Last week, my family and I attended our first trip with a homeschooling group. We found out about this trip through Everest Academy, a cover school based out of Birmingham, Alabama. The trip itself was organized by Nancy Melkerson, an absolutely fabulous veteran homeschooling mom and fellow Girl Scout leader from Auburn. Nancy took it upon herself to not only reserve the Girl Scouts' Kanawahala Program Center for our use as an economical accommodation, but also made field trip arrangements at several educational sites local to Birmingham at little or no cost. Thanks to Nancy's expert planning, for under $200 my entire family of four enjoyed three days and two nights in Birmingham and visited De Soto Caverns, the Birmingham Botanical Garden, the Birmingham Zoo, the Birmingham Museum of Art and the McWane Science Center, including special educational programming at many of the sites. You can't beat that!I'll be posting separate entries summarizing our experience at some of the sites, but I wanted to first post some initial thoughts about homeschool group educational experiences in the form of field trips and overnight travel.
With the number of homeschooling families growing, there are increased opportunities for homeschooled children to take advantage of fabulous educational programming and opportunities offered all over the country alongside other families. Museums, state and national parks, research centers, and more, often have excellent daytime programs at great rates for schools, and these opportunities are equally available to homeschool groups if people take the effort to pool resources and plan. Even some more corporate entities such as cruise lines and other destinations welcome homeschoolers as an opportunity to tap into a demographic that can provide revenue during their off season. Disney World has even started marketing "Home School Days" during their slowest months of October and January, attempting to entice homeschoolers to the parks with drastically reduced rates and educational program offerings at EPCOT. By traveling as a group, often families can enjoy even greater savings.
But finances aside, travelling with other homeschoolers is a great opportunity to meet a lot of interesting people and make new friends. I, for one, really enjoyed the opportunity to socialize with some new people, and loved watching my children learn and play with children from outside Huntsville. Nancy even arranged for us to have archery lessons at the Girl Scout camp followed up by a marshmallow roast, and I know Everest Academy is planning a a "School at Sea" group trip this summer to Mexico at an amazing price, which will include not only the typical cruise offerings but some on-ship educational opportunities for the children. We may not make it this summer, but it's definitely on our "to do" list!
We're still newcomers to the world of homeschooling, and these unusual experiences for our family is one of the benefits I'm enjoying the most.
Glad you had fun in my neck of the woods! :-)
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