field trips

When Field Trips are out of Reach

March 9, 2020 By Annette1 8 Comments

One thing that homeschoolers are known for are some of the amazing field trips we take. Trips to museums, police stations, behind the scenes at restaurants, and more. What happens though when we want to do somewhere and we can’t? Face it, we can’t all afford trips (financially, time-wise, or other) to the far north of Canada, or visit the hot springs of Banff, or take in the Huagapo Cave of Peru. What does one do when field trips are out of reach?

Why Take a Field Trip?

Connect book-learning to the real world.
Give students access to culture, history, and art they might not otherwise have access to.
Social-emotional growth. Studies have shown that empathy increases after visits to art galleries and museums.
An opportunity to learn from other individuals who specialize in a given field.
To gain hands-on learning experiences.
To learn some of the sights, sounds and smells of a place, occupation, or historical event.
Gives a break (sometimes very needed) from the normal routine.
To have information presented in a new format can help that information gain significance, or become relevant, or just to make sense.
Builds a sense of community with other field trip participants.

Why Not Take a Field Trip?

Takes time to organize.
Takes more time to do. The drive there and back, the time spent at the activity.
Financial. A lot of field trips cost money.
Missed time with other subjects, needing to play catch-up later.
Field trip might not live up to your expectations.
Distance and starting times are too hard to coordinate.

Mitigating the Negatives of Field Trips

Joining a homeschool group can make field trips less expensive (as then you can get in for the school rate).

You plan a vacation around desired places to go. For instance when we went to Toronto one year we also visited Colborne Lodge. It was a great way to do our annual visit to the fair and also take in a good field trip.

Another option is to take in some virtual field trips.

For instance I would LOVE to take my lad to the parliament buildings in Ottawa, but renovations and distance (it’s over 8 hours from where I live) make it a difficult undertaking. But I can take him on a virtual tour. We can walk down the various hallways and see the paintings and the architecture. Perhaps not as good as a real tour with a talking guide, but definitely better than nothing eh? 🙂

Discovery Education lists a number of virtual field trips.

You might want to see how Churros are made, or you want to see more of Hawaii after doing a unit study, or Mount St. Helens intrigues you. If you want to go somewhere, do some research, you just might find a virtual way to do it! 🙂 With a little bit of creativity you can usually find a way make your needed field trip happen.

How to fit in Field Trips?

August 13, 2019 By Annette1 4 Comments

One of the things I love to do is visit museums and places around my province (or anywhere actually). 🙂 If I’m out and about, I want to stop in and see what’s around me. There is so much to see and do. The question is though: How to fit in field trips when there is so much course work that needs to be done. How do you justify the time away? Do you need to look for a way to make it fit your curricula? Should you make your children do a photo journal, answer questions, or just let them explore?

Let’s talk shall we?

What are field trips?

Just what are field trips? Can a trip to your local grocery store be a field trip? For sure… as long as you aren’t going there just to buy groceries. You could talk the store manager and see if he’d do a tour to explain why products are put out as they are, how do shelves get stocked, and how do you keep waste costs down? Then your local grocery store becomes a field trip… and probably a really informative one at that.

field trip - mushrooms — Click image to learn more

Where can you go?

Any place you can think of can become a field trip if you take the time to turn it into a informational tour. I’ve been to a Toyota plant, home hardware packing facility, mushroom growers and Belgian Nursery. Not places you might think of for a tour, but absolutely fascinating.

We have toured tons of museums, both large and small, as a family, with friends, or with other homeschoolers.

The zoo, parks, aquariums and even the science center. Places of learning, with or without a tour guide. Hands on, experiential, and fun times to remember. Just make a plan and go.

butterfly conservancy — click image to learn more

But what about school?

The way I think of it is this. School take field trips. They just take a day and go out with their students. Do they expect the kids to learn something? Yup. Do they always? Nope. Same thing. Go out, have fun, experience the world, ask questions, you never know what might inspire your children if you don’t give them the opportunity. That’s what field trips are. Opportunities to see something new or different or old… and it all helps our children see things differently. It might inspire them to do art, make a career, decide on something they don’t want to do, and so forth.

