[jane-t-mommy]

I'm looking for great, easy, cheap field-trip ideas for my soon to be kindergarten homeschooler. As many of her friends start their away from home, on the school bus adventure, I want to let her see that homeschooling can and will be a fun adventure as well!! Thanks!!

 

[Lillian J]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jane-t-mommy I'm looking for great, easy, cheap field-trip ideas for my soon to be kindergarten homeschooler. As many of her friends start their away from home, on the school bus adventure, I want to let her see that homeschooling can and will be a fun adventure as well!! Thanks!!

These pages were done for a statewide California homeschooling organization, but you can still get lots of ideas for categories and things you might not otherwise think about if you poke around in here:
Guide to field trip resources

Take a look at this page, for instance:

By subject

In your neighborhood

Have fun! Lillian (taking a break from packing for a long road trip...)

 

[oceanbaby]

Go camping! That's what we are trying to pull together. Dh and I are total camping novices, but ds has been bugging us to go, so we thought what better way to illustrate the benefits of homeschooling than to go camping at the time when he would otherwise be starting school?

 

[momma2girls]

Camping sounds like fun!
Do you have a zoo or museum nearby? I found that by getting the season membership I could save a bunch of money on going to these things. The best part is that you will get discounts when you go to other places that they are in connection with. Such as we can get in free to several zoos in our state with our pass. If we make a day of it we could also hit some historical site along the way that would be free. Our zoo membership for a year was only $40 that was paid for in the first trip to the zoo! We have gone several times since and will again once the weather cools off. It has more than paid for itself.
Also I have gotten dd involved in girl scouts, and soccer for the fall. Soccer will take her to different towns which will be exciting and girls scouts do field trips to different places and just getting out of the house seems to be a field trip to her!

 

[BecBayGrayMad]

Try checking the travel section of your bookstore/library. Check out a local travel guide and see what it says. That is how we have found lots of fun things to see and do!

 

[OTMomma]

Find out if there are any interesting places in your area that do story times. I know here there is a story time once a week in an old train car that is part of a display downtown, and the kids can see what its like inside a train car. Also check into whatever museums you have locally- even tiny towns often have one. Also, if you know anyone with a farm, going there to visit would be neat.

 

[~*SugarMama*~]

Here, we love hitting the different nature centers, local lakes, biking/hiking trails, and numerous parks. Each has a different look and feel and each has different wildlife, plants, etc for the kids to see.

The local library or book store is another great cheap place here. One, they get to interact with the others there, they can find things that interest themselves as individuals and they can check out things that might not have been introduced otherwise.

Hands-on children museums are really fun! I haven't tried a "regular" museum since DS was a baby but we are looking into area ones now that they are both older.

Zoos can be very fun and entertaining. Depending on the time of year will depend on what the animals look like, their behavior patterns, etc. We usually make a few trips a year to different zoos (and old favorites) so the kids get to experience the changes in the animals.

Grocery stores are also pretty fun homeschooling trips. I give my DS a price limit and see what all he can pick at that limit. Or I tell both kids that we are going to make "x dish" and have them try to find the proper ingredients for it. We also get to talk to others that are out and about.

Pet stores....my children love to haunt the local pet stores. Not only to see the animals but my DS is an aspiring vet so he likes talking to the workers there about animal care. If I could find a nice animal shelter, I would try that one too but the closet one to us is rather scary.

 

[~*SugarMama*~]

Thought of some more.

What about your local police or fire dept? Most times, they are not opposed to talking to a family of homeschoolers about what they do. And if you can bring them a homemade treat (great math lesson....baking cookies in the kitchen), they might be even more willing to spend some extra time chatting with you about their jobs.

Some hospitals also might allow children to sit in on some of their classes. You would have to call ahead first to see when they are being offered and if you would have to pay the fee just to come for a bit. But its still worth a shot.

A trip to the ped's office can also be a chance to learn more about the medical field. I know that our ped is willing to spend a few extra minutes chatting with both kids about any questions that they themselves have about either their appt or the medical field in general.

 

[slightly crunchy]

Can you arrange behind the scenes tours of local places like the post office, a bakery, fire station? A ride on a city bus. A hospital. An ambulance dispatch station. Your local newspaper (printing press?).

 

[jane-t-mommy]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. We are lucky to live in an area with lots of natural beauty and culturally rich to boot!! I think I'm just getting a bit nervous about the official start and the lure of the local public school to my daughters imagination...LOL

 

[LeftField]

We had a blast-off last week for the same reason. We visited the Children's Museum that is relatively close to our house. It's not somewhere that we go that often, so it was like a treat. I presented it as something like, "We can just abruptly go play at the Museum while the kids are in school. If we were in school, we couldn't just go wherever we wanted to. We'd have to stay inside school during most of the day, for most of the days of the week. Isn't this fun to just get up and go?"

 

[Linda on the move]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oceanbaby Go camping! That's what we are trying to pull together.

Or just go on a day hike. Pack lunch in a back pack and spend the day mucking about in the woods.

Build a model of something. One year we spent our first day of not going back to school building a model dinosaur from a kit.

If you live a national park, go do the Jr. Ranger program.

This year my kids want to go on a trail ride to celebrate not going back to school.

If you have a friend who is also homeschooling, invite them to go with you. Homeschooling events with a bunch of homeschoolers are nice, but sometimes just gettting together with one other mom and her child(ren) is lovely.

 

[poisonedapple]

I went to the tourist part of my state, and had them mail me a traveling brochure, its filled with great things that I never knew even went on in my state! Also check your cities local website, ours isnt updated or even very good but the neighboring town has one rocking one! Complete with a family section!

Children's theatre is fun too! I want to take the kids this fall!

 

[eilonwy]

Visit your state's DCNR website; you might find some really amazing things.

We've got three state parks within a 45 minute drive, and they're just packed with fun things to see and do.

 

[taralv]

I was looking for some organic products locally and found a dairy/produce farm that allows tours and hayrides. I'm planning on taking dd (and ds) to the farm in September for the same reason. She would be going to kindergarten and I want her to see the benefits of hsing. Also, we planned a trip to Albuquerque in October for their balloon festival. We used to live in Albuquerque, so we are also visiting friends (and I really miss it), but the fact that we are going during the school year makes it sort of special.

Tara