Field Trip Brainstorm

Over the past couple weeks, I have been brainstorming ideas for regular field trip activities that transcend age, ability, and learning method. I wanted to construct a routine activity guide to begin now and continue indefinitely as an addendum to our ever-changing homeschool curriculum. We do many of these things regularly now, but this will serve as a reminder to continue. I'm a huge advocate of travel and mobile exploration and am not barred in or limited to certain attractions; if it's fun, we're going! If we learn something, bonus!

Homeschool Hikes
Regular hikes along paths/trails in varying types of nature and seasons as a means of reconnecting with nature, learning from what the world has to offer as that second, and getting back to basics.

Mt. Diablo  in Contra Costa County, CA
Effie Yeaw Nature Center in Carmichael, CA
Big Basin State Park Santa Cruz County, CA
California State Parks website for hikes near you

Discovery Destinations
The choice or draw of a particular direction with no preset destination in mind. For example, a family member may either choose a direction at random, or we could roll a four-sided die to choose for us. Once we head in that direction, depending on the amount of time we have, we may continue to roll or randomly choose until we stumble upon something interesting to stop for. This could be as simple as an unusual rock structure on the side of the highway, an antique store, a major state park in a county we rarely travel to, or (time willing) a complete weekend getaway to a place we've never set foot on.

In San Joaquin County

Community Connections
Opportunities to connect with various parts of the community: tours of community service buildings (fire houses, police stations, hospitals, post offices, animal shelters, courthouses, etc.--all by appointment, of course), colleges, volunteer work, community-run museums and activities.

Town of Sonora and Tuolomne County Museum
Museum of Entomology at UC Davis
The Bone Room and The Great Stoneface Park in Berkeley, CA

Museum Meanderings
Regular trips to museums far and wide and not particularly connected with current unit study (though, of course, they could be) as a means of learning new things and contributing to an organization's effort to keep memories, relics, art, ideas, and learning opportunities alive.

Factory Fun Trips
Trips to see, hear, smell, touch, and taste how things of all sorts are made.

Roadside Rarities
Exploration of unusual oddities along the roadside. This is an opportunity to see some of the strange things that are built with incredible passion, such as shoe trees, quirky restaurants in the shape of unordinary things (flotsam art or concrete dinosaurs, anyone?). The purpose is not only to have fun and embrace our own eccentricities, but to remember to not get bogged down in taking ourselves too seriously!

I use Roadside America- California to find all sorts of kooky field trips.

Animal Encounters
Real, hands-on opportunities to interact with animals. This is not your average zoo trip! Rather, it's a way of meeting and greeting these animals up close with a skilled zookeeper or animal handler that is ready to answer tons of questions.

Open Road Roams
Regular trips to some of California's (and other states as well) most beautiful natural resources. These may not always be the most well-known destinations, but will include often missed gems of the state.

Homeschool Hike

Early this afternoon, once I returned home from work, Aidyn, Grandma, and I set out for a leisurely hike. We searched for a trail I had discovered on trails.com, but found that it did not, in fact, exist! Luckily, we had a backup plan, but on the way we happened on another sort of trail. On a whim, we decided to hike that one instead. It was a cute, roughly mile-long path in Ripon that actually crosses over the Stanislaus River. Aidyn sat in his wagon and observed all the flora while Grandma and I talked, handed Aidyn assorted rocks and sticks to check out and alerted him to nearby squirrels and lizards.

My favorite part of the hike had to be when we all played "Pooh sticks." If you're not familiar with classic Winnie the Pooh stories, "Pooh Sticks" is a game where players toss a stick on one side of the bridge, dash over to the other side, and watch it reappear. We did this a number of times with both leaves and sticks. Aidyn even experimented with dropping a stick on the opposite side to see if it'd go backwards; thus, he learned something today about water currents.

Walking along the path, Grandma shared some sweet stories about her childhood that explained her love for trees. She remarked that on Sundays when she was a child, her dad used to gather the kids and take them out in the middle of nowhere under a tree and allow them to play. He'd always bring along a watermelon and slice pieces up for them to enjoy after they were done frolicking. So in learning about trees this week, Aidyn and I both had the opportunity to hear a sweet, nostalgic story and learn something new about Grandma.

Wonderful, explorative, naturesque day!

Phlebotomy, Tracing, and Chess!

When I returned from school and work today, my mom had an in-home appointment with a nurse. Luckily, Aidyn was around for most of her exam and was able to observe the procedure, especially the drawing of blood! Thus, he added a new word to his vocabulary: phlebotomist.

After that excited ended, I introduced him to the letter T, the first letter for the word tree. I worked with him on tracing the letter, and though he did an excellent job, we're not ready for that yet. I believe he needs more foundational work to exercise his writing abilities; he has years ahead of him before handwriting is "required." If he's to be ahead in anything, handwriting letters does not have to be it!

So I got him started on a tracing book that I've had tucked away for a couple years. In it are adorable, real-life illustrations of trails and paths. The idea is to link one object to another. For instance, one page had a little crab in the upper corner and another little crab in the bottom corner with a mess of rocks between them. The goal is to create a path for one crab to meet the other without touching the obstacles. Aidyn had a ball doing this and learned to navigate his lines in a fun way.

