Why Field Trips?


September is rapidly flowing away from me, and with it the potential to do September-ish things like field trips to the apple farm. We had visitors most of September and a death in the family, so we spent most of September otherwise engaged.

When I look at my calendar for the fall, I see great field trip ideas. I’m hoping to do some of them this week, when our world starts to get into its new normal routine.

Why go on a field trip? First, it gets you out of your house and out of your normal routine. Now that we are indoors a little more often and we are home, the house gets messy and I get down about that. Going on a field trip gets you all out of the house. The process of getting there is exciting, as is the visit itself.

Remarkably few people use the resources that are in their own town. A lot of people ignore museums and art galleries and aquariums and gorgeous natural features. They visit them once and then get used to them being there. Going on a field trip allows you to get familiar with these places that many people take for granted.

Field trips broaden your horizons. We are going to use our field trips to focus on cultures that we are not all that familiar with, either visiting cultural areas of town or visiting museums of culture. We also use field trips for seasonal events, like the apple farm and the pumpkin patch. Field trips allow you to explore real life and a broader life than you live right now, and isn’t that one of the reasons to homeschool?

Field trips are an area where homeschoolers can really shine. School trips require a lot of logistics and paperwork, so a lot of school kids go on one or two trips a year. As a homeschooler, field trips are a family event that can happen every week. Lucky kids!

Image courtesy of ladosha at stock exchange.