Remote Homeschooling: 4 Tips for Finding Extra-Curricular Activities

Are you homeschooling far from the nearest city? Whether yours is a rural homeschooling farm family or you live in a remote location as we do, you face challenges that city and suburban homeschoolers don’t. One of those is finding extra-curricular activities for your kids.

The simple fact is that when you live in the country, a really small town or village, or even the wilderness, there aren’t as many (or any extra-curricular activities available for kids. While today’s wide range of homeschooling curriculum options means you can pick and choose your academic programs, it can be hard to get access to other activities, especially those that match your child’s interests.

If you’re having a tough time finding extra-curricular options for your homeschooled children, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and do some digging! Here are a few tips to help you get started.

Look for Online Groups and Activities

For all the potential online dangers and questionable activities available to children, the internet also offers a wide range of wonderful opportunities for kids to take part in courses, groups and communities virtually. Go online to find children’s’ book clubs, music lessons, second language lessons, and even crafts classes. 

Replace Organized Activities With Family Outdoor Activities

Some families are homeschooling in areas that are so remote that even commuting to the closest place is tricky. For example, our family homeschools and homesteads while living off the grid in a boreal forest in Canada’s far north.

We’re lucky because we can drive out our private track and dirt road to get to the paved highway that leads to town and lots of activities for our kids. However, I know of at least one family homeschooling in a fly-in community. They only make it to town in the winter when they can drive the ice road system (roads built on the ice on our northern lakes).

So here’s what you can do. Focus on non-academic activities that reflect your family values, culture, and environment.

Replace organized extra-curricular activities with outdoor activities you can do as a family. For example, in our family, we arrange our homeschool schedule so we spend time together hiking, foraging, learning wilderness survival skills, fishing, or hunting.

Ask The Locals

As we learned the hard way when we lived in a very isolated part of Ontario, it can be hard to find activities or lessons for homeschoolers because there were no print or online listings or ads. And that’s because, in areas where everyone knows each other, no one thinks to advertise for music teachers, for example, because the local families already know who teaches what.

So sometimes you just have to ask. People who should know could include:

• The post office staff
• Staff at the medical center or doctor’s office
• Cashiers at the grocery store
• Bank staff

Does Your Local School Welcome Homeschoolers to After School Activities?

Where is your closest local public school? If it’s within commuting distance, talk to the principal. Sometimes school boards allow these schools to welcome homeschoolers to their sports teams and after-school clubs.

Homeschooling when you live far from others can be challenging, yet also incredibly rewarding. Finding extra-curricular activities for your children IS possible – it just takes some determination.

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