How to Get the Most Out of Homeschool Field Trips

Before my home schooled kids started taking classes outside of the home, they would tell people that they did not study science. People would look at me horrified, and I would be stuck to explain that while we did not have a formal science classes, that my kids got plenty of science instruction through field trips and curious Internet searches. Field trips allow science to be experiences instead of taught.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• An outline of what you are planning to study during the year in your curriculum.

1. Try to stay in context with what you are studying in other subjects. For instance, when we were studying early American History, we went to see the Titanic Exhibit. In addition to the trip reinforcing what they were learning about the historical facts of the event, they also learned about corrosion and the science of loads and stresses that ultimately caused the boat to sink.
2. Mentally prepare your children for the trip. After deciding on an exhibit to visit, search for learning activities that the children can do to prepare themselves for the trip. For example, the Titanic Science Website has a 60 page booklet download with relevant hands on activities. My family went to the library and checked out a couple of historical biographies of people who had been on the ship, and a book based on the excavations of the Titanic.
3. Timing is everything. Try to go on field trips when large groups are least likely to be there. I have found that schools visit exhibits in the morning from 9 am until lunch time and the general public visit exhibits in the evening and weekends. The means the lunchtime hour through about 4pm are ideal times to get exhibits all to yourself. This means you will also have the tour guides to yourself.
4. Ask many questions. If there is a tour guide available, encourage your children to ask many questions in order to satisfy their curiosity. If there are, no tour guides write down questions they come up with and use the exhibit to explore and discover the answers to your questions. Look up remaining questions on the internet when you get home.
5. Do follow-up studies after the trip. When I say do follow up studies, I do not mean read a text book and take an exam. What I like to do is let the children purchase a souvenir book, as they usually contain all of the facts. I let them explore it at their leisure and I find that will continue to discuss the trip for at least a month.
6. Plan the next trip. I try to give three weeks to a month between science exhibits. This gives children time to excitedly prepare for the trip and then to explore the subject for a while on their own after the trip. When their discussions of the trip are winding down, I know it is time to plan the next field trip.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep your eye out for traveling exhibits.
• Keep in touch with your local parks and recreation program as they have traveling nature lectures.
• Do not feel that not all of your educational science field trips have to be formal and rigid. You can just as easily read a book on butterflies and then spend and afternoon in a field catching them and the following week or two studying what you found.