Your Best Homeschooling Memories

Inspiration from Your Fellow Homeschoolers

We asked you to share with us your best homeschooling memories—field trips, books, projects, and just snapshots from daily life. So many of you responded that it is going to take us at least two newsletters-worth to share all your wonderful responses. A big thank you to all who contributed. We at AHEM were inspired and we hope that you will be too.

“Spending time every day with my kids”
– Shannon D., MA mom of 4

“So many..... LOVED Geography club. Monthly meeting with about 10 other families where each participant created a project to share with the group relating to the culture of the Country we chose and we all made food from that country and we had a wonderful art class each meeting to learn about the art of that country and listened to the music. It was so fun. We did that for about 7 years.”
– Jen F.

“Riding in the car to any homeschool event and talking about life, the cosmos, theories, friendship skills, and on and on.”
– Linda S., mom of 2 amazing kids

“With 20+ years of homeschooling behind us, it’s impossible to choose just one treasured memory. But one of many that stands out is the homeschool book group we participated in for many years. We read so many great books, and had wonderful discussions and accompanying activities. Our meetings were held in libraries, or each other’s homes, and many were held outside in the fresh air, with lots of free play afterward.”
– J. C.

“This year I watched my child doing a presentation on a science project, and I realized how much growth and improvement had occurred! The confidence, the attitude, the language—I could barely recognize her!”
– Mamma J

“Reading with my kids”
- Mom

“Traveling, camping, museum days, long days spent reading all snuggled up together while the weather raged, and thoughtful dinner conversations. The closeness of my two boys to one another and their frequent puns shared. Our favorite memories are the ability to explore the world and our individual and shared interests all together in a vibrant medley of ways.”
- The Adventurers

“A few years ago, we borrowed a book from the library called Smart About the Presidents. My two oldest children thumbed through the pages for weeks. Then, without any prompting from us, they came up with a quiz game they called “The Presidents Game.” Through this quizzing of each other, the two of them learned all of the presidents, in order, along with their accompanying life facts. It’s a prime example of something that was completely unschooled but will stick with them forever.”
- Meredith

“Every time my child is able to spend the whole day building a creative project of her own invention that sprawls all over the dining room floor, or spend the whole day outside in any season, is a treasured memory.”
– S in Western Mass

“Because our family's focus is so much about learning on a daily basis, every family vacation becomes a fascination. Everywhere and anywhere we travel to becomes an inquisitive journey for the entire family. Learning all we can about the location and the history of its significance. Every place we explore now is fulfilling in a way that far exceeds how we previously experienced the world prior to home education”
– Family of 4

“Seeing the kids begin to love reading”
– Afiya W.

“Our best homeschool memories are doing different project based learning and being able to do field trips whenever.”
– mom of a gifted adhd learner

“So far my favorite thus far is when my son started taking Fencing training and the minute they put on his uniform he had a huge smile and pure happiness in his eyes.”
– Heidi H. from Salisbury

“All the time I get to spend with my daughter. From the rough days to the good days. I really can't pick just one thing. It's brought us closer together as a family and it feels more natural to have my daughter by my side as she grows and learns.” 
– Victoria S.

“A 2-week road trip we took and the many museums and national monuments we visited together.”
– Anonymous

“Our 1 on 1 read aloud time. Our top 3 read alouds of all time thus far: The Wild Robot series by Peter Brown; The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo; Matilda by Roald Dahl.”
– Angela R. from Norton, MA

“Everything about homeschooling is my most treasured memory. I started homeschooling during COVID and I never thought I could do this but We got this now! We learn in every way. I love taking them to the museum along with all the other trips we take. One of the best books I’ve read as a family is the Bible. We teach them the basic foundation and principles they need. It is an honor to be present in each day of my children’s development.”
– Lorna A.

“I'm done homeschooling, but my memories linger. The most precious, actually, are the ones where my older children thanked me for what I'd done. Having young adults appreciate the sacrifice and work done on their behalf is priceless.”
– Diane M.

“I have so many treasured memories! Our family trips, especially our trip to Fort Ticonderoga. We all love when we sit together while I read to them. Watching my children learn how to read has been so special. This is just to name a few.”
– A. Young from Norton, MA, Mom of 2

“Spending more time in prayer together”
– Caitlin, Mom of 4

“We have LOVED learning what WE want to learn when WE want to learn it, like... Reading the Green Ember series late into the night with no worries about having to get up early to get to school on time! THEN, creating a sort of fantasy world around characters from the series (swords and all!).”
– Christine C., Central MA

“Sitting around the table laughing and spending time together.”
– Stacy, mom of 3, from Holden, MA

“Being there to watch my daughter connect the dots of things that troubled her in school and watching her confidence burst as she learns, knowing that she was never ‘bad’ at it but lacked the confidence to motivate her.”
– Anonymous

“For several years, I ran a homeschoolers' project fair at our local library. It was relatively easy to plan, and I loved seeing the kids' enthusiasm for learning come shining through as they talked with visitors about their projects - their inspirations, their challenges, and their accomplishments. It was a precious opportunity to celebrate independent learning in community.”
– Anonymous

“Reading The Hobbit aloud. It took a long time, but it was a wonderful time together. This year we have The Lord of the Rings in our plans and I'm looking forward to it!”
– Erin C.

“My favorite homeschooling memory came when the kids were about 10 and 6. It was late August and we went to Kmart to buy a single school supply. (I took a picture that day of a sign in the store that said "School supply"). The parking lot was crowded and I wondered why. I really started wondering why the store was so crowded once we got in the store. The school supply we came for? A kite. We got our kite and got in line at the register. People in front of me and behind me had carts of pencils, notebooks, etc. That's when I realized why the store was crowded. Back to school shopping! We were the only ones with no pencils or notebooks but a single kite. I love that memory! (We studied wind patterns with our kite).”
– Carrie Gwynn from Somerville

“My children love science experiments and unit studies on animals! They enjoyed making volcanoes and our own lava lamps. One of our favorite household books is On My Way to a Happy Life by Deepra Chopra.”
– Aly, mom of 5

“There are too many to count - but a homeschool group trip to explore Montreal is up there! Our kids were dancing to street music and learning and practicing French - it was full of spontaneous learning opportunities and every one of us came away with a different special memory!”
– Sarah H.

“Camping trip to DC”
– Valerie S.

“Watching my child learn how to form cohesive paragraphs by understanding how to logically connect sentences.”
– Mom of 2

“Classes at Joppa Flats, then going to the beach after”
–Anonymous

“A couple times a winter we go feed the birds at a nearby Audubon center. We hold out seeds in our bare hands and the birds come and snatch seeds from us. Watching my children stand stock still in the cold, waiting for the flutter of wings and tiny claws to grasp their fingers, I am seeing in them an awe and love of the natural world. This kind of field trip creates a permanent curiosity about and love for the world around us, that fuels a desire to study and learn more than any test score or grade could do. I'm so glad we've had these quiet times in the woods as a family!”
– Saralynn from Westford

“Realizing just how well we know one another on a deep level: both me with each of my children, but also their sibling friendships… and seeing how proud and thankful they are to be homeschooled. They feel confident, smart, self-assured and capable. They always feel badly for traditionally schooled kids! (We pulled them out of a challenging and very good Christian private school.)”
– Mama of 4 in Western Mass

“Everything”
– Jacky mom of 3 ♥️

“Endless days at the pool and our favorite parks”
– my Five

“My favorite memory of homeschooling my son is a field trip to a local park for a science lesson! He loved being outside and in nature for school!”
– Andrea from Gardner

“When my in-laws, who are public school and were suspicious of homeschooling, told me I was doing an amazing job, and bragged to others about it.”
– Lizzie from Framingham

“When the children became frustrated when they couldn’t find an answer, I would quietly and firmly say, ‘Let’s find it together.’”
– Homeschool Grandmother

“We created a small home school pod -3 families, 6 kids all around matching ages. Each family subscribed to the snack box subscription Universal Yums. Each month the snacks came from a different country. The group learned about the country:climate, history, food, location on the map, etc. Each family cooked food from the country of the month and shared-while each child shared a presentation on something they were interested in from that country in an oral presentation. We ended our monthly meetup by tasting our snacks and grading them from best to worst, reading the pamphlet in the box about the snacks and other info on the location. Sometimes our new country discoveries would take us to local restaurants with food from the country or we would visit a local art museum and find artwork or artifacts from the country. Sometimes the kids would interview friends from the country of study, etc. The coop went on for 2 years. Such a great enriching experience- the kids all choose interesting things from the country. We all learned a ton of info. My kids still talk about it 3 years later. What a great way to tie in multiple educational subjects (foreign language, culinary arts, writing, reading, research, geography, science, presentation and public speaking skills, travel and tourism skills, etc).”
– Jill S. from Boston

“Our most treasured homeschooling memory is the unhurried morning snuggles reading the Bible and learning about God.”
– Aimee from Billerica

“Yesterday we went to Appleton Farms in Hamilton to see how trees are tapped for maple syrup. Then we came home and read about maple syrup making in Little House in the Big Woods…and we ate biscuits with maple syrup!”
– Rebecca M.

