Homeschool Vacations & Adventures By Joseph Pride Printed in Practical Homeschooling #40, 2001. You can get an education from books...but you also need some memorable experiences. Don't spend you life indoors. Get out in the world and have an adventure! Tweet

Homeschool conferences! Family vacations especially suited to homeschoolers! Worldview training for your teens! Learning adventures and camps for children of all ages! That's what you'll find in our biggest and best guide to summer fun ever!

Homeschool Retreats

For a few days or a full week, a homeschool conference is a wonderful chance to recharge your batteries as a family and enjoy some time seeing new sights and meeting new people.

Glorieta Conference Center in Glorieta, New Mexico, holds an annual homeschooling conference. The conference center has many recreational activities - everything from horseback-riding, hiking, playing mini-golf, and boating to just sitting back and taking in the wonders of God's creation in the Sangre de Cristo mountains. I've been up there twice. The woods are fun to explore, the mini-golf course is challenging yet beatable, the air is fresh, and the trees are good to climb! This year's homeschool conference will feature Ken Ham and the Answers in Genesis staff. (Buddy Davis, Jay and Jodie Horn, others besides!) Special activities for the conference will include ballet, gymnastics, and a special lineup of activities for teens this year.

This is a very affordable family vacation. The package for a family of four, which includes food, lodging, recreation, and attendance at all conference activities for the entire five days, comes to $789. You can get a good price on an extra room as well. There are a number of options, with prices ranging down to $279 for a tent site. If you bring a camper, this can be quite an affordable vacation!

(Traveler's Tip: Being high in the Rocky Mountains, the air at Glorieta is somewhat thinner than at sea-level. So you may find yourself short of breath before your lungs adjust to the thinner air. If you plan on visiting Glorieta, or any other mountain retreat, go and enjoy the view; but don't push yourself too hard if you're not used to the altitude.)

A few thousand miles east, and a few thousand feet closer to sea level, you might try the Sandy Cove Family Homeschool Conference 2001. The Sandy Cove conference center is located on the beautiful shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. This week-long homeschool conference is filled with all kinds of educational and fun activities. Featured speakers will be Dennis and Sharon Grimes. For lodging, you can splurge with a suite or pitch a tent on the campground. Take the whole family! Try out boats and waterskiing, hiking, minigolf, field trips, and more! This conference is focused more on Christian family life than homeschool per se, but it will have a curriculum fair, some homeschool workshops, and enough activities to make it worthwhile.

H.E.L.P. 2001, sponsored by Bob Jones University Press, will provide a chance for many homeschool parents to meet, receive encouragement, learn useful skills and techniques from others who've been there, and look at many kinds of curriculum, including of course the famous Bob Jones University Press line of materials. Speakers will include Congressman Lindsey Graham, Janet Pershall (host of a national conservative talk show), Rev. Louis Sheldon (American Liberties Institute), and Bob Jones IV (Washington-based editor for World magazine). The convention will be hosted at "The World's Most Unusual University," Bob Jones University in beautiful South Carolina, and appears to be targeted towards adults, though BJUP does allow you to bring the kids. The cost includes day care.

Cool Trips on Big Ships

Most folks will tell you that while kids are on vacation from "school," they aren't learning anything. But we know better. Let's have a look at a Caribbean cruise vacation just for homeschoolers. Hosted by Dick Warren Worldwide Travel, a Christian-run company, the Home Schooler's Cruise 2001 will visit Grand Cayman and Cozumel, and sail up the Mississippi River Delta to New Orleans.

The Sensation, built in 1993, will be both your home and your transportation on this week-long cruise. 855 feet long, and weighing in at 70,367 tons, the Sensation has a beauty salon, a number of on-board restaurants, and a gym, spa, pools, and jogging track. (A week of lounging doesn't have to cost you your exercise program!) There are also lounges, a children's playroom, and a number of other attractions besides, on this huge ship.

Here's where the education comes in. You can, of course, go ashore at any of the ports and explore, but you can also take tours priced from $16 up to $99. The tours are cultural (San Juan City and Shopping Tour), entertaining (Juan Carlos and His Flamenco Rumba Show), scientific (Bioluminescence Bay Kayak Tour), or simply unique (Glass Bottom Boat or Submarine tours).

Or cruise the northeast! Travelink (christiancruises.net) is hosting a New England Homeschool Cruise, this September 9-16. You'll visit the cities where U.S. history began, then continue up the coast towards Canada, see the sights, and enjoy the culture. Tours are available at every port, though your signup price only includes one.

