The Field Trips
Field trips. I've always felt that having a baby/toddler to care for has prohibited (i.e. excused) me from chaperoning them. Even if the school allowed me to bring Judah and even if she were to do well, I hate for her to miss her nap time, and usually the field trips last through the afternoon. There are reasons I haven't minded having an excuse not to go on field trips:
1. I'm not a kid person. (So how did I end up with four of them? Hmmm.)
2. I'm not a Fun Mom (see number 1).
3. I don't like correcting other people's kids.
4. I don't like disciplining my own kids in public.
5. I'm afraid I will be impatient and overbearing with my own kids.
So I have been interested in going on a few of my three school-age kids' myriad trips (they seem to have multiplied since we moved to DC--so many educational opportunities here), but I've never braved one.
Until recently. Tabitha's teacher sent out a text that she needed chaperones for her class's trip to Glen Echo Park in Maryland. Glen Echo was an amusement park many years ago, and now it houses facilities geared toward the arts, including theater, photography, pottery, and dance. The purpose of the class trip there was to learn about and get hands-on experience with photography. There was no cost, and I thought Judah might do okay at a park, so I decided to offer to chaperone.
I texted Tabitha's teacher back and told her I might be able to chaperone if she thought it would be okay for Judah to come. She said we could give it a try. I decided to wait and see if she got any other chaperones, but a few days later, she hadn't, and she said we were welcome to come. The day of the trip, I decided to drive, because I was unsure about transferring Judah's car seat to the bus, and I wanted to have the option to leave if Judah wasn't handling things well. I was planning to follow the bus.
The drive to the park was unexpectedly long (an hour) and stressful. The bus lost me after only a few miles on the road. I'm still tied down to my GPS, and maybe there was another way we could have gone that would have been less complicated and less congested, but it took me right through the city, which is backed up At All Times. It was an obstacle course of traffic lights, roundabouts, and impatient drivers. Not my element. I was just satisfied I didn't take a wrong roundabout exit, get stopped by a cop, or hit something or someone along the way.
Judah began to get very impatient in the car, but thankfully we survived and found our way to the park. She was cranky when we first arrived, but by the time we found Tabitha's class and started working with the kids, she perked up. We found Tabitha in a dark room, where an instructor was distributing pinhole cameras made from old paint cans. She told them about the different vats of solution, and then she gave each student a number of seconds to wait as they used their cameras to photograph something outside. The kids went indoors and out, back and forth, several times, each time with a longer exposure. (I still don't really understand how this works.)
Judah and I were stationed outside to keep an eye on the kids. She wandered around, interacting with the kids, climbing on an outdoor stage, and playing with discarded gum on the asphalt. Eventually, lunch time came and we headed inside. It was a hot day, so we ate in the photography center. The kids all played with Judah and shared with her their hot Cheetos and other wholesome snacks. She loved it.
After lunch we got to take the kids to the antique carousel in the center of the park. It was built in 1921 and restored over twenty years beginning in the '80s.
Its original band organ blares music through the park, giving it an old carnival air.
I was excited for Judah to have the chance to ride a carousel for the first time, and she was in awe. She chose a black spotted horse, and when the ride began, she looked at me wide-eyed and said, "This is fun!" as she glided up and down. About halfway through the ride, she wanted to move to another animal nearby, but I told her she had to stay put.
We followed the carousel ride with a trip to the playground, and then it was time for the class to do their second photography project: a photo scavenger hunt. Another instructor talked them through the list and told them things to consider (lines, lighting, shadows, perspective) as they captured their pictures. Judah and I lingered at the playground a little longer, then walked back near the photography center and chatted a while with Tabitha's teacher. She was happy to have us along and patient with Judah.
The students gathered to view one another's photos with the instructor on a computer. She picked out the ones that were interesting and well-done, and Tabitha's were some of them. Her teacher said she seemed to have a gift for it.
