Kind of Love This Article

[published an unfinished draft of Becca's]

It's always fun to read about other parents who are making some of the same crazy choices we are.  Almost everything in this article sounded pretty familiar, except the knitting...I keep meaning to work on that!  

Hip Hip Hooray for Field Trip Day!

So one of the advantages of homeschooling is that we can go on field trips wherever we want whenever we want and stay as long as we want. I love going on field trips, sometimes I think I enjoy them more than the kids! And I think we all learn better when we are actually there, seeing and touching what we're learning about. So I decided that we would take a weekly field trip-every Friday. Most of these field trips we go on by ourselves, but sometimes we'll join other homeschooling families for our fun.

Some of the things we've done include: touring the post office, going behind the scenes at the bank, visiting a violin shop and learning how violins are made, caroling & performing a puppet show at nursing homes, visiting a butterfly exhibit, seeing plays, and of course, taking advantage of the zoo, aquarium, and musueums in the area.

In my quest for a new place to go each week, I've made some great finds. Some places are unexpected. I took the kids to a very small art museum that is only about 5 minutes from where I grew up, but I had never been there before. They have windows where you can watch local artists at work, and their art is displayed on the walls.

I also found a great indoor (i.e. winter survival) play place that was fantastic. It's basically a big warehouse space that has several areas sectioned off for different types of activites. All the walls are very low, so I can see from one end of the building to the other which made it easy to let the boys roam while I played with Annie. And they had all kinds of things for the kids to do: a real (old, but real) fire engine that the kids could climb and drive, including gear to wear; an entire area filled with sand and sand toys for the kids to climb in and get their fill of the beach in February; a puppet theatre & puppets; a real ambulance, dentist chair, and exam table for some pretty realistic 'playing doctor'; a dance floor complete with mirror, ballet bar, tap shoes, and music-I had to beg Annie to stay a little longer so I could keep dancing!; play food, grocery carts, cash registers; slides, jungle gyms...the list goes on. I think kids learn so much through play, and there were plenty of wonderful playing opportunities here. There were so many different areas that none of us got bored, and we only left after 4 1/2 hours because we had to get home!

So...take a closer look around where you live. Talk to some friends, check online, look in the paper. Even if you've grown up there, there just may be a few surprises waiting around the corner. And don't be afraid to try something new, I've been having at least as much fun during these 'children's activities' as my kids!

So what are some field trips you've been on (either as a kid or an adult!)?