Plan, Attend, and Explore Ideas for a Field Trip

Besides changing the monotony of a hum drum day, homeschool field trips are learning adventures.

Maybe it’s how captivating I find the challenge of adding in all the homeschool subjects on any field trip we take or maybe it’s the charge we get after we meet up with other families that makes us wanting to plan more.

Too, when others join in, it can make an enormous difference in how much you remember the trip.

But if you want others to join your family, then there are 4 ways to not plan the most boring homeschool field trip ever.

You take charge of it.

I don’t view myself as a funny or even entertaining homeschool mom.

However, with that being said, planning and taking charge of our learning adventure is something I have done with much success.It doesn’t take the most entertaining mom to do, but you have to have a fun loving spirit that is infectious.

Don’t sit back and wait for field trips to happen.  When you plan your trips like one that you would want to attend, then others will come. Excitement is contagious and when you are excited that trickles down to each member.

Maybe you don’t feel like you have time to plan it, but a little known secret in planning field trips is that it is just like lesson planning in a way.

Field trips are your lesson plans for the day and when you view it like that, you are not adding to your already hectic schedule, but you are adapting it.  Not extra work, just different.

Treat Others Like You Want to Be Treated.

The families in my group and in many groups are the most grateful creatures and it has made my planning numerous field trips such a delight.  I just don’t say this lightly because planning can be such hard work at times, but the payoff in friendships have been worth every ounce of extra stress.
When I plan thinking about others, it makes their experience more engaging.  For example, many years I had to use a baby stroller and always ask questions about how easy it was to get around using a stroller.
I tried to pick field trips that would make it easier to handle several little ones alone when you are venturing out solo. When we outgrew baby strollers, I still asked detailed questions and passed on that information to the moms in my group.

When you haul around several little ones, all the tidbits on how to make it easier to attend and still enjoy the outing makes the field trip one that many will not forget.
On the flip side, if the field trip was primarily for little ones, I was very specific in adding in a suggestion or two that could include the teens.

Since most of us have kids of different ages, we like to bring them all to each field trip.  I would suggest time at the park afterwards and ask the teens to bring their games or things they wanted to share with their friends.
Our teens never had problems with field trips based just for the little ones because they knew some part of the day they could be with their friends.  A couple of places we went to even had a few things that only teens could do after the little kids finished.

So a few moms would go with the teens while the others stayed with the little kids. Treating others like you would want to not only feels good, but the whole group benefits.

Forget “Normal”When Planning Seasonal.

It is easy to plan seasonal activities like a leaf hunt in the fall or planning a back to school pool party in the summer.

I am not encouraging you to not plan seasonally, but what will set your group apart from the others will be the not so normal things you plan during any season.

Stretch your creative juices during the seasons to plan for not so normal activities.

For example, one year when we had scorching hot Texas weather and planning a back to school party, we went to the chilly ice skating rink.

When the ice skating rink got scraped, we got asked if our kids wanted to play in the snow/ice outside.

Playing with snow afterwards was an unexpected treat for our kids.  All ages got involved.  No homeschool mom was spared in the snowball fight.

Another example would be planning a swimming party in the winter.  Of course finding a heated pool would be a must.

Why do we find activities that we normally can’t do in one season as appealing?  Making the unexpected happen in your group will make your group unique and you will attract families plenty!

Mind the Details.

I’ll just say it.  There is nothing more aggravating to any mom of many than to show up at a lack luster planned field trip.

If you are the kind of person that doesn’t mind shooting from the hip when planning, then this might not bother you so much.   However, field trips can be a lot of work especially if you have a distance to drive and especially if you need to make arrangements to have the vehicle if you’re a one vehicle family.

Then, there is lunch to think about and fees, if any for the field trip.

One small tip that has been huge in avoiding miscommunication with the group is to keep everything in email or in written form.  I love to text and pick the phone up too when I want to get the answers to my questions quickly.

However, after doing that, I email the personnel at the field trip location just to be sure I have my details correct.  But here is the secret, then forward to your group, the response you get from personnel at the field trip location.

Why? This cuts down on any aggravation if a family did not understand the costs or details.  Even if there is a mix up, the group can see that you had your details straight and those that appreciate your hard work will stay part of your group.

Another detail to be aware of that is extremely important is knowing exactly what is going to happen when you arrive at the field trip.

One thing I have done right is to ask meaningful questions regarding the length of a program.  Because our field trip group was formed primarily for socialization, an equal part of our day needed to be left for the kids to visit.

Do not forget the primary purpose of your group when planning.  For example, we were not interested in long winded instructors who were trying to follow common core standards and who chewed up most of our day as we sat in desks.
By asking meaningful questions ahead of time, I was able to ask in a gracious way if the speaking parts of some instructors could be cut back.   Of course there is no need to have to go into detail about why we were short on time.  I always let it be known we had time constraints.  We did.

{Our field trip to the federal reserve was geared toward highschoolers, but knowing that other ages of children would be there, we cut the discourse in half and still enjoyed what we learned.}

Too, even if the subject has your student’s rapt attention, unless it’s planned ahead of time, be sure you stick to the hours you communicate about to the group.  Some kids may not be interested in the same things your kids are and too some families may have distances to drive back to their home.

Bringing the ewww and awww to field trips is easy when you think about how you want to be treated when planning.

Taking charge of a field trip, you can determine the atmosphere and keep it a meaningful part of your day and create awesome field trips by not thinking like everybody else.

Finally, when you take extra care with the details, your field trip group remembers.  And the best pay off yet, your children are not only provided with endless ways to explore the world around them but make life-long friends too.

If your first planned field trip was a flop, what are you going to do differently this time?
>Hugs and love ya,

Look at these other ways to plan field trips.

Beyond Museums and Zoos Homeschool Field Trip Form

Homeschool Field Trips – An Important Piece of the Educational Puzzle Part 1 + Free Field Trip Planning Page.

Homeschool Field Trips – An Important Piece of the Educational Puzzle Part 2 + Free Editable Field Trip Tracking Guide.