Field Trips for Less: City Pass

One of the more memorable family field trips we made was wrapped in a vacation last spring. While a lot of learning took place very quickly, we all had a great time. It was not cheap, but it was worth it. For families who can afford the expense, I strongly recommend a family learning vacation.


Although travelling to a distant city can be especially entertaining, it carries an extra expense. Budget-conscious families can always travel to the nearest big city, or explore their own city.

We purchased a Seattle CityPass, which gave us admission to several main Seattle attractions for a single discounted rate. Although it has changed since we used it last year, the Seattle CityPass costs just $59 per adult and $39 per child. For that price, each person gets admission to the Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, Seattle Aquarium, Argosy Cruises Seattle Harbor Tour, Experience Music Project & Science Fiction Museum, and a special ticket that can be used at either the Woodland Park Zoo or the Museum of Flight. These passes also allow the holder to skip the normal ticket lines at these attractions.

As you can see, these locations are both exciting and informative. We had great learning adventures surrounding science, animals, music, and local history and culture.

Because we lived a fair distance from Seattle and we wanted to really enjoy the use of our pass, we opted to stay in a hotel nearby for an entire week. We ate at cheap restaurants and lived like tourists. In addition to the locations on the passes, we went to nearby free attractions as well. It was a great adventure.

CityPass offers packages for Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Hollywood, Houston, Southern California, San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle and Toronto. If none of these cities is near you, look for a similar deal package that could create fun learning experiences and memories for your children.

Check out the CityPass site at www.citypass.com.

Gardening 101

Periodically over the next few months, Homeschool Skills will highlight different lessons that can be taught through gardening. This is the first of that series.

Seize the opportunity this summer to plant a garden as part of your homeschool curriculum. Gardens provide enormous cross-curriculum opportunities for learning. Science and math have obvious applications, but gardens can also be tied into literature, geography, and history. In addition to curriculum applications, gardening provides children with a beneficial life skill--and it can help save money on groceries!

Worried about space? A full-scale garden is not necessary for these lessons. Plant a few items in a small garden box, a window box or even in cleaned out trash cans! If you will be growing your garden in containers, review this helpful article.

Some plants can be grown upside down. For more information on what plants can be grown in these conditions, read this. Other plants can be trained to climb poles, posts or fences.


The first step of gardening is planning. Plan the location, size and contents of the garden.

Choose a convenient locaton that recieves six to eight hours of sunlight every day. Ensure that there is adequate drainage and that the soil will not become waterlogged. If the soil is excessively wet. the plants will not grow properly. If the soil is inadequate, build raised beds and purchase better-quality soil. (Science -- Experiment to find the areas in your yard that have the best sunlight and soil.)


If you are planting in raised beds, outline the area where the bed

will be. Raised beds are usually built in rectangles so that all areas are easily reached. (Math -- Measurements.)

Determine the material that you will use to outline the raised beds. Wood, bricks, and stones are all excellent choices. However, pressure treated wood should never be used because the chemicals used to treat the wood can affect the soil and plants. (Science -- Experiment to find out what materials work best. Math -- determine the measurements for the required materials and the total area of the garden.)


Fill the raised beds with commercial soil or with a soil-compost mix. Raised beds are more vulnerable to extreme temperatures and dryness than other gardens, so be sure to water regularly.  (Science -- learn about composting and fertilization. Perhaps you want to create several different, smaller garden areas to create a season-long growing experiment using different types of soil, compost, watering schedules, etc?) More information on raised garden beds here.

Select seeds that will grow well in your area and within the limitations of the garden you are planting. You don't want to plant something that spreads, like pumpkins, if your entire garden is only 2 or 3 feet square... unless, of course, you want to train the pumpkin plants to climb up a nearby shed, fence, or other surface. For more information on that, look at this page.


Taller plants should be planted on the north end of the garden so that they don't cast

shadows over the shorter plants.


Add some history to your garden by Introducing a traditional Native American gardening combination called 'the three sisters' to your garden. Plant corn closely together in a clump and plant climbing beans around the edges. The beans will grow up and around the corn stalks. Plant pumpkin around the edge of the beans, so that the vines will creep in and around these plants and keep the weeds away.

