Three weeks ago, right before my son’s thirteenth birthday, I wrote about my kids becoming more independent. Typically, as kids become more independent, they want their parents less involved in their lives. And that is normal. But there is one area that they still like for me to be involved – school field trips.
Actually, when my son entered middle school I kind of thought school field trips were over. It is one thing for the elementary to take 100 students on a trip but at the middle school, there are roughly 400 kids per grade. This year, for the first time in six years, Jase’s middle school social studies teacher decided to take the kids on a field trip to the Holocaust Museum.
To do it, they had to split the grade into two groups with each going on a different day. They also need 16-20 chaperones per group. Jase asked me if I would go. (Yeah!) So, I volunteered.
I was a little concerned because on this field trip, the school was allowing the parents to ride the bus. Hmmm…stuck on the bus with 50 sixth graders? Sounds bad but turned out to be great as we have a good bunch of kiddos on our bus.
There were four of us watching our bus of 50 kids. We stuck with them through the rotations at the Holocaust museum. The best part was being able to listen to a Holocaust survivor recount what happened to her and her family. It had a big impact on the students.
Obviously, the sixth-grade field trip didn’t scar me or anything as I then volunteered to chaperone the sixth-grade orchestra’s trip to Six Flags Fiesta Texas. This time it was only 30 students with four chaperones. The students competed in the Music Across Texas competition and then got to enjoy the amusement park. It was hot and tiring but again, it was good bunch of kids and I was glad I went.
As for Lexie, the fourth grade for the past four years has made a trip to Austin (about an hour away from San Antonio) to visit the capitol and the Bob Bullock museum. She was supposed to go at the end of March but due to some random package bombings happening in Austin at the time, the school postponed the trip. The only time they could fit it back into the schedule was today, three days before the end of school.
This was a fun field trip when I went on it with Jase and his classmates. Since the field trip leaves at 8 am and doesn’t return until 5 pm (well after school gets out) they cannot use school buses and rent plush charter buses for the kids. The parents still must drive themselves.
The students take two different tours at the capitol – one showing the history of Texas and one of the actual capitol building. Then they will eat a picnic lunch on the capitol grounds. 
Afterwards, they walk a few blocks to the Bob Bullock Texas State History museum.
I am sure this will be just as much of a fun time as when I went with Jase. And thankfully, Lexie definitely is glad that I am with her on this trip.
Into Another World 