Field Trip to the Witte Museum

Yesterday was our field trip to the Witte Museum. Papa was home so he went to. The kids had a blast! We've been on several different field trips this semester all ready, but this time we did something a little different. I created some questions about the museum and some of the exhibits ahead of time. This way, I could measure what the children were grasping from the experience. I basically left it up to them whether or not to answer the questions while at the museum or at a later time. I did this as to not put a damper on their experience. I still believe that field trips should mostly be fun.

Let me digress though because I'm getting a little ahead of myself. As you probably know by now, I'm trying to live the frugal life. So I wanted to share this deal with any of my fellow San Antonians or destination bound vacationers. The Witte Museum is free of charge on Tuesdays between 3pm and 8pm. This admission price is good to see all of the exhibits except for the revolving ones. If you'd like to see the revolving exhibits, the admission is only $3.00 per person on Tuesdays only. The normal rate for these types of exhibits are $11.00 per person. Right now that exhibit is the Circus folks: Secrets Behind the Big Top gallery on display until February 14, 2010. Awesome deal!

We all had a great time, the kids loved the exhibits. My daughter's favorite is by far the HEB Science Treehouse. There they have all sorts of hands-on machines and gadgets. Some of the other exhibits include the Texas Wild Ecology area, and the Don Yena Art Gallery, which highlights painting of South Texas history. Also, the Colors of clay textile gallery, which displays pottery. The Ancient Texans Rock Art display, Mummies and ancient Egypt exhibit, the Waterworks and Little Treehouse environment, the Log Cabins and Historic Homes exhibit, and the Lonesome Dove photographic gallery. The museum also has an website that provides interactive

movies, quizzes, and activities for the kiddos. Take a look

at the site here if it sounds like fun.

Okay, back to homeschooling info. One of the things that

I implemented a few years back is school-year scrapbooking.

Although I'm a complete novice to scrapbooking, I love the

idea of looking back over the year and seeing what you have

accomplished. This year will be a real treat since my son is

now enrolled in our school. He has just as much fun as my 8 year old when we go on these field trips. I'll be happy to

look back at the end of the year and see his face in the pics

that we took. For our yearly scrapbooks, I have the kids

write a one-paged paper about the field trip the day after,

during language arts time. This way we can adhere the report which highlights what they enjoyed or found interesting about the field trip, to a page with pictures. It's a great project which really comes together at the end of the year. Feel free to let me know how you make your field trips more educational or enjoyable:)