*Annette is a content contributor who is excited to share her ideas and experiences as a home-school mom with other local parents. Stay tuned as she will provide a wealth of knowledge over the coming weeks.
Field trips are our favorite way to learn and we’ve sometimes had to get creative. For one, we spent some time researching different forms of street are like stencil graffiti, sticker art, instillation, sculptures, and murals. Next we made our way downtown to explore, spot, and identify as many forms as we could find. Downtown Lafayette has a plethora of street art if you’re looking for it. After walking around pointing it out and discussing, we picnicked near the fountain at Parc Sans Souci where you can actually climb all over big letters that spell the word Lafayette which we believe would be considered instillation art. After returning home, we followed up with a few videos of well-known artists around the world creating their work.
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We also love going on nature hikes and although there are several areas, our most used spot is Acadiana Park. Each trip we’ll try to focus on one topic like identifying native wildflowers. I printed and laminated a collage of all the native wildflowers found in the area. A list of them can be found on their website and we just Google pictures of them. While hiking the trails we searched for and compared the flowers as we found them. The same can be done for types of trees, seeds, insects, or signs of changing seasons. We like to end our hikes with a picnic and some nature journalism where we paint, draw, and write about the things we’ve seen. By venturing out into other areas like Lake Martin, Rotary Park, and Avery Island, you can expend your studies to birds, bodies of water, and much more.
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If you’re up for a trip, we absolutely adore the World War II Museum in New Orleans. We try to go every couple of years and tend to make an entire weekend of it. We start by reading books on the war, our most loved being the Usborne Book of World Wars. Then I pack a few coloring books of WWII planes of submarines for the road which I found on amazon. The museum will absorb us all day, it’s informative and interactive and often adding new things. If you have older students without little ones in tow, the extra experiences they offer are pretty cool but even without that, it’s an incredible way to explore history. While in the area, other wonderful adventures we’ve had include City Park (great nature study opportunity), the Aquarium and Insectarium, the zoo, the river walk and of course the French Quarter. Don’t forget to ride the Saint Charles Streetcar.
About Annette:
I’m a homeschool mom of two, ages 11 and 5. We’ve been homeschooling from the beginning for 6 years and our preferred method is unschooling with a Charlotte Mason twist. I love homeschooling for the freedom it gives us and because I enjoy learning alongside my kids. Our favorite ways to indulge our interests are by exploring the world around us, doing experiments and activities, talking to people who are passionate about their fields, and reading well written books. I believe so much in what we do, I’ve kept it through divorce and now working full time from home. It’s my hope to continue our journey until college or whatever next step my kids choose to take.
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