My goal for him at this stage is to continue to use his creativity and imagination ("Okay, Aidyn, we must draw a path for this kitten to get to his mama without falling in any of the holes. Be careful! Oh, watch out! You did it; great job!") and to exercise his 'writing muscles' with art first.

After he completed a number of pages, I let him display his work as he saw fit. He chose the location and taped it up himself; so what if I have to tilt my head to appreciate it? : )

When he finished "doing school," Aidyn requested some play time with the chess board. He just discovered it in our closet today and was curious to see what that was all about. Not being a chess whiz (I'll leave that to David!), I showed him the very bare basics of the game. He enjoyed plopping the pawns and other figures through the board and looks forward to his dad teaching him how to play.

Dancing, Fresh Books, Circus Animals, and Nature Exploration

When I arrived home from work, Aidyn promptly requested a dance session "with oh-dees," as he refers to the stylings of 50's and 60's music, so we danced, sang, and spun around until we were both dizzy.

We then took a trip to our local library where I stocked up on new reads and Aidyn played with puppets. I asked him to choose his own storybook, and he selected Hi, Cat (my inner voice cheered!). Afterward, he played for a while on the playground and "did laps" around the play structure.

Later, we lounged on his bed and read C is for Caboose, a less than entertaining book, but it did bring up some new and old vocabulary words. We then read the more delightful The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper and Tell Me, Tree by Gail Gibbon. Both provided opportunities for discussion and oral dictation.

As the time neared for Mama to do her own school work, David took Aidyn to the bank among other places. To give me time to read and to fulfill the rest of Aidyn's homeschool day, David and Aidyn stopped by the camped out circus on the other side of town. David reported that they were able to see camels, zebras, elephants, llamas, and dwarf ponies. Well, that's something you don't see everyday!

Later, the boys went to the park where David emphasized interaction with nature. Thus, they ran up and down the grassy hills, inspected leaves, and, as David proudly bragged, Aidyn climbed his first tree (with only a little help). According to David, Aidyn's butt was soon attacked by a "swarm of ants" and they swifted ducked out of there. They then played on the swings until tiredness got the better of Aidyn.

New Unit Kick Off!

Today we officially kicked off our new unit. Actually I combined two units (as our destination apex nears faster everyday!): trains and the Redwood Forest. Although they seem like polar subjects, I smooshed them together because we've always wanted to take Aidyn on the steam engine ride through the Redwood Forest, so we thought this would be an excellent way to merge those ideas.

So, this morning, Aidyn and I colored number and letter trains. Each train car had a certain number or letter ready to trace. I was impressed by how well he was able to mimic the writings though I haven't pushed formal handwriting just yet. Rather, I think I will start him on a tracing book with real world applications (i.e., things he can readily imagine) and save the letters and numbers for later. Later, Aidyn and I glanced through our big train encyclopedia for children and just browsed through the impressive pictures. He also took in the Disney short The Brave Engineer.

After we "did school," Grandma, Aidyn, and I headed to Jamestown to ride a real steam locomotive. What a neat experience! We chatted with the conductors and train car hosts, toured the grounds (which included a blacksmith's shop, a caboose from the film Back to the Future III, a carpenter's shop, and a roundhouse). Interestingly enough, the peek into the blacksmith's shop brought to life a book we read not even a day ago: Winter Shoes for Shadow Horse in which the father was a blacksmith who made horseshoes with his young son.


What an excellent start to a new unit! Throughout the next week, we have many exciting activities to do and many marvelous books to read.

Pony Ride and Autumnal Fun

Yesterday officially closed out our unit study about horses. We began the morning with a cooperative baking of an apple-cinnamon cake. Aidyn helped me measure, stir, and sample along the way. When it was done baking, we shared it with everyone. Later, Aidyn and I read two marvelous books entitled Winter Shoes for Shadow Horse and Wild Ponies. The artwork, especially striking, along with the beautiful language and story, brought these tales to life for us. In reading them, we had the opportunity to talk about horseshoes, hard work, mares and their foals, and the concept of freedom. Afterward, Aidyn watched an animated movie called Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron which was about a young, wild stallion who travels to the Old West. While watching it, Aidyn decided to pretend he was a horse and gallop all over the house!

In the afternoon, the family browsed through our local pumpkin festival and brought back homemade pumpkin bread. Later, we made a trip to Del Osso Farms specifically for Aidyn to ride a pony once more. Watching him saddled on the pony and trotting along, I thought he looked so at ease and so natural that I imagined he may like horse riding lessons some time in the future. It's definitely something to bring up with him later.

Aidyn also toured the farm grounds and played along the way. It was the perfect ending to a small introductory unit study on horses. I especially liked that he not only read books, watched movies, and pretended he was a horse, but he actually enjoyed the real world experience of riding a horse twice. : )

Homeschooling with Daddy

David and Aidyn spent the day playing and learning together. According to his report, the two played hide 'n' seek, tag, and other physical games. Afterward, they read Horses in Dreamland "numerous times" because Aidyn kept requesting a re-read. David suspects that he was interested most in the wolves. I need to file that thought for later as a possible unit study! When Aidyn selected a new book, he picked Caterpillar Sring, Butterfly Summer, which is one of his favorite books. Sounds like the two boys had a very warm, interactive, and enjoyable homeschool day!