Take the time. The school work will get completed. But without the outside world being seen, and questioned, and looked at, what the point of it?

field trip : stones and bones — click image to learn more

How to Fit in Field trips

There are a number of different ways you can fit them.

You can ask your children what things they would like to see or learn about. You could sit down with your hubby and say “what place are you interested in?” Look around and see what might coincide with something you are learning about. For instance if you have just learned about the war of 1812 take in a re-enactment.

Then

once a month have a field trip day
make a plan with your co-op group
have a week of field trips (maybe coincide when public school is out and maybe invite some non-homeschooling friends along).
plan a summer of stay-cations where you do field trips instead of your annual camping/hiking/vacationing away trip
take a weekend off and go away as a family to a further destination
Take an afternoon and stop in at the local museum

There’s all kinds of ways to make field trips work. Don’t miss out on the benefits of field trips over school work.

backus page House Museum — Click image to learn more

Benefits of Field trips

Field trips are so beneficial. I urge you to not miss out on them.

They

break up the school cycle.
provide real world learning.
provide access to areas you might not normally see.
help develop critical thinking skills.
have an academic impact not always readily measured.
can have an emotional impact.

How to fit in Field Trips? You decide. It’s your household. 🙂

Hey! Follow The crew through this Annual Not Going Back to School homeschool blog hop! Links of participants below

CREW @ Homeschool Review Crew – 2019 Annual Not Back to School Homeschool Blog Hop
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses – ABC of Homeschooling
Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag – Adding Fun to Your Homeschool Day
Erin @ For Him and My Family – Large Family Homeschooling
Lori @ At Home Where Life Happens – Learning Life Skills
Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling – Homeschooling the High School Years
Monique D. @ Early Learning Mom – Homeschooling With Autism
Yvie @ Homeschool On the Range – 5 Days of Upper Grades Homeschooling
Abby @ Making Room 4 One More – Time Management for Homeschool Moms
Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool – 5 Days of Homeschool Questions
Amy @ the WRITE Balance – Year-Round Schooling
Annette @ A Net in Time – Homeschooling.
Betty @ Lets Get Real – Homeschooling High School
Cassandra @ My Blessed Mess – Eclectic Homeschooling

Backus Page House Museum

July 13, 2019 By Annette1 4 Comments

Recently we went to the Backus-Page House Museum in the Chatham Region. We stopped in after visiting Greenview Aviaries. We had an excellent time there with a brand new tour guide. She taught us a great deal of information and walked us through the history of the area. She later told us a great place to go to see Lake Erie.

Pictures at Backus Page House Museum

The problem with going to museum and learning a lot of information is, unless you write it all down, it’s easy to forget much of what you learned.

The individuals pictured below I believe were another important family in the region at the time. I cannot recall their names.

Backus Page House Museum Artifacts

As with all museums there were tons of artifacts. I was fascinated by the sugar tools, our student loved the hats, and my son was intrigued by the many posters they had scattered around.

At the Backus Page House Museum we learned that women were rarely given land, but one of the settlers in the area was given her full allotment (120 acres I think). Sometimes the man in charge would not give settlers there full allotment and would keep some of the land for himself. Talbot (I think) was the land agent and was known for disliking Scotsmen.

The Honey House

The honey house on the property is actually a replica as the original was burned down. It was used to house bees. Slits were cut in so the bees could go in, they were baited with honey poured on hot stones. Large boxes were placed in the bee house for the bees to use. The honey was later removed from the boxes with large knives.

More from the House

All three of us were intrigued by this antique doorbell. I’d like to see one like this on my own front door.

We looked through all the bedrooms, saw their living room, dining room and kitchen. We couldn’t go down to the basement for safety concerns.

They have a shelf near these kettles that is laden with a variety of knives. We were allowed to pick them up. Some are surprisingly heavy and many still have a good edge to them. I was so pleased we could handle them.

The Loom

Our student was much intrigued by this old loom at The Backus Page House Museum and even asked questions about it from our tour guide. This would have been a room model, and not quite suited to this space but it’s the one they had on hand. 🙂 Sometime I would like to try my hand at running a real loom, wouldn’t that be fun?

Follow up

We learned that end of end of July Backus Page House Museum will be hosting a civil war reenactment. We hope to attend if time off and finances allow it.

It was a lovely hour and bit there. Our host was friendly and accommodating and unlike most museums we were allowed to handle specific real artifacts.

Greenview Aviaries Park and Zoo

July 6, 2019 By Annette1 2 Comments

I have to admit to some hesitancy in posting this field trip we went on to Greenview Aviaries Park and Zoo. We were SO not happy with how the animals were kept at this aviary and zoo. Small areas for the animals, some animals in poor condition, wire up the wazoo, chickens wandering everywhere, and junk food treats for the animals. But we had some moments of enjoyment, and that does make it worth talking about! 🙂

Shakespearean Garden

Our first Stop was at their Shakespearean Garden. This garden was filled with mini houses reflecting what Shakespeare would have seen back in his day. It was fairly obvious that some updating needed to happen but this dis not distract us from the buildings. It was actually quite funny watching voles scurry in and out of broken windows. My son was completely delighted as they were so funny. We tried to get pictures of them, even with my lad’s snazzy camera but they were simply too quick for us!

My boys obliged me with a picture, even if the one I took wasn’t the best of quality.

The village surrounded a pond that was filled with red-winged blackbirds, sparrows, cattails and lily pads. Listening to the birds was so delightful. For the most part we were the only ones in this area.

Playground

When we finished in the village we moved through the park area which was filled with an abundance of loud school children. It was fairly evident they spent money to keep this area nice for children. New equipment, splash pad, sand pit etc. My boys had outgrown this area so we passed through quickly and on to the animals.

The Zoo Animals

This black bear lived in an area about the size of our back yard. I did note that he had a great den area.

Her area was fairly large by mostly devoid of things to entertain her. I don’t recall seeing a den area for her. You probably can’t see it, but the gravel area in front of her was riddled with fruit loop cereal which they sell to kids to feed the animals. I told a group of children that lions don’t eat fruit loops so it was rather pointless to throw them to her.

I felt sad for her.. overweight, in complete public view of everyone. Just sad.

The Wolf

This is where my son got very annoyed. It took us about 7 minutes to walk the path up to the where the wolf was. The entire time she was scratching madly…. you know like how a flea ridden dog scratches. When we got up to her we saw a scrawny wolf, no pack, no sign of companionship. Just one wolf in poor condition. A couple who came up behind us said outloud “oh, that poor beast”. My curious, interested lad was angry. Animals in captivity need to be cared for well, this wolf was NOT. Mind, we don’t know the whole story. There were no staff from Greenview Aviaries Park and Zoo around to ask questions of. All we could see was an itchy, very thin, rough looking animal with no social support (in the form of a pack). Didn’t seem right.

The Ruminants

They had a large number of ruminants around: gazelle, bison, pygmy goats, boer goats, and I can’t remember the rest. They all had decent enclosures, though the bison area was a mud-pit. The pygmy goats were fat and friendly. You could tell they had over-indulged on the fruit loops. This section helped us feel a bit better about some of the care the animals received.

Ponds Galore!

Many of the large enclosures had ponds in them. Ducks, geese and swans made their homes in them. This mallard had one of her own and a friend with her. She was mindfully protective of them. Most of the waterfowl looked in good condition, though a couple of the swans were filthy. And Chickens! They had so many chickens. Some free range, others penned. These mottled ones were just pretty, my son hoped to catch one but they were just a bit too quick. We’d need a chicken hook. 🙂

I cropped this photo down so you wouldn’t see the abysmal conditions these albino raccoons lived in. They didn’t look well, but they are also albino so I don’t know how much of that was colouration and how healthy they were or weren’t. They seemed to enjoy fruit loops.

Didn’t my son do a good job of capturing this parrot? Well at least it’s from the parrot family, I can’t recall exactly which one it was.

My son, lover of spiders that he is, tried very hard to get a clear image of this little jumping spider. He failed, but he gave it a good go.

I should know the full name of this crested bird but it’s escaping my mind. He caught our attention as we wandered toward the sheep and the kangeroos. Quiet bird, wandered it’s good size enclosure picking things off the ground.

