Free Field Trip

My kids like to go grocery shopping because the store down the street has penny pony rides. Conveniently, they happen to have three mechanical horses by the checkout. The kids love to remind us to bring pennies if we’re going to the pony store. Last weekend (labor day weekend), though, the pony store was particularly interesting.

Some representative fire rescue men were setting up their trucks at the entrance, about to collect donations for muscular dystrophy in their boots.

My girls are not huge fire truck enthusiasts like some kids I know, but they are curious and interested, so we stopped to have a look. They see these things on the road fairly often, and I’ve talked to them about what they do. I know they must have wondered what they’re like on the inside. One of the back doors of the fire rescue vehicle (basically a red ambulance) was open, so I encouraged them to have a look, “but don’t touch”. Then, the man who was trying to put up the banner for their cause came around the corner and asked if they wanted to see inside.

All in all, they got to wander around inside the rescue vehicle, check out the inside of the fire truck, and even hold a fire hose. And all of the gentlemen were very friendly. One of them even told me if we ever wanted to stop by the station, someone would probably be able to give the kids a look around.

I had thought about taking them to the station some time as a field trip. A few people have suggested that, if they’re not busy, rescue teams will usually show a kid around and answer questions without a second thought. That seems to be the truth.

And once the kids were done taking turns with the fire hose, they got a call and had to load up and leave, lights, sirens and all. It was quite exciting.

Of course, we donated. Because we care, and because these men were admirable to a t.

What a nice day that was.

Planners

I mentioned in my previous blog that I printed a planner. I spent one whole day on the process, which involved finding forms that worked for me, printing, copying, and filling out the pages, and putting the planner together. Granted, this would not have have taken nearly so long if I didn’t have many other obligations, but we’re working with whatever free time we can find, here.

To me, it’s a masterpiece. To anyone else, it’s a pinkish-purple binder full of paper. And, really, who uses binders? But I keep looking at it and thumbing through it with pride.

You can buy lesson planners. Book stores have them, or you can buy them online. There are lots of options on Amazon. That might work for you if you are a flexible person who doesn’t mind having to bend a bit to conform to the styling set out in a pre-printed book. Also, if you can make the time to review a few different versions and find the right one for you. I make that sound bad, but that’s only because I’m not that person.

If you’re not at all flexible, you can make your own. If you know how to use Excel (or something similar) or tables in Word, or any of a number of Adobe programs (I bet InDesign would be fun for this), you could organize and style your own planners from scratch. That, though, requires some time.

For those of us in between, there are great resources online. I want to be able to pick what kind of pages I include in my planner, how many, and how I organize them in my binder. I have most of a design degree, so I do know how to do this on my own, but I don’t really have time. So I’ll sacrifice a little personalization for the sake of being able to put it together in one day and no longer having to think about it.

I got my planner pages at http://donnayoung.org/forms/. This site has a short list of different sets available. Then, if you click on a set you like, then click “homeschool”, you can see the different pages available for that set. For instance, in the set I chose (Colonial, because I’m a sucker for script), you can choose from 9 different layouts for your planner, depending on what works for you.

My planner includes an attendance calendar, two sets of lesson plan pages (one for each kid, since one will have speech therapy and the other will not), and two reading lists. This year, it’s fairly simple. We’re not grading because I don’t have to report grades to the district yet. However, when that changes, there are grading tables available, too. And if I need more copies of, for instance, the reading list, I can just copy a blank page and not have to fill it out again. This works for me.

I’m pretty sure I’m not being biased at all when I say the planner I created is concise and easy to use. I have a dream in which I imagine family members being able to substitute teach and fill out the planner for me while the kids are on vacation with them. For some, though, that might be unrealistic.

As mentioned in the previous post, I’m currently compiling a list of resources I use for our lessons, as well as free/cheap field trip (or just for fun) destinations for families in Denver. If you have any suggestions for either list, let me know. I can always use more information.

Saving Money on Field Trips

I'm back in the blog game, now that the kids are back from vacation and settled in at home again. This week, I've been thinking about saving money. With all of the traveling that has gone on in the last couple of months, we're on a tight budget while we catch up. So I'll share with you how we manage to keep things rolling for the kids while we grown-ups are watching the numbers.

