It has been one big week of field trips! No one should ever worry that homeschoolers don’t get out enough or get enough social interaction. (That is totally another post for another time.) I can guarantee you that no homeschooler in my house is deprived of cool activities. I can also guarantee you that the mother of said homeschoolers is very much whipped from all the comings and goings of the week.
Yesterday, we spent the whole day at The Scarecrow Patch. (Okay, not the whole day. We left home a little earlier to get those basketball shoes I mentioned that he needed. I am happy to report that we were able to get a great deal on Niki High Tops at the FIRST store we went to, and we got the FIRST pair he tried on. Thank you God!) Anyway, after we found the shoes, then we went to the The Scarecrow Patch. And you’d think that I’d have some great pictures, but indeed, right as I went to snap the first picture I found that our camera battery was dead. :(
Maybe you can just look at these pumpkin Patch pictures from two years ago and just imagine them all happening yesterday with my boys each being several inches taller and with Asa’s teenager hair being several inches longer. Oh my, look how little Malachi was. Aw, now I’m getting all weepy. My sweet babies.
I didn’t join my kids on the zip line this year like I have in years past. Not sure why. I guess I was having too much fun visiting with the other moms this year.
Oh yeah, there I am two years ago. It’s an awful shame you can’t see me very well in this picture.
After spending the entire day at the The Scarecrow Patch yesterday, today we got to go to Wessels Farm, a local living history museum, where the younger boys were able to experience a school day in the 1920’s. It was SO cool. They even got to pack a lunch and carry it in a tin bucket. (Again, camera battery dead. This time because under all my dust and rubble I couldn’t find the charger. sigh ) (I finally found it by the way, AFTER both field trips.)
Our older boys were taught all kinds of facts and information about Western Expansion and the Lousianna Territory and wow, Wessels Farm is a cool place!
Most weeks we don’t even have one field trip, much less two. But, since this was a heavy field trip week and field trips are on my mind, I thought I’d throw out a field trippy question:
What’s your favorite field trip memory, either with your kids…or from when you were a kid and went on a field trip?
I will say that I have very fond memories of my mom packing a Twinkie and a Grape Pop for me to drink with my field trip lunch. We NEVER got Twinkies except for field trips. Aw, too bad I know what Twinkies are made of now or I’d carry on the tradition. I guess I’ll just carry that memory forever in my heart. :)
Hi Laura! I’m always reading your blog but have never commented before :) my husband and I homeschool our eight year old through a charter school. We pick the curriculum and set up lesson plans but we meet with an “educational planner” once per month. We love it! I think my son has way more social interactions with homeschool than he did with public school. He definitely has way more field trips! Our favorite field trips so far have been to watch the Miramar, CA airshow and the Mission Bay kayak trip to check out the native sea life. My favorite memory of childhood field trips is not so much where we went but what my mom packed in our lunch. Homemade hoagie sandwiches, a store bought juice drink, cookies, and chips! What a treat :) oh wow this comment is getting long! Bye! And I’ll continue reading your blog daily :)
Looking back at it, the most interesting field trip I had when I was a child was when we had a tour of a nuclear reactor “These are the turbines…” and afterwards went cross country skiing on the land surrounding the power plant. Can you imagine a grade school taking that field trip today?
I don’t really remember any fieldtrips from when I was in school but our homeschool group has one about once a month. I think our family all agrees that the pumpkin patch is the favorite.
Well we’re in the East… specifically PA. So we’ve taken the kids to a few places or their school has. We’ve gone to Gettysburg, Harrisburg, Philly, DC, The Crayola Factory and Crystal Caves this Summer.
Growing up my fave place I had to say was going to Washington DC. As a fam we seemed to go there a lot!
That’s a toss up between the FBI, where they did a background check on me, for the kids. Or the Coast Guard, where the kids were put in an emergency basket and played with their dog. :) Both were nere our house and is something we still talk about today.
When my mom packed my lunch, she always added a frozen capri sun to help keep things cold. If I was lucky enough to get a soda, she always wrapped it in foil.
I remember for one field trip I had to pack my own lunch because she was out of town. I tried to put the two above ideas together… Freezing soda is a BAD idea!!!
Lesson Learned!
As for favorite field trip location? I don’t really remember, but I’m LOVING making those memories with my own children. So far, it would have to be the science museum.
Wow… my mom did the same thing w/the foil. But I don’t think I ever got a soda. Maybe I saw her do it w/my brother’s lunch. lol
My favorite field trip was when we went to the planetarium. I think I was in second or third grade and I thought it was amazing that you could see the stars all around you , just like being outside.
