Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Activity, Change, Progress

Plan, Attend, and Explore Ideas for a Field Trip

Beyond Museums and Zoos Homeschool Field Trip Form

| 4 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Pondering the possibilities of field trips in South America has my brain racing about new field trip ideas and places.  But before I scoot on to that adventure, I want to share today my ideas for beyond museums and zoos homeschool field trip form.

After you have homeschooled for a few years, you realize that some places are what I call keepers for each year.  They are places you don’t mind visiting again and again like museums and a zoo.  But as time marches on and kids grow, you need ideas for other places.

So I created a homeschool field trip reference chart that is divided by season that you can easily add to your 7 step homeschool planner.  I added 10 ideas for each season.

In listing the ideas, I tried to avoid some places, not all though that would be pretty obvious in a particular season.  You know about them already and besides you probably have traditions or will have them in each season.

For example, we had one annual event in January to Incredible Pizza that all of our kids loved.  As adults we could never figure out why not just one, but all ages, young and old loved that trip!!  The place is huge and had lots of games, an indoor skating rink, car races and bowling.  We just couldn’t figure out why it was more special than other places like that we had visited.  It became our group’s tradition in January.

Another thing to remember about field trips as you enter more relaxed homeschooling is that not every field trip do you need to meet educational objectives.

I know groups are different from area to area, but in forming my field trip group it was understood that our main goal was socialization.  I learned as a hard-nosed teacher that learning didn’t have to be so hard and it was better remembered in a fun setting.

Meeting educational goals is tops on our list, but it runs second to our main goal of socialization.  The families in my group preferred our field trip time to be one where the kids had time to interact, form lasting friendships and not be about hearing long-winded lectures.

Beyond Museums & Zoos. 10 Field Trip Ideas for Each Season

Surprisingly, when I relaxed as a teacher and tried not to drill my kids on everything we learned, they too relaxed and wanted to learn more about the places we visited.

I hope you enjoy this form as I plan for a few more field trip forms, but wanted to get this to you as the new year started.   You know how I take my time in creating my forms because they each come from a special place or from my experience in my journey that I want you to know about.  So I really want them useful and practical too.

Download Homeschool Field Trip Reference Chart Here.

Begin building your Free 7 Step Homeschool Planner

7 Easy Steps – “Tons of Options & Pretty Color”

Step 1. Choose a Pretty Front/Back Cover

Step. 2. Choose Calendars/Appointment Keepers

Step 3. Choose Goals/Objectives

Step 4. Choose Lesson Planning Pages Right For You!

Step 5a. Choose Unique forms JUST for You! Not a kazillion other people

Step 5b. Choose MORE Unique Forms JUST for You!

Step 5c. Choose MORE MORE Unique Forms Just for You!

Step 6. Personalize It

Step 7. Bind it! Love it!

Hugs and love ya,

2012Tinasignature Helping our Homeschool Children Find their Inner Drive When We are Not Sure We Have It

Homeschool Field Trips Free Field Trip Planning Page

| 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

We have t-shirts that we used for our homeschool field trips that read “Home – An Important Piece of the Educational Puzzle” because part of learning at home is not learning at home. 

I know that sounds weird, but if you have taken any field trips at all, which I know you have, you know what I mean by it.

One year, we even had a cake made about our theme as we celebrated our time away from home.

Though I love to talk anytime about how our lack of socialization is a bunch of baloney, I am really focusing today on sharing how to plan a homeschool field trip and survive to enjoy it too.

Homeschool Field Trips An Important Piece of the Educational Puzzle

Some of my tips may save you sanity whether you are planning for a larger or smaller group.

Homeschool Field Trip Hurdles

There are some things you want to think about when planning field trips that will make them successful and help you to avoid making some rookie mistakes.

When we first started, our group was small and we had young children pretty close to the same age.  It was easy to plan field trips because any place basically enamored our younger kids.

Our problem came later as the group got bigger and we had a larger mix of ages.