Last weekend, I took my three kids to the zoo. I was not the lone grown-up, of course; I had my partner, David. We all go to the zoo a lot. We've been about five times so far this year, and we've only spent about five and a half months of this year in Colorado.

There are a couple of obvious reasons we like to spend so much time at the zoo:

1. The kids love it. My five-year-olds are very excited about watching animals and asking questions, two things the zoo is perfect for. "Do snakes go fast?" "How long can an elephant stay under water?" And when I can't answer them, I can usually find a keeper who can. Which leads me to... 
2. It's incredibly educational. I can show them videos on the internet of elephants swimming all day, but that doesn't compare to seeing one roll over into the water right in front of them. They really don't seem to completely understand that the videos I show them on my computer are of things that actually happened.

There are other benefits like spending some time in the sun and fresh air, getting some exercise, and wearing them out so they'll fall asleep the moment the bedroom door closes. Last weekend, we even got maps for the five-year-olds and let them show us how to get from one place to another.

Taking your kids to the zoo regularly can be expensive, though. Admission prices, food and drinks alone are enough to make your head spin. The first step to making this work for you is to remember that a lot of what you're spending at the zoo is going toward taking care of the animals and improving the park itself. A lot of the zoo staff are probably volunteers. But that doesn't ease the stress on your wallet. Here's how we do that:

1. We're members of the zoo. That paid for itself the next time we went through the gates. We no longer have to pay admissions, and we get discounts on zoo fare. We get about 10% off on food at the various venues. That's not bad, but the food is still over-priced by the standards of the outside world. This time, we spent $30 (after our discount) on 4 small scoops of ice cream, a large soda (my partner and I shared for the rest of the zoo trip) and a smallish serving of Asian noodles. I say small(ish) because they do not match the size you would expect to get if you ordered "a scoop" of ice cream or "a bowl" of noodles in the city.
2. Also, you can often find coupons online specifically for things to do with your kids. Of course you can sign up for Groupon or other discount-offering services. They often have great deals on the kinds of things you'll probably only be able to do once in a while. For instance, that's how I got my family a huge discount on a trail ride coming up this fall. Otherwise, just try googling "things to do with kids in (your city) coupons" or something similar. Here's the page I check before taking the kids out here in Denver:  http://www.denverkids.com/ 
3.  We bring food and water. I baked croissants and made meat and cheese sandwiches with them before we left. We also bring one reusable water bottle per person, and refill them at water fountains. Thus, we dodge buying bottled water and lunch. That frees up some spending money for that ice cream, later.
   
4. We make a commitment to ignore the gift shop entirely. We go to the zoo a lot. We bought them each a souvenir once. They don't need one every time we go. Besides, you should see how many toys they have already. Also, gift shops are so expensive... and there's nothing in there you need.

An additional idea to save you some cash: don't pay for parking if you can avoid it. The Denver zoo doesn't have paid parking. Even when the free parking immediately in front of the entrance is full, there is free parking available at the science museum which is in the same park.  The Honolulu zoo had paid parking lots nearest the gate, but you could find free street parking a block or two away. As far as I can tell, unless you're in a hurry to get to a specific event, you can probably find free parking you can walk from. After all, you're going to be walking around the zoo all day anyway, what's a little more? And who wants to feed the meter and then spend the whole day concerned about time running out?

Obviously, we aren't cutting all of the corners we could. We did buy ice cream. But two adults and three children spending 5 or 6 hours at the zoo only cost us $40-$50 if you count putting gas in the car right after we left the house. It could have been a lot more.

I don't know what your zoo's policies on outside food or membership discounts are. You might benefit more or less from the things we do. Either way, you benifit from knowing, so ask. You can call, stop by, or go to your zoo's website. They seem to all have publicly available information about these things.

If you're homeschooling, you want to have as many resources in your back pocket as you can, and finding money saving opportunities is key. These tips don't just apply to the zoo. Check out botanical gardens, museums, butterfly houses, and whatever else your city has to offer. If you manage to save enough money to go out just one extra time this year, you win.