Battlefield to host homeschoolers

Event comes amid concern over decline in field trips by schools

By Preston Knight - pknight@nvdaily.com

NEW MARKET -- As a place of history, the New Market Battlefield State Historical Park documents its own pretty well.

On hand at the park is a card file that chronicles field trips taken there from 1968 into the 1990s, with many of the entries repeat ones for around 30 years in a row, said Troy Marshall, the park's supervisor of historical interpretation. But with public school systems rethinking the transportation costs of taking students to places such as the battlefield amid major budget cuts, frequent visitation by many schools is in jeopardy.

"We're very concerned about the future of field trips," Marshall said. "We're hoping we can get 'principal's discretion' to let them come. As is with all museums, we're going to have to evolve and incorporate things we haven't done before."

Outreach and "traveling trunks," where the battlefield comes to the classroom, are among the solutions, he added.

"It's not ideal for us," Marshall said. "If the economy dictates that it's the best way to go for them, that's going to be our reality."

On March 27, the field trip concern will at least get a day of relief as the park hosts its third annual Homeschool Day. The event is co-sponsored by the Home Educators Association of Virginia and, new this year, Chick-Fil-A of Harrisonburg. Activities include guided tours, a 19th century fair, period dancing, cooking demonstrations, military drills and games that encompass almost all of the park's 300 acres.

The event goes from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and pre-registration is required to receive the special rate of $3. Marshall said about 420 people have registered as of Tuesday, some from outside of Virginia. Weather kept nearly half of the 700 people who registered last year from showing, he said, and the forecast will again be a factor on the final turnout this year.

The economy, though, will play as much of a role. Families, just like public school systems, are watching spending closely, which was a reason for the reduced ticket price this year, Marshall said. The homeschooled community have largely proven to be people the battlefield can count on, however.

In the event's first year, for example, Marshall said he marketed it by sending three e-mails. Approximately 800 people wound up coming. That meshes with what a homeschooled staff member predicted when bringing up the idea of the event to Marshall.

"She said if we have an event where they can get to know you," he said, "they will come back."

Yvonne Bunn, the director of the association's homeschool support, said she tries to schedule at least two field trips a month, all of them needing to be at places able to host hundreds of people. One of the advantages of homeschooling is not being impacted by government budget cuts, keeping field trips alive, she said.

"It fits in, usually, with what they're learning," Bunn said. "With homeschooling, you can gear [the curriculum] around the [trip] opportunities you know are going to come up. ... It's so much more alive and real to them."

For more information, call the battlefield at 740-3101 or visit www.vmi.edu/newmarket.