Dizzy blonde uses family field trips to teach lessons

Feb. 1, 2007 - As if two days of bed rest - about which I complained bitterly - weren't enough, I progressed to a case of vertigo. From time to time, I have symptoms of benign positional vertigo, which is a polite medical way of saying there is nothing wrong with me except that I'm dizzy. All those years as a blonde finally caught up with me.

Our family is nothing if not adaptable, and recently we've been adapting to many changes. One change for me is momentary losses of independence. On my dizzy days, Brian becomes my chauffeur. With my recent schedule, that means packing the kids and the cooler in the van before coming back to hold me steady as I stumble to my seat. I close my eyes as he hurtles down the highway, and we plan the day as we go.

Since most of my out-of-town trips involve either supervision or meetings, I've been able to keep up with the help of family. When the going gets rough, tough homeschoolers go on a field trip.

Brian has always been one to enjoy an adventure. Before the kids came along, we'd head off to speech pathology conventions, and Brian would seek out the most interesting spots and meet me at the end of the day to function as tour guide. Now, with a van full of kids, his explorations are somewhat more focused on education. He lets the kids take turns as tour guides when my day is done and we hit the highlights before heading home.

Educators talk about teachable moments, those times in life where you grab an opportunity to teach a child about a subject as it comes up unexpectedly, perhaps a subject that might not otherwise be a part of the curriculum.

I have a homeschooling friend who confided that she once stopped her car to examine an owl that had been hit by the car in front of her. She and her children took a few moments to study this magnificent creature - a memory that will stick better than any pencil-and-paper anatomy lesson.

So far, we've not encountered any fresh road kill on our travels, and for that I am grateful. Brian would probably be game for the stop - he's more daring than I am.

On our field trips, the kids pack laptops, workbooks and pencils for the formal part of schooling - the reading, writing, and arithmetic that is the staple of our program. Once we get to our destination, though, a different kind of learning begins.

Some of our favorite teachable moments come at the beach, and fortunately, I recently had a dizzy spell just in time to load everyone up for a trip to Half Moon Bay. Riding along Highway 1 while dizzy almost makes the road seem straight.

While I was working that day, Brian drove over to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve (www.fitzgeraldreserve.org) in Moss Beach to explore wave cycles, tide pools, ocean critters and plant life. When it was my turn to visit for a condensed version of the tour, Bella confidently led me through a grove of cypress trees on a cliff above the beach.

“We're on a real adventure now,” she exclaimed, as she ran ahead. We stopped for a moment to look down on a group of seals sunning themselves on the beach. They didn't even bother to look up, even as Bella recounted how earlier visitors had scared many of the seals into the water by walking too close for the seals' comfort.

Bella read the signs to me and explained the rules in case I missed them. “Don't take anything, Mom, even if other people do it, because you have to leave it nice for everyone.” A fine lesson, indeed.

Rose Godfrey is a speech pathologist and homeschooling mom in Marysville. She can be reached at homeschoolmom@ thespeechworks.com.