FREE field trips are the most popular and getting a group of homeschool children together is even better.
Organizing a group field trip takes someone to step up and lead the effort to coordinate and communicate with the parents about times, dates and what to bring with. Sometime the hardest part is finding someone to organize. The other problem is finding good quality field trips. This is where a local homeschool organization can really help out, because a local homeschool organization can provide leadership and ideas.
At our local homeschool organization, we have several homeschooling parents that organize field trips and we leverage email and the Internet with a custom designed website to provide a very effective way to communicate with other homeschool parents.
The list of field trip ideas on our website includes ideas such as;
- Grocery Store/Orchard/Farm Tours
- Celebration days hosted by local cities
- City service tours, Fire departments, surgical centers, police stations, metro buses
- Bowling, recycle centers, radio stations, museums, greenhouses
- State capitals, historic sites, military posts
Field Trips That Cost Money
Don’t be afraid to pay for a field trip, like horse riding or a pottery shops. Some of the best field trips cost a little bit of money. Homeschoolers are naturally careful with their money, but good things cost money and you can’t expect other people to give away their services for free. Paid for field trips also add to the burden of planning because someone has to manage the money.
In some cases, the field trip organizer has to collect the money before the field trip and pay a lump sum at the door. The organizer has to account for many things like, when someone gets sick or when someone complains about paying or doesn’t pay at the last minute when the group has already committed to a group rate with a set number of students. The organizer has to deal with many issues, so be careful not to anger your volunteer organizer or they may not plan any future field trips.
How Many Field Trips Are Enough?
Field trips are a lot of fun, but remember your children still need to get their school work done. Sometimes parents get so excited about field trips that they start planning them every week. I think the right frequency is no more than once a month. There are just too many other things to do and not enough time to get school work done.
Another great idea is to coordinate your field trips with your curriculum. We try to do this when we can.