Day Tripping [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Teri J Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2004

Learn how to make every day and "adventure" through family "field trips, " explorations, travel and excursions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Buckle your seatbelts for a read that'll make you want to grab your kids and take...an adventure! -- Judith Walte Allee, author of Educational Travel on a Shoestring and Homeschooling on a Shoestring

This parent-friendly guide will have an easily accessible home on my bookshelf... -- Deborah Taylor-Hough, author of Frozen Assets and editor of the Bright-Kids Newsletter

From the Back Cover

Transform Any Day Into An Educational Adventure! Author Teri Brown is known for her innovative and fun ideas that transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Through DAYTRIPPING, Teri takes us on the ride of our life, exploring the many ways families can bond and educate through exploration and adventure. Step-by-step you'll learn the do's and don'ts for field trips and how to plan them on your own or with a group. Handy field trip templates make the process quick and painless for even the novice adventurer! So what types of trips await your family? Here are some of the themes you'll find inside -Blasting Through the Past: Field Trips with a Historical Theme -Blue Skies, Grey Skies: Field Trips with a Meteorological Theme -Good Enough to Eat: Field Trips with a Culinary Theme -The Elephant and the Donkey: Field Trips with a Government Theme -Lovely, Lovely Literature: Field Trips with a Literary Theme -A Walk on the Wild Side: Field Trips with a Naturalist Theme -Growing a Green Thumb: Field Trips with a Botanical Theme -Talking, Typing and TV: Field Trips with a Communications Theme -Scribbles, Mud and Playacting: Field Trips with an Artistic Theme -Math Minders: Field Trips with a Mathematical Theme So what are you waiting for? The Key to family creativity, fun, adventure, education and togetherness is in your hands. Open this book to begin your adventure today. "Buckle your seatbelts for a quick read that will make you want to grab your kids and take off on an adventure!" --Judith Walte Allee, author of Educational Travel on a Shoestring and Homeschooling on a Shoestring "This parent-friendly guide will have an easily accessible home on my bookshelf I've gleaned many new ideas for future family outings as Teri shares her expertise and wisdom with warmth and joy." --Deborah Taylor-Hough, author of Frozen Assets and editor of the Bright-Kids Newsletter

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Champion Press (WI) (November 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 189140041X
• ISBN-13: 978-1891400414
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,956,513 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Road Trip!, October 28, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Day Tripping (Paperback)

Alright, I got to take educational road trips with my children. I found this book was a great guide to get out of the house for my family and take a road trip that was not only educational but family bonding as well. A must read and get out on the road!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Innovative and fun ideas for your next family field trip, September 6, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Day Tripping (Paperback)

Remember Norman Rockwell's 1947 "Saturday Evening Post" cover entitled "Coming and Going?" That was the one where the top half shows a family heading off to vacation in their station wagon, the children all enthusiastic about the trip. The bottom half shows the car heading in the opposite direction with everybody looking completely frazzled (except for Grandma in the back seat with her expression unchanged). The goal of Teri J. Brown's "Day Tripping" is to reverse that process by providing a guide to educational family adventures that can bring innovative and fun ideas to the daunting task of dragging your family somewhere.

"Day Tripping" is divided into two parts. "Part 1, Tripping Out" provides the philosophical values and practical principles of the family field trip. After illuminating the value of family field trips (family bonding, inspiration, love of the natural world, etc.), Brown details a specific list of DOs and DON'Ts for these field trips (e.g., check gas and weather, bring snacks). These things might be self-evident, but make one of these mistakes just once and see how quickly your planned trip explodes in your face. She also covers how to plan your adventure and even how to create field trip groups so that more people can get in on the fun.

"Part 2, A Field Trip for Everyone!" covers a dozen types of field trips, defined by themes. Now, I like to go places and see things, especially if they have anything to do with history. On my honeymoon the route was planned not only to see everything on Prince Edward Island having to do with Lucy Maud Montgomery and Anne of Green Gables, but to take minor detours to see the graves of American presidents, patriots, and victims of the sinking of the "Titanic." So the first section of Brown's guide, "Blasting Through the Past: Field Trips with a Historical Theme" is preaching to the choir as far as I am concerned. "A Walk on the Wild Side: Field Trips with a Naturalist Theme" is also self-evident. Last month I took a trip to the Pacific Northwest and took trips to check out the waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge and the devastation of Mount Saint Helens. Again, going to see things is an easy sell because we have all these National Parks and pretty pictures on postcards to convince us there are reasons millions of people go each year to see certain sights.

That is why the sections where Brown expands the traditional field trip to include things you would not think of at first is the strength of the book. You fill find "Field Trip Plans" for caves (geologic theme), weather stations (meteorological theme), dairy (culinary theme), county courthouse (governmental theme), fish hatchery (naturalist theme), glass blowing studio (industrial theme), gardening center (botanical theme), television station (communication theme), art museum (artistic theme), and real estate agency (mathematical theme). If it is not obvious to you at this point it should be clear that this book is of value to teachers as well. A lot of these places are going to be easily within driving distance of schools as well as families.

Brown is not intending to be comprehensive in terms of suggestions, because once you start trying to do that the list never ends. So when she talks about trips with a literary theme she provides some choice examples representing different regions of the country: the Home of Harper Lee ("To Kill a Mockingbird") in Monroeville, Alabama; the Homes of Laura Ingalls Wilder ("Little House on the Prairie") in De Smet, South Dakota; and the Beverly Clearly ("Beezus and Ramona") Sculpture Garden in Portland, Oregon. You get the idea from these examples and can certainly find examples of authors in your neck of the woods. There are plenty of sites that will tell you what authors came from your state, perhaps even your city, and the same thing would apply to the rest of these themes. Brown herself provides lots of other ideas for field trips in each section.

With each Field Trip Brown outlines the objectives, what can be done to prepare for the trip, what to do to help enjoy the trip while you are taking it, how to follow-up on the experience, and ways of using the knowledge. There are examples of arts and crafts types projects that you can do for some of these as well as books and websites specific to some of the trips and the general themes. Certainly there are enough ideas in here for you to find something that will appeal to both you and your kids (or your class). If you have a limited amount of time to come up with the next family outing or are looking for new ideas, then "Day Tripping" is going to be a big help.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For planning a fun and rewarding family vacation, August 9, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Day Tripping (Paperback)

Day Tripping by Teri J. Brown is an exciting field trip and family travel guide offering a variety of field trip themes that are as educational as they are fun. How-to tips for preparing and carrying out trips, as well as inspiring ideas for trips to gardening centers, art museums, dairies, construction sites, and more fill this guide from cover to cover. Day Tripping is not location-specific, nor does it contain the addresses of places to visit; rather it is a compendium of suggestions and advice especially useful for planning a fun and rewarding family vacation no matter where one happens to live.