Schooling on the Go. In the Real World. Doing Real Things. Socializing with Real People. 

We went on our first real "Field Trip" today. After I labelled it as "Field Trip" and told the kids we were going on a real field trip I had a brain bubble moment. What is a REAL field trip? What is a FIELD TRIP? Why am I calling our learning experiences by school associated names?

So what we actually did today was go out in the Real World and we learned Real Things with Real People. We also did it in an organized way. Our trip to the zoo was not a reward, free for all, hurry as fast as you can through the exhibits so you can chat with your friends on the playground and retain no useful information experience.

On a Facebook group I am a part of another parent was asking questions about creating worksheets for their child to do at the zoo. Another parent commented "why do you need to do anything? Just let them experience it!" I contemplated and read all the opinions and came to this conclusion: What is a school field trip for a Kindergarten/First Grader? It is an experience, a treat for a year well done, a light at then end of the year long tunnel...is it meant to be a unit study on the habitat and eating habits of the Ring Tailed Lemur? No. BUT why can't it be? For one- to organize and help each student learn about specific animals throughout the zoo would be a HUGE undertaking and quite frankly impossible with a group of 20 or more kids in this age group.

It's also one of the PROS of Homeschooling! We were not on any time table. We didn't have to worry about bus drivers and leaving at a certain time to make it back for school dismissal. We took our time, explored, read animal facts, while also partaking in all the activities and had ample playground time. The kids both said they had the BEST DAY EVER!

So what did I have them do? A scavenger hunt of sorts...

I made it available for Free here if you would like to see the entire thing or use it yourself:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Zoo-Field-Trip-2554514

When we arrived at the zoo there were 6 buses there...all filled with kids that ranged in age from 4 to 8 years old I would guess. When we entered I asked if there was a combined or group ticket that would purchase the admission fee plus the additional activities inside the Zoo. The lady asked if we were part of one of the field trips, to which I answered that we were homeschoolers. To my surprise she said "Oh that is great, I will just let you guys in at the field trip rate." SAY WHAT!! 2 adults, 2 kids (the little was free) admission, train, carousal, animal feed, and a snowcone for each of us for a TOTAL of $26!! I love the small benefits and acts of support we get from certain places!

We all had a blast meeting new people and they each made a friend they hung around with for a while on the playground. We actually learned about some of the animals instead of rushing through with a slight glance into cages. The kids enjoyed filling out their worksheets, using team work to find answers. They constantly asked questions like what a certain animal ate and I feel like it was a great learning experience for them. 

We will definitely be doing more of these hands on, go out in the world and learn, activities. If I can give any advice it's to not over plan. There is a small museum next to the zoo that I thought we might have time for today, but we didn't and that is okay. We arrived at the zoo about 10:30 (after waking up, getting ready, packing a picnic lunch, and driving an hour to get there) and left just before 3 (I wanted to be out of town before the local factories shift was over at 3). We did not have to rush, we let the kids explore at their pace, and they had lots of free play time at the playground as well. 

Slow down, have fun and don't be afraid to make a learning moment out of mundane things. Schooling as We Grow...It's a Way of Life...not a race to the finish.

This will be a long post sorry….I have to play catch-up! I set my alarm for early this morning so I could get up and do some stuff that has been slipping. I literally just went through and deleted over 1,000 e-mails. I feel horrible that my e-mail account has seriously been neglected. I get so many unimportant e-mails so I turned off notifications to my phone-it was dinging all the time and driving me nuts, but they aren’t necessarily spam either. I can tell you one thing I probably will not be winning Publishers Clearing House anytime soon with as far behind as I am doing their e-mails…bummer! Seriously there is not enough time in a day to keep everything in our lives perfect all the time. Food, cleaning, laundry, schooling, activities, grocery shopping, and just the everyday hum drum definitely keeps me busy. My e-mail account, laundry, and the perpetual clutter is what seems to take the back row in our theater of life though.

Mother’s Day was awesome and my kids made me an array of things (some of which I helped with because, let’s face it, if I didn’t do crafts with them who would). I love all of the things they made, but I especially love the little questionnaire that I have made a yearly tradition. I have a feeling that when my children are all grown I will LOVE to look back at these little questionnaires and see how their perception of me changes through the years.

  

 

The other night I had a rare opportunity to have a couple hours of alone time (DH took the kids to his parent’s house to visit and I just wasn’t up for a visit). So 2 glasses of wine and about 45 minutes of youtube videos later and I was pondering the home school life. I came across several video’s that just got to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnC6IABJXOI&feature=youtu.be

Seriously our education system pretty well sucks! I love watching videos and reading articles that solidify our decision to homeschool. I like to know that other people have similar thought patterns. I am not alone in my thinking that there should be a better option. Well that video lead to several others, and then to this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxyKNMrhEvY&sns=fb

Seriously guys! Why are we continuing on a path that just isn’t working? Why are we "judging the fish on how they climb trees!" Why are we continuing to force kids to learn things we know (from experiencing it ourselves) that they will never remember, retain, or use in real life? Why are we forcing our children into a box that is considered “normal” or “the right thing to do.” When our children are little why do we strive for them to be doctors or lawyers and then feel it is our parenting duty to force them to learn on that path? What if they want to create video games, or be a tattoo artist, work in retail, or heaven forbid be a stay at home parent? What if those are the paths our children want to take….is that so bad? I think our society is flawed in that we strive for being the best of the best instead of striving to contribute our specific skills, and most importantly striving to be HAPPY in our life.

Do I want my kids to be doctors or lawyers? Not particularly. Does that make me a weirdo? Probably. Does that make me a bad parent? No.  I want my children to be HAPPY with their life. I want them to feel fulfilled with their life choices, whatever they may be.

As I am playing catch up this morning with some adulating my kids are playing legos and barbies. They are HAPPY! I want that for them above all else. So what if they aren’t interested in being able to break down a sentence into the parts of speech or aren’t the best spellers….have you seen the way people spell things now-a-days anyway? By the time they are adults no one will know what the correct spelling is for anything. I am not saying I will not teach my kids! I am saying why not let them lead the teaching a bit to be subjects they are interested in. Teaching them HOW to learn is more import than pounding information into them at an early age that they will not grasp because honestly they don’t care.

Enough rambling, so an update on our home school…the kiddos are doing well! They’re pretty much done with their respective grades. As I have mentioned before I have a list of what they should be learning at each grade level. We are going through that list, reviewing, filling in gaps, and doing a lot of reading and comprehension activities. I want to make sure they have a solid foundation before we move on to learning new material. We planted our garden and the kids each got to plant something for them to take care of all by themselves. Seriously every day there is something to learn!

Happy Learning and Thank You for Reading!