Reptile area

Large python, nothing to do or even climb on, small room, stagnant and dirty pool of water. That’s it.

After the fun of the crested bird and the kangeroos….the reptile room was horrible. Don’t go to it, just don’t.

Two different kinds of lizards piled onto this table. Savannah and something else.

My son took his time capturing this beady-eyed cockatoo. This bird watched him closely the whole time, occasionally bobbing his head at him. Not sure what that means in cockatoo language. 🙂

Closing

We saw all the animals, appreciating most of them, liking the care for some and deploring it for others. Then we enjoyed our lunch, and decided to head back home. On the way we spotted a museum, but that’s a post for another day. We also stopped at a provincial park to our exchange student could see Lake Erie as well.

All told Greenview Aviaries Park and Zoo needs to step up their care of the animals they have. Perhaps find new homes for some of the multitude of baboons and seeing if they could combine those five areas into one larger one for a bigger troop. Increasing the size of the area for their tigers, lions, and bears. Perhaps finding a way to make less of a mud pit for their bison (though that might be a challenge) and rehome that wolf. Seriously.. give it a new place with good medical care.

It was an interesting day with good conversation about how to care for animals under your watch, and things you could do to help the animals do better. Not doing fruit loops as animal treats would even be a good start.

Ska-nah-doht

April 26, 2019 By Annette1 4 Comments

March break this year I wanted to do something different with the boys. I searched for something to do with them and hit upon Ska-nah-doht. I had never been to this Indian village. It is part of the Longwoods Conservation area and is located outside of London.

Ska-Nah-Doht first nations village and museum

Our venture out was on a sunny day, our trip was easy, but our walk-around Ska-Nah-Doht was rather slip-n-slide. The ice of the winter had not yet dissipated which gave our Brazilian student an education in Canadian winter walking. 🙂

Out Buildings and Village

We heard from another family visiting that they had a museum. It was fairly easy to get to and was warm after being outside. We started off our time watching a movie. I don’t know how much our student understood, but he at least paid attention. 🙂

Visiting the Village

We enjoyed the exhibits which varied upstairs from posters, to exhibits of animals and tools.

Downstairs led up to an interactive area. The boys had fun here. From posing for silly photos, playing old time games and being amazed at the size of a wild turkey.

Both boys tried this game. The lad was fairly confident, our student was somewhat lacking. He liked the other games better. 🙂

We had a very good time. I was pleased that it was a fairly quiet day, despite it being a day off school with some planned activities. We managed to avoid most of the groups which meant we could relax and just have fun. The boys were invited to take part in a hike but decided they’d rather head out again. A great day out that I will most likely do with another student. It’s great to show them some history of Canada.

Other Canada Field Trips

Christmas 1914

December 11, 2018 By Annette1 6 Comments

In the middle of November, my son, host son and myself took in Christmas 1914 at Fanshawe Village. We had a fantastic time and learned ever so much. As it drawing nearer to Christmas I thought I would tell you all about it! 🙂

Our visit started with a reenactment of the Christmas Truce of 1914. First they walked us through a trench with men telling us about their experiences, the cold, the hunger, the muck and the constant threat surrounding them.

I mentioned to one fellow that it was cold. He said “yes, it is truly miserable”. This portion of the program wasn’t very long but it gave us a glimpse into what it would have been like for these soldiers. Living within all that and then learning to trust the men in the other trenches, at least enough on Christmas to greet each other. A tough call.

After we saw the re-enactment we were able to go around and visit the various buildings which reflected different aspects of World War 1.

Our first stop was at the church were we listened to a girl choir. Some aspects were not period (like the Santa hats and the organ) but that wasn’t completely the point. 🙂 The point was music was still part of that time period and we got to listen to songs about the time period as well.

Church

We sat through part of the program, but the boys were feeling antsy so we headed out to get some hot chocolate and have an impromptu snow ball fight. It was good to see the boys having fun together (until they ganged up on me). I ran quickly into the building with the hot chocolate. 🙂

The lady working this house helped us to understand how the French boys and the boys from other countries were treated.

Once done here we headed back to finish listening to the girls choir. They did an excellent job. I wish I had the recording from Christmas in the Trenches. The one young lady did an excellent job singing an excellent alto.

