How to Plan a Field Trip

At some point in your life as a parent, you will be picked to arrange your child's class field trip. It won't matter that you have no experience, did not volunteer and have no interest in arranging field trips. You will be selected because you weren't there. Never fear. You can do this.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Choose the destination. Usually, this is done by the teacher. But he or she might give you a field-trip topic to explore. Museums and parks are good starts.
2. Do your location homework. Book a date, ask the facility what preparations should be made and what to expect, and scout the location to plan and troubleshoot.
3. Arrange transportation. Reserve a bus if one isn't provide by the school, or see if parents will drive. Find out how much of the trip's cost will be covered by the school.
4. Do the paperwork. A few weeks out, send an authorization form home with the kids. It should include preparation items, a field-trip schedule and identification requirements. Also, make a packet for any additional chaperons with an itinerary, groups and preparation items.
5. Set rules and explain them to the class prior to departure.
6. Assign groups that are manageable for chaperons. Separate behavioral issues so no one chaperon has to deal with all of them.

Tips & Warnings

• Enlist an army of volunteers. It's a big job--so if it falls on your shoulders, don't be shy about making calls to other parents to get assistance in planning the event as well as participating on field-trip day. Just getting someone to make phone calls will help.
• Don't overlook the details. One minor miss--say, not asking about whether there's a cafeteria--could leave you with a group full of hungry, unhappy kids and parents and nowhere to buy food.
• Be sure to count heads throughout the day. Losing a kid seriously undermines your credibility.