Homeschool field trips are a fun way to learn about history, science, life skills, and more! This guide will help you through the steps to plan a homeschool field trip.
Plan a field trip for your homeschooled kids in 6 easy steps. Pick a destination, make contact, ask questions, advertise, check in, and follow up. The steps are all expanded on below.
Pick a Destination for your Homeschool Field Trip
Do your kids have an interest in a certain profession, hobby, or historical event? Homeschool field trips can be to a wide variety of places, so get creative.
Is your kid interested in becoming an engineer? Call up an engineering firm and ask if they’d consider doing a field trip.
Does your child want to be a nurse or doctor? Check with a local hospital.
You get the idea.
What are your kids learning about? Is there a field trip you could set up that would go along with what they’re learning?
If they’re learning about photosynthesis, and trip to a greenhouse or nature preserve could work, or even a tour of the botany department at a local college.
If they’re learning about WWII, you can plan a homeschool field trip to a war or military museum, the local veterans home, an aerospace museum, or even a Holocaust museum.
Is there something unique to your area?
If you live in an area that is known for something specific, try to schedule a field trip to learn more about it. We live somewhat near INL (Idaho National Laboratory), so we enjoyed a trip to EBR-1, which was the first power plant to produce atomic electricity in 1951.
Learn about service workers:
I also like to take my kids to field trips to learn about service workers. It’s so important for us to understand the work that goes into keeping our city running well and providing services for the population. We’ve enjoyed field trips to the police station, wastewater treatment plant, post office, and more.
Get creative with the ideas! There are so many interesting things to learn, and what better way to do it than with a homeschool field trip?
Some of the homeschool field trips we’ve been on:
- Oregon Trail site
- Zoo
- Water or Wastewater treatment plant (while disgusting, it was really interesting!)
- Post office
- Museums
- Recycling center
- Butterfly enclosure
- Government offices
- Hospital
- Police department
- Fire station
- Historical sites
- Geological sites
- Theater, ballet, or musical performances
- Pumpkin patch
- TV or radio station
- Feed lot
If you’re in the Boise area, check out our list of Historic Boise Field Trip Ideas.
Make Contact
You can usually call the business or site and let them know you want to set up a homeschool field trip, and they can get you in touch with whoever you need to set things up with. It sounds scarier to set up a field trip than it is– it’s actually quite easy!
Ask Questions
Once you make contact, you’ll want to ask questions. Here are the questions I like to ask:
- What dates and times work for you?
- Is there a minimum or maximum number of students we can have?
- Is there a cost involved?
- Is there any other information we need to convey to the families coming? (We’ve been on some field trips that required closed toe shoes, or things like that.)
- Are younger siblings allowed? (We often have babies in carriers or strollers coming along, but there are some places that have age limits for safety purposes.)
Advertise with Local Homeschoolers
Once you know the details, you can share with your homeschooling friends.
Depending on the rules in your local homeschool groups and co-ops, many are happy to let you share with their members.
If there is a limit to the number of students that can come, make sure you have a way for people to RSVP, and keep track of the number of students each family will be bringing (including younger siblings).
Check in Several Days Ahead of Time
If you set up the field trip a few weeks ahead of time, I think it can be helpful to check back in the week of the field trip.
I just call my contact again, make sure that they’re still on for the homeschool field trip, and let the number of students signed up if they need to know.
Bring a Thank You Note
It’s always nice to show your thanks! We’ve found that it can be difficult to get a thank you card signed by everyone at a later date, so it works best for us to bring the card and have everyone sign it right away. It can be sent at a later date, but it’s nice to get it signed before everyone heads home.
Has your family gone on any field trips that they really enjoyed? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments! We’re always looking for more ideas!
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