Homeschool Family Travels: Concord, MA

The Stats:
Who traveled: 2 parents, 5 kids (ages 3, 5, 7, 10 & 13) and a service dog in training
Time spent: 5 days total. 2 travel days, 3 exploration days
Time of year: Early June
Transportation: Drove from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts
Accommodations: Cottage 1 at Concord's Colonial Inn

 

Traveling as a family of 7 (and a service dog) can be tricky, but Concord, Mass. was like a dream come true. Because our 4 legged friend is a service dog she is, by law, allowed to accompany us anywhere, but not everywhere is welcoming. This was not at all the case in Concord. The town is extremely dog friendly. There are doggie water fountains, water bowls on the sidewalks and dog friendly shops and restaurants, even for non-service dogs.

Pack your best walking shoes because almost everwhere on our itinerary is within walking distance to the center of town. It was important to us to stay right in the small town of Concord. We wanted to be able to walk where Emerson walked, and feel what it would have been like to walk from house to house - and yes I know, we're huge history nerds. Staying at Concord's Colonial Inn afforded us this opportunity. If you're staying outside Concord and driving in each day, I suggest downloading Concord's parking app, so you can see what is available without having to drive around. You can also add time to your spot via the app, so you don't have to worry about receiving a ticket if sautering around town takes longer than you anticipated - and we think it might.

A simple breakdown of our days

Mornings
Eat breakfast at cottage
Walk to Emerson Park to play & run the dog
Itinerary tours

Afternoons
Eat lunch at cottage (or a packed lunch for on-the-go)
Rest Time
Explore Concord's shops

Evenings
Eat dinner at cottage
Read/Relax

Accommodations

Most standard hotel rooms cannot comfortably accommodate the needs of our family. Typically, we stay in rental homes, such as an AirBnB. However, on this trip, we had a hard time finding a rental home right in town, and that was a priority for us. Concord's Colonial Inn has a "cottage" at the back of their parking lot. I'd call it an-old-house-converted-into first-floor-and-second-floor-apartments - but I understand why cottage sounds better. We opted to book the first floor cottage because it has a screened-in porch, giving us just a little extra room to spread out and eat meals. Cottage 1 (as they call it) is a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment. One of the bedrooms doubles as a living room. The couch was a pull out sofa able to accommodate our 3 youngest - or two when one needed to climb up in bed with us. We prefer to have our younger ones sleep in the same room with us when we're away because of their varying special needs, so the bedroom/living room situation worked out okay for us. It was a small space. The kitchen table only sat 4, so we were very happy to have the large table on the screened in porch. This trip wasn't really about the accommodations, it was about the adventuring. So, was it the cleanest? No, it was not. Could we hear everything the family that was staying in "Cottage 2" was saying? Yes. Yes, we could, and thankfully they were a lovely family. Did it meet my personal high accommodation standards? Absolutely not - but that's a me issue. The location was beyond perfect - and that was priority number one when booking this trip. When little feet were getting tired, and everyone needed sustenance, we never had far to go until we were at our base camp.

Meals

We do what we can to make our accommodations be as affordable as possible (travel off season, look for promo codes, stay with friends, etc.), but when it comes down to it, it's our highest cost for traveling because we need it to meet our needs. So, we often get creative with meals. We make sure everywhere we rent has at least a stovetop, oven, and refrigerator. We took a large cooler and packed it with 4 meals we cooked in advance (so they'd be easy to heat up after a long day of walking), a gallon of milk (we love our A2A2 raw milk), ingredients for sandwiches, fresh veggies & fruits. We also took a large storage container full of pantry items such as crackers, granola bars, pretzels, tortilla chips and other snack items. If you don't have the space to pack all that food, we highly recommend at least packing the pre-made meals. This will save you so much money! If you need to save space in the car, instead of packing lunch & snack items you can pick them up at Concord Market which is - you guessed it - within walking distance to the center of town. Now, with all that said, our family loves food. And drinks. And snacks. And trying new, aesthetically pleasing venues. But when you're a one income, self-employed family of 7, sacrifices must be made. So, on this trip we prioritized the location of our accommodations and taking tours that would enrich us as persons and we allocated our resources accordingly.

