Many parents wonder if taking field trips are really essential while homeschooling. Homeschooling provides parents with so many opportunities to teach through fun activities like field trips. There are many benefits to taking a field trip.
Here are just a few of those benefits:
New Environment
Children learn well in environments that are interactive, fun, and exciting. Whether you visit an attraction or attend an event with your student, you will see them taking in and soaking up the information provided in a real-world experience. Students become energized by the excitement of leaving the daily routine.
Interest-Based Learning
Student learning will become interest driven rather than teacher/curriculum driven. Learning in assorted ways appeals to different learning styles, helping children to succeed whether they are visual, auditory, or kinetic learners.
New Explorations
Students can also learn about different professions when traveling outside their own neighborhoods. A field trip can awaken the desire in a child to try new things, pursue previously unknown things, and follow dreams. Field trips introduce children to job opportunities and spark passion and new interest.
An advantage of homeschooling is the ability to take as many field trips as you want when you want. Whether they are planned or spontaneous, field trips will teach your children more than you ever anticipated and are a great way to supplement your homeschooling. And many attractions offer homeschool families special activities where students get a behind-the-scenes experience and also get to interact with other homeschool families, all at discounted prices for coming during the designated homeschoolers day(s). So it is also an opportunity to save money and take in an experience that the everyday guest doesn’t get to experience.
The Harrison County Experience
If you homeschool in or near southern Indiana, you can find a wide variety of field trip options to meet every need or desire! There’s more to southern Indiana than what initially meets the eye. Below rolling hills, beautiful forests, and rich farmland lies a network of caves containing underground streams, fascinating formations, and endless opportunities for new family memories. Tours are guided and the caves are easy to traverse (with steps), so you only need comfortable shoes and a light jacket. The caves remain 54 degrees year-round, making them a perfect activity for all weather.
Indiana Caverns
At Indiana Caverns Family Adventure Park, enjoy a 25-minute boat ride on an underground river. Take in the 35-foot underground waterfall as you explore this cave on the Binkley Cave system, the longest in the state of Indiana, and the 7th largest in the United States. Exciting new attractions are coming to Indiana Caverns this summer, including the Bat Chaser aerial coaster, which allows you to soar through the air on a track to experience a sensation similar to hang gliding, and two themed escape rooms.
Marengo Cave
Marengo Cave was discovered in 1883, and since designated as a U.S. National Landmark with “the most profusely decorated cavern.” Visitors today can choose between two cavern tours for different experiences: The Crystal Palace Tour and the Dripstone Trail Tour. A pedal kart race track that winds through the woods will be new at Marengo Cave this year. This feature is appropriate for almost every age, with a separate track where little ones can give it a try. Additionally, the Miner’s Mega Maze will time participants as they try to navigate an 8,000 square foot maze. See the maze from above at the lookout tower!
Squire Boone Caverns
Squire Boone Caverns was discovered in 1790 by Squire Boone and his brother, the frontiersman Daniel Boone. Squire made a homestead on the property. He built a gristmill there in 1809, which has been restored to function again today and is powered by a stream that flows from within the caverns. Gain insight into the pioneer experience through candle and soap making demonstrations in the Squire Boone Village, and don’t miss Boone’s Kitchen and Candy Shop for lunch or their renowned old-fashioned rock candy and homemade fudge! In the caverns, soak in the splendor of the country’s largest rimstone dam and the Rock of Ages, an exquisite 40-foot-tall formation. Squire Boone Caverns Zipline Adventures offers the longest zip in the region with over 10,000 feet of line! You and your family can fly through the forest canopy and over beautiful valleys—an experience you’ll remember forever.
Caves are just one of the many great aspects of Harrison County, Indiana
As the state’s first capital, you’ll enjoy a beautiful historic downtown with many attractions, delicious family dining options, and unique events. You won’t want to miss a glass-making demonstration at Zimmerman Art Glass (a family business now in its fifth generation of artisans), the Corydon Capitol State Historic Site tour including the Capitol Building and Governor’s Headquarters, and the high tech history at the Harrison County Discovery Center.
