Once a year, the Monterey Bay Aquarium opens its doors to homeschoolers at no charge. This is a big deal as the tickets can really set you back and frankly we wouldn’t be able to go if it weren’t for the homeschool day. Getting tickets for those homeschool days is no mean feat! You are given a day and a time to log in and request a ticket and you must be patient. This year I sat in the virtual queue for more than two hours! The tickets go so quickly that if you miss it by even half an hour, you probably won’t get in. But this year we made it.
And on Monday we trekked off to the aquarium. There are so many great displays and exhibits there. This year they have a special exhibit with fish and animals from Baja California and the Sea of Cortez. I am kind of an aquarium connoisseur, given that I worked at the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences as a volunteer all the way through high school and on a drop in basis through my college years. I learned about life and working and (of course) fish from a fantastic self-proclaimed “fish janitor” named Lloyd Gomez who mentored me more than anyone else in my life and I miss him every day. The Sea of Cortez was Llyod’s favorite place to go collecting, and so walking through the exhibit and looking at the senorita fish and puffers was like a trip down memory lane for me.
But back to the Monterey Aquarium field trip. . . and their web cams that give you a virtual field trip.
My kids have learned to skip past the displays which don’t suit our worldview. They focus on the animals, and there are gobs and gobs of those.
In fact you can see a lot of the fishes in the Monterey Aquarium just by looking online!
There are educational videos, live Web CAMs of sea birds, and jellyfish and otters and, of course, fishes from the Sea of Cortez. If you live in a cold part of the country, this is a wonderful way to spend some science time with your children.
And here is our virtual gallery of our visit
Click the hearts on the pictures you really like so I can see your favorites!
[huge_it_gallery id=”5″]
Now, what is your favorite field trip to take with your kids?
Friday Funnies, Flops, and Fails Link Up
Our week had flops and funnies and fails as well, but the biggest adjective that describes our week is ‘fantastic’.
If you had a Funny or a Flop or a Fail in your homeschooling life this week please consider linking up here to share it with us.
Did you have a flop or a fail in your homeschool this week? Maybe something happened that was just too funny!
Share it here in my blog hop – let’s show all those homeschooling moms who think that homeschooling has to be that Pinterest-perfect activity ALL the time what homeschooling really looks like!
Homeschooling can be messy and there may be tears, and your laundry absolutely never, ever, gets done! But it still is the absolute best thing you have ever done and the best life you could possibly imagine for your kids and for you, right?!
Places I linked up this post
Drop by and read the posts of some great homeschooling families at this week’s Homeschool Highlights hosted by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break! And read through the great posts at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers’ Link Up as well! Another place to read great posts is the Homeschool Blog Link Up at the Homeschool Review Crew! I also linked up with the Mommy Monday Blog Hop!