Also someone bought some “space food” which was just dehydrated ice cream and shared it with everyone. It was fun to pretend to be astronauts.
Some of the trips that stick out to me (from my childhood)
My Old Kentucky Home in 3rd or 4th grade (and then I shared the pics with my 7th grade History class in GA)
Atlanta Cyclorama
I love taking my kids to the zoo. The Madison WI zoo is free admission so we went there a lot. And the Lincoln NE zoo is a great size for two small children to walk around.
Oh, and in Chicago, I love the Museum of Science and Industry. There’s lots of hands on stuff there for kids (and parents) to experience science.
My two-year-old had a “field trip” this week to his sister’s kindergarten class when I took their aunt’s rat over for Show-and-Tell.
I get cracked up everytime I see her with that rat. And I also get the shivers. I’m not such a big fan of rats. :)
When I checked in at the office, one of the secretaries said that the kids would be thrilled even though she was not. And it was a good chance for the kids to hear some positive things about rats instead of “rats spread the plague.” (And it was the fleas on the rats that spread the plague.)
We lived right by My Old Ky Home about 5 years ago! We picniced there right after moving to Bardstown and I fell in love. The magnolias were all blooming, the bells were chimiing Stephen Foster songs every 15 minutes, and we ate under the big gazebo. We lived there for a year, and took quite a few beautiful picnics there. I still live in Ky and I can’t imagine anywhere I’d love more.
Camera battery is a challenge to me also. I carry a little pouch in my purse and keep the charger with the camer and have a transformer I can use in the car in the electric outlet. (newer car). Saved my rear on trips when I wanted candid shots on the spur of the moment and the battery was low. Got some good shots of the Fla. keys after recharging on the 3 hour drive down there.
Hey Laura!!
You were saying you can’t carry on the tradition of the twinkies with the field trip lunch… you might have to make some adjustments but here’s a website that shows you how to make your own twinkies!!!
http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/Hostess-Twinkie-Recipe.html
I remember so few field trips from my childhood, compared to the amount of field trips we have now with homeschool! But my favorite was to Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Ky. The shakers were actually a religious cult, but that fact aside, the old village is breathtaking.
We’ve gone several times since I’ve been an adult, but I took my kids there for a field trip two weeks ago. We hiked 3 miles, picked quite a few apples from their 100-year old trees, and took a riverboat ride on the KY river. It was wonderful. Wonderfully exhausting, too!
I’ve made plans with another mom to take our kids on a field trip every other week and it has been such a blessing. There is so much cool stuff to do, and so far we’ve only spent $30. (I have 3 kids!)
My family lived in Wilmore, KY, when I was ages 5 thru 7. I’ve been back to visit a few times, but one of my most favorite places is Shaker Town!(that’s what I call it) The food is so good and I love the history! Gorgeous, especially this time of year! I love KY!!
One of my favorite field trips was going to a science discovery center, followed by a trip to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. I would love to go again.
Another field trip that really stands out in my mind was from when I was in Kindergarten in Public School. We took a field trip to my teacher’s home and ate our picnic lunches in her backyard. We didn’t really do anything, but I remember it distinctly.
Our favorite spot this past year has been the Georgia aquarium. What an awesome place!
My favorite was the pumpkin patch trip in first grade that my mom chaperoned. It was the first and last field trip she ever came on :( Not much of a participator… my mom.
Laura – You know what you need to do don’t you? Make your OWN HOMEMADE HEALTHY TWINKIE!!! I also love twinkies!
Laura! That is so funny! I always got Suzi Q’s and a grape pop with my packed lunch for field trips! My kids don’t even know what a Suzi Q is! Sad but do you know what is in those things? Yuck!
We live near Gettysburg PA so we went there a lot in school. I went on the web site of the farm and it was neat to read about life back in the day and it came at a good time. I went to make supper and found we had no water. Our pump burnt up and it is a Saturday night. My husband is working hard to get it fixed. It is not going so well hahah.
I see another commenter had the same idea I had. I think this favorite memory of yours could be a challenge to you to make your own homemade twinkies! If you think about it, they are really just cake rolls (which I know you’ve made before) filled with vanilla cream filling. :-)
This year I took my girls on a blindfolded field trip. It was just to a local park but they LOVED it!!!
http://foreverinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2010/08/blindfolded-field-trip.html
I don’t know what my favorite field trip was, but I definately remember my LEAST favorite — the waste water treatment plant. Definately not very exciting and VERY stinky! What were those public school teachers thinking?!