Recently I was asked how I go about planning our Adventure Fridays, so today I thought I'd start at the beginning, explaining how I brainstorm possible destinations for both our field trips and family day trips. Brainstorming is really a three step process, I look at the options I have in a particular area, I look at the options for particular interest, and finally I look at the options for hidden gems. I find these spots in a variety of ways from friends, in groups, through YouTube videos, and primarily online research.
Searching a Particular Area
For one example, I knew this year that we wanted to be more active in nature. So I started looking into what's in our area, and the largest local nature attraction is the Withlacoochee State Forest. I began researching on the Florida State Forest website, where I discovered the ability to earn badges depending on the number of trails you walk in the state forest system through the Trailwalker Program. Next, I went through all the state forest trails that qualified for the Trailwalker Badges, and chose only the trails that were short enough for our crew at hike together. First thing I always note is the address and the cost associated with the destination. Then, I made notes about which trails were close to us, which trails were a few hours away, and which trails might work if we wanted to take a brief stop on the way to visit family in Alabama. Having a goal with a reward at the end like the Florida Trailwalkers Program, which I've discussed in the past, is great for motivating the kids and me to explore further and keep up our activity level, so I'm always looking for different activities offered to incorporate into our schooling. So for my first category of options for Adventure Fridays I had my list of hikes in state forest.
Searching for Particular Interests
However, I wanted more ideas for Adventure Fridays than just hikes in the state forest, because as much as we enjoy those and like learning about the plants and animals in an area, there is a limit to what you can learn just from hiking through an area (especially when your children aren't quite enough to happen across wildlife to actually observe). That led me into looking into the Florida State Parks to find things that particularly interest us. Kate and Rebecca are studying Earth Science and Katherine in particular loves unique rocks and land formations. Britt's favorite subject is history, particularly battles and war. Ruth is interested in all things pioneer living. Did you know that Florida has over 175 State parks, and when you count various trails and things that are also administered by the state park service there are over 200 possible destinations. Some of these parks are geological parks while others are historic battle fields; some are archeological finds while others are rich gardens. To help encourage kids to visit the state parks, they also have two programs: the Operation Recreation Geotour and the Florida Jr. Ranger Program.
I have already briefly mentioned geocaching in a previous post, but I decided it might be an activity that the kids would enjoy this year. Geocaching is like a treasure hunt, but instead of a map you are given a set or GPS coordinates, in order to find your treasure. Using a phone app or GPS device you can get close to the cache and then you have to look around and discover where it might be hiding. With Operations Recreation Geotour, the Florida Park Service has set up 20 caches in addition to those individuals have set up. When you find them you record a word inside in order to turn in for your geocoin. For the kids' version of the coin you find 6 nature cards and record which geocache you found it in. This has helped us to explore lesser seen areas of several state parks this year.
As we have begun exploring some of the Florida State Parks, the kids have had the opportunity to take part in the Florida Jr. Ranger Program. It is similar to the National Park Service's Jr. Ranger Program, which we've discussed briefly before, in that it allows kids to come to the park and learn about a site as they complete activities. They begin by filling out a core booklets for a badge and a patch. Then as they visit other state parks and do individual activities they get their passport stamped and once it is completed they receive a pin.
In my quest to make a list of state parks, I started going through the list on the website first determining if there were events or places of particular interest that we would enjoy. I then took my list for various places to note what activities we would be interested in at a particular park. Some places are better at different times of year so I also noted that. Lots of the state parks have camping opportunities, so I also noted that for the time that we get into a camper. This has given us another category of places to visit.
Searching For Hidden Gems
State parks are an obvious choice you might say, how do you find other hidden gems? I'm always looking through Florida homeschoolers on Facebook for field trip opportunities that others share. I listen to our friends and family when they discuss somewhere they've recently visited. Another great resource has been Youtube videos. Gary and I for around a year now have been watching all of the RV travel, camping, lifestyle videos that we can. We have done it primarily to learn what goes into having and living fulltime in an RV to prepare for getting on the road, but we've also done it because they preview and critique a great number of destinations. For one example, the New State Nomads are doing a series this year on all of the National Parks in the continental US. This has allowed us to get a list of places that we would like to visit sometime. In fact, I have a journal just for the 50 states and big name places we'd like to visit and restaurants to try out. This gives us ideas both for local travel and vacations.
While up till now our main focus has been local places in Florida, I am beginning to branch out in our brainstorming for Adventure Fridays. We are hoping to make a trip home before the end of the year, and I am currently looking into destinations in route and in North Alabama for us to explore the couple of weeks we plan to be home. So stay tuned Alabamian friends and family, we might be reviewing some stops in your neck of the woods next month.
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