October Field Trips

We have been staying busy over the last month and summer has finally come to an end in North Carolina. Cooler weather is always welcome and we love spending more time outside during this time of the year. My oldest daughter's birthday is in October and this year, she wanted to go to the NC State Fair. The weather was perfect and we had a lot of fun.

This past week we took a field trip to a local farm. It was a beautiful day and we did a lot of great stuff. We learned about gems and were able to mine our own gems and take them home. It's been a great month and we look forward to November and all the fun things we are going to do.

Field Trip Planning

We are getting ready to start our new school year in a couple of weeks. I've been trying to plan some places to visit where we haven't been for a while. So far, my list includes the following:
- NC Zoo
- Aquarium
- Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
- Wright Brothers Memorial
Since we live in Eastern NC, all of the above are close to us.
I'm trying to think of some other places to visit thought the school year that would be of interest to my last kids.

Fun Field Trip ~ Sylvan Heights Bird Park

We have a bird park close to where we live and I have been hearing great things about it, but we have never visited. Since we buy a yearly membership aquarium pass, we are able to get into other places for free and Sylvan Heights Bird Park is included.

I made it a point that the kids and I would get to the park this year when we were finished with our school work. It is not very far from where we live (about a 1 1/2 hour drive) and it is easy to get to and find.

This place is a great place to visit. There are so many birds from all of the continents. You are also able to purchase bird seed to feed to some of the birds. You are also able to get up close to many of the birds. They also have a nice picnic and play area for the kids when you need to take a break.

The park is set up where you are able to walk in a loop and see all of the birds. There are also some trails that lead off of the loop where you are able to look out over a stream and possibly see a beaver or two and their house. We saw a beaver swimming and also saw one of the beaver’s houses.

It also doesn’t take long to walk through, but you can spend as much time as you want and take your time learning about the different kinds of birds at the park.

We definitely want to go back again and visit. We ended up at the bird feeding station last and by the time we got there, the birds did not seem hungry anymore since there was a school group there that was feeding them. We would start there the next time we go so that the birds are hungry and will eat the bird food. Below are several pictures from our fun day.





































I am linking up with:

N is for North Carolina

While trying to come up with something to write about on the letter N for the blogging through the alphabet series, the most obvious was right in front of me. North Carolina! I live in Eastern North Carolina and we have been to many places around the state. I want to show some places we have been in a sort of wordless Wednesday type post. Enjoy!

North Carolina Zoo


USS North Carolina Battleship


Wright Brothers Memorial


Aquariums (we have been to all three)


Billy Graham Library


Treasures on the beach


I have written several posts on our trips across the state. Check them out!

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E is for Exciting Homeschool Adventures

Every year I plan many field trips to go on throughout our homeschool year. Sometimes we go to the same places over and over again.  But, we love going out to the different museums, aquariums, and places near where we live.

Each spring I buy a family membership to the aquarium that is an hour from us that lets us get into the aquarium (three different ones), the zoo, and other places for free all year long. And with the  membership, we can just decide to go visit someplace without having to really plan ahead.

I like to sometimes just get in the car and drive and see where we end up. We have several state parks around us and sometimes we go there and hike the trails. There is one trail close by that has a trail that takes you through wetlands and you can see several animals such as fiddler crabs, egrets, herons, and snakes. There have been alligator sightings, but we haven’t seen one, yet. Here is a post with some pictures of the trail from several years ago.

If you want to read more of the exciting homeschool adventures we have been on through the years, you can read about them right here.

I am linking up at:

Hopkins Homeschool

D is for Durham, NC

I live a couple of hours from Durham and Durham is filled with many historical sites and parks.

Historical ~ The Bennett Place is a  farmhouse that was used during the Civil War. The house was used as a meeting place between Confederate and Union General’s to sign surrender papers for the southern armies. It was one of the largest troop surrenders of the Civil War.

Interesting ~ Historic Durham Athletic Park was built in 1926 and was used by the Durham Bulls for almost 70 years. It was also a film location for the movie “Bull Durham.”

Fun ~ Duke Lemur Center is a fun place to visit and learn all about lemurs. The lemur from the show Zoboomafoo was here until he died.

Another fun place to visit is the Museum of Life & Science. The museum is packed with many great exhibits and you could probably spend a full day here learning and discovering.

Outside~ Want to spend the day outside hiking and playing? Visit the Eno River State Park. There is something for everyone. There are many trails to hike or you can do some fishing for the day.
These are just a few of the places to visit in Durham. Durham has a lot more places to visit. This would be a great place to spend a vacation.

I am linking up at:
Hopkins Homeschool

Outside the Home

Some of the ways we get outside of the house on a regular basis are field trips, park days, Trail Life for my boys, and church.

I try to schedule several field trips throughout the year so we can get out and away from the books. Some of the field trips we take are to the aquarium, zoo, and the science or history museum. This year I also am planning a trip to the bird park here in Eastern NC since my 1st grader is using Apologia's Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day.

We also go to the beach and the forts that are at the beach. There are two forts that are close to us: Fort Macon and Fort Fisher.

Another way we get out of the house is to go on nature trail walks, especially when the weather is cooler. The Cedar Point trail is our favorite.

Those are just a few of the things when we get outside the home. See what the other crew members do to get out of their homes.

Our Week

This week started with my oldest son turning 14 on Monday! He wanted to go to Zaxby's for his birthday lunch. Overnight, we were hit with freezing rain. They had just brined the roads (we live in Eastern NC) on Friday, so once the temperatures got above freezing, the roads cleared up quickly.

Since, the weather cleared up, it was turning out to be a beautiful day. We went to downtown New Bern (NC) and walked around looking at all the bears from the tricentennial celebration back in 2010. We ended up at the History Center.

When we were through watching the video and looking at some of the things inside of the History Center, we decided to walk along the river back to our car. We saw many different kinds of birds: seagulls, ducks, pelicans, and cormorant.

The rest of the week was filled with book work and working on review items. One of those items is from Grapevine Studies. My youngest was so excited to be able to have her own review item (most of the items I get are for older kids). She is having so much fun with the drawings and doing a lot better than I though she would. Here is a sneak peek:

Field Trip Friday

This past Tuesday, we were able to visit our local dairy farm. We were able to learn how they raise the cows from birth to when they are milking cows. This farm raises Jersey cows for milk and ice cream. It takes them about one and a half hours to milk 180 cows. They milk them twice a day. Their milk and ice cream tastes great and fresh. We love it! Here are some pictures from our trip.

This is a 3 day old calf:

 Trying out on a fake Jersey to see what it would be like to get the milk by hand: