We’ve called ourselves worldschoolers for as long as I can remember! (If you’re new to worldschooling, check out our what is worldschooling article here!) But in the last few years, we’ve slipped into something different without even realising! (I’m looking at you pandemic travel restrictions!) Place based education – or in our case, Place Based Homeschooling!
At this point, you might be wondering what is place based education? Well somewhere in the middle of where worldschooling, wildschooling and project based education meet, you’ll find place based education! It immerses kids in local heritage, culture and landscape, letting them experience and discover all an area has to offer, right from the enormous nearby castle with its lengthy history and stories, to the specific flowers and minibeasts growing and living in your back yard, and learning about it all. It’s forming deep, interconnected relationships with everything around you and developing a real sense of place. And creating a deep web-like knowledge of your own world. (So much learning!!!) Of course, this means place based education fits in perfectly with homeschooling – whereas many schools seem to see place based education as a one-off field trip to learn about a specific location for a day, homeschoolers can explore to a much deeper level, spending their days immersed in local history spots, and studying the natural world around them – visiting the same spots again and again, and noting how they change. Isn’t that fab?
If all these terms are new to you, let’s break it down –
Worldschooling is learning from travel and the world around you.
And wildschooling is getting to know your local nature, with all its intricacies and quirks, intimately!
With project based education meaning learning by topic, rather than separating the subjects and teaching them singly.
We’ve always been huge proponents of worldschooling wherever you are – exploring everything you can nearby, wherever that may be – even at home! So it’s been quite an easy transition to Place Based Homeschooling! (So easy, we barely noticed it!) And we’re loving it!!! I’ll be writing more in future weeks about exactly how we go about Place Based Homeschooling, so be sure to come back and learn more!
If you’re looking for further resources on any of the areas mentioned try these as a starting point –
Here and here for our other articles on worldschooling
Wilder child for information on wildschooling
Camp Creek Blog for information on project based homeschooling. (Sadly not active any more, but a treasure trove of information!)
A Different Way To Go 