M's Field Trip
One of the major advantages of in person school: field trips!
You could argue that home school has the ultimate field trip potential. And we did do lots of outings. But there's just something different about it being with a whole class. Plus, I just feel like, as a parent, I'm really limited in what I can teach my kids. I mean, I can teach them everything I know. But I can't teach them anything I don't know. And one person worth of knowledge is just a lot less than more than one person of knowledge, do you know what I mean? It's a huge advantage for kids to have more than one adult contributing to their education! And sure, public school isn't the only way to achieve that of course, but it has been one big benefit for us so far.
Also, field trips here are really different. They're actually called "outdoor learning." Which I guess really is the original meaning of "field trip." But at any rate, it's different. They really learn a lot, and they're responsible for the information later on! It's on their final exams! It's not just, hey let's have fun and learn a random bit of information here and there, it's much more structured into the curriculum than that. So anyway, this was a get-to-know-where-you're-from type of lesson. So the teacher took them to the most important historical places in our little area of the city, which mostly seemed to be concentrated around this irrigation canal that got built a few hundred years ago.
Wow I learned so much! We walked along the canal (which is not flowing anymore, it's like a ditch, although in some areas they've done it all up nice to be like a stream running through a park) and we also got to go underground in some temple where they dug straight into the side of the mountain to access the water. I mean, when you think about what kind of tools they were using then... they must've been really committed to this idea. We also went to the oldest church in the area, which is considered the oldest in the country, and that was very different from the kind of thing you would've done on a field trip in the place we used to live. We sat and listened to a woman who has been running the same "wedding accessories" shop for like 70 years and we also went to a barbershop that's been open for more than 50. The wedding shop lady was a hoot! She kept talking about how she can't read and she had no food to eat when she was a kid, and she's made it all the way until now on this wedding thing and kids these days just need to work hard and be polite. Everyone loved her! Then we crossed the river in an old style gondola boat (steered with the long sticks like in Venice) and played for a while in a playground on the other side of the river.
It was my first time to meet some of the other parents in the class, and wow I'm telling you, my knowledge of this area pretty much quadrupled! I'm sure M had a good time too, but I felt like I sure got my money's worth on it!