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A field trip or excursion, known as school trip in the UK and school tour in Ireland, is a journey by a group of people to a place away from their normal environment.
The purpose of the trip is usually observation for education, non-experimental research or to provide students with experiences outside their everyday activities, such as going camping with teachers and their classmates. The aim of this research is to observe the subject in its natural state and possibly collect samples. In western culture people first come across this method during school years when classes are taken on school trips... source
One thing I love about unschooling is that we have no normal environment. Last week was scheduled as Science City week. Yes, three days in a row to the same field trip.
Day 1, Tuesday. Arriving at Science City around 11 a.m. with a flyer inviting us to "Homeschool Days" I am a little disoriented to hear the unmistakable din of a hundred school children. In my experience, when a popular attraction announces special "Homeschool Day" the place has been reserved for home schoolers to the exclusion of busloads of field trippers. It's not that we want to stay away from public school kids- au contraire. It's just that most places that advertise "Homeschool Day" usually have the space set apart for the day. One of the advantages of homeschooling, after all, is not having to fight crowds at attractions. We notice the public school kids, unleashed into Science City for this three hours for likely the first-and last- time, are bouncing around the place like so many molecules. Bees buzzing from one nectar source to another, they touched, poked, prodded and otherwise tactally tasted bits the museum has to offer without getting very deep into anything.
My kids were much the same: the place is huge, and there is SO much to see and do. It's very exciting. We leave for the quiet of the planetarium.
Day 2, Wednesday, 11 a.m. The place is quiet. Too quiet. I get the explanation: there had been classes scheduled, but they had canceled. Without the distracting frenzy and without long lines, my kids are able to concentrate and take advantage of much one-on-one time with various earth sci displays. An activity involving pudding, cookie crumbs and gummy worms- sure to hook them. They buy fossils and minerals, and tour the Dino Dig area and the Nature Center before it's time to leave. I promise to bring them back but rush them out the door to make a 2:00 appointment.
Day 3, Thursday, 11 a.m. Classes are back. Either we have now been conditioned to huge crowds or this set of classes is more organized; they seem to be groups of 3-4 kids each led by one adult in almost family size pods. Yesterday we departed with a plan in mind, so today we head straight for the Citiblocks room and build for the first 40 minutes. We wind through the Mister E Hotel and take in the optical illusions, go out for lunch, walk through the Railroad Experience. Go out to the Freight Bridge where trains are passing under us. My 5yo exclaims "this is the best day ever for having a train go so close to me!" Back into Science City for an activity involving melted wax- This place really does a great job getting the kids' attention. I have to bribe the kids to leave with double-stuff Oreos.
The staff at Science City observed with me in conversation that there really did seem to be something about bringing the kids 3 days in a row that made the experience start to take a whole new shape. As with our regular visits to the zoo or Kaleidoscope, familiarity has changed the place from one that causes "it's so big let's get it ALL" excitement to one that can become focused and fully experienced.... becoming a real learning opportunity rather than just one of many brief experiences.Invest in the annual passes, and go regularly. You want these "field trips" to be the normal environment for learning. Go enough that the kids can plan just to focus in on one thing. We actually pack up read-alouds or even hands-on-activities and take them to the library, sculpture garden and or zoo, just to sit down together and do something we would have done at the dining table just a few years ago. Have you ever considered driving to the nearest Romanesque fountain while enjoying your stack of books on ancient Romans?
What's your favorite out-of-the-ordinary go-to spot?
2 comments:
We love going to the nature center down the street. There is a little grassy area near the marsh that we like to sit on a blanket and read our literature for the day. Then we always walk around the trail and observe the many birds, insects and other creatures. One day we were totally enthralled as we silently sat and watched a little brown rat scurry out, look at us, gather some of the fallen seeds from the bird feeders, and then scurry back to his nest over and over again. It is one of my kids favorite "field trips" in town. :)
I miss those sorts of field trips with my kids. They were my favorite part of homeschooling. And because we could go often and regularly we did buy the passes to the Science Center and Sea World.
Sea World is a lot more than a tourist attraction when you get to go for more than a day at a time.
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