Stepping Back In Time: Visiting Our Local Post Office

Copyright 2015 Tanya Weitzel. All rights reserved.

In a time when the mail system is on a down-slope, my son and I were invited to take a step back in time behind the scenes of a post office. Our local homeschool group made a field trip out of going to our local post office. With so many people using text, email, Facebook, and Twitter to communicate, mailing a letter has become a lost art. I have had people tell me that students do not know how to address and mail letters anymore. It is sad and unfortunate that old fashioned ways of communication are not being passed down to future generations.

My son gets excited when our mail carrier delivers our mail. He is eager to check the mailbox as soon as he can. Sometimes he even gets it hand-delivered to him. He gets to see the friendly face that drives through storms and works overtime at Christmas in order to deliver packages and letters to the intended loved ones.

I learned that our local post office has a machine that sorts 10 letters a second. They are linked to a nearby town that happens to be where my parents live. My son had to tell everyone that his grandma and grandpa lived there too. Around every corner, his little hand was raised with a new question. The kids were excited to see the physical work that takes place to deliver their letters on time.

Their favorite part was getting to sit inside a mail truck. My son said he was pretending to be mail. It is always great getting together with other homeschoolers and doing things they may be missing out on. What field trips have you enjoyed with your children?