Off We Go: Ideas for High School Field Trips
During the teen years, it may be tempting to eliminate field trips from your school schedule simply because your days are full teaching high school subjects. But we'd like to encourage you to keep going on field trips with your teens! A field trip provides a wealth of information; it helps your teens to experience many different educational opportunities, and it affords an opportunity for all of you to enjoy learning outside of a textbook.
Planning a Field Trip
Organizing a field trip does not have to be time-consuming. First, off the bat, keep them to a manageable number. Then ask your teens to suggest ideas for areas/interests that they are curious about and assign them some of the responsibility for nailing down the details. Much of the planning may be done online which will save you time. Some field trips require very little planning. For example, one phone call to a local author setting up a day, time, and location to meet may be all it takes to arrange a great field trip that will give your teens insight into the writing process.
Perhaps you'll want to team up with two or three other families, with each family taking responsibility to plan just one field trip for everyone. These jaunts will also provide opportunities to enjoy camaraderie and friendship with other teens.
Don't reject out-of-hand spontaneous opportunities. These can be some of the most productive and fun times. For example, a trip to the local arts and crafts fair may spark an impromptu conversation with a glass blower who is willing to give an in-depth explanation and history of his craft. Voila! No planning necessary, but a most informative and engaging field trip nonetheless.
There are many prospects for your teens to experience the performing arts through community theaters, symphonies, and concerts in the park. If you have budget constraints, look for low-cost and even free performances. Some communities offer inexpensive student tickets, so be sure to take advantage of these. If a "school" discount price is available, try using your HSLDA member ID card to take advantage of the lower costs.
Living near community or four-year colleges will afford you opportunities to attend student recitals, poetry readings, or other presentations. Ask about dress rehearsals that may be open to the public. Around the holidays, many churches offer free musical concerts and drama productions.
Volunteering to work on a political campaign is a great educational experience. Seek out politicians whose views you support, and have your teen volunteer to help the candidate or current office holder. Your teen will learn new skills, become an informed citizen, and hopefully help to put good people into office. Generation Joshua provides many opportunities for teens to become involved in the political process.
To gain a better understanding of civics, your teen may want to spend a day in court taking in a public sentencing hearing, attend a traffic court session, stop by your state capitol for a tour, or sit in the gallery and watch a legislative session.
As part of your teen's physical education course, why not include family outings to a couple of sports events? Looking for ways for your teens to become better acquainted with a sport? One suggestion is to have them research a particular sport such as lacrosse, write a paper on its history, learn the rules, and then root for your local team at a high school or college game.
Many major league sports teams offer tours of the stadium/arena while giving great info regarding the team's history. For example, Camden Yards in Baltimore couples a wonderful tour of the ballpark with historical information regarding the surrounding area. Who would have thought that a tour of the ball park would include a history lesson!
Make writing a composition a painless activity by encouraging your teen to personify a reporter and write up an article covering a game or event. Assignments like these are not only fun but also serve as a reminder to your teens that both announcers and reporters need good writing and communication skills.
If your teen isn't into sports, then your family may wish to identify another activity you can do together such as hiking and picnicking, whitewater rafting, or biking. It may foster an enjoyment in keeping fit in the company of others.
Did you ever think of combining a career development elective with a field trip? Does he have an interest in becoming a radio producer, plumber, network engineer, or firefighter? Over the course of the high school years, your teen could choose one occupation/career per year to investigate. Use your connections in the church and community to introduce him to a person in the field of interest. Encourage your teen to line up several days to job shadow this person and receive a firsthand, behind-the-scenes look at the profession. What are the typical hours, the necessary skills and education, the working conditions, and advancement opportunities? There's nothing as effective as seeing a job up close and personal to help steer your teen towards or away from various careers.
Scout out field trips on the local, state, and national levels. Don't overlook your local historical society which can be a starting place for your own exploration. Does your town have a unique story? How has it changed through the years? Is there a town historian who would love to chat with your teen? Have there been any famous historical people who have hailed from your locale?
There may be re-enactments of events from the past that are scheduled. These may be as exciting as a battle fought in your vicinity or more serene such as the operation of an old mill or farm. Some will even provide hands-on activities for people of all ages to enjoy. You'll likely come away thankful for the modern conveniences we often take for granted.
On a grander scale, your family may wish to save towards a trip to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, or Boston to see where our nation was birthed. Or if geography seems a bit dry, consider visiting some of the national parks, each with its unique beauty.
Factories, Libraries, and Community Interests
Every town is known for something. In Diane's hometown, the steel mills provided most peoples' livelihoods. Have you ever taken a tour of a steel mill? Factories and other production plants are usually proud to show off their manufacturing capabilities with tours on specific days or by appointment. Newspaper factories (especially in small towns) make fascinating field trips and many include a full day of watching a newspaper come about from the collection of news stories to assigning the stories to reporters and photographers. TV and radio broadcast stations are typically friendly to student field trips. Some of these venues have minimum age requirements so be sure to ask if your children can be accommodated.
Don't forget the public library when thinking about possible outings. A reference room contains many different resources that teens will find useful when those first few college assignments are given. Atlases, indices, reference materials, historical documents, and much more can be explained by a librarian so that your teen is familiar with these items and can put them to good use.
We know that it will take some effort to plan a few field trips for your teen this school year. But your efforts will pay off in the long run as your teen is exposed to a hands-on, real world education. Plan just a few trips each year and by the end of high school, you and your teen will have many memories stored away long after the final textbook is sold at a used curriculum sale!
Next month, join us as Elizabeth Smith writes about how she prayed her way through the homeschooling years and the help the Lord provided.
Planning our next field trip,
Becky Cooke & Diane Kummer
HSLDA High School Coordinators
This resource is an article from the Homeschooling Thru Highschool newsletter (11/4/2010), and is provided by the Home School Legal Defense Association as a service to the homeschooling community.