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Help your Children to Learn through Travel
When we head off on holiday with our children, we might see it as a time to leave everything behind and just relax (or even collapse!). Certainly, the Department for Education seems to view holidays as an interruption to schoolwork, rather than as a time when learning can happen. But you might be surprised at just how much learning your children can do when you travel with them. The learning that takes place on holiday, or when you are travelling, is different from that which happens in the classroom, but it all contributes to the same end purpose. It is all part of your children’s ‘education’. When we took our children out of school for six months, to learn on the road, they didn’t do lessons like they would have done in school. Instead, they learned through some incredible experiences that will stick with them for a lifetime. They got to see amazing archaeological treasures, visit incredible historical sites, and learn about different landscapes by walking through them. They built knowledge, made magical memories and developed a range of new skills.
Children learn a huge amount from the act of travelling itself, especially the kind of ‘soft skills’ that are so valued by employers, and which go beyond the usual curriculum boundaries. When they travel to new places, children learn how to cope with change, they gain a sense of the wider world, and they become more adaptable and open to other cultures. They also get the chance to hear and speak other languages in real life situations, experience history through the places where it happened, and make cultural connections that give them a deeper and wider understanding of their world. To help your children get the most learning from the travel you do with them:
- Think ahead about the kind of learning opportunities that you could incorporate into your trip or holiday. Depending on where you are going, there might be chances to visit museums and art galleries, to participate in new sports, or to trek through amazing landscapes. Do some research ahead of time, and keep an eye out for free offers that coincide with your trip. For instance, there is free entry to Italian state museums on the first Sunday of every month.
- Avoid complaints of ‘do we really have to do that?’ by asking your children what they are interested in seeing, doing and learning about, and taking their ideas and opinions into account. When a child is interested in a topic, they tend to learn more easily and deeply. Our daughter’s fascination with Leonardo da Vinci led us to explore many of the places where he had lived and where his art works are now on display. Our son’s lifelong love of dinosaurs meant we made a point of visiting lots of natural history museums.
- Give your children as much responsibility as possible when you travel. Depending on how old they are, you might get them to do some of map reading, give them their own wallets with pocket money in them to spend, or encourage them to do their own packing and unpacking. Your children will develop independence and learn many life skills through the journeys you take together.
- Take some books with you, related to the places that you are going to visit. Travel guides tend to give lots of interesting background information on popular tourist destinations. The Dorling Kindersley non-fiction guides are particularly good for general knowledge, covering topics as diverse as weather, volcanoes, crystals and the Romans.
- Bring back plenty of souvenirs, to remind you of your trip, and to jog memories of different places. On your return, ask your children’s teacher whether they can share stories of where they went and what they learned. Let your children choose their own souvenirs and if you visit a country where haggling is a way of life (as we discovered when we went to China) let your children have a go at getting the best price for their purchases.
- If you go travelling for a longer period, like we did, get your children to keep a diary of their adventures. As well as writing in their Road School diaries, our children also stuck tickets, maps, guides and other finds into them. These will act as a lovely memento of our journey in the years to come.
Sue Cowley is a parent, author and teacher trainer. Follow Sue on Twitter. Her book Road School is published by Crownhouse.