Dumbing down field trips

This past Friday a group of homeschoolers went to the VA Science Museum for an "overnight" camp in. The kids were so excited about "sleeping in a museum" !

The concept was great - and I hate to be picky - but the "classes that the kids participated in left a lot to be desired !

The good things first ! The IMAX presentation was AWESOME. It was on the Tour de France and the Brain ! Incredible ! Full of GREAT information. Granted my stomache was a bit queasy after it; however everyone agreed it was amazing. The "free exploration" time of the museum. Again, fabulous ! The museum had GREAT exhibits. Animal Grossology (although ina dingy room which was not very appealing) was great !

Now - things I really had "issues" with. The three classes. The class on Kitchen Chemistry first. The teacher never got the attention of the kids. They did the traditional "chemical change" experiment with ice cream. Now, this is a GREAT experiment; however, it amazes me that the museum had each group of four children SHARE one ice cream bag. Why couldn't they make their own. (granted we paid a lot of money for this night). The class on Jamestown - the activities well were "pointless". There was no "conclusion" to the activity (which itself was pretty lame). The teacher "lectured by asking questions" in this class so if you didn't know the information - by her 10 minute question session you still didn't know the answers and if you knew the answers you looked at her like she was talking to a wall ! Finally, the animal grossology class (which was the best of the three) was dissecting owl pellets and identifying male and female cockaroaches. That was pretty cool ! However, the opening activity (again) had no conclusion. The following morning the planetarium show was 10 (YES TEN) minutes ! Really ! I had never seen anything as badly made.

Now - this leads me as well as the other mothers there to a discussion

As homeschoolers - is it that we do so much "basic things" with our kids that we expect "the professsionals" in the area to expose them to more OR is it that we have expected so much from our children that they have "surpassed" the typical field trips. One thing I have noticed about field trips this year is that they are "dumbing them down" to what they expect public school kids to know.

For example, a few weeks ago we went on a field trip that had GREAT potential. The outcome and lesson was INCREDIBLE. However, the information was basic. Our "homeschooled" kids were group with fourth graders. When I asked the instructor afterwards about the "meat and potato" information - she said, with public schools - we never know what they already know so we teach them a YEAR BELOW their grade level. So our bright children, were taught at least TWO years below grade level.

Hmmmm.... makes you think that not only are "schools" dumbing down things, but organizations/museums etc are "dumbing down field trips".....

It amazes me time after time - that no one is realizing that if you expect MORE you get MORE from children ! Humph !