TW is not at work today. Instead, she is sitting on a bus with a bunch of second graders watching her most favorite movie of all time, (ha), Madagascar! The bus is on its way to the Florida Aquarium. Don’t you just love field trips? Or not? I was trying to come up with some fun field trip memories and coming up a little bit empty which seemed odd, but upon reflection it’s not so odd.
When Jenn was in pre-school, Kinder and First Grade we lived in the Philippines. No field trips, except for mini trips to various squadrons to see what the daddies (and the very rare mommy) did at work. We were there during the time of Cori Aquino and there were constant shootings outside of the base, military members kidnapped, lots of security threats. We traveled as a family while in the Philippines but buses full of school kids roaming the country was not something the DoD or the DoDDS wanted to deal with.
Then we moved onto northern California and Jenn and Chris did manage to go on some field trips. I attended very few which again seems odd until I think about it. First issue – I had an infant and a husband who was gone all of the time and I didn’t then nor do I now do the daycare thing. Second issue – I was really not all that into field trips at school because I was constantly taking a Girl Scout troop on some trip, somewhere.
Then it was onto Panama (think Canal not Florida) where again the field trips were few and far between for both Chris and Jenn, which seems odd and upon reflection still seems odd. There were some – to the canal, to Panama Viejo, to Summit Gardens but it seems like there weren’t too many. Michelle was in pre-school, Kinder and First Grade and I did attend quite a few field trips with her class. But again, I avoided field trips if I could because I was always taking a Girl Scout troop or a Cub Scout troop on some trip, somewhere.
After that, New Jersey. Ack. More field trips for the kids in this location; Liberty Bell, Statue of Liberty, etc… I attended one trip to the Statue of Liberty and another to a farm and that’s about it. Again the Girl Scout trip thing.
In SC and here in FL I avoided field trips completely, yea me! My pre-teen/teen wasn’t all that hot for field trips in either location. She has crowd issues and noise issues and by the time she hit 12, field trips held no fascination or fun – just anxiety. I can understand that. Being surrounded by noisy, over-excited kids can make it difficult to relax, to have fun, or to learn.
I’m betting TW comes home with lots of fun stories about the trip and I know E will. And I’ll be almost jealous that I didn’t get to go. Almost.
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I’m not a fan of the field trip — I’d much rather take my kid to cool places on my own (you know, the ones *I* choose!) I wised up around 3rd grade and am now very selective about the ones I accompany her class to.
Hey Donna – it’s not so much the choice of trips for me so much as it is the huge number I would have been taking if I’d done school trips on top of the scout trips.
Then again, I’ve got school field trip issues due to the disruption caused by huge numbers of kids and I wonder about the real benefit of taking such a large group to some of these places – where you’re bound to see other large school groups, as well.
I think this is a sign of old age or something. I don’t remember thinking much about it 20 years ago, except that “I was just there with GS two weeks ago so no, I’ll let another mommy go…” 😉
Parents accompanying their kids on field trips? How odd. In Belgium that doesn’t happen.
When I still worked at the school I organised some field trips. Let me assure you they are horrible for the teachers too. Teenage kids just see it as a day off and don’t pay attention to anything. If you give them assignments they have the knack of dividing them among themselves and then find a sunny spot the copy each other’s answers.
At the other end. The school never allowed me to organise the things I really wanted to, like go to the woods and clean up the garbage for a day. But I guess that wouldn’t count as a field trip.
Perhaps you guys can catch up on nice field trips with your grandchildren :). Or are grannies not allowed?
we had a similiar conversation this week…J has lots of happy childhood field trip memories…I know we took some (especially to the fair and state house) but it doesn’t really stand out as much as church trips or family vacations for visits to visit worthy sites…as for chaperoning that type of function, the thought makes me want to stick needles in my eyes 😉 out of love for the little boogers of course…