RahRah Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 (edited) Excluding trips to the library, how many field trips, that are educational in nature or specifically tied to lessons, do you average each year? Where do you go on your field trips? Edited July 21, 2011 by RahRah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Well, I can adapt any field trip to make it educational! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 If we are tying field trips to specific lessons that we are studying currently then pretty much none. We've been to the historical sites in Boston between years we studied the American Revolution. We've been to the alpaca farm and have never studied alpacas. But on average our between our homeschool group and life opportunities we average 7-8 field trips a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarcyB Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 As many as we can fit in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RahRah Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 I was just looking at our calendar for the year and realized I have a lot more field trips planned than I thought - I'm wondering if it's too many? We're doing: Botanical Gardens Science Center History Museum Archeology Museum Anthropology Museum Fossil dig site Mine tour Cave tour State Capitol Nature Center Indian Mounds Children's Museum Art Museum Puppet Institute Art Center Theater (plays) Concert (music) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 As many as we can fit in! :iagree: I estimated 30-39 for us. We do lots of field trips, educational tours and so on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stratford Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 As a newbie, I'm interested to know what the "norm" is (ha! like there's really a norm for anything in HS.) Field trips really float my boat, and I know my kids love them nearly as much as I do. We live in an area that is loaded with great field trip possiblities and looking over my list, we may not have time for all of them. I'd like to try, though....one of the reasons we were so drawn to homeschooling was the opportunities our kids would have to get out of the classroom and see and experience things in person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I realized after I voted that I was thinking only about "intentional" field trips, things that I specifically seek out because they align with what we're studying. As part of our lifestyle, though, we end up doing lots and lots of things that can be considered educational, just because we enjoy them. For example, when I was working on my son's portfolio for this past year, I realized he had seen 37 live performances (including theatre, ballet, opera, instrumental and vocal concerts, dance, musical theatre), only five of which "counted" as field trips for subjects studied that year. We go to museums on vacations and day trips just for fun, like when we were in New York for our daughter's graduation trip and spent a day at the Cloisters. So, yes, he's learning lots of things from all of those experiences (more, I sometimes think, than he does from the activities I actually plan), but I don't count them as field trips unless the activity relates directly to something he's studying that year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snickelfritz Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 (edited) I voted 10-12. The tricky thing, is that we would do some of those if we weren't homeschooling. I see value in exposing my kids to things. Since we would be limited to weekends and vacations, it would be less. But, I don't have to track them and differentiate between school and family trips. Plus, we've been able to travel with my dh on some work trips that were fabulously educational (D.C., San Francisco, etc...) Nature centers, museums, the ice cream plant, Arabian Horse Show, musical presentations, library programs(everything from puppet presentations of literature to Native American storytellers), zoo, aquarium, cultural programs, etc.... We live in a city and have as many opportunities as we could possibly want. Edited July 21, 2011 by snickelfritz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I voted 7-9 but this year will probably be more. Ours usually don't correspond to what we are studying...but the kids will remember it when we get around to studying it :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I voted less than 4 because we go on maybe one or two per year now that my sons are older (8th & 11th grades). When they were in their elementary grade years we were part of a co-op that took at least 4 field trips per year. On top of that we had several great park systems nearby that offered activities--guided tours and other special programs. And we were members of the museum center that had 3 museums--history, natural history (science), and children's--which we went to at least once a month. And we signed up for the Symphony for Children concerts. When the kids were younger we took any opportunity for enrichment activities. Part of what helped is that there was so much available within a short drive--30 minutes! As they got older they got busier with their studies, and we wanted field