How to Use Field Trips in Your Homeschool
Those who are new to homeschooling sometimes worry about how they can fill the school day with diverse activities and make learning interesting for their children. It takes a creative and resourceful parent to ensure that their child’s curriculum is relevant, stimulating, and allowing their child to learn at a sufficient level to their ability.
One way to add variety to the homeschool week is to take your child on some field trips. It can allow a child to take a more hands-on approach to their learning, captivate their interest in a subject they have found boring while learning from books and keep them motivated to learn throughout the week.
Therefore, there are many benefits of including field trips in your lesson plans when homeschooling a child. Sonlight says that other benefits include exercise and socialization. Here are just some of the ways you can use field trips in your home school.
Historical Landmarks and Museums
No matter where you live, it is likely that you will have some form of historical landmark or museum within traveling distance of your home, and these are excellent options for homeschool field trips. The typical topic you will cover during a field trip to one of these venues is history.
While some historical landmarks relate to a specific period or event, there are others that cover various aspects of history. If you are covering a specific topic, then Online College recommends choosing a landmark that relates to the event or era you are covering.
At museums, you can learn about different eras and events, and some specialize in specific aspects of history. They are also fantastic places to look at how society and culture have changed over time. Many museums have areas aimed at children, and these often include interactive and educational activities. It is also worth asking museums about any workshops or classes they hold, as you may prefer to time your field trip to coincide with something taking place at the museum in which your children can participate.
Interactive Experiences
Any attraction that has interactive experiences to enjoy during a visit is worth considering as an educational field trip. Interactive experiences involve educational activities that allow a child to have fun while they learn.
One example of an attraction that may have interactive elements is children’s science centers, which are found in many cities. There are often activities that cover topics such as astronomy, geology, biology, health, nutrition, and various aspects of chemistry, physics, and the natural Earth.
A visit to a science center is a fantastic way to incorporate any of these topics into your child’s learning week. It is also a means of including practical activities into their homeschooling schedule, rather than simply learning from books or other written materials at home. Many children understand a topic much better when they have learned through a kinesthetic activity, so learning is more effective. Like museums, science centers often host workshops, classes, and events in which your children could participate.
Areas of Natural Beauty
Not only are areas of natural beauty a brilliant resource to use for homeschooling families, but many are also free to visit, which is ideal if you have a limited budget for field trips and other homeschooling activities. Some examples of places to visit are local parks, state parks, nature reserves, wetlands, mountains,
There are many subjects that you can incorporate into a visit to a natural beauty spot. Just some of the activities you can include are bird and wildlife spotting, tree and plant species, biology, geography, orienteering, conservation, and the environment. In some locations, you can also cover aspects of
You can also visit different bodies of water, such as beaches and coastal locations, rivers, streams, lakes, and waterfalls. Some topics to cover can include coastal erosion, marine biology, freshwater fish, water pollution, and geology. You could also use the surroundings for an arts and crafts session or as inspiration for literacy tasks, such as creative writing and poetry. Furthermore, you can incorporate physical activities into your time by the water, such as hiking, swimming, kayaking, and canoeing.
The Cinema and Theater
If you tell people that you are taking your child to the cinema or the theater during a typical school day, they may think you are just using homeschooling as an excuse to go out and have a good time. However, there are many lessons that you can incorporate into a trip to popular attractions.
For example, you can incorporate media, business, music, English, art, math, and social education into a trip to the cinema. Try to watch a film adapted from a book so that you can compare the similarities and differences between the two and link the movie to English tasks.
Study the way visual and sound effects are used to tell the story and capture the audience’s interest and consider how the film’s soundtrack contributes to the audience experience. Look into the cost of making the film compared to box office sales, or research how the cinema profits.
Other activities include designing a poster, creating an alternative ending, researching the actors, writing a film review, and discussing any social, political, or cultural issues covered in the movie. You can set similar activities for a trip to see a live performance at the theater.
Incorporate Animals Into Field Trip Activities
Pure Wow lists several attractions with animals as great places to visit on a homeschool field trip. These include zoos, rescue centers, nature reserves, farms, and aquariums.
Although learning about the different species living at each of these attractions is the obvious lesson at these venues, there are also many other topics that you can cover during a visit. Some examples include ecology, conservation, evolution, marine biology, natural habitats, the environment, and pollution. Following your visits to these attractions, you can devise extended tasks to continue learning any of the topics covered during your visit.
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