Red Cross Booth

We also stopped at the Red Cross booth. Here we learned about how the soldiers received care packages. There we could light a candle to remember those who had gone on before. It was great to write a Christmas card to a Canadian soldier currently serving.

Christmas 1914 re-enactment, writing letter to a soldier

Period House

We spent some time at a home set up for the 1900’s. We saw a pamphlet to help people adjust to living during the war. It was full of practical advice.

In this house we were walked through how people would have lived, and the story of one family. We learned the best way to string popcorn and saw period Christmas decorations.

Guard house

Our last stop was the guard house. Each of us got a period Christmas card, much like the boys would have received in the war. We learned abit about how injured soldiers were cared for. I have to admit, the fire was cozy warm. The men inside the building also educated the boys are terminology use, and many other items. Other than the hot chocolate I probably enjoyed this station the most.

Artifacts

Not to be forgotten was the artifact set up in the main building. This was a treasure trove of information. From the lady who had a display of period Christmas Cards, and an obvious love of communicating what was special about them. I never knew one could learn so much from an old card!

The boys were most interested in checking out the equipment the soldiers used and the weapons they carried. The person manning the both was very knowledgeable and from him we learned that most of the soldiers that participated in the 1914 truce died as a result of their actions. Their commanding officers for the most part transferred them to areas with active fighting. Their actions were firmly frowned upon, and thereafter in the war, some of the heaviest fighting was on Christmas day.

We learned a lot about gas masks, how they progressed over the years. What the gas did. Some gas dissipated easily, other gas settled in down lying areas and just stayed there. The lad tried on a gas mask and said “it’s hard to breathe’. Our instructor said “Now try running with that, carrying all your gear, in the mud”. My son’s face when he took off the mask said it all. Imagine how hard that would have been. The soldiers needed to carry them at all times.

This was an incredibly informative evening and I highly recommend if you have a chance to go, that you do so.

Want to Know More?

Some songs were written about this series of events.

Articles about it

Some books to check out.

Colborne Lodge

December 4, 2018 By Annette1 2 Comments

When we were on vacation we needed something to do before we went to our airbnb apartment. Enter in Colborne Lodge in the southern end of High Park in London. Our guide was wonderfully informative and very personable. You’ll have to pardon me if the pictures are a bit dark, no flash was allowed.

Colborne Lodge was the home to John and Gemima Howard. Mr. Howard was an architect and engineer originally from England. The house holds a number of pieces of art work that he did himself. A lot of the art work he did involved ships on the water, usually in trouble.

They had one of the first indoor toilets. There was a small replica of it so that we could see how it worked. This area of the house was built in such a way that when the door was closed it looked like a solid wall. If I recall correctly, it was because not everyone was accepting of indoor toilets.

Our tour guide walked us through all the different areas of the house, telling us about each of the paintings. She gave plenty of time for questions to be asked and answered. The Howards lived a fair piece out of town. The house was comfortable for them.

They had this rather neat picture frame sitting on the mantel. I can’t recall if this one is authentic to the house. They needed to do a fair amount of work on the house as it had merely been shut up when the Howards’ had passed on. Vandalism and theft had happened before the house was turned into a museum. I loved the intricate detail on this picture frame and how it fanned out like a peacock. It would have been neat to see photos in it. I would happily have this in my house.

They had these tiny corner closets. I have not seen closets like this before in these early homes. It’s hard to imagine only have three or four outfits to wear.

We were walked through the various bedrooms, seeing their vanities, dresser drawers and the like. There were paintings throughout the house, most done by the Howards, and the odd one by friends.

It’s hard sometimes to know what our student understands, so when he stops to take a picture I wonder what caught his attention. I never did figure this one out as when I asked he just flashed a grin at me.

It’s a fair sized house with a basement, main floor and upper floor. It has a greenhouse or summer patio attached as well.

Oh, I almost forgot this part. They are buried on the property, but not really close to the house! We needed to cross the access road to get to it.

All in all it was a lovely visit with a good tour guide. We learned so much! If you are the Toronto area, take in Colborne Lodge.