field trips

Family Field Trips Re-Imagined

Posted on by wkennar
Will Rogers Park – one of our summer “field trips”

Each summer since 2007, our family visits the Aquarium of the Pacific. (In fact, this yearly tradition began the day I took my home pregnancy test and learned I was expecting!)

“But this hasn’t been a typical summer. We had to alter the ‘what’ and ‘where’ of our days, yet I’m proud to say, we’re still acting as tourists in our city. We’re just exploring, observing, and visiting outdoor spaces this time.”

The paragraph above is from my recently published personal essay, “Our End-of-Summer L.A. Field Trips” which was recently published at L.A. Parent. You can read it here.

And no, we didn’t visit the Aquarium this year. (Though the Aquarium does now offer outdoor admission.)

 

I Can’t – And Here’s Why

Posted on by wkennar
A photo taken during my teaching days. After a museum field trip, my students enjoyed rolling down this big grassy hill!

On the second day of this school year, my son’s teacher asked if I was available to help chaperone field trips.  It was before school, a minute before the bell was to ring.  There wasn’t time for me to give her a medical explanation so instead, I gave a quick reply, “It depends.”

How was I to tell my son’s fifth-grade teacher that just because she saw me every day (at drop-off and pick-up times) there were medical reasons why I couldn’t help on field trips.

During the second week of school, my son had his first field trip.  A walking field trip.  Again, his teacher asked if I was available to join their class.  This time, I said, “No I’m sorry.  I can’t do it.”

Which was true.  It just wasn’t the whole story.  And most of the time the whole story is much easier for me to write than it is to say.

Click here to read my personal essay (written when my son was a second grader) that explains “Why I Don’t Volunteer to Chaperone My Son’s Field Trips.”