Camping in Georgia Mountains with 4 Kids! + Taking Learning Outside of the Classroom

Family Life

One of the great perks of homeschooling is the freedom to pick up and go without asking permission. Last week we took our four kids, who are eight, six, four and one and a half, on our first camping trip as a family of six. We went with our friends, the Michaels family (we love you for hanging with our circus), and we didn’t crack open a single workbook. We still learned a lot.

What you’ll get from this post

  • Where we camped near Tallulah Gorge State Park
  • The learning moments we found on the trip, from a museum to a dam to a campfire dinner
  • The mindset that turns any trip into a learning trip
  • What was hard with a toddler, and what we’d do differently

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Where we went

We went up to the north Georgia mountains near Tallulah Gorge State Park and found an awesome campground, River Falls at the Gorge. We spent four days hiking, fishing, river tubing and cooking meals over the fire, and the kids loved sleeping in a tent.

Since this was our first time taking everyone, I was a little nervous. When we got there, I honestly thought, “Oh no, what have we signed up for for the next four days?” But they did really well, and I would go again even in this stage of life. It is doable.

Look at the trip through a learning lens

Here’s the big idea. If you go in with the mindset of “What can we learn today?”, you’ll be surprised how many learning opportunities come up. You can turn almost anything into a learning opportunity. Plus, it was so refreshing to be out in nature, a much-needed break, at least for a few nights. Then I was ready for my own bed.

Learning moments we found

  • The trailhead museum. Tallulah Gorge State Park has a little museum at the trailhead, so we learned some history about the area, the dam and the lake, and the wildlife all around.
  • Acorns and squirrels. Finn found acorns on the trail, so we talked about who likes to eat acorns: squirrels.
  • Seeing a dam in real life. Our oldest, Titus, had just learned in science how energy is created, so this was an awesome chance to see a dam and go over how it creates energy.
  • Feeding fish and ducks. We got to see them really up close.
  • Fishing. The kids learned how to provide for ourselves by fishing.
  • Cooking over a fire. The big kids learned how to make dinner over a fire.

Those are just a few. I’m sure you could find even more. Everything else was adventurous fun and time well spent together as a family. Priceless.

The falls and all those stairs

On our hike to the falls, we took all the stairs down, down, down to the bridge, then came back up the stairs on the other side. The water was so pretty, blue and green.

What was hard with a toddler

It was definitely challenging with our one-and-a-half-year-old, and even our four-year-old at times. Wearing Theo on our hike was quite the workout.

We also picked a campsite right on the river. It was beautiful, and falling asleep to rushing water every night was lovely. But it was hard to fully relax, because the toddler kept wanting to run to his demise. We’ll probably skip riverside camping until he’s older.

The good news: the campground also had a small mountain on the other side of our site, and the kids loved climbing up and down it.

Key takeaways

  • Homeschooling gives you the freedom to travel and take learning on the road.
  • Ask “What can we learn today?” and you’ll find lessons everywhere.
  • Park museums, dams, fishing and campfire cooking all count as school.
  • Camping with four kids, including a toddler, is hard but doable.
  • With a runner under two, skip the riverside campsite for now.

What viewers say

We just went through Hurricane Sally. I made it a learning experience. You can turn almost anything into a learning experience. 😊

@RussellsLovingLife on YouTube

It looks like you guys had lots of fun! My husband has been wanting to go camping but I’ve been reluctant because it’s so out of my element and i didn’t know how the kids would do being so young. I think I’m ready to give it a try now lol

@MacieKaylan on YouTube

Things we mentioned

Planning your own family adventure? Come hang out with our crew on YouTube. Subscribe to The Johnson Crew on YouTube.

FAQ

Is camping with a toddler doable?

Yes, but it’s hard. Ours wanted to run toward the river constantly, so we’ll skip riverside sites until he’s older. Wearing him on hikes helped.

How do you make a family trip educational?

Go in asking “What can we learn today?” We used a park museum, a dam, fishing, feeding ducks and cooking over a fire as lessons.

Where did you camp near Tallulah Gorge?

We stayed at River Falls at the Gorge, a campground near Tallulah Gorge State Park in the north Georgia mountains.

More from our crew

Full transcript

Hi welcome to today's episode of The Johnson Crew travel if you've been following me for a while you know that my channel is all about homeschooling and mom life but we got to take a camping trip last week which is one of the great perks of homeschooling it's just the freedom to pick up and go without having to ask permission but we get to take learning on the road if we want so I wanted to bring you along on our trip and show you how we take learning on the road

And we're able to make our trip educational as well so we took our four kids camping who are eight six four and one and a half and we went with another family as well we love you michael's family for hanging with our circus and we went up to the north georgia mountains near the tallulah gorge state park and found an awesome campground there we had such a blast we went hiking fishing river tubing and cooked meals over the fire and the kids loved sleeping in a tent this was our first time taking everyone

So I was a little nervous but they did really well not to say that the trip was without its challenges especially with the one and a half year old four kids in all different directions is really hard we got there and I was like oh no what have we signed up for for the next four days but I would actually go again even in this stage of life so it is doable so even though we didn't crack open a single workbook on this trip there were still plenty of learning opportunities along the way if you have the mindset of what can we learn today you'll be surprised how many learning opportunities really do arise along the way

So it's just a matter of having that lens on while you're out and about and you can really turn anything into a learning opportunity plus it was just so refreshing for us to be out in nature like this too a much needed break at least for a few nights and then I was ready to be back in my own bed the tallulah gorge state park has a little museum at the trailhead so we got to learn some history about the area and about the dam that's there in the lake

And about the wildlife that's all around show me what is that oh it's an acorn egg one too yeah I fell off the tree right there show us finn you know who likes to eat acorns squirrels good job our oldest son titus actually just recently learned about how energy is created in his science class so this was an awesome opportunity for him to see a damn in real life and reiterate how the dam works to create energy we also got to feed some fish and some ducks really up close

And learn how to provide for ourselves by fishing um and the big kids got to learn how to make a dinner over a fire so those are just a few of the things that we use as learning opportunities on our trip I'm sure you could find even more and then everything else was just great adventurous fun and time well spent together as a family making memories priceless now it was definitely challenging with our one and a half year old and even our four-year-old at times wearing theo on our hike was quite the workout

And then we also chose a campsite that was right on the river which was amazing it was beautiful and going to sleep every night to the sound of the rushing water was just lovely but it was hard to fully relax because the one-and-a-half-year-old kept wanting to run to his demise so that was a little bit stressful so we've learned a few tips on this trip and we'll probably skip the riverside camping for a while until he's older but this campground also had a mountain on the other side of our campsite which the kids loved climbing up

And down there he is well okay good morning so so hey what do you think of the falls wow we started our trail over there we did all the stairs down down down till the bridge and then came up all these stairs this way whoa look at that see blue and green there he is where's finn there he is where's ben there he is oh boy you

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