Ok, one of the things I LOVE most about homeschooling, and there are many, is the field trips. There are so many awesome, inexpensive, educational and fun places to take your kids. It's hard to limit myself to say one a week. If I was an unschooler, I guess I wouldn't have to , but since I got off that boat many years ago, I require regular school a tleast four days a week. Since January, we've been to some awesome places you may want to check out for your own families.
First up was the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at the Meyerhoff. We saw two concerts this season, first was the Nutcracker, second was From Africa To America a musical journey. These weekday concerts are $6 per person. Yes, you read that right, and yes we sit in box seats with reclining plushy chairs. Often we have the whole box to ourselves. A metro ride that makes it all kinds of fun.
The Science Center has homeschool days in January. We saw an IMAX about the arctic, took two classes about magnets and space, and saw a Planetarium show. We also had fun just exploring the museum.
In February, we went and saw The Harlem Globetrotters at the First Mariner Arena. This was all kinds of awesome.
Next up, the Walters Art Museum. They have lots of different FREE classes to choose from. The one we went to most recently was about writing in art. We get an hour long tour and a session in the art room where the kids made postcards. Afterwards, we grabbed some art cards and went on a scavenger hunt. they have cards for each area of the museum. We explored the asian art wing and searched for about 12 works of art. Benny's favorite area in the museum has always been the room of wonders, where he loves sketching the butterflies. Sophia's fave room is the Treasury where the Fabrege eggs are.
The Baltimore Museum of Industry was our next stop. It's built inside an actual cannery from the Industrial Revolution. We explored the cannery, a re-created garment loft, and printing workshop. We will be returning in June, as they have four different homeschool programs a year, with unique programs offered at each. On this trip, the kids learned about Henry Ford's assembly line and created a Model T of their own, assembly line style. This trip was $9.50 per child, I was free.
The week after next, we have a trip planned to the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum. We will be taking a class on minerals. The kids are really excited, as this is their favorite place to go.
In April, the circus is coming. They cannot wait. A friend of mine gets group rate tickets for a weekday morning. Only $13.
In May, we have a trip lined up to a local cave. Crystal Grottoes Caverns. We have been studying Earth Science this semester with Elemental Sciencer, so this ties right in. We'll follow up with a picnic in a local park.
Have any neat places to share that you've enjoyed with your kids? I would love to hear about them!
Today we learned about how apostrophes can show ownership and be used in contractions. Ben pasted word pairs onto paper and wrote the related contraction. The activity called for him to do 12 of these, he did five. He also had to fill in a page in the workbook with an appropriate contraction.
He then finished the LLATL activity with a handwriting and coloring page based on an assigned story he had finished reading.
In addition to LLATL, we use Evan Moor Daily Language Review, Handwriting Without Tears and Explode the Code.
Ben also reads a selection from his McGuffey reader out loud to me, and reads a chapter on his own in his Pathway Reader. These are the best readers in my opinion. Later on, he'll read something of his choice for fun. His faves have been the Wimpy Kid series, Magic Tree House series and Horrible Harry
