Let's Trip Again!

23 years ago today, I became a mother.

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.

I believe that field trips are the best way to learn, whether you are into home schooling, traditional schooling, or just lifelong learning, as I am. I still go and do, visit and learn, all around Ohio. So why not continue to share my experiences and give others some helpful info and advice along the way?
Here's to my personal hope that I can inspire others again to get out and Take Off!

Time to Take Off!

I want to let everyone know that I have greatly enjoyed leading everyone around NE Ohio's best field tripping sites for the past 6 years, but it is time for me to "hang up my hat" as far as field trips go.

Due to changes in my life and new opportunities, I will not be leading Take Off! any longer. I wish all of you the best in your home schooling adventures. I hope to be able to publish a guide to field tripping in NE Ohio or some kind of resource for those of you who continue to pursue educational opportunities in the area, but I don't have any idea of when that would become a reality.

Take care, and you are welcome to email me if you have any questions about field tripping opportunities in the area. I'm still here; I'm just even crazier busy than before.

Happy Field Tripping!

Take Off! is offline due to recent storms

Hello all!
Since I am at the library for my internet usage due to a severe power outage at home, I am unable to respond personally to any emails, registrations, etc.
It couldn't have happened at a much more inconvenient time, what with trying to get fall field trips planned, etc. However, I hope to be back online in the next few days.

I hope that you are all safe and sound and taking care.
Remember to pray for those who were more than just inconvenienced by the recent storms.

We will be back to a full field trip schedule very soon, and I look forward to taking off with you all this year!

Thanks,
Jen

Cleveland Orchestra & Museum of Art

Well, we finally made it to a Cleveland Orchestra concert, and it was as great as expected. The concert was called "Music from Planet X" and since it was an educational concert for young students, it was very fun and relaxed.

Somehow, we were seated in the front row, which is incredibly close to the stage. You know how most stages have an orchestra "pit" or at least an area in front where the orchestra is often placed, so that they are out of the way of the show? Not the case at Severance Hall, where the orchestra is the main attraction. This means that if you have long legs or unusually large feet, you might want to find seating in any other row than the front. I could actually put my feet up on the side of the stage. I didn't realize until I actually did it, that the stage moves! I'm assuming that they allow for the wooden stage to expand with changing temperature and pressure from the performers on the stage. Still, it was pretty cool.

A mime troupe (total of 2) provided the fun story to go along with the interesting music. They were dressed as aliens, and had a grand time of trying to take over the orchestra with their lights and "lasers." The aliens were incredibly funny, and all of the children (except my 4 year old, who cowered in my shoulder whenever the aliens were onstage) laughed hysterically at them.

The Cleveland Orchestra provided educational information and teacher guides to use to help with teaching the children about the music.
As for the music, it was sublime.

After the concert, we walked a block or so back to our parked car, and decided to take advantage of the free Modern Masters show at the Cleveland Museum of Art, which was across the street. You might think it's a bad idea to take a 4 year old to an art museum, but she really enjoyed herself, and behaved very well. I just hated to miss out on such a great opportunity. Many of the greatest impressionist painters and other amazing art legends were represented, and for free! I just couldn't pass it up.
So, we strolled around the art museum, looking at the original works of Auguste Rodin, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Berthe Morisot, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Rene Magritte, Vincent Van Gogh and more. I had no idea that my 10 year old was such a fan of Van Gogh. As she walked into a room behind me, she said, "These are Van Gogh, aren't they?" And she was correct. How many 10 year olds could tell one artist from another? I know I couldn't at that age. It was an awe-inspiring show. I'm so used to looking at prints of famous paintings, that I just couldn't believe I was standing in front of the the actual paintings.

We completely enjoyed ourselves, but then had to hurry to get home in time.
Even with the cold wind and the hurrying around, it was totally worth it.
What a wonderful day!

