Taking Advantage of Learning Opportunities in Our Community

Like many Homeschooling parents I am always on the hunt for something new to do in and around our community. I think now that we are moving in the direction of a more Holistic Interest Led approach it is even more important for me to seek out learning opportunities for my children to get exposed to new and fresh ideas. I came across a post for a STEAM Expo that was happening at my local fairgrounds. For those who do not know STEAM means science technology, engineering, art, and math. From my experience most things like this are heavily geared toward common core. Since we do not in anyway follow common core usually in the past I would stay clear of such things but I figured what the heck let's go see what it might have to offer.

I have to say we had a blast and learned a great bit. First we met the leader of the Coweta County $H Robotics Team. He was very kind to not only allow the kids to play with the robots but to sit down with us and explain in great detail how they work and what awesome features they had. He talked to us about how to build our own robot at home and where to find the best deals on parts to do this. We exchanged emails so that he could keep me updated on events the kids might enjoy attending in the future. Big Thank you to him and his team for sparking some excitement in Alyssa there. After that we met with the ladies from Camp Invention. It is a week long day camp that focuses on Upcycle and re-engineer with gears and gadgets, developing critical-thinking skills and creativity. It definitely is something for us to think about the kids doing if we have the funds. We moved on to pet a snakes and an alligator from Cochran Mill Nature Center. We learned there are only two species of peppers and you sort them by shape.George a Civil Engineer taught us about different soils use in foundations. He also gave as really awesome engineering site for kids so I figured I would share that herehttp://www.asceville.org/

We met Adrienne Stephens from U.S. Space & Rocket Center other wise known as Huntsville space camp. She helped up build a rocket that you blow to blast off. We helped piece together artifacts with the ladies of the Archaeobus. which is Georgia's Mobile Archeology classroom. You kind visit their site here.http://thesga.org/ . All in all we had a blast and I am glad I didn't let my judgments of common core keep us from taking advantage of this event and learning more about some of the learning opportunities in our community that we can take advantage of. 

Some of the other booths I didn't write about because we already knew of them and take advantage of their programs are:

1. Chattahoocee Bend State Park

2. Big Thinkers Science Exploration

3. Zoo Atlanta

4. CDC

5. CPO science