One of the perks of homeschooling is the ability to go on field trips with my kiddos. The public school system (in our area at least) doesn’t really invite parents on field trips and I really enjoy connecting with my kids during those times and sharing the excitement that the community brings. The Festival of Nations was one of my all time favorite field trips so I was over the top excited to share this experience with my family.

Since it was their first time and I wanted to focus on fun and curiosity we didn’t do too much structure but we were able to learn a lot and have a great time. I purchased a passport for each of the kids and we spent most of the day walking around the exhibit area visiting booths for 44 different countries. Even the hubby and I learned a few things, we visited booths for countries we didn’t even know existed. I definitely felt like I needed to brush up on some geography after this trip!

One of the most amazing parts to me was the languages. The Earth is so amazingly diverse! Many of the booths would write your name in their language if you asked and it was so neat to see all of the different ways that writing is used. And sometimes they even told the kids “sorry, we don’t have that name here” which they thought was mind blowing…how could a country not even have their name?!?

We also got to experience something that I am quite certain no one that we know has ever done. We got to witness a Naturalization Ceremony. Living up in the sticks there is almost zero diversity. Everyone I know was born American so to be able to see a group of people become American citizens was pretty cool.

Of course we also had to try some new foods and play some games from different countries…

I think this was a real eye opening experience for the kiddos. They see people just like us around home and that’s it so this experience showed them a little taste of what’s happening outside of our bubble. I love the conversations that this trip encouraged and how it showed diversity as a great part of life. We will be venturing out of our bubble a lot more frequently and experiencing more of the world. God made all of us different and it’s time that we learn to embrace that!