Here are a few tips to think about when planning

  • Be sure you know the age range of your children before planning each trip.

If you do not separate your group by ages like we did, then you will want to balance how many field trips you have for younger kids and for older kids.  It simply is not fair to the group as a whole to do preschool things each month or to do something that only highschoolers can do.  It requires a bit of finesse and a little more work on the part of the planner to stay balanced.

More Homeschool Field Trip Resources

The moms in our groups chose to not separate our group because we had kids in both older and younger groups.

We wanted our kids to stay together so I balanced the places we go to each year, which included some for older and some for younger.

  • Determine the total number of people, not just students.

Another obstacle to look out for is asking your group for only the total number of children.  A lot of places assume you are bringing just students and you generally are not.

On our field trips, not only did we have moms, but sometimes dads came too and maybe even grandparents attended. 

The field trip place needs to be aware of the total number of bodies they are going to crowd into a room. 

Communication is vital and it is up to you to educate facilities on how we do field trips, which means that a whole family can come.

  • Set up a easy way for groups to communicate the number going and how to pay, otherwise you are receiving text and emails that you don’t have time to answer.

Sure, if your group is about 10, it’s not problem, but a small group didn’t last long for us and we needed real life workable solutions.

We normally set up a RSVP poll on our field trip group and we also have a date deadline for those to sign up. 

It is important in managing a group that you have deadlines because otherwise persons are always late and it puts more stress and hard work on the ones who are stepping up to lead.

Few Rules on Field Trips

Leaders do not generally get paid when planning homeschool field trips and so I find that by respecting deadlines, it keeps the work load light for those sweet volunteers.

  • Balance paid versus free field trips.

Another point of controversy in a group can be that only paid field trips are planned.  If a family has one or two kids, it may not be a problem.  If you have more kids, then it can get costly.  Lovingly, we tried to balance the field trips each month by making one a paid field trip one month and the next month, host a free one.

field trip planning guide

Because I was asking the same questions over and over again each month, I prepared a Field Trip Planning page so that I could use it as I planned each field trip.

Using it as checklist will help you to avoid making some of the same mistakes we did, like too large of a group, having some members who paid for the event and others who did not and deciding ahead of time whether to eat lunch out or go to the park.

How do you go about finding places in your area and connecting with other homeschooler?  I will share some of my tips in the second part of planning homeschool field trips.

Have you already hit some of these hurdles when planning field trips?

Want to read more about how we are educated and yes, socialized?

How to Grab the Free Planning Your Field Trips Form

This is a subscriber freebie.

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get access to my subscribers library and this freebie.

However, not all my freebies are in the library (wink).

I like to keep up to date with what is valuable to you so I can give you more.

So, some freebies you must sign up again on the form below even if you are already a follower.

Sign up again like you’re resubscribing, but you’re not. You get the freebie instantly when you’re a confirmed follower.

It’s the only way I have of freely delivering them to you. Just follow the steps below if you’re not a follower.

► 1) Sign up on my list.
► 2) Go to your inbox and confirm your email from the automatic reply I sent you. 
 ►3) Last step. look for my reply AFTER you’ve confirmed your email.

How to Make Smokin’ Hot Egyptian Pillars Out of Cardboard

| 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Dynamic reader rave


How to Make An Egyptian Pillar Out of Cardboard . You'll love these EASY steps. Click here to start making yours!

CynthiaIdeally I wish everybody would have a Cynthia as one of their co-op leaders,  but since that is not possible, I want to share one idea that came of out of her creative little mind for our co-op. Besides being a great friend, she is so talented at coming up with ideas that keeps the fire for fun stoked in our co-ops.

It was her idea to have two 8 1/2 feet Egyptian columns and they came out so beautiful because of her hard work.

The strengths she brings to a co-op is an excellent example of what I talked about in my 5 Days of a Homeschooling Co-op. Prep the learning environment and the kids will have fun and learn at the same time.

