When homeschooling small children, one must ponder before planning a field trip, “Is this really going to teach them anything? Or are we going to have to leave in the middle of the program?”
Along those lines, you may think children under six do not get much out of a political field trip and you may be right. But we know children are constantly learning and internalizing their environment. So they must get something…
They hear the band before the speech, they see the flags, they listen to the national anthem. They hear a man speak and people clapping at certain points. They play with children they had never met before – socialization is no problem, of course. They enjoy the fresh air and the sunshine. Even if they do not pay attention, they get the idea that this event is special enough for mom and dad to attend it. It must be important.
That is exactly what happened last week when we attended a political rally during which a Sevier County resident announced he was running for Congress. I could tell my children did not understand what happened exactly, but they knew it was important enough for us to be there.
To be fair, we do not know exactly what this candidate stands for, because we had to focus more on our children’s playing with other children to make sure nobody ran into the streets. The event was in downtown Sevierville, in front of the courthouse, and cars were everywhere. It actually felt like going to church, where we cannot get but bits and pieces of the sermon in between shushing our children.
I wanted to take my family to this event because I had never attended anything like this in person. I wanted to see how the kids would react to it, too.
The other reason we went was to support homeschooling mom Sabrina Gray, whose son got invited to sing the national anthem. He did a great job, too. He is one talented young man. Write his name down – Elijah Gray – because I think you will hear it again. He is a senior in high school and has been homeschooled all his life.
This was the third of our field trips last week and I will be back to share some tips on how to make a homeschooling field trip easier on you and your students. I linked this post to