I hate school excursions.
I’m sure when I was seven-years-old I probably loved them as much as the next kid.
I have fond memories of panning for gold at Ballarat, at sitting in the stocks at Old Sydney Town, at wandering The Rocks pretending to follow the footsteps of the characters in Playing Beatie Bow.
Ah the memories. What a riot. What a great excuse to escape the classroom and get out of doing any work.
And the reason I loved these school excursion was exactly the same reason that kids – including mine – love them: they are a great reason to have a bludge.
The very same reason why I hate them.
You think I am exaggerating don’t you? You think when your child is wandering around the aquarium they are actually taking in all that information about dorsal fins?
Sorry to tell you but they aren’t, well at least not at kindergarten level.
Just this year my son’s school has had three field trips already.
One each term with another approaching towards the end of this year. This would be okay if it wasn’t for all the rest of the palaver.
The sports carnivals, the craft days, the concerts, the book fairs, Grandparents day, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, the author visits, the Easter hat parade, the twice weekly assemblies, the end of year learn to swim week, the Christmas fair, the once-a term mufti days, and of course Healthy Harold.
I’m not quite sure when they find the time to teach our kids to read.
My kids come home from these “special days” hyped up, excited, stimulated, over-joyed but unable to settle back into a regular routine. The idea of sitting down to do homework is a battle. It’s not a regular school day why should they be expected to behave like they usually do?
I’m not alone as a parent in finding our primary school curriculum overcrowded and simply too complicated.