While you're out at sea, your homeschool calendar will continue, with a variety of workshops, entertainment, and seminars to choose from. Davis and Naomi Gunderson, who run the ministry Grace & Truth, will be teaching on literature from past centuries, including the 1800s and the Puritan era. David Teems will provide worshipful, inspiring music. There will be a basic photography class for teens. All the usual cruise ship accommodations, like athletic facilities, will also be available. Shipside spectators, when traveling by the heavily-wooded shore, will have a good view of fall foliage, and may have a chance for whale watching.

This year Christiancruises.net is also offering an Alaska Home School Cruise. This cruise will visit Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and spend a whole day cruising Glacier Bay. The special guests for this cruise will be Michael and Vickie Farris. Ventriloquist Mark Thompson will provide Christian family entertainment. Other special activities have yet to be announced, but you can go ashore at any of the stops, and explore, and learn about Alaska's history.

Now this is a vacation. Windjammer Barefoot Cruises is offering 6- and 13-day Caribbean sailing expeditions, targeted towards any able-bodied youngster with a spirit of adventure. There's a new expedition starting every Monday throughout June, July, and August. You can choose between two tall ships, the Polynesia and the Legacy, and learn skills such as trimming the sails, manning the helm, celestial navigation, tying knots, and other sailing skills. You can listen to sailor stories, learn French (on the Polynesia), enjoy music and dancing, and go on island excursions, including water sports and shoreside exploration. There's music and dancing onboard the ships, and when you're done with the whole experience you are awarded a cadet sailing certificate. You receive personal attention from counselors and water sports counselors. All the above is included in the Cadet Program, for ages 13-17.

Cadets need to bring along at least one parent or responsible adult (who pays the adult rate). Junior Jammers (age 6-12) get 50 percent off if one parent is along or can come along free if both parents are coming.

Family Vacations

I keep wanting to hum Kokomo by the Beach Boys while writing this article . . . Adding not only to the list of educational outings but also to our collection of trips to Everywhere Warmer Than Where You Are Now, is the 2001 EdVenture by Go Classy Tours. Spend a week on the Franklyn D. Resort in Jamaica! If you can afford a reasonably-priced resort vacation, you should check out the EdVenture; it's designed especially with the homeschooler in mind. All week the FDR staff will host educational field trips and studies on the wildlife, geography, history, and culture around you in sunny Jamaica. Many of the courses will be taught by graduate students from the University of the West Indies Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory. You can check in on Saturday, go to church Sunday morning and spend the day relaxing, or maybe learning to sail, then during the week go SCUBA diving, take a glass bottom boat tour, learn about fish in Jamaican waters, or even hang out in the fully-equipped computer lab (though a Jamaica vacation seems a trifle too interesting to waste using computers). Every family will be assigned a "Vacation Nanny," who will make sure your stay is pleasant, and even help out with the kids if needed. Relax to mellow reggae music, bake in the sun . . . and set your mind at ease. The one thing you're least likely to hear all vacation is "I'm bored."

Explore the last remaining frontierland on earth! Any kid who enjoys the Walt Morey books should love this trip. Lasting 9 days, 8 evenings, the Alaska Family Safari includes everything from dinner on day one to fees, tickets, permits, lodging, transportation, guided events, and more besides. Beginning in Fairbanks, AK, the Safari takes you by way of the historic Alaska Railroad to Denali National Park, then to Talkeetna and Kenai Fjords. There you can take a small ship cruise and watch the glaciers and the wildlife. Mountain bikes are available for exploration. You can explore on your own, gold-pan, try grailing fishing, take guided hikes led by trained naturalists, and enjoy naturalist programs in the evenings. Wildlife photographers, for example, give slideshows and stories of their explorations, or wildflower experts and mountain climbers present their Alaska adventures. Very educational for anybody who wants to come back and explore on his own.

Here are a few of the activities you can participate in on the Alaska Family Safari. You could take a tour of the Alaska Sea Life Center, a research and showing facility, which recently unveiled a new marine wildlife and marine habitat exhibit. You can visit the new Alaska Native Heritage Center, where you learn about the history and culture of Alaska's native peoples. You can try more adventuresome activities, like kayaking, scenic rafting (no rapids, just a splendid view), or a one-day small-ship cruise to Kenai Fjords National Park, where you can see puffins, whales, otters, sea lions, eagles, mountain goats, and of course bears. The cruise rides by the glaciers, where you can sometimes get to watch icebergs calve off.

Answers in Genesis (AiG), known for its unwavering position on the literal truth of a six-day-creation, as per the Bible, is offering a variety of exciting summer family camps and adventure trips. The AiG Summer Retreats are for anyone who wants to know how science supports the Bible, what the Bible actually says about creation, and why it matters to us today. Seminar speakers include Practical Homeschooling columnist and AiG founder and executive director Ken Ham, dinosaur sculptor Buddy Davis, Geoff Stevens, Dr. David Menton, Carl Kerby, Bill Jack from Worldview Academy, and others besides.

