Elmwood Park Zoo

Our family recently visited one of our local zoos, The Elmwood Park Zoo. We really enjoyed our family membership this past year to The Philadelphia Zoo, but decided to join the smaller and slightly closer-to-us Elmwood Park Zoo for this year.  One of the main motivators for our membership switch was the giraffe exhibit recently added … [Read more...]

Travel: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Since we've started homeschooling our children, my husband and I have realized how great it is to be right where we are.  We are in Pennsylvania, specifically just outside Philadelphia.  All around us are historic locations waiting to be explored.  Plus many more locations well within driving distance.  Just a couple weeks ago, … [Read more...]

How Our Local Library Works

This week we took a scheduled trip to our local library with some of our friends.    We've been using this library for years, but thought that knowing more about the library system could help us navigate it.  While the children's librarian, Mrs. Sara was speaking to the children, myself and the other moms received a refresher.Mrs. … [Read more...]

Field Trip – Ringing Rocks Park

Our final field trip of the CC school year happened this past Friday.  We met up with many families from our campus at Ringing Rocks Park in Upper Black Eddy, PA.  It's really a unique park, in total over 120 acres in size, with 7-8 of the acres piled 10 feet high in boulders of various sizes. Some of these rocks, when struck by another … [Read more...]

Field Trip – The Philadelphia Orchestra at The Kimmel Center

Our family joined other CC families for a trip this week to see The Philadelphia Orchestra perform Beethoven Lives Upstairs at The Kimmel Center.  Our campus has made this trip before, but it was our family's first time.  I was so excited to experience this with my guys! The production had two actors, one playing a young Christoph … [Read more...]

Field Trip – UPenn Museum of Archeology & Anthroplogy

Our family, along with many other CC families from our campus, traveled into Philadelphia (ahead of the snow storm headed our way!) to visit the UPenn Museum of Archeology and Anthropology.  We started our visit with a class, the Pharaoh Fashion Show, led by Jen.  We learned so many neat things about pharaohs.  Jen was great at … [Read more...]

Field Trip – Adventure Aquarium

Along with friends from our CC group, we recently visited the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ.  A few times a year the Adventure Aquarium offers "homeschool weeks" which allow for discounted rates to homeschool families, $10 per person versus the general admission prices of $18 per child and $24 per adult (over the age of 12). Because we … [Read more...]

Field Trip – Philadelphia Museum of Art

This past Friday, our family visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art with several other families from our CC Community.  I think this was the first visit to the art museum for most, if not all, of our littles.  The parents were brave and the littles were amazing! The museum is just beautiful inside & is in such a cool … [Read more...]

Field Trip – Ellis Island

Okay, so we're one cycle late on this field trip to Ellis Island.  It was on our short list of places nearby to visit over the summer, but we never quite made it.  We kept pushing it back, but still wanted to make it there before it became too cold. So, this past Friday, my husband took the day off and we made a day trip out of it. … [Read more...]

Field Trip – Crystal Cave

I and another mom coordinate four optional field trips a year for our CC community.  We try to find ones that will in some way match up with topics we're learning in our designated cycle and can appeal to a wide range of ages. Today we took our first trip of the year - to Crystal Cave in Kutztown, PA. There was a 15 minute video on … [Read more...]