My Quivers Full - Ultimate Field Trip Friday!

Apr. 19, 2008 - Ultimate Field Trip Friday!

It seems as though Spring is the busiest season for homeschoolers. We're trying to make sure we wrap up all of our "book work" before summer, and also trying to shake off major doses of cabin fever, all while gearing up for our planning for the next school year. Our family is no exception. This week we were able to do two great field trips. Unfortunately, they were scheduled for the same day.

We belong to a field trip group that put together a day at the Kentucky Horse Park. Big Man (8) had been very excited about this trip. He is still fascinated with horses since getting into the Billy and Blaze books last year. What a glorious day to spend outside with these gorgeous creatures! It was a couple hour drive, but worth it once we got there.

It was a great trip for Little Monkey (5). He wasn't that thrilled with horses before this trip, but now LOVES them. The first thing we did after arriving was the pony ride. Since I wouldn't be able to go on the trail ride with Big Man (8), everyone wanted to stick to the ponies. It was cheap, but only a few minutes long. No matter to Little Monkey, he is now enamored with these animals. He asked for the rest of the day to go back and do the rides again, and again, and again.

He even wanted his picture taken with every statue we came to.

All of us really enjoyed the Parade of Horses.

At the end of the Parade of Horses, they stayed out in the ring for a big "Meet and Greet" where you can pet the horses in the show and ask the riders any questions. Both Big Man and Little Monkey were sure to pet every horse there. The horse in the red pictured above was the only one Peanut (3) would pet. As big as this horse is, I was shocked he would even go up to the thing!

Then, that evening, my hubby had arranged a personal tour of our local papers printing press. Not our first choice to do two trips in one day, but we were grateful the manager was willing to take time out from his evening to explain the newspaper printing business. We thought it would be a great field trip to take since we were learning about the printing press during the Medieval times. This would show them how things have changed so dramatically. The press wasn't running while we were there (it wouldn't have been safe anyway!), but he took time to show how the paper is wound thru the press, how it progresses, what happens at the different areas of the press, how they use a sorter to insert any ads into the paper, and how the whole thing works together to put a small paper together. My boys were interested to see how big the paper rolls are before printing and cutting. Also neat was the many pallets of T.V. inserts for this Sundays paper, each stacked as tall as Big Man. Not as exciting as the horse park trip, but still interesting.

My hubby, knowing they were tired out from their day at the horse park, promised a trip to the ice cream store for a treat if they paid attention and were respectfull of this mans time. The promise of ice cream was all they needed to look attentive and interested, even when they were just dreaming of sugary confections :)

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