Jump to content

Menu

Aaaah...! Field trips taking over our lives!!!


Jay3fer
 Share

Recommended Posts

Advice, please??? I have had so much fun organizing field trip groups, and we are having so many wonderful enriching experiences, but aaaaaaah. We are turning into unschoolers, and I don't like it!

 

I have pared our academics down to the bare essentials: math, grammar, phonics, and touching on history/science when we have more than 2 days in a row at home.

 

But really, I am very overwhelmed. How do you-all manage to balance field trips with the rest of your homeschooling lives??? I've noticed we're losing a lot of half-days due to travelling to and from field trips, so each day we do something *else* is basically a write-off, school-wise.

 

I don't want to be a slave to the curriculum, and I realize we are learning lots on our trips (in the last week, we've been to an organ concert, a major ballet/theatre studio and an agricultural fair). Do I really have to start saying no to some of the great stuff I want us to do together outside the home just because there's curriculum here that needs to get done...?

 

Advice pleeeeease? Head spinning - almost literally. :lol:

(ballet is good for that :D)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Set a limit to the amount of field trips you will say yes to. I can't give you a number. You just have to figure out how many per week or month will work for you.

 

Also, remember that a lot of field trips will be available every year. If there is a once-in-a-lifetime musical/ballet/orchestra/whatever performance, go to that. If it's an annual performance that you can see next year, put it off and do something that won't be available next year. Same goes for museums and other such things.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It can be done. Maybe not everything, but we do fieldtrips. We usually confine them to things that go along with our curriculum and only do about 2 per month. I plan most long in advance with a google calendar. I also do some carschooling so the time in the car isn't wasted. We do our history in the car (cd's), latin and read alongs (also cd's). I also add a few minutes of each subject onto other days so we don't fall behind.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For many years, my dc and I left the house every Thursday for a field trip. Mostly, it was just the three of us, although occasionally I'd invite a few friends to come with us if I wanted to go someplace that required a group larger than three people. :-) Field-trip Thursday was always part of my schedule. I didn't do field trips with my support group unless they were on Thursday, or they were totally awesome and they needed a greater number of people than I could put together with just a few friends (this rarely happened).

 

I counted field trips as part of school. :-)

 

Some years later, when I became a support group leader, I implemented a rule for field trips: only on the second and fourth Fridays. When we met twice a year to plan field trips, we only scheduled those which could be confirmed at those meetings for the second or fourth Fridays.

 

Anyway, that would be my suggestion: pick a day that would be best for you, and only do field trips that happen on those days. Just say no to the rest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We could be out and about every day if I allowed it. I had to set a limit on that for our family because I am not an unschooler and it was incredibly stressful to me and to my kids in the end. I felt we had to get it all in. Now, we do maybe 1 field trip a month, co-op every Friday and the rest is at home time for schooling.

 

That may not work for everyone, but it is the balance my family needs. I have to remind myself that though when opportunities come up. I have to weigh them and figure out what the trade off is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As your children get older and are no longer restricted by naps, potty training, etc. the availability of wonders outside the home increases. In fact if you allow it you will never be home, and you will be out a few evenings every week as well.

 

I've known a few families that just can't seem

To say "no," and it has truly hurt their family.

 

My motto is "Just because it is a good thing doesn't mean it's a good thing for my family at this time."

 

But, to give you a number, I have found that 2 field trips per month is maximum. This means you will have up to 15-18 field trips per school year! That's a lot!! Additionally if you really want to take more than one or two, do them as a family with your husband on a Saturday instead if with a group of friends. This frees up the weekdays for schoolwork and also of course includes Dad which is nice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyway, that would be my suggestion: pick a day that would be best for you, and only do field trips that happen on those days. Just say no to the rest.

 

I've adopted Ellie's philosophy towards field trips (although I'm flexible as to the day of the week). We only leave the house for field trips once a week no matter what. If we have multiple options, I pick the best one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks! These are all terrific responses. I am sort of, slowly, narrowing our trips down to Mondays, when we don't have other programs... but there are several free concert series in town here that take place on other days, but perhaps those will prove to be "just say no" events after all.

 

Here's the other piece of the puzzle, which I didn't mention initially: we're moving next summer.

 

We currently live in the big city where I grew up, where I know and love absolutely everything about its big-city culture: theatres, ballet, opera, etc. Plus, the natural settings all around the city provide a wealth of opportunities for every kind of outdoor learning.

 

And we're moving to Israel - not exactly nowhere, culturally speaking, but when we land, I'll be as much a stranger as my kids are, in a totally foreign environment. So I kind of feel an even greater responsibility, this year, to show them around and give them a wealth of experiences they'll remember.

 

But right now, I'm worried they'll just remember being run ragged - and how tired and sad their mama was trying to hold onto it all while it lasted. :-(

 

(No, we're not being FORCED to move - we're going by choice, and happy about it! But, like Abraham, I'm leaving from the city where I grew up and I will still have many ties here...)

 

Anyway, I know all that doesn't change anything, but maybe adds a bit of context for why this year in particular is going so wrong...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We do like Ellie- I pretty much ONLY go on field trips on Fridays. If it's another day of the week, it doesn't happen. We also never commit to anything before noon any other day of the week. We need Monday-Thursday 8 am to 1 pm at the very LEAST in order for me to be happy with our school day.

 

We do also tend to do "light school" on the weekends, so reading and math are getting done almost 7 days a week.