Here is her supply list:

  • 14 – 5 gal. buckets
  • 2 rolls duct tape
  • 6 sections of clean bendable cardboard large enough to wrap around buckets (each about 4 ft. wide x 3 ft. tall )
  • paintable wallpaper samples cut into strips (optional)
  • chalk pastels
  • paint
  • Elmer’s glue
  • spray can of matte finish for protecting chalk pastels
  • large heavy rocks that will fit in 2-5 gal. buckets
  • 2 pieces of wood cut to serve as caps for tops of pillars
  • 2 hooks for banner
  • tape measure, ladder or chair

And here is her explanation of how to make them.

1. Find a picture of Egyptian pillars to use as a guide for colors and patterns.

egypt-column-backdrop-2
racinet-egyptian-columns

1/2

2. Decide how tall you want the pillars. We used 7 buckets stacked on top of one another which made each pillar about 8 1/2 ft tall. You can adjust the height by using more or fewer buckets.

3. Remove the metal handles from all of the buckets.

4. Fill the bottom bucket with heavy rocks. This will give the pillar stability.

5. After the bottom bucket is full of rocks place another bucket with the open end on top of the open end of the bucket with the rocks in it. Use duct tape to secure the two buckets together tightly right around the outside of the buckets where the open ends are placed together. Be generous with the duct tape and go all the way around the buckets perhaps even a couple of times for strength and stability.

photo-6

6. Place a third bucket on top of the first two so that the bottom ends are against one another. Use duct tape to secure them together tightly where the two bottom ends meet. Don’t forget to go all the way around the buckets with the duct tape once again.

7. Continue placing and taping the buckets together in the same manner as the first and second buckets alternating (open end to open end, bottom end to bottom end) as you go up until you have reached the height you desire.

photo

8. Decorate each section of cardboard. There are many ways this can be done, but we used chalk pastels which we sprayed with matte finish for the bottom two sections and paintable wallpaper sample strips for the top section. After the wallpaper sample strips dry, glue them to the top cardboard section. Or instead of wallpaper sample strips you can easily continue decorating the top section with pastels or paint.

photo-15

9. Once everything on the cardboard is dry attach the bottom section to the pillar. We taped ours together at the back with duct tape as well as double-sided duct tape between the cardboard and bucket to give it extra strength. Be generous with the duct tape so the pillars don’t come apart.

10. Place the next section of cardboard right above the one on bottom and duct tape it in the same manner as the first.

photo-21

11. Attach the last section of cardboard with duct tape above the second one in the same way as the first two.

cap of pillar

12. Now you are ready to cap the pillar. For a cap we used a board cut a little bigger than the top of the bucket. We also nailed another board a little smaller than the opening of the bucket to the bottom side of the board that serves as the cap. This anchored the cap inside the bucket so that it would not fall off.

13. To hang a banner or something else between the pillars install hooks into the middle of the edges of the caps.

In another post, I will share how Kelley made that beautiful banner.

Great Empires Review and Co-op 4.2013 17

I love the fact she used discarded wall paper books and buckets. Simply ask your local paint store if they have any supplies like that they are discarding.

Our study of the Great Empires won’t be easily forgettable because of her hard work. A little cardboard, imagination and diy creates lasting memories.

Thanks Cynthia for such an amazing job. I hope this inspires you with an idea or two to keep activities fun in your co-op or just through the summer.

Are you going to give it a try?

Use this idea with my Ancient Civilizations Unit Study and my other unit study, Ancient Civilizations II.

Hugs and love ya,

FBI Unit Study:Federal Reserve Bank Field Trip & Free Resources

| Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

After calling the branch office of the FBI, yep I do things like that, to see if I could plan a field trip there, I decided to take their advice and plan a field trip to the Federal Reserve Bank instead. The FBI has a local outreach community and though it sounded nice to have a special agent come and talk to our group, the outreach coordinator felt it was more beneficial to see a federal entity in action. Also, because my focus was aimed toward my highschoolers this would add to their credit for economics.

