I LOVE field trips.  I believe that a person's education is shaped by all the experiences he or she has over the course of a lifetime. "Doing life" instead of reading about it in a book is so much more memorable.  That's great for places close to home, but unless you are a multi-millionaire, how do you provide great field trips to foreign lands that your children study?

I was thrilled when I first heard about "virtual field trips."  What a great way to see other countries and cultures on a budget.  So, I started searching on the internet for field trips to the places we wanted to go.  Unfortunately, what I found didn't fit with the idea I had about what a virtual field trip should be. 

I found several sites that had trips, but they were laden with objectives, tons of reading, endless rabbit trails of links that were hard to follow, and a few pictures scattered here and there.  Sure they had some good discussion questions and a few project ideas, but other than that I didn't see much difference in what they had to offer over my encyclopedia software.

I wanted video.  For some reason I always equated a virtual field trip with "virtual reality" – an experience involving sight and sound...but not a lot of reading.

That's when I set off to make my kids their own personal "field trip" links to videos on the internet that showed different aspects of countries from the geography and landscape to culture and music.

What I found was that after viewing a few minutes of video, they were excited to research and learn more about the country and culture through books.  It helped to "pique" their interest so to speak.

The popularity of YouTube and other video sharing sites has given the public an enormous database of resources to pull from when searching for information.  Unfortunately, not all of it is worthwhile or appropriate for kids virtual field trips, so how do you pick and choose?

That's where I can help.  I have spent countless hours scouring the internet for free, educational, good quality videos that can enhance your child's study of a country or region.  I have compiled these into a list complete with running time, summary, and information on special circumstances, for example, an ad must be previewed before the actual video plays.

The best part is the instant downloadable e-book format.  This will allow you to click on the links directly in the book instead of typing in all the web addresses manually from printed copy.

Want to see a sample? Check out the FREE Pacific Islands Virtual Field Trip. Available to HBD e-zine subscribers EXCLUSIVELY for a limited time.

This site is possible because of homeschoolers like you. If you still have online shopping to do, check out the HBD shopping page, before you place your order.

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