supplies and rent kayaks for a trip to Indian Key. In the early 1800s, Indian Key was a thriving village and the county seat for Dade County, but it became a ghost town after a Seminole attack in 1840 devastated the community. Bring your snorkeling gear if you want to check out the bustling underwater environment, and wear sturdy shoes to explore the island ruins. After a lazy picnic on the beach, head back to shore to explore the History of Diving Museum, which offers a surprisingly interesting look at underwater exploration past and present. Have a quiet dinner at the aptly named Lazy Days before hitting the beach at your hotel.
DAY 4
Have a quick diner-style breakfast at Mangrove Mike’s before continuing south on US-1 to the Grassy Key Dolphin Research Center. What’s cool about this attraction is that it’s first and foremost a research and education facility, and while it’s not cheap, especially when you tack on interactive experiences like swimming with dolphins or working as a trainer for a day, it’s worth the splurge. Grab lunch at the center’s food stand. When you’ve had your fill of dolphins and sea otters, eat an early dinner at Fish Tales Market and Eatery in Marathon before checking in at the no-frills but friendly Siesta Motel.
DAY 5
Chow down on seriously hearty breakfast fare at the Stuffed Pig on your way to the Turtle Hospital, a working animal hospital where rescued and injured sea turtles are rehabilitated. Then prepare for some seriously amazing scenery as you head south across the Seven-Mile Bridge, where you’re surrounded by ocean on every side. (That cute little coconut stand makes a good place to pull over for some photos. You can pick up a $.50 coconut, too, putting your change in the box on the honor system.) Keep heading south on US-1. If you’re hungry, stop for lunch at No Name Pub. Keep your eyes peeled as you head into the National Key Deer Wildlife Refuge —if you’re lucky, you might spot one of the elusive and endangered Key deer. Unload your gear into your room at the affordable Parmers Resort, just north of Key West in Little Torch Key, then drive into Key West for tacos and Korean barbecue at Garbo’s Grill, where the jovial crowds are part of the fun. Spend the rest of the evening burning off extra energy on the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park.
DAY 6
Drive into Key West for breakfast at Pepe’s cafe — ask about the specials — before visiting the Ernest Hemingway House and Museum, where you can learn more about the U.S. writer who lived and wrote here for more than a decade. Kids are often more impressed by the six-toed descendants of Papa’s cat Snowball, but the museum is well-done. Have a French-accented lunch at La Creperie, then browse the hodgepodge collection at Key West Island Books if you want to pick up a little Hemingway for your flight home. The Harry S. Truman Little White House was more than just the winter resort for President Truman (perhaps the only man who can say that becoming President of the United States was a decided step down career-wise)—it also served as a response site during the Cold War.
This was originally published in the summer 2014 issue of HSL, but we’re in the mood for some vicarious travel right about now. We updated some information when we republished this online in 2021, but always double-check before relying on travel information!
7 Great Audiobooks for Your Family Road Trip
There’s an art to choosing a good road trip book: It needs to have enough action to keep your attention, appeal across a wide range of ages, and be funny enough that you reach your destination with a smile on your face.
There’s an art to choosing a good road trip book: It needs to have enough action to keep your attention, appeal across a wide range of ages, and be funny enough that you reach your destination with a smile on your face.
Half the fun of a road trip is getting there, and when the license plate game and reading road signs have slowed their thrill, you can always count on a good book to make the miles fly by. There’s an art to choosing a good road trip book: It needs to have enough action to keep your attention, appeal across a wide range of ages, and be funny enough that you reach your destination with a smile on your face. It sounds like a tall order, but these books are a good bet.
The Boy Who Lived with Dragons by Andy Shepherd, read by Ewan Goddard
Try this if you liked: The BFG
Where do dragons come from? Tomas definitely didn’t expect that one of the dragonfruits from his grandfather’s garden would hatch a baby dragon, but that’s exactly what happens. Hijinks ensue as Tomas tries to figure out how to take care of his new pet — and keep him from destroying the neighborhood.
The Children of Castle Rock by Natasha Farrant, read by Angela Ness
Try this if you liked: Swallows and Amazons
Maybe it's the lilting Scots accent, maybe it’s the eccentric boarding school story, maybe the it’s the three-friends-on-an-adventure plot, but there’s something about this book that’s absolutely irresistible. When Alice’s up-to-mischief father sends her a request to meet him at an abandoned castle in the Scottish wilds, she teams up with two of her new boarding school friends to make the meeting.
The Girl, the Cat, and the Navigator by Matilda Woods, read by Stephanie Foxley
Try this is you liked: The Wolf Wilder
The seventh of seven daughters, Oona yearns to explore the seas with her father on his ship The Plucky Leopard — but, her father insists, that’s not what girls do. So Oona takes matters in to her own hands, stowing away on the ship in hopes of discovering a magical nardoo.
The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden by Karina Yan Glaser, read by Robin Miles
Try this if you liked: The Penderwicks
With Isa off at orchestra camp, the remaining four Vanderbeekers hatch a plot to transform the abandoned lot next door to their Harlem brownstone into their own secret garden. This is a slow-paced, low-stakes family adventure that makes you wish you knew the Vanderbeekers in real life, too.
Peasprout Chen, Future Legend of Skate and Sword by Henry Lien, read by Nancy Wu
Try this if you liked: Roller Girl
Admittedly a little all over the place, this novel about an ice skating kung fu competition (you read that right) powers through on pure adrenaline-fueled fun. Peasprout and her brother Cricket find themselves caught up in a competition that takes a turn for the political.
How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell, read by David Tennant
Try this if you liked: The Hobbit
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third is tasked with training a particularly bratty young dragon in this book that’s almost nothing like the movie. (And some of us could happily listen to David Tennant read the back of a cereal box for four hours.)
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, read by Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Harlan Ellison, and Gabrielle de Cuir
Try this if you liked: Ready Player One
Ender Wiggin tests his way into an exclusive government school determined to win the war that threatens humanity. Meanwhile his brother and sister concoct a political scheme to save humanity from itself. This is a sci-fi classic that will keep you on the edge of your seats.
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)This was originally published in the summer 2019 issue of HSL.
Inspired to try a family campout? Yes, you need the sleeping bag and that cooking fork, but we all know the really essential item is the book you bring as your family camping readaloud. Any book makes a good camping trip story, but we especially like books that tie into outdoor adventure.