Judah and I headed back to the school a little before the bus of kids to make sure we were back in time to pick up Gracie and Ben. The drive was better going back, but it was still long enough for Judah, sweaty and sunburned and worn out, to get a short nap in. It was a fun day. Obviously more trouble than staying home, but I enjoyed being there with Tabitha and getting to know her classmates and teacher a little better. I'm glad we went.
Benjamin had a field trip scheduled for today, a Saturday. There's a school in Maryland that has partnered with Cornerstone for several years, and his class has pen pals in the first-grade class at that school. Today they had a luncheon in honor of our school's principal, and they wanted a group of first-grade students from both schools to sing there. I was not planning to go; in fact, Harvey is out of town this weekend, and I was looking forward to having a little girl time--I thought I would take the girls out for a late breakfast or early lunch while Ben was gone.
But when I picked Ben up from school yesterday, his teacher asked if I'd like to come and bring the girls. I wasn't feeling it, but she seemed to really want us to join them. First I kind of hedged my way around answering, saying Harvey was gone and I would have to wait and see how the girls were doing the next day ... but she didn't say, "Oh, okay, I understand, never mind," so I thought, there must be some reason she really wants us there, and right before we walked away, I asked her if it would help her for us to be there, and she said, "If you want to," but I sensed that she meant yes. So I scratched my plans and told her we would come. After all, it was only a few hours, I wouldn't have to drive, and we would get a free lunch.
The trip was nice, very low key. It was only six kids, including my girls, and maybe that's one reason she wanted us to go--to have a better turnout for the choir--which is fine. We arrived at the church, our kids practiced their song along with the kids from the other school, and then they performed the song in front of the luncheon crowd. They did great.
Then we sat quietly in the back of the room and ate quiche and rolls while the speakers took their turns. We didn't stay long, maybe an hour in all, and then we headed back.
So maybe this field trip chaperone thing isn't so bad, even with a toddler. I think on both trips Judah learned right along with the older kids from the experience. And it's always nice to have the opportunity to build stronger relationships with my kids' teachers and fellow students.
Now if I can only get that carousel tune out of my head.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Echo_Park,_Maryland
1. I'm not a kid person. (So how did I end up with four of them? Hmmm.)
2. I'm not a Fun Mom (see number 1).
3. I don't like correcting other people's kids.
4. I don't like disciplining my own kids in public.
5. I'm afraid I will be impatient and overbearing with my own kids.
So I have been interested in going on a few of my three school-age kids' myriad trips (they seem to have multiplied since we moved to DC--so many educational opportunities here), but I've never braved one.
Until recently. Tabitha's teacher sent out a text that she needed chaperones for her class's trip to Glen Echo Park in Maryland. Glen Echo was an amusement park many years ago, and now it houses facilities geared toward the arts, including theater, photography, pottery, and dance. The purpose of the class trip there was to learn about and get hands-on experience with photography. There was no cost, and I thought Judah might do okay at a park, so I decided to offer to chaperone.
I texted Tabitha's teacher back and told her I might be able to chaperone if she thought it would be okay for Judah to come. She said we could give it a try. I decided to wait and see if she got any other chaperones, but a few days later, she hadn't, and she said we were welcome to come. The day of the trip, I decided to drive, because I was unsure about transferring Judah's car seat to the bus, and I wanted to have the option to leave if Judah wasn't handling things well. I was planning to follow the bus.
The drive to the park was unexpectedly long (an hour) and stressful. The bus lost me after only a few miles on the road. I'm still tied down to my GPS, and maybe there was another way we could have gone that would have been less complicated and less congested, but it took me right through the city, which is backed up At All Times. It was an obstacle course of traffic lights, roundabouts, and impatient drivers. Not my element. I was just satisfied I didn't take a wrong roundabout exit, get stopped by a cop, or hit something or someone along the way.