trips to be tied more closely to their studies. Plus we moved to an area where many of the good field trips for their age would require driving at least an hour into the city. We did a couple of those, got completely wiped out from it, and were just reluctant to do more activities like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I don't think we did any traditional field trips this last year, but that's okay, because any time we leave our front gate, it's like a field trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailorMom Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 It would be helpful to break this down by grades... When my sons were much younger - we did one or two a week. Say - until 4th grade. As they have gotten older, they have slowly diminished in number. I'd say last year (7th grade) DS and I maybe did 3 the whole year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calandalsmom Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 we try for at least two a month. My kids are 14, 11 and 6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeegal Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 It would be helpful to break this down by grades... When my sons were much younger - we did one or two a week. Say - until 4th grade. As they have gotten older, they have slowly diminished in number. I'd say last year (7th grade) DS and I maybe did 3 the whole year. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 For several years, we left the house every Thursday for a field trip. I consider all field trips to be educational, even if they don't specifically have anything to do with anything we're studying. How could they *not* be "educational"??? :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renthead Mommy Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Well I just recently typed up our end of year review and I had at least 3 handwritten pages of trips we'd taken, so I voted 50+. At least for last year. Probably close to that this year as well. Last year we did trips to Boston, Portland, Maine, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Puerto Rico, Charlotte, NC, Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, Philadelphia, and various other places in PA, NJ and NY state. We go into NYC at least monthly. We go to museums, events, shows, performances, historical sites, interesting sites, National Parks, National Historic sites, churches, botanical gardens, zoos. We go to see places, see people and see things. We go just for the experience of going someplaces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*lifeoftheparty* Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Well, I'm the field trip coordinator for my CC Co-op :) We do a lot of trips as a group, then we do stuff as a family. We are studying American History this year. We live on the outskirts of DC, here's what I have planned: * Homeschool days at Williamsburg/Jamestown/Yorktown * Nighttime Monument Walk (WW2, Vietnam, Lincoln, Korean, FDR, Jefferson Monuments) * Ft. McHenry (Baltimore) * Bureau of Engraving and Printing * Hammond Harwood House (Annapolis) * HHH (above) for Pumpkin Walk (you celebrate All Hallows Eve the way colonial kids did, then parade up Main St. Annapolis) * Mt. Vernon * Museum of Civil War Medicine * US Army Band Christmas Concert * The Nutcracker (DC themed!! The Nutcracker looks like G. Washington and there are Cherry Blossom fairies instead of sugar plum fairies, at the historic Warner Theater in DC!! My favorite!) * Tour of Capitol Building, see Congress in action * National Archives * Police Station * Post Office * Baltimore Museum of Industry * Supreme Court & Library of Congress (same day, right next to each other) * Local Christian radio station * Maryland State House tour, watch Assembly in action, walk down the street to local Ice cream/candy store for tour :) * Oxon Hill Farm (make butter, see animals, learn about plantation life) * National Cryptological Museum * Spring finale to Gettysburg * Day/weekend in Philadelphia * early summer trip to NYC to see statue of Liberty We also attend several performances at the Kennedy Center throughout the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellyndria Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I voted 10-12. We have one per month scheduled with the homeschool group. However, we have a membership to the zoo and the science museum, and we've been to the children's museum a couple times, and we recently took a weekend to do things like see a national monument and park, go on a cave tour, and visit other zoo-like places, and I did not count those as field trips as such. I just count them as "life." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myra Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 When my boys were younger, we were all ways going on a field trip here and there. But now that they are high school level, it seems their self-directed activities take up much of our free time: fencing, rowing, drama club, violin lessons, internships, etc. Yet if I don't get out once a month for my own sanity.....well, I'd be afraid what would happen!!! So we go to a play, a museum, a lecture, or whatever each month. Myra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoVanGogh Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I voted 40-49, as that is what we averaged the past two calendar years. This year, though, we haven't gone on as many field trips simply because DH's work schedule has not allowed us our normal vacations. (We normally do at least one 10-day 'educational travel' adventure a year.) Our 2010 field trip log (not all were counted as actual field trips): Science Museum of Nature and Science – Dallas Bodyology (Slim Goodbody health/body show) Saint Louis Science Center Fort Worth Museum of Science and Natural History Animals Fossil Rim Wildlife Park Fort Worth Zoo Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo Cameron Park Zoo (Waco, Texas) Topeka (Kansas) Zoological Park Saint Louis Zoo Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House (St. Louis) Nature Dinosaur Valley State Park Bonham State Park Lake Ray Roberts State Park Fort Worth Nature Center Camp Tonkawa Meramec Caverns (St. Louis) History Visited Lincoln Monument and Lewis and Clark Memorial (Council Bluffs, Iowa) Missouri River Basin / Lewis and Clark Center (Nebraska City) Pony Express National Museum (St. Joseph, Missouri) Waco Mammoth Site (Waco, Texas) Mayborn Museum (Waco, Texas – science/nature/history) Gardens Dallas Arboretum Theater and Music Year with Frog and Toad Yankee Doodle Dandy The Alamo Stinky Cheese Man The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe The Secret Garden Annie Peter Pan Lyle, Lyle Crocodile Dr. Dolittle The Prince and the Pauper Celtic Spring (concert) Nutcracker Art and Architecture Kimbell Art Museum (Private Collections of Texas) Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (Andy Warhol exhibit) Saint Louis Gateway Arch City Museum (St. Louis) National Cowgirl Museum (Georgia O’Keefe exhibit) Wendell Minor exhibit Misc. Train Show Antique Science and Retro-Tech Show Dr Pepper Museum Helicopter tour of St. Louis Gateway Arch/Mississippi River area State Fair of Texas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 We do a lot of stuff that's educational that's not necessarily tied in to our current school work, but would count as a field trip for institutional schools. We're lucky to live near a large city with a LOT of free/low-cost opportunities. We'd take advantage of them even if the kids were in school, but we probably wouldn't do as many just because of scheduling difficulties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excelsior! Academy Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I voted 10-12 because we plan one about once a month. After reading your post I realized I should have voted much higher. I didn't count weekend trips to the art museum or theatre with daddy. I guess I just count those as family time, not field trips. Yes, they are learning something, but they don't feel as formal since it is *just* us. The field trips I counted are with a group of friends who homeschool as well. If we count everything, even trips with daddy it would be more like 30-50. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I voted 4-6 for field trips that are specifically tied to particular lessons. We will do a total of 20-35 field trips all together for general fun and learning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Too many? This year we're going from Ancients to the middle ages/early renaissance. Our plans are: Florence Pompeii Rome Duke's palace in Venice Ravenna (for Byzantine art) an amusement park (physics :lol:) olive oil factory Bolzano (for Otzi the ice man) And probably a few with our co-op, though not directly related to our studies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 2010/2011 school year: 1 zoo 3 museums 1 art center nature center 2011/2012 plans: American History Museum and National Archives - D.C. Danish American Festival - Greenville, MI. Detroit Institute of Arts Shedd Aquarium - Chicago Museum of Science and Industry - Chicago 4H Lansing Capitol Experience - Ds 14 yrs. Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I voted 7-9, only counting ones on "school days" and not weekends or evenings. We did more when they were younger . . . I think one a week is awesome for the grammar years! It's probably higher than that if you count shorter excursions and 'unplanned' field trips. This year, we will likely do: Aquarium and zoo Art museum and sculpture garden Botanical garden Live theatre and musical performances General visits to the city (we live near New Orleans, so any wandering is automatically historical/educational :D) Science/discovery museums Nature walks at the preserve D-Day Museum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmom Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I was just looking at our calendar for the year and realized I have a lot more field trips planned than I thought - I'm wondering if it's too many? We're doing: Botanical Gardens Science Center History Museum Archeology Museum Anthropology Museum Fossil dig site Mine tour Cave tour State Capitol Nature Center Indian Mounds Children's Museum Art Museum Puppet Institute Art Center Theater (plays) Concert (music) Looks super fun. Not too many at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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