My amazing daughter was born learning. She had her eyes wide open and immediately started looking at the world and everyone around her.
On that day, I also became a home schooling mom; I just didn't know it yet.
A few years later, it was official. We were home schooling!
Exciting, yes, but also daunting. How to keep her very active mind occupied?
When she reached the typical Kindergarten age, I decided that it would be a good idea to spend time with other children as part of our learning process. I called a few home schooling friends and set up our very first field trip together. Not long after that, my second daughter was born, and I had a full classroom.
Here we are about 18 years later, and I truly don't remember what the first trip was. Giant Eagle? Hale Farm & Village? Dussel Farm in Brimfield? Uh-oh, I must be getting old... At least, I'll use age as an excuse. I might have the records somewhere around here, but what really matters is that it went very well. We had a great time, and found that immersive learning fostered a memorable experience and led to practical teaching moments. So Take Off! Field Trips was born.
If you have read previous (much older) posts, you'll know that we went online in spring of 2005 and by 2006, we had over 500 families involved. Unfortunately, after several successful years and many, many field trips, I had to take a break from Take Off! and from home schooling.
But I have never lost my love of learning and, especially, learning by doing.
Here's to my personal hope that I can inspire others again to get out and Take Off!
