THE ROLE OF THE MICROADVENTURE IN PLACE BASED HOMESCHOOLING!

Our life as Place Based Homeschoolers has been defined by microadventures. It’s almost impossible not to have them!!!

Microadventures are described by Alastair Humphreys as “an adventure that is short, simple, local and cheap – yet still fun, exciting refreshing and rewarding.” (Visit his website here!) They’re a fab way to intentionally boost your Place Based Homeschooling – and you can do it in numerous ways! A simple trip to hunt for conkers or forage for blackberries counts as a microadventure. As does an hour pottering around your city’s Chinatown, or a local historic building. Even trying some ethnic foods you’ve never had before could be a microadventure!!! When you consider microadventures against the backdrop of Place Based Education – culture, heritage and landscape – you can see how just about any trip or activity can become a microadventure if you want it to!

As a family, we’ve even done microadventure projects over the years – how many different local playgrounds we can visit in a summer, for example, or how many different swimming pools, or castles! (These projects are such a good idea if you’re just getting started with PBHS! We highly recommend writing a list like this and then working through it one place at a time!) It’s a fab way to get lots of variety into your days, and get the kids noticing the differences between each place – particularly if you purposefully pick a nature themed, wooden playground one day, and a more modern, brightly coloured plastic one, the next day. There’s no good or bad, just different, and each has their place in the world! (See our post on “Worldschooling right where you are!” for more!)

The joy of microadventures is that they’re so small they’re easy to fit in! And if you can’t fit the one you’ve got in mind in, you can likely think of something even smaller or shorter to do! Win!!! They’re also very low prep – perfect for busy homeschool moms! (And there’s stuff you can do to make them even lower prep! Check back later for future posts on that!)

So if you’re considering heading down the Place Based Homeschooling path, have a think about microadventures! They’re a fab way to start PBHS, and a fab way to bring joy, interest and fun to your homeschooling! And don’t forget this great quote from Alastair Humphreys – “Adventure is a state of mind”!!!

Let us know what microadventures you’ve had in the comments!