“Field trips to museums and attending lectures at our library.”
– Colleen C. of Shrewsbury

“The best part of homeschooling is that you can completely focus in one area that you will be working on your skills set for life. Like my daughter now to be on the path for Music Ed. ("You can just finish reading more than one book all day"). My daughter's words.”
– Juan Bautista, Dad of a wonderful homeschooler soon-to-be college student admitted with honors!

“The enormous amount of time I get to be with my children ❤️”
– CraftyMomofthree:)

“It was during Covid lockdown (pretty much the entire year of 2021 in Thailand.) My son and I would travel places together using the magic key we came up with. And we had so so much fun exploring the endless world of imagination inside our tiny playroom at home. We went to Mars, International Space Station, Dubai, flew an Airbus, and even traveled back in time, to name a few.”
– Varisara

“Running the Homeschoolers Magic Club and putting on magic shows for local groups.”
– Pat from Medford

“Reading aloud together; particularly the Little House on the Prairie series, and Because of Winn Dixie.”
– Kelly from Middleboro

“My best memory is also my saddest. Our family lost a son by suicide in October of 2020. We had started homeschooling our youngest three in September of 2020. The 2020-2021 school year was incredibly hard but also a blessed gift for us. Even though our son was a Senior in highschool, our actual school system never reached out to us with any kind of condolence. Our son was in a Vocational school, but still under our town school system. If our children had been in school, their grieving would have been limited to one week off. Homeschooling allowed us plenty of time to work through our grief and even find different programs and other homeschoolers that we could be networked with. Once we saw how much freedom, expansion of life and incredible love homeschooling could build in our family we decided we would never want to go back to regular school. In the past few years, we have connected with many homeschoolers who have also lost children. Homeschooling allows our children to not be pushed into the rush of life and gives us the freedom to take life as it comes.”
– Hollis E. M., mom of 5; Dracut Ma

“Teaching my son to make a home-made lunch for both of us to share.”
– Anonymous

“Traveling- so far we have visited Washington DC, Pennsylvania (to see the groundhog), camping in Maine and New Hampshire, England, and Alaska. We have tickets for Colorado in April and a flight to Washington state to start a cross country trip back home to the East Coast in June!”
– Julie C. from Massachusetts

“Groups:plays/ drama, felting projects. Playing in the woods with 5 nine year old boys for the winter.”
– Claudine

“We'd all climb into a beech tree to sit on its wide branches, lean up against its strong trunk, and listen the wind, birds, and insects while I read nature stories.”
– Anonymous

“Learning about butterfly life cycles and taking a trip to Deerfield to see it all in action. We had just as much fun as the kids and learned a bunch too!”
– The Monteiro family

“Field trip to a historical mansion at Christmas time and the mansion was covered it snow. The curators had wonderful Victorian activities for the kids to do.”
– Anonymous

“The two oldest kids did state reports, then helped to plan vacations to visit those states. Best family road-trip vacation we ever had! I’m looking forward to repeating this project next year with the two middle kids.”
– Karen L., mom of 5

“My favorite memory so far is when my child was doing math and started getting very excited because they finally grasped a concept they couldn’t while in public school. My second favorite is when my youngest started to learn to read she sounded out the word Mars. Reading was the subject I was intimidated to teach. I love just having my kids at home and experiencing these milestones with them versus a stranger teaching them.”
– Sarah B.

“Being part of a homeschool co-op with families who share our faith”
– Jen L. from Upton

“Homeschool field trips have been a huge win for us because my son was too anxious to enjoy field trips in school. We also had a wonderfully memorable homeschool day yesterday, baking Irish scones with his grandparents — measuring, fractions, chemistry, culture, reading, communication, life skills..it was a beautiful day.”
– Allie C.

“The day we measured the length of the Titanic down our street. It was a great way to visualize 883 feet!!”
– Rachel from Framingham

“My favorite memories are my sons teaching me something they’ve learned or observed on their own or we’ve learned together. Every Spring my youngest and I forage greens for a wild greens pizza. He likes to research the nutritional value of each plant and to learn how to identify them. Last year my son became interested in baking. So, for May 1 my son and I picked dandelions and learned how to make dandelion and lemon cupcakes. He had to convert the recipe from grams to ounces because it was from a German baker. When I accidentally added too much flour, my son figured out the correct ratios in order to proportion up the other ingredients instead of scratching the whole project and starting over.”
– M from Groton

“Just being with my kids every single day”
– Katherine G.