While the majority of your lessons will be in the home, it is a good idea to take your children on fun and educational field trips. The reason is because these trips supplement the lessons you teach them. For example, if you are teaching about the plant reproductive system, you can take the kids to a science museum to learn more about this. Not all field trips need to be educational. Include fun outings to places such as the park, ice cream shop and a restaurant.
Visit local radio and TV stations
The media plays an important role in our lives and one idea would be to take your kids to local radio and TV stations for a tour. The staff will talk with your kids about the different roles each person plays and why it is important in the delivery of the news to the public. This is also a neat idea if some of the children are interested in broadcast journalism.
Check out the farmers market
This is a fun activity for home-schoolers because it gives you the opportunity to teach the kids where their favorite fruits and vegetables come from. Talk to the kids about how the gardening process works and also mention the different recipes you use the produce in. For example, if you buy tomatoes, you can discuss how they are used to make spaghetti sauce and meatloaf.
Family afternoon picnic
This is a neat activity just to get some fresh air after hours of instruction at home. Pack some healthy and portable snacks and bring everyone to a local park. Play a few fun games such as tag, dodgeball, catch and some board games. Another idea would be to sit and talk about how the day is going or future goals you are setting for the family.
Financial literacy classes
If your local home schooling support group is holding a financial literacy class for kids, you can bring your kids to this event. Your kids will need financial literacy in order to manage money well as adults. These classes might discuss things such as creating budgets, determining needs from wants when spending, how to put aside money for savings and ways to boost income.
Public library
Libraries possess a wide treasure of resources for home-schoolers on diverse subjects. You can get these books for free so it saves you money on educational materials. During the summer libraries have summer reading programs, and this introduces them to new books on a variety of genres.
State festivals
The snacks are a major part of state festivals but there is more to the festivals than good food. Some booths feature mini discussions on state history, the diverse ethnicities within the state, and little known facts about certain cities in the state. This is excellent for teaching civics to home-schoolers.
These field trip ideas are fun, educational and act as a relief from the mundane that sometimes occurs during home schooling lessons. The key is to offer diversity of events when planning field trips. Your kids will also learn a lot during these trips.
Article sources
10 Fabulous Homeschool Field Trip Ideas
http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/homeschool-field-trip-ideas/
Field Trip Ideas
http://www.cfaitc.org/fieldtrips/