It's a tradition that we do something fun for the last day of school, usually something nature-y. This year Dallin wanted to go to a coal mine, which was a field trip we'd planned earlier in the year that didn't work out. But the coal mine was closed. I wanted to take them to an oil drilling museum, since that's almost like coal and went along with our studies of geology. But they nixed that idea. They wanted to go to an amusement park (I said no way, too expensive and not even remotely educational), and their second choice was a cave. I wasn't crazy about caves because we already went to one this year, and the ones around here tend to be too touristy. Not to mention expensive. But I left the choice up to them. They finally decided on a nature center. Shaver's Creek Environmental Center was about 1.5 hours from our home and 100% free. It is sponsored by Penn State University. We had a wonderful time!
The indoor exhibits are all designed by Penn State students as semester projects in what they call the "Discovery Classes". One of the homeschool days we went to awhile back was also a class project by Penn State students.
An owl
A deer
This snake really liked Dallin! It followed his face all around the glass.
Turtles... we also saw several in the wild.
Some kind of webbing. We were wondering about tent caterpillars, since Sariah just learned about those.
Turtle
I think this might be a horsetail?
They have so much energy! Where's mine???
Fungi
Do you sees the frog?
In her element
Baby frogs... she had five on her palm at one point.
Beautiful wetlands, and perfect, overcast, not-too-hot weather.
Of course, they've gotta build a rock bridge.
Wildflowers! The whole state of Pennsylvania is covered with flowers right now, and it's beautiful!
I think these are salamanders? I'm not too crazy about touching all these creatures, but my kids love it, and I don't want them to inherit my squeamish, so I let them do it.
Looking for lizards
And with that, we're done for the year. The kids had their evaluations yesterday, and they ended up being even shorter and sweeter than I expected. (Less than 5 minutes for Sariah, around 7 minutes for Dallin... and we're legal.) And the best part is that I think I've started to make some homeschooling friends, or at least to form some connections. I've stewed about what to do for Sariah for next year, and all of a sudden things are falling into place to join a newly formed homeschool group with a few ladies I've met at recent events. It feels like an answer to prayer! It won't be Waldorf, but it will be something.
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