Noah's Lost Ark

Had a great time visiting Noah's Lost Ark near Alliance today. A really great place for people to visit, but an even better place for the endangered, abused animals who come here to live. Noah's Lost Ark is a sanctuary for exotic animals who are abused, neglected or whose owners can't take care of them anymore. We were able to see lions, tigers, even a liger (for those Napoleon Dynamite fans) and many more exotic animals. The personal stories of some of these animals were heart-breaking, but their recoveries at Noah's Lost Ark are truly amazing.

The kids had fun feeding some of the animals through a feeding tube. Much safer than feeding them directly, of course. We had a large group, but were able to make it around to see and learn about all of the animals. We found that everyone there was very knowledgeable about the animals, and they were able to answer the many questions that the children had.

They have a small gift shop, and there is even a covered pavilion if you would like to bring a lunch and picnic, which some of us chose to do.

Buehler's - Dover

Had a very fun time at a field trip/cooking class/tour at the Buehler's grocery store in Dover in Tuscarawas County.
We had a very small group of only 5 children, but the staff there did not treat us any differently than if there were many. The cooking class teacher, Cheryl, first showed the children how to make "turtle bread" and then, they were each allowed to make their own. My 3 year old really enjoyed being able to do it herself. After our breads were ready for the oven, we all walked to the bakery together. We were able to see our bread as it spun on racks in the huge convection oven, which was really neat, and we learned that Buehler's makes all the items sold in their bakery, many of them from scratch. We watched the bread slicer machine with all its interesting gadgets, and asked questions about many different machines we saw in the bakery.

The children and parents were enthralled by the cake decorator, who saved an ordered cake to decorate as we watched. She took a plain white cake and made it a beautiful gift for someone's birthday in spring pastels. She was very patient, answering questions and lifting the cake to show the children each step she made.

We also toured the store rooms, the cooler, the freezer, the produce section and met a lobster in the meat department. A few of the children decided to touch him.

It was a very nice time, and I would love to go back for one of their regularly scheduled cooking classes.

The Wilderness Center, Stark County

In early February, we spent a day at The Wilderness Center in Wilmot. We enjoyed 2 programs about animals.
The staff were wonderful to deal with and had no problem switching our program choice when the weather decided to get so cold that even I didn't want to walk around outside.

Our first program taught us about the animals who are native to Ohio. We learned about their living habits, habitats, food choices, etc. This was a hands-on program with numerous real animal examples to pass around to the students. Most of the exhibits were birds who had come to some unfortunate end (one had a tag that said it flew into a window), but there were also a handful of animal pelts and skeletons and a couple of turtle shells. I've never felt a skunk before, but it was much softer than you might think.
Even my 3 year old held quite a few of the objects, studying them a little, but mostly just enjoying being a part of the group.

After this program, we had a nice lunch and spent a few free minutes in their observation room. We watched a large group of deer taking advantage of the bird feeders outside the observation window. Skittish, they were, but definitely bold as well, spending much time near the building.
The building is really nice, by the way.



Our second program was called "For Goodness, Snakes!" and was, obviously, all about snakes, but especially those who reside in Ohio. We learned how to spot a poisonous snake, why you should respect and avoid all snakes, and many more fun facts. We also learned that a child can "keep" a live wild animal specimen as a pet for a certain period of time, but an adult must release any animal captured within 30 days. This allows for personal study but also gives the animal the best chances for surviving again after release.
This program came with more hands-on experiences as we all felt a snakeskin, but this time, it was on a living specimen - a real, live brown snake who resides at the Wilderness Center. The kids just loved it (as did I. I'm a snake-lover from way back). There was also an easy experiment to do with the children about learning how snakes hear by using a tuning fork.

I loved our program guide. She obviously loves kids and animals and is a wonderful teacher. She was very patient with our children, especially with their eager questions.

For info on your own program, check out their site at The Wilderness Center. They do have a minimum group size, but it's easy to reach. They will do age-specific classes as needed, and are willing to work with your group. I have been consistently pleased with their staff.