Everyday life is full of learning opportunities. Teri Brown fleshes this out for us in her new book, Day Tripping. She starts with a discussion of the value of family field trips, then leads us into planning mode with some Dos and Don'ts for making the most of our time. Next comes the fun part!

The ensuing chapters are about field trips with various themes, such as those with an historical theme, geological theme, meteorological theme, culinary theme, government theme, literary theme, naturalist theme, industrial theme, botanical theme, communications theme, artistic theme, and mathematical theme.

These chapters don't just contain some fluffy notes about why this is a good trip. They are full of information and a game plan for each destination. For example, in the geological theme chapter, the field trip plan for caves includes an objective for the visit, preparation activities (such as watching a movie or checking out some library books on the subject), follow up questions to engage your child in conversation about the rip and ideas to use the knowledge, such as making a stalagmite out of paper mache' or writing a poem about the darkness of caves. For each theme she also supplies a resource list of books and web sites to complement the study.

We love field trips! Now we have a resource to make them an even more meaningful part of our educational program.



--Product Review by: Christine Field, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine