What are some of your favorite field trips?

[gandpsmommy]

Our favorites have been the ones we did by ourselves as family outings (not with a large group and not as planned "field trips").

There's a great botanical conservatory about an hour from us that we visited a few months ago. We were really just looking for a fun outing for one of our days off and it happened to be during a special exhibit which correlated amazingly with our ancient history studies. We plan to go back this spring for their butterfly extravaganza.

We also really enjoyed a visit to the art museum to see a Monet exhibit earlier this year. The exhibit included works by Monet and by other artists who were influenced by Monet's work and impressionism. I was sure that my 6yo dd would enjoy it, but I was surprised at how engaged my 4yo ds was. We plan to go back to see more works from their permanent collections.

I just found out that a university about an hour away has a geology museum which includes a full-scale dinosaur skeleton. That is on my radar for sometime this spring, as ds is so into fossils and rocks.

What kind of trips does your family enoy?

[Soph the vet]

Hi Terri,
If you are in Ohio, the Creation Museum just south of Cincinnati is an awesome field trip. There is a planetarium, a 3-D effects theatre, tons to do and all really well done. We went there last fall and it was the highlight of our two week trip across country.

[gandpsmommy]

Thanks for letting me know! I have heard people talking about a Creation Museum, but I didn't know much about it. We'll have to check it out.

[Sue G in PA]

We really want to visit and are taking a family vacation with my dh's father and 2 silbings and their family. They are NOT Christians so doubt would enjoy the Creation Museum...but we really want to go. What else is there to do around there? Could you make a fun vacation out of this trip or is it JUST the Creation Museum? Thanks!

[ThelmaLou]

Bureau of Engraving and Printing (we saw how money is made)
Dallas Morning News (tour of the entire facility, watching the newspapers roll off the press)
Waste Manangement tour (sounds kinda gross. But it was fascinating to see the gigantic piles of recyclables. We watched them sort and bale the different categories of items, and then had a little tutorial explaining what kinds of items get made from recycled trash. My kids remember this one well.)
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Bread store demonstration
Ice cream shop demonstration
Various museums, botanical gardens and aquariums.

I'd really like to arrange some local field trips, too. I would be interested in doing something with the police station, fire station, 911 facility, post office, etc... I just think it would be nice for my kids to get an insider's glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes in our own community. I'm interested to hear other responses and ideas!

[Sue G in PA]

We don't take many b/c it's difficult with ALL 6 kids (esp. the youngers), but:

Science Center (we go once a year during home school free week)
Baltimore Zoo ( a favorite)
Local parks for nature observation
Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA)...my dh works across the street at JHU and now the BMA is FREE!
We went to one of those "hands-on" museums once but it wasn't a very nice facility (NOT Discovery Zone)

Again, we don't do field trips very often.

[Antonia]

We are lucky enough to live close to NYC. My dh goes into the city on business a few days each week, and sometimes we will tag along. He will drop us off on his way to a meeting and pick us up four or five hours later. We have been to the Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and most of the other NYC attractions. Sometimes we just spend the day walking around or hanging out in Central Park.

[Jean in Newcastle]

:DThe science center - very hands on - we had a membership one year and so we could go when there was a special event without spending a long time there. Oh, and they hosted the "Dead Sea Scrolls" which was kind of grown-up but fascinating non-the-less (they did have some kid oriented activities along the way)

:DThe art museum has a Roman art exhibit right now. A few years ago (right when we were studying Medieval times) they had an exhibit on the era of Columbus. They had armor that the kids could try on.

:D There is a local park that is a farm that the kids can go to anytime. It can be boring as far as not having new stimulating things to see but it is really neat if you want to take your nature notebook and take a slower, deeper look at things.

:D We got a zoo membership for my dc's kindergarten year. We were studying the continents and would go to the zoo to look at the animals from the continent we were studying.

:D Quite often we will do impromptu field trips when we are taking a vacation. We stopped at a maritime museum, a cheese "factory", a small air museum (which turned out to be wonderful!), a real "transplanted" Dutch windmill (when we were vacationing in Michigan) etc. :auto:

[Whisperlily]

I loved going to Fort Vancouver in Vancouver, WA. Really, it's just a nice place to stop in, walk around, look and you've seen it. But... they have the original Blacksmith shop up and running, the SAME way, in the same place, and with some of the same equipment it has been since the old times, with several men working. My sons could have spent DAYS in there, watching them pound the metal. They made nails for each one of my sons to keep, and they got to watch the process.

That particular day it was rainy and slow. We were about the only people there, so the main Smithy talked, showed, and let my kids be a part of what was going on. (within a safe range, of course) They were making all sorts of things. When he found out my kids were homeschooled, he told me about a homeschooled young man in the area (either 15 or 16, who comes into the shop once full day per week and is an apprentice.) You can't get that kind of apprenticeship these days. He told my son that if we were still around when he was old enough, he'd teach him too. Boy did his eyes sparkle for days. ;) He still treasures the nail, and that was a couple years back.

[Jenny in Atl]

I try to have the girls see at least 2-4 live performances each year (music & drama). We also make a our annual treks to the Atl Botanical Gardens, Zoo (not my fav), The High (an a few other art outlets), Science Center, History Center, and surrounding historical locations. I wish the funds were there to go farther out into other states. I'm planning a DC/Williamsburg trip for year after next. I would also live a FT to the Animal Kingdom at Disney for my youngest. And, while I'm dreaming, FT's to Europe, Latin America, Africa... OK, I'll stop. :biggrinjester:

[Jean in Newcastle]

Jenny in Atl - you reminded me that last year we did do a 3 - week field trip to the Philippines! We took so many pictures to try and remember this (most likely) once in a lifetime field trip! My ds10 was in WWII heaven!

[mom2abcd]

We really want to visit and are taking a family vacation with my dh's father and 2 silbings and their family. They are NOT Christians so doubt would enjoy the Creation Museum...but we really want to go. What else is there to do around there? Could you make a fun vacation out of this trip or is it JUST the Creation Museum? Thanks!

Sue, the museum is right by Cincinnati, Ohio so you could ask for things to do and see there. We saw the Harriet Beecher Stowe house (Uncle Tom's Cabin author). There wasn't a lot to see there, but it was free;o)

Dayton is an hour? north and there's lots of Wright Brother stuff there. The kids loved the Dunbar House/Wright Brothers Museum.