Georgia Homeschool Field Trip: Kia Manufacturing Plant

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I have a feeling that visiting the Kia Manufacturing Plant in West Point, Georgia will be remembered as one of our favorite Georgia Homeschool field trips! Not only was it educational, but it was interesting and, free!

You know I’m all about taking educational field trips. If there’s an opportunity for some hands-on-learning, and it’s not going to break the budget, we’re gonna do it! After all, many of us are more likely to be impacted by immersive educational experiences than by book activities, right? (source: myself. Believe me, I’m a very dependable, and time-tested source).

Since we recently moved to Georgia, I’ve been on the hunt for fun & educational things to do with the boys. I ended up finding a field trip group on Facebook and have been signing us up for a variety of different outings. (This means there’s going to be plenty of Georgia-area content on the blog coming! Yay!)

Now, even though I signed up for this particular visit to the Kia Manufacturing Plant through the group, it’s important you know that being a member of that group is not necessary at all because reservations for this Georgia field trip is open to everyone! Yep, our tour was made up of people of all ages and not just homeschoolers.

Our Kia Tour!

Because we are not early risers at all, I signed us up for the 1:30 tour of the Kia Manufacturing Plant. Parking in new places can sometimes be overwhelming for me (Have you tried to find parking in Philadelphia? In Atlanta? They’re the source of this frustration.), so we left with (what I thought would be) plenty of time to figure out the parking situation.

Ha! Nope. We someone ended up on the opposite end of the building and the security guards weren’t about to let a minivan driving mom into their secure location.

I honestly don’t blame them! Thanks for being great at your job, security guards!

Anyways, we finally figured out the correct entrance and secured a parking spot. When you make your visit to the Kia plant, be sure to enter the parking lot through the “Main Entrance” where you can see the Kia logo on the multi-floor building. There are security booths at the entrance, but no one was in them, so we just sailed on through to the parking lot. You will need to go through security to gain entrance to the Kia building, though, so make sure you have your state-issued identification and reservation information readily available.

Once we were checked in, we walked into the main entrance of the building. We then made a pit-stop at the bathrooms before heading into a conference room with surprisingly comfortable upholstered chairs.

When all of the tour attendees were present & accounted for, we all watched a video about the history & future of the Kia manufacturing plant. Did you know that Kia is coming out with a new electric vehicle next year? We got to learn about it!

After watching the video, our gracious Kia host opened the floor to questions and, you guessed it, the homeschooled kids (and parents) had plenty of questions and comments! When all the questions were answered and the comments were listened to, we headed outside to board an open-air tram that totally reminded me of the tram at Walt Disney World. It was, of course, way smaller than Disney, but still very cool and reminiscent.

@thathomeschoolfamily

Visiting the Kia Manufacturing Facility in West Point, Georgia was so awesome!!! #kia #homeschoolfieldtrip #homeschoolfieldtripideas #georgiahomeschool #alabamahomeschool #tennesseehomeschooling #floridahomeschoolers #thathomeschoolfamily #westpointgeorgia #homeschoolcommunity #georgiamoms

♬ original sound – Liz | That Homeschool Family

In an effort to preserve proprietary information and processes, photos & videos were not allowed to be taken inside the manufacturing plant but, let me tell you…it was AMAZING!

We got to see every process of a Kia vehicle being built, start to finish, minus the painting process. Why couldn’t we go in the painting plant? Well, we were told that the paint is very sensitive to scents and odors and, since many of us were (hopefully) wearing deodorant, we weren’t allowed to go in that section.

The entire experience was so so cool. There are many automated parts of the process, but I was also surprised at how many “parts of the puzzle” were still taken care of by the hands of so many hardworking employees. It really was like taking a ride through an episode of “How it’s Made.”

Even though we couldn’t record our experience in the Kia manufacturing plant, I did find this YouTube video that shows a peek at the experience:

Schedule your Own Homeschool Field Trip

The Kia manufacturing plant is located at 7777 Kia Parkway, West Point, GA 31833. They are currently accepting plant tour reservations up to 6 months in advance. Tours are held on Mondays and Wednesdays with 2 tours each day starting at 9am and 1:30pm.

Although your littles may be super interested in attending this Georgia homeschool field trip to the Kia manufacturing plant, keep in mind that attendees must be 6 years of age or older.

Not only is this tour super informative & interesting, but it’s FREE! (If “free” is one of your favorite “f-words,” too, you might also appreciate my “homeschool travel on a budget” series!)

You could totally sign up to attend this tour with your kids but, if you ask me, things are always more fun with friends! Consider getting a group from your local homeschooling co-op or group of friends together for a group visit to the Kia manufacturing plant.

Enjoy your Georgia Homeschool Field Trip!

I know you and the kids are going to have such a great time on this field trip! Just in case you want to extend the day of fun just a bit more, might I suggest a quick ride over to the Auburn, AL Buc-ee’s location? Since moving to the south, my kids and I have fallen in love with this super convenience store (what did you expect would happen when we moved away from our beloved Wawa?!). Not only is the Auburn, AL Buc-ee’s location only about a 30 minute drive from the Kia manufacturing plant, but you’ll also get an opportunity to “time travel” from the eastern time zone to the central time zone. Pretty cool if you ask me!

As always, if you have any questions or comments in regards to homeschooling in Georgia, field trips, or homeschooling in general, feel free to send me an email! Keep in mind that I, too, am a homeschooling parent, so it might take a day or two for me to respond.

Until next time, stay safe and enjoy quality time with your family,