Judah began to get very impatient in the car, but thankfully we survived and found our way to the park. She was cranky when we first arrived, but by the time we found Tabitha's class and started working with the kids, she perked up. We found Tabitha in a dark room, where an instructor was distributing pinhole cameras made from old paint cans. She told them about the different vats of solution, and then she gave each student a number of seconds to wait as they used their cameras to photograph something outside. The kids went indoors and out, back and forth, several times, each time with a longer exposure. (I still don't really understand how this works.)
Judah and I were stationed outside to keep an eye on the kids. She wandered around, interacting with the kids, climbing on an outdoor stage, and playing with discarded gum on the asphalt. Eventually, lunch time came and we headed inside. It was a hot day, so we ate in the photography center. The kids all played with Judah and shared with her their hot Cheetos and other wholesome snacks. She loved it.
After lunch we got to take the kids to the antique carousel in the center of the park. It was built in 1921 and restored over twenty years beginning in the '80s.
Its original band organ blares music through the park, giving it an old carnival air.
I was excited for Judah to have the chance to ride a carousel for the first time, and she was in awe. She chose a black spotted horse, and when the ride began, she looked at me wide-eyed and said, "This is fun!" as she glided up and down. About halfway through the ride, she wanted to move to another animal nearby, but I told her she had to stay put.
We followed the carousel ride with a trip to the playground, and then it was time for the class to do their second photography project: a photo scavenger hunt. Another instructor talked them through the list and told them things to consider (lines, lighting, shadows, perspective) as they captured their pictures. Judah and I lingered at the playground a little longer, then walked back near the photography center and chatted a while with Tabitha's teacher. She was happy to have us along and patient with Judah.
The students gathered to view one another's photos with the instructor on a computer. She picked out the ones that were interesting and well-done, and Tabitha's were some of them. Her teacher said she seemed to have a gift for it.
Judah and I headed back to the school a little before the bus of kids to make sure we were back in time to pick up Gracie and Ben. The drive was better going back, but it was still long enough for Judah, sweaty and sunburned and worn out, to get a short nap in. It was a fun day. Obviously more trouble than staying home, but I enjoyed being there with Tabitha and getting to know her classmates and teacher a little better. I'm glad we went.
Benjamin had a field trip scheduled for today, a Saturday. There's a school in Maryland that has partnered with Cornerstone for several years, and his class has pen pals in the first-grade class at that school. Today they had a luncheon in honor of our school's principal, and they wanted a group of first-grade students from both schools to sing there. I was not planning to go; in fact, Harvey is out of town this weekend, and I was looking forward to having a little girl time--I thought I would take the girls out for a late breakfast or early lunch while Ben was gone.
But when I picked Ben up from school yesterday, his teacher asked if I'd like to come and bring the girls. I wasn't feeling it, but she seemed to really want us to join them. First I kind of hedged my way around answering, saying Harvey was gone and I would have to wait and see how the girls were doing the next day ... but she didn't say, "Oh, okay, I understand, never mind," so I thought, there must be some reason she really wants us there, and right before we walked away, I asked her if it would help her for us to be there, and she said, "If you want to," but I sensed that she meant yes. So I scratched my plans and told her we would come. After all, it was only a few hours, I wouldn't have to drive, and we would get a free lunch.
The trip was nice, very low key. It was only six kids, including my girls, and maybe that's one reason she wanted us to go--to have a better turnout for the choir--which is fine. We arrived at the church, our kids practiced their song along with the kids from the other school, and then they performed the song in front of the luncheon crowd. They did great.
Then we sat quietly in the back of the room and ate quiche and rolls while the speakers took their turns. We didn't stay long, maybe an hour in all, and then we headed back.
So maybe this field trip chaperone thing isn't so bad, even with a toddler. I think on both trips Judah learned right along with the older kids from the experience. And it's always nice to have the opportunity to build stronger relationships with my kids' teachers and fellow students.
Now if I can only get that carousel tune out of my head.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Echo_Park,_Maryland
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