by Dawn Hauff, Kingston, ID
When our son was born, twelve years ago, I was already thinking of homeschooling. I spent time researching and talking with others about home education. I went to a public school to ask about dual education, books, and curriculum requirements in Idaho. I went online to check out our State’s Education web site in Idaho to look for laws and regulations on Home Schooling. However, I still felt inadequate when it was time to start school.
We joined a homeschool group about thirty miles away that met once a month. Our family still felt isolated. I took a chance on what I knew, and what I wanted to do with making education fun and enjoyable. I wanted to incorporate field trips into our education. I knew two other families nearby that homeschooled and contacted them. Then, I called our local Ranger District for a Forest Service Field trip.
When the day of our field trip arrived, we were rewarded with a wonderful experience! The kids learned about fire-fighting, tree planting and identification; they tried on the clothing and gear that fire-fighters wear. They got to take turns going in a fire shelter, a heat deflecting “tent”. They saw the trucks and equipment that are used for fighting fires, and learned about the organizations that help take care of our National Forests. The adults had as much fun as the students. We were given posters, and other educational material to take home.
This was the first of many fun field trips. It was a little awkward at first — to call strangers and ask them to share their knowledge with kids and adults of various ages for homeschool. Most were very willing and excited to share what they knew.
We went to our local museum, where we were given a guided tour at a discounted price. We learned so much about items from a hundred years ago, and about our local timber and mining history. I didn’t recognize or comprehend what some of the items were in the museum, so it was nice to have a guide that interacted with us and explained things. There were butter churns and washtubs, meat grinders, and ice-cream makers, kitchen utensils, not in use today, that looked a mystery to us. There was steam-driven equipment for mining, and a room with black light and rocks that glowed. It awed the kids and parents alike.
We went to a bowling alley, where we had a free lesson on bowling from the owner. It was an old-fashioned alley that had manual score-keeping cards. We learned how to keep score, and use our adding skills.
Eastern Washington University at Cheney, gave us several field trips. We went to their Planetarium twice, and to the Archaeology Department, where we had a very interesting day. We pieced together, like a puzzle, the fragments of the past at a workstation, finding a marble, barbed wire, canning lids, Indian arrowheads, bone awls, mortar and pestles. They gave us a map of where an old farm was, a hill, and a river, and had us determine where the items had been found and what the story was behind them. They showed us that Anthropology and Archaeology take some guessing on how things might have happened. It was a unique experience.
We visited our local Post Office. The Postmaster had us address letters and send them off to see how the process of mail delivery works. She gave us a little history lesson and let us cancel the stamps. It was a reinforcement, in third grade, on how to write and address letters. And why writing clearly for others to read is so important. Misaddressed mail and unreadable mail doesn’t always get where it’s going.
A publishing company gave us an amazing field trip, where the children learned about marketing, editing, and writing books. They gave us free books, and did a slide show visualizing the steps that go into publishing a book. The kids really enjoyed it.
A mining company gave us a lecture on mining, and showed us the different types of minerals that are mined. They told us about the antibacterial qualities of silver, and how silver is extracted from ore. We were informed about the uses of silver, zinc and lead. The kids received samples of pyromorphite and cerrusite.
A man who was active in setting up field trips for the Boy Scouts helped us set up an exceptional field trip. He arranged for us to visit a lookout on Silver Mountain, at the top of the World’s Longest Gondola. We rode the Gondola, then took chairlifts to the top of the mountain, and hiked a short trail. At the top was a lookout person. Since he was the summer lookout at Silver Mountain, we got a tour and were informed of the work of a lookout. He had Smokey the Bear meet the kids and tell them about fire safety in the woods, and handed out “Smokey” water bottles. We went back down the mountain for a nice lunch, and had a “real” fire fighter tell us his adventure stories, about some of the wildlife he met, and about the dangerous trees that can fall on a person in a fire if s/he isn’t careful. He showed us what he carried in his backpack, and what kinds of scientific instruments he had and what they were for.
Then a tree planter gave us seedlings to plant, and told us that when he was a boy, he loved the outdoors. He always wanted to have a job working in the woods. He loved tree planting, and seeing the new trees grow. He was blessed with the ability to do what he loved, and wanted to share that experience of watching something grow, by giving each of us a tree to plant. What a wonderful thing to share! We took our trees home and carefully planted them, and are still enjoying watching them grow.
We also went to our local fire station. It was more than just a fire station field trip. It was real people sharing real stories and useful information. The firemen “suited up” to show the kids what they might look like if they came to their house if there was a fire. They told them not to be afraid, though they sounded like Darth Vader, and looked scary, with their shields, reflective tape, axes, masks, and oxygen tanks. That was a good thing to know, I wouldn’t have thought that a fireman could look scary to a child!
They let the kids sit in the equipment and they sounded their sirens, and slid down their pole for us. Later we took a CPR course for only five dollars, and we learned life-saving skills.
The last field trip I will mention was a trip to a dam. We got to go inside the dam, and see the power turbines. They had a circuit board that allowed us to flip a switch and see how power was produced and brought to people’s homes. After this field trip, we requested a “teaching trunk” from Idaho Power, which they so generously sent to our home for free, and let us learn about electricity and magnetism with cow magnets, videos, and a circuit board, along with some videos, and instruction books for hands-on learning about power.
We use a wonderful full curriculum for teaching, but these fieldtrips have been hands on, visual learning experiences with real people doing real jobs, using their knowledge to make our world a better place.
When planning a field trip, you should have an idea of how many will be going, what age groups are welcome, how much time is allowed. I made some mistakes in planning, when others came with us. Not all field trips are friendly toward families and prefer a certain age for learning. Make sure you know what will be taught at the field trip, as for instance, a university may give a world view instead of a Christian view. Try to always remain polite, as you are a guest, and are making an impression of who homeschoolers are. Try to get, and relay as much information as possible, and try to keep your group small, with people who are dependable, especially for field trips that are time- sensitive. Don’t let your group get too big, speaking from experience, as with more people there is less dependability and more frustration. Some of our field trips required a minimum number of people; others happily accepted as many as were able to come. If you want more out of your homeschool experience, don’t be afraid to reach out to others and try some field trips together, or just as individuals. They are well worth the effort!
One of the things that happened as a result of our trips, was that we volunteered to be Fire Lookouts as a family. For two summers we have worked on a mountain, taking weather readings, looking for smoke sightings, relaying important weather and smoke information to fire fighters and dispatchers. We have watched smoke jumpers parachute into fires; watched helicopters drop buckets of water on fires and retardant planes drop their red retardant over hot areas to cool them down, so the fire-fighters could go in and put them out. It has been an unforgettable experience, that I am now able to share with others, and try to “give back” some of what we have received.
We see owls, deer, elk, moose, bear, and mountain goats up on the mountain during the summer. It has been a very rewarding experience that takes some hard work and dedication, but the result is priceless!
Project Learning Tree, Project Wet, and Project Wild offer workshops to homeschool educators to help teach about our environment; www.plt.org, www.projectwet.org, and www.projectwild.org. If you visit www.fs.fed.us you can find out all about the Forest Service and some of their volunteer opportunities.
Fish and Game Departments offer educational material. Check with your State for some fun things to do. Go to www.volunteer.gov and find out how your family and you can volunteer for many exciting, rewarding, and educational jobs. Life is an education. It’s a daily adventure if that’s what you make of it. DH