Here's what our meals looked like everyday:

Day 1: Travel Day

Breakfast at home
Packed lunches from home and ate in the car
Dinner at Treehouse Brewery


Day 2: Concord

Breakfast: Pre-made baked oatmeal from home & fruit at cottage
Mom & Dad got coffees from Caffe Nero
Lunch: Packed lunches (sandwiches, carrots & hummus - you know the drill)
Dinner: Pre-made meal from home


Day 3: Concord

Breakfast: Pre-made baked oatmeal from home, fruit & eggs at cottage
Mom & Dad got coffees from Haute Coffee
Lunch: Leftover dinner from last night at cottage
Dinner: Pre-made meal from home
Bedford Ice Cream for dessert


Day 4: Concord

Breakfast: Fruit & eggs at cottage
Mom & Dad got coffees from Haute Coffee
Lunch: Ate out - our plans epically failed, read more about it below
Dinner: Leftover dinner from last night at cottage


Day 5: Travel Day

Breakfast: Pastries (with coffee for Mom & Dad) from Haute Coffee
Treehouse Brewery for a late lunch/early dinner, then any snacks and sandwich things we had left over for the rest of the car ride

You can see that we didn't completely deprive ourselves of eating out. Mom & Dad got coffee everyday - which we chalk up to "market research" since we earn our livlihood by serving up exceptional coffee : ) And, as I said, we love good food & good beverages so stops at Treehouse Brewery made sense for us. We didn't eat out at every meal while in Concord so we could make those stops happen. On day 4 of the trip we had planned on grabbing dinner at a local spot, but even in spite of Mrs. Homebody's epic research & planning skills, the spot we chose was closed. So, we hit up Concord Market, grabbed some chips, salsa, guac, and a rotisserie chicken and ate it at the picnic table outside! It wasn't what we planned, but it was still dinner and made for a great memory.

Itinerary & Lesson Plans

And now, the most exciting part, the itinerary & education guide. I researched, and researched, and researched some more about which stops to prioritize for our family and this is what we came up with.

Included in this 36-page guide is a sample Itinerary, blank itineraries, books to read for the kids and for mom & dad, too (you should never stop learning!), an education guide to prep for the trip, games for some of the itinerary stops, and explanations of tour stops so you can be your own tour guide!

While I can't stress enough that having a local, engaging tour guide is my personal favorite thing about tours - sometimes, with a modest budget, some extra needs kids, a service dog, and a limited timeframe, being our own tour guide needs to suffice. Our hope is that with this guide, you can make the trip magical for your family, and easy on yourself and your budget - especially if you hate planning! Obviously I love planning, so thank you for letting us share this with you. We want this trip to feel accessible and doable. If your family has older kids that can hang with all the tours and you would rather prioritize guided tours, I encourage you to contact the Concord Vistor's Center and set up private tours for your family. In our experience, they are easy to work with, responsive, and very knowledgeable. No matter what ages your family is comprised of, explore their website for things to do in Concord during the dates of your stay to get the most out of your trip!

Honorable Mentions

We took this trip at the beginning of June, and (thank the Lord) had perfect weather. Although the following places are not on the itineraries, they are well worth a visit if you want to extend or supplement your trip, or swap something out!

Early in the morning, Mr. Homebody would take a short walk through town to look for coffee. We own a coffee company, so trying out coffee in the places we visit is a must for us. We tried several cafes but our favorite by far was Haute Coffee on Walden Street.

Every morning we walked to Emerson Park to run the dog and let the kids play. I am typically not a fan of playgrounds, but this one is amazing. It was easy to see all the littles from one vantage point, there is an open grassy area to throw baseball with the dog and the big kids, and there is even some shade to sit and drink your morning coffee in.

We wish we could have seen and done it ALL in Concord, but alas, we had responsibilities at home that we needed to tend to, and only had 3 full days to spend in Concord. Here are some places that we are hoping to explore on our next trip to Concord, Massachusetts. These would be great options to extend your stay, or make a swap in your family's personal itinerary. We encourage you to make it work for your family!

South Bridge Boathouse
Open seasonally. Kayak & Canoe rentals

The Battle Road Trail
A five mile trail of historic sites connecting Concord to Lexington

Brewster's Woods Wildlife Sanctuary
Throeau related collection of documents and artifacts.

Old Hill Burial Ground
This is Concord's earliest burial site, pre-dating Sleepy Hollow Cemetary. You can find some of Concord's earliest settlers here.

 

Happy Adventuring!