I have to admit at first that visiting the Federal Reserve Bank hadn’t even crossed my mind and I wasn’t even sure it sounded so appealing. I would have to decide first where I stood on monetary policy before I could ask my teens.  Economics, beyond budgeting was not my favorite subject in school either.

However, this field trip did not disappoint and stacked up high against others we have taken. You see those gates in front of the eagle? Nobody can get in unless the security guard lets you in. Because we are talking literally about 9 billion dollars that could be sitting in the bank at one time, we had to pass security checks much like the ones at airport screenings.

Did I mention our seniors who just turned 18 enjoyed savoring their new found adulthood by show off their driver’s license for identification?

Too, we were told ahead of time that there was no photography in a lot of places because it is the actual operations of the money handling. I managed to get as many pictures as were allowed.

So we snapped a few pictures early morning in front of the secured building before we went inside to find out exactly what is the function of the Federal Reserve Bank.

The first floor had the money separating machines. We learned how money was shredded after it no longer was able to be read by machines and how other money was counted and stored on robot pallets. Then, we went upstairs to this room. By the way, did you know they use the term note and not dollars in the bank? It makes sense though to me because in my legal background, we use the terms promissory note to represent money.  I found that interesting but apparently my boys didn’t.  Whatever.

They were asking more questions like what is the bank’s greatest national security threat and did they have bullet proof glass. The boys apparently have seen too many movies and are thinking the bank is prepared for a “bank heist”.  They assured them that a bank heist was not on their list of threats but that their greatest threat is a terrorist attack. A blow to the bank would threaten the stability of the economy.

The room pictured above is used by consulates or other important heads of companies as they meet together to discuss their interest in either doing business in the area or if they are out of country, they may want to make connections here in the states. So the room serves as a place to work and collaborate.

I never knew that the Federal Reserve Bank did so much more than cover loans for banks.

Then we were taken to another large conference room where consulates and businessmen meet too. We all got to sit around the table and thankfully Tiny asked what the button was under the table as he thought about pushing it. It was a panic button. If it was pushed, security would be on us in few seconds. Did I mention this field trip is probably best for older kids?

We were shown a short film presentation on what the Federal Reserve Bank actually does because a  lot of us were still foggy about it. Did you know that the employees are not federal? It was set up by Congress in 1913 but the employees are bank employees even though it’s overseen by Congress. It is quasi-governmental and tax dollars do not pay for them. Instead, they return money to the treasury.

One cool thing the kids enjoyed learning is where their money traveled from. Looking at this bill above and the left is the alphabet letter and number of the Federal Reserve Bank that put it into operation. Try it with your kids. Take out some money and find out which branch it started out at and how think how did it get to you.

I bet not many people know who these folks are either but they make all the decisions for the economy, including setting interest rates here in the United States.

Lastly, we were given more free resources and packages than we could hardly carry out of the building. Guess what? You can order them for free too. (Click Classroom Resources and Order Form for the blank form) I am telling you, there are enough free resources here for your home or classroom that you could teach about economics, the federal government, monetary policy and threats to security that would keep you busy for weeks.

A nice surprise to round out our experience was when everybody received a tube of old shredded money.

We especially loved learning how to tell apart counterfeits or fakes from good money.  When they told us that the counterfeit money was sent to the Secret Service, the boys decided that may be another topic they have to read about. I wish I could have taken more photographs inside because it was such an enriching and rewarding field trip. Learning about the money operation and function of the Federal Reserve Bank that serves as a quasi-governmental agency was so much more than I knew.

Another idea for a field trip on this topic besides visiting any federal office is to visit the U.S. Bureau of Engraving & Printing. There are only 2  locations though in the United States. One is in Washington, D.C. and the other one is here in Texas in Forth Worth. It is a great place for a field trip if you are ever close.

Hugs and love ya,

 

Save