Fall Country Field Trips from Suburban Detroit, Michigan by Ruth Paget
Crisp, fall breezes in Royal Oak, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit where I lived as a young teen) meant field trips to the countryside where city kids could learn about country traditions like harvest that were important to Michigan’s economy like car production.
We would head out toward Western Michigan and go to teaching farms to do country lifestyle activities such as:
-toss hay
-feed smelly pigs
-feed pecking hens
-pet goats who liked carrots
-pet horses
-milk cows
-learn how tractors plowed
-go on a hayride and throw hay at each other before heading home
Another fall field trip we would always go on was the annual cider mill and donut outing. Warm, plain donuts taste great eaten outdoors with friends.
Once those field trips were done, we would go to the Henry Ford Village in Dearborn (Michigan) to see colonial craftsman make horseshoes, candles, and rope. The buildings were restored colonial buildings and there was a museum with Revere Ware silver made by “the real Paul Revere.”
For science, we piled into school buses to visit Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills (Michigan) to watch the night sky spin above us in the planetarium where we learned key knowledge like:
-ancient Greek myths live on in the names of constellations in Western astronomy
-the planet Venus burns bright and can help orient you without a compass
-once you locate the Big Dipper, you can find all other constellations – another orientations tool
-the Northern and Southern Hemispheres have different constellations
Other fall outings usually done with church youth groups included walking tours of Holland (Michigan) built to resemble The Netherlands and Frankenmuth (Michigan) built to resemble Bavaria, Germany followed by light lunches in church halls.
I continued my “field trips” with trips to the school library and took out books about different states and biographies of famous Americans. I still think it is easier to retain historical facts if you learn about them through the life of a person.
These field trips taught me that using a state’s history and geography are excellent resources for learning about local communities for the young and adults alike.
By Ruth Paget
-author Eating Soup with Chopsticks, Marrying France, and Europe's Lessons written during overseas duty in Germany + 5 other Kindle books
-developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games + 8 Classical Western Civilization War Games
-developer of food and beverage knowledge games
-creator of online exhibits about San Miguel Arcangel Mission, French baguette making, and the Carmel Valley History Center
-creator of French travel and culture games
-writer of 2000+ Central Coast California lifestyle blogs
-family genealogist
-developer of 9 music theory games
