What is an IHFT?

Kids love an IHFT. Teachers love an IHFT. Parent/teacher organizations love an IHFT.  So what is an IHFT? The acronym stands for In House Field Trip!  So why have an IHFT instead of the standard field trip because students love those too?

The reasons for the IHFT are many and there are very important advantages over a standard field trip (referred to as a SFT for the remainder of this article). Why consider a SFT or an IHFT you might ask. Students love them, they are educational and they may compliment the subject matter in the classroom.  Plus, they are a real morale booster and can even be used as an incentive to reach certain goals set by the school.

However over the last few years, many school budgets have been strained making a SFT with all the expenses involved a real challenge for schools to schedule. Plus, there is the safety issue and sometimes weather can even be a factor if the destination is an outdoor event. The whole trip can be spoiled by inclement weather.

Trips to museums, science exhibits, government or historical places of interest, caves, farms, children’s theaters, and other places that could be considered educational and of benefit for the students to visit are popular destinations for a SFT. Schools have recently began to weigh the advantages of the IHFT versus the SFT.

The obvious answer to these challenging issues is the IHFT. The IHFT requires very little advance planning, no busses, no drivers, no travel expenses, no safety risk to the students, no chaperones needed, no monies collected from the students, no extra demands to the lunch program and a minimum amount of time out of the classroom.With a SFT the location has to be near enough to the school to allow the students to be transported to and from the destination and allow enough time to explore the destination and be back in time to for the busses to be used for their daily responsibilities of transporting the students back to their homes. The day will require a lot of advance planning, bus drivers secured and hired, buses reserved including the expense of the gas, monies collected, take out lunches packed, enough adult chaperones enlisted, and usually it would include only a small percentage of grades involved. Many times only one grade is included. Also a SFT tends to take the students away from the classroom for an entire day. A very important consideration is the safety risk transporting the students to and from the SFT location. All of those issues have caused fewer and fewer SFTs to be scheduled on the school’s calendar each year.

And all of the students get to participate. The students love it, the teachers love it, it can meet the states’ core standards, it is educational, entertaining, and costs a fraction of what the SFT can cost. The performer and agency does all of the work and the school just provides the facility. The IHFT can cover a variety of interests.

At Mobile Ed Productions we offer over 30 programs addressing science, history, social studies character building, hands on museums, exotic wildlife, environmental awareness, including amazing demonstrations of science, physics, historical characters, arts and music presented by top-of-their-field educators capable of presenting their subject matter in a highly entertaining 45-minute presentation.

The choice between an In House Field Trip verses a Standard Field Trip? Some would say this is a “no brainer”!

By Dave Mitchell, school assembly presenter

Dave Mitchell is a guest blogger for Mobile Ed Productions and is the presenter of the Stronger Than a Bully, You've Got a Friend, Ben Franklin, Imathimation and Reading: More Than Words assembly programs.