The AiG Schroon Lake Family Retreat is a relaxing weekend event held Mother's Day weekend in upstate New York, with Ken Ham and meteorologist Michael Oard. Good food, great accommodations, and creation science instruction.

The AiG Indiana Family Camp, in West Harrison, IN, offers trips to the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, the Cincinnati Zoo, AiG headquarters and Creation Museum site, and of course creation workshops for all ages.

The AiG Colorado Family Camp offers a similar program at the base of the Rocky Mountains, with day trips to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, plus outdoorsy activities such as horseback riding and a challenge course.

AiG will also be featured in the Sandy Cove family program on August 5-9, and Glorieta Homeschool 2001. AiG also offers raft trips to the Grand Canyon and is planning an Everglades Family Adventure Camp for 2002.

How about a family vacation with an early-American feel? Spend a week in the Great Smoky Mountains, learning how the pioneers and the settlers lived. Blue Ridge Mountain Studies can accommodate you, basically, whenever. While the schools are in session, you could be saving serious money on going out of town. A few months on both sides of summer comprise the "off" season, in which you both save money and get the camp mostly to yourself. You could get a bunk-bed cabin for quite a reasonable price . . . but shower facilities are located in another building. Ahh, the rigors of frontier life. If you're not quite that rigorous, you can go for a log cabin with two bedrooms, a bath, a fireplace, and a kitchenette. Then while you're there, go rafting on the Ochoee River, visit a hydroelectric plant, spend time on Hiawathee Lake, stop by the Burraburra Mine museum, or just explore the woods and have some close encounters of the bird kind. Ride horses, bike, hike, and do all those things every American kid should get the chance to do. Cook over an open fire, while listening to settler stories. Quite a deal, for the price.

Aptly termed a "learning adventure," Alpha Omega's Creation Mountain Adventure offers vacation packages in Colorado for the whole family. There are plenty of opportunities for hiking, fishing, horseback riding, four-wheel drive trips, rock climbing, and rappelling at Camp Redcloud. This is the camp for "challenge" activities. If you'd like a slightly scaled-down version of what you might find at an Outward Bound expedition, you should attend the Red Cloud camp. For more "laid-back" activities, you would attend the Twin Peaks camp, where you can try outdoorsy activities such as archery, fishing, hiking, and fossil hunting. What makes these camps unique among the myriad summer camps you could attend is the teaching on creation (v. evolution) that you will receive. Find out why you can believe the Bible literally and still be a reputable scientist. Remember, this is a family affair; the parents come as well.

Worldview for Kids

Amidst all the education and ocean spray, you might want to take some time for your older kids to learn about the Christian worldview. What does the Bible say about good government? The role of the church? The role of the family? Marriage? Economics? Liberty? The purpose of mankind in general? What should we do if we know the answers to these questions? Before the kids leave home, they need to be know. There's a lot more to a Christian worldview than just going to church on sunday.

The Christian Worldview Student Conference is all about practical Christianity; what the Bible really says about life, government, business, the environment, charity, philosophy, and so on. Instructors for 2001 will include John Hodges, Peter Leithart, Joe Morecraft, Herb Titus, and Steve Wilkins. This is not a camp to send your kid to in order to get him "evangelized." This is a conference for students who are already fairly well-grounded in scripture and want to know more. Despite the packed schedule, a couple of hours every day are set apart for recreation time, and there will be a talent show. Bring your musical instruments, sports stuff, and whatever you feel would make for an edifying time. Don't bring anything unseemly or distracting. Be polite, and come ready to learn, because that's what you'll be doing at this conference.

America was founded on Christian principles, with a good eye towards the Biblical view of human nature and the Biblical function of government. You don't have to be a Christian to appreciate American government, but the principles of liberty are nevertheless an important part of a Christian worldview. Hillsdale College, the conservative think tank which publishes Imprimis, is offering six Hillsdale Hostels. In these, you'll spend a week learning about economics, history, theology, government, literature, and more on the same general theme. Two will run June 3-7: "Exploring the Roots of Our Liberty" (Drs. J. Willson, D. Sundahl, R. Ebeling) and "The Theological Foundations of Western Civilization" (Drs. J. Stevens, T. Burke, D. Westblade). June 10-16: "Classical Liberalism and the Market Economy" (Larry Arnn, Richard Ebeling, Anna Ebeling, Bradley J. Birzer, Wolfgang Grassl, and more). June 17-23: "Free Market Economics in the Austrian Tradition" (Drs. R. Ebeling, G. Wolfram, L. Coppeck, I. Pongracic). July 8-14: "The Great Books and the Great Conversation" (Drs. D. Sundahl, D. Whalen, D. Jones, K. Calvert). July 22-