There are many reasons we all choose to homeschool. For some, it's because of religion. For others, it's because of vaccine laws -- especially here in California. The list goes on and on. One of the original reasons we considered homeschooling is because of the flexibility. If we want to go explore, we can. We're never tied down by a school's schedule. With that comes the opportunity to go on a wide variety of "field trips!" I put that in quotations, because if you think about it, anything outside the home could be considered a field trip, ha. Either way, we can take our learning on the road and go deeper than reading a book and actually see/touch/feel it. When we do this, I try to tie in other aspects of school after we get home -- especially writing.



Because we homeschool through a Charter, we occasionally have to turn in work samples. These work samples are ideally writing samples for each subjects. Sure, you can turn in a photo of your student doing something, but to me, it's easier to just turn in something my son wrote. I typically try to use samples from things he learned while out on a field trip. Aside from the fact that it can show the unique things he's learning, knowing he's going to turn this in encourages him to put a lot of effort into doing a great job. With being a beginner writer, I love this! If there's anything I can do to encourage writing and make it fun, I'm all about it!

So between the excuse of creating a work sample, and trying to tie in other aspects of school to a field trip, I created a worksheet specifically for field trips. In the past, there have been times when I just had my son write a couple sentences in his journal (composition book), or I made a themed worksheet based on the trip (see here). This time, I decided to make a generic field trip journal printable for him to use that includes an area to draw a picture. As he has begun to show more interest in drawing, I want to be sure to include that in his journal entires. I love seeing his artwork!

Since we plan to use it tomorrow, there are no photos of my son working on it, but if you'd like to join in and use it with your students, click on the image below and it will take you to my Teachers Pay Teachers page...