 

As far as the time in the car- Story of the World on CD, Pimsleur Language CDs, German Teach Me Cds, and Audio Books. Our History, German and Lit are all done while driving, painlessly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Here's the other piece of the puzzle, which I didn't mention initially: we're moving next summer.

 

We currently live in the big city where I grew up, where I know and love absolutely everything about its big-city culture: theatres, ballet, opera, etc. Plus, the natural settings all around the city provide a wealth of opportunities for every kind of outdoor learning.

 

And we're moving to Israel - not exactly nowhere, culturally speaking, but when we land, I'll be as much a stranger as my kids are, in a totally foreign environment. So I kind of feel an even greater responsibility, this year, to show them around and give them a wealth of experiences they'll remember.

 

In that case- I would pick 2 days a week :P and go back to the basics for everything. And start the carschooling.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can handle no more than 1 a week and really 1-2x a month is pretty good. Right now we are at zero until the baby comes and we get settled in more. My priorities are taking care of our schooling, the house and good food, if we cannot keep those done and still stay sane, then it is too much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm no help. I swing between feeling like the informal learning they do on the field trips will be the most memorable, important moments long term and feeling like being home and getting those basics done is the most important thing. I think it's good to try and do both, of course, but I need extra hours in the day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In general, I assume we'll get little or no school done between right around Thanksgiving and Christmas, because there are so many good field trips and while my HS group tries to stick to Fridays, and usually to Friday afternoons, it doesn't happen at this time of year. I rather suspect that this will be the last week that we're able to stick to our regular schedule for 2012 (admittedly, next week has more to do with my trying to get ready for family to visit for Thanksgiving and DD's birthday party), and that the remainder of the year will be school-lite stuck in around lots of Field trips and activities. In fairness, though, I used to teach PS, and between Thanksgiving and Christmas was pretty much field trips, parties, and special events there, too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm no help. I swing between feeling like the informal learning they do on the field trips will be the most memorable, important moments long term and feeling like being home and getting those basics done is the most important thing. I think it's good to try and do both, of course, but I need extra hours in the day.

To me, the things we learned on our field trips were equally as important as the basics. In fact, I don't separate the two at all. We do one kind of learning with the books, and one kind of learning with the field trips. It's all education.

 

I kept to a specific day of the week because I'm just not flexible enough to change things like that, lol. Monday and Tuesday were our Official School Days; we stayed home--no errands, no doctors' appointments, no chatting on the telephone (for me), no major house cleaning. Just...home. Wednesday was library day. Thursday was field trip day. Friday was clean house (including all the laundry), and a monthly park day. If I messed with that schedule, chaos ensued. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well hopefully your high schoolers weren't going on all those fieldtrips, lol. They definitely need to be getting their work done. But for ages 7 and 5? Nope, I'd take all the fieldtrips you want. You can buckle down later. Seriously, it goes way too fast, and there's way too little that's essential academically to this age. Enjoy your fieldtrips. Maybe though stop organizing them for others and just do them yourselves. That's what is sucking your time, organizing everyone else.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But for ages 7 and 5? Nope, I'd take all the fieldtrips you want.

 

I agree that for 7 and 5 there should be plenty of time but the big question is how much you want to do. I get stressed if were out all the time personally. So for me it isn't so much that it stresses me that we won't have enough time for school but enough time to keep everything else in life balanced.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also started filtering it by whether the trip was related to anything we were studying or had studied recently. This is obviously a very flexible filter, but it gave me one more thing to consider before signing up. Even if the field trip is only half the day, we usually need some apart-time afterward to regain our balance.

 

Oooh, you are moving to a different country! I think you will need to keep a few days a month open to explore there - museums, shops, neighborhood, countryside - think of all the things to see/learn!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To me, the things we learned on our field trips were equally as important as the basics. In fact, I don't separate the two at all. We do one kind of learning with the books, and one kind of learning with the field trips. It's all education.

 

I kept to a specific day of the week because I'm just not flexible enough to change things like that, lol. Monday and Tuesday were our Official School Days; we stayed home--no errands, no doctors' appointments, no chatting on the telephone (for me), no major house cleaning. Just...home. Wednesday was library day. Thursday was field trip day. Friday was clean house (including all the laundry), and a monthly park day. If I messed with that schedule, chaos ensued. :)

 

Yes, I agree. Our schedule is all off because of too many outside commitments right now and it's coloring my whole view. It will ease up soon though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As my kids get older, I find we can do less outside of the house. That's just the way it is. We try and do a group activity with our homeschool group once every two weeks or so. We have a homeschool fitness class once a week, and they do sports and afterschool a couple days a week, so there are plenty of times for socialization and hanging out. But in terms of field trips that take up a big chunk, or all, of a day? No more than once every two weeks, and usually mor like once a month.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not much advice, but plenty of understanding...We are expats living in Europe, and I can only expect to be here for a few years. There is SO much to see and do here, and I know that we only have a finite window of time to savor and learn from this experience. It can be difficult to find the balance. I have a mile-long list of museums and sights! If it is something that I think would interest DH, then I figure that we should try to do it on a weekend.

 

I hold Thursday afternoons open for field trips, but we don't take one every week.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My kids are 7 & 5. If it were us and we were moving to Israel, you can better believe that we'd be doing a lot of field trips this year. AND, I'd plan on a huge adjustment next year, as well. How fun - good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know some people could get it done, but I wasn't one of those! After a year of running, I was half a year behind in our school work and it had started to affect my health. This year we took off and the stress levels are so much lower! We caught up last month and were able to start our new school year. Now I limit it to one field trip a month and we skipped the co-op. :) Good Luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...