Why are the field trips so underwhelming?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A love of learning. Bringing history to life. Teachers excited to teach and show their student's the connection between what they are learning and the history around us.

So the “bringing history to life” is 45 minutes at the museum or site. The rest of the day is bus rides and organizing groups/meals.

Meanwhile, the teacher put in 3 weeks of planning and an aggravating amount of hours chasing permission slips. She then had to discipline students on the bus and at the exhibit. She had to constantly remind chaperones that they are on duty and can’t treat this as a fun vacation, and maybe they should get off their phones every now and then.

And all the kids will remember is singing on the bus ride.

DP. I’m a parent who has chaperoned many of these field trips and I couldn’t agree more. Some of them are, sadly, just a huge waste of time and effort.

I also mentioned earlier that I thought Colonial Day was FAR more fun and informative for the kids than a useless day spent on a bus to and from Jamestown. Of course, FCPS stupidly stopped allowing Colonial Day, so that is not an option anymore.

Time to get some moms together and organize one.
You have to accept that there are increasingly things that school won’t provide.

NO! They are a waste of time for almost all kids in FCPS. I do not understand why Field Trip mom is so hot on this.

I'm the PPP and I think (?) the PP is saying we need to organize Colonial Day. Which would be great, but FCPS won't allow it anymore.

Have one in someone’s backyard this summer.
It’s a great year to start a new tradition.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A love of learning. Bringing history to life. Teachers excited to teach and show their student's the connection between what they are learning and the history around us.

So the “bringing history to life” is 45 minutes at the museum or site. The rest of the day is bus rides and organizing groups/meals.

Meanwhile, the teacher put in 3 weeks of planning and an aggravating amount of hours chasing permission slips. She then had to discipline students on the bus and at the exhibit. She had to constantly remind chaperones that they are on duty and can’t treat this as a fun vacation, and maybe they should get off their phones every now and then.

And all the kids will remember is singing on the bus ride.

DP. I’m a parent who has chaperoned many of these field trips and I couldn’t agree more. Some of them are, sadly, just a huge waste of time and effort.

I also mentioned earlier that I thought Colonial Day was FAR more fun and informative for the kids than a useless day spent on a bus to and from Jamestown. Of course, FCPS stupidly stopped allowing Colonial Day, so that is not an option anymore.

Time to get some moms together and organize one.
You have to accept that there are increasingly things that school won’t provide.

NO! They are a waste of time for almost all kids in FCPS. I do not understand why Field Trip mom is so hot on this.

You want to prevent a handful of moms from organizing their own Colonial Day why, exactly?

Great idea. Get together and take your kids to Williamsburg. Leave the school out of it. You are free to do this any time you like.

Exactly what I suggested. School won’t do it, so parents should.

This is literally how homeschooling and homeschool co-ops start.
School won’t use phonics, parents teach reading themselves. Grammar education sucks, parents buy Well-Trained Mind and do it themselves. Field trips suck, parents organize a trip with others themselves.
Sooner or later they pull the kid out and do it all themselves! (Or find a suitable private) Lol

And that’s your choice. Public schools will never be able to provide everything you want because they have to serve all families, not just your own.

Also, schools were never meant to replace the family. You SHOULD be doing this type of thing on your own, and you shouldn’t be expecting the school to provide all of your kids’ experiences and opportunities for learning. If you need a place to outsource this work to, then perhaps a homeschooling co-op or a well-resourced private is a good choice for you.

Which is exactly what I did.

Public elementary school was entirely too generic, industrialized, ultra-processed for my taste. I had the means to do something custom for my children and I did. Real reading and grammar instruction, hands on science, field trips where they could spend hours exploring, fresh air, sunshine, fine motor skills, time to explore their own interests, and minimal screens. Bonus points for co-ops where parents knew that if their child was an insufferable bully, they could be iced out if they didn't get a handle on it.

10/10 would recommend for those that find it feasible.

Then why are you on the FCPS forum?
DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A love of learning. Bringing history to life. Teachers excited to teach and show their student's the connection between what they are learning and the history around us.

So the “bringing history to life” is 45 minutes at the museum or site. The rest of the day is bus rides and organizing groups/meals.

Meanwhile, the teacher put in 3 weeks of planning and an aggravating amount of hours chasing permission slips. She then had to discipline students on the bus and at the exhibit. She had to constantly remind chaperones that they are on duty and can’t treat this as a fun vacation, and maybe they should get off their phones every now and then.

And all the kids will remember is singing on the bus ride.

DP. I’m a parent who has chaperoned many of these field trips and I couldn’t agree more. Some of them are, sadly, just a huge waste of time and effort.

I also mentioned earlier that I thought Colonial Day was FAR more fun and informative for the kids than a useless day spent on a bus to and from Jamestown. Of course, FCPS stupidly stopped allowing Colonial Day, so that is not an option anymore.

Time to get some moms together and organize one.
You have to accept that there are increasingly things that school won’t provide.

NO! They are a waste of time for almost all kids in FCPS. I do not understand why Field Trip mom is so hot on this.

You want to prevent a handful of moms from organizing their own Colonial Day why, exactly?

Great idea. Get together and take your kids to Williamsburg. Leave the school out of it. You are free to do this any time you like.

Exactly what I suggested. School won’t do it, so parents should.

This is literally how homeschooling and homeschool co-ops start.
School won’t use phonics, parents teach reading themselves. Grammar education sucks, parents buy Well-Trained Mind and do it themselves. Field trips suck, parents organize a trip with others themselves.
Sooner or later they pull the kid out and do it all themselves! (Or find a suitable private) Lol

+1
This was our experience, for sure. We stuck it out until high school, which was much better. But we were very much supplementing big time during elementary.

My parents supplemented and provided tutoring for the four of us in the 1980’s, that is a part of parenting. You see that your kid needs more so you provide more. Two of us has LDs, my parents realized that those two kids needed additional support. Two of us were incredibly smart, my parents realized that they needed more. We went to museums and historic sites as part of vacations because learning through seeing is great.

Its called parenting. People have been doing it for a long, long time. I am not sure why the current crop of parents seem to think that schools are supposed to do everything but they do. Schools are suffering because parents are not supporting the schools by helping with homework or working on areas of weakness or discipling their kids at home. Why? Because the teachers are supposed to do all that.

And plan field trips because going to the art museum or history museum or a battlefield is too much for you to do on the weekend. You need that 1 hour in the art museum a year field trip.

[Anonymous]

Do fourth graders still go to the Kennedy Center?