Focus on cultures you will be studying by growing culture or region-specific produce. If you are studying Mexico, grow a variety of peppers, tomatoes, and onions and celebrate the end-of-season harvest with a fresh homemade salsa. Irish studies can be augmented by growing onions, potatoes, carrots, cabbage and green beans, which can later be used to create this Irish recipe.

Field Trips for Less: Discounts, Deals & Freebies

Shaking up the educational experience with a field trip can keep learning fresh and interesting for busy children and bored teens. It’s not necessary to spend hundreds to go to unusual and exciting places, however.

Another great way to save money is to look for discounts and coupons.

First, check for any discounts you may be eligible for. Veterans, seniors, disabled individuals, etc. can often get a few dollars or a certain percentage shaved off of their price just by showing an ID.

Look for discounts and deals in the community.  Entertainment Books for most areas can be found on Amazon.com (click the product link and do a search for your specific area!) contain many coupons, but the initial price can be steep. Many places offer coupons on their website that can be printed, so always look online before planning a trip. Some grocery stores offer discounted tickets to certain places, such as water parks.

Homeschooling groups that organize field trips together can benefit from group discounts. A later post will provide more information about homeschool groups.

While families on a budget may wonder what they can do to supplement their educational experience, there are many options.

Watch for the word “free.” Free is my favorite price! In Seattle, there are several museums that participate in a free museum night on the first Thursday night of every month. During certain hours, entry to these places is totally and completely free.  In Olympia WA, the children’s museum is free on the first Friday evenings of each month. Look for free events in the community and don’t miss them!

Summer is an especially easy time to find free events. Keep tabs on local newspapers and kid’s magazines. A magazine called “Seattle’s Child” offers a calendar of free and fee events in the Western Washington area. Getting a subscription to magazines like this can provide you with periodic reminders to check for freebies (which can be very useful because, let’s face it, homeschoolers are busy!).

Also, simple searches like “Free events Seattle” or “Free events Houston” etc. can find free events in major cities near you (of course, that only works if you search for cities near you… I don’t generally look in Houston. =D)

What are you favorite ways to find low-cost or free field trips? Share your ideas in the comments below, or in the discussion forums (in the 'Discuss' tab at the top of the page!)

Field Trips for Less: Passes

Field trips aren’t just for public schools—in fact, field trips are ideal for homeschool students. Since homeschool parents do not have to take 20+ children with them, spur-of-the-moment detours and regular errands can become memorable teaching moments. For example, grocery stores can be a very educational place for vigilant homeschooling families (more information on grocery store trips will be posted on a later date).

Families can go to (almost) every single place that the schools go—planetariums, zoos, museums, theater performances, etc. While admission to these places can be expensive, families can get more for their money by considering season/annual passes.

For example, my children love exploring the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Washington. One trip alone would cost our family $35 or more (definitely more when you include paying for parking!). However, we spent $80 on our first trip and purchased an annual membership that allows six named individuals unlimited admission to the regular exhibits, plus 15 free regular IMAX film passes for the year and five free guest passes to the regular exhibits per year. We added my husband’s parents to the pass for an additional $10 apiece—that’s annual admission for less than the cost of a single one-time adult admission! Now, we can take the kids to the Science Center (or their grandparents can) anytime during the year without worrying about the price of admission. In the first month of owning the pass, it’s already paid for itself. Parking, of course, is still a pain.

Another side benefit of certain membership plans, such as the one for the Pacific Science Center, is reciprocal admission programs. By holding a Pacific Science Center pass, we get free admission to more than 290 science centers that participate in the ASTC Passport Program. Since we often travel out-of-state, we are eager to explore all of the science centers we will be able to visit free of charge.

Zoo passes have similar benefits. The Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington, is an amazing place. Their passes are based upon how many people are in your family, and their ages. Adults are $42 apiece and children 3-18 are $11 each. However, you are also granted free or half-price admission to nearly 150 additional zoos and aquariums across the country.

Also consider buying passes for places that aren’t strictly “school” based. One of our favorite places to go as a family is the water park. Homeschool may seem like just a great excuse to justify the expense, but our children have learned the principles of buoyancy (positive and negative), current, etc. by playing in lazy rivers and wave pools. Other principles, like inertia and gravity can also be taught there.

Be creative. Create memories. Have fun! Always remember that school can be more than just an educational experience. It can also build and strengthen relationships.  

Check back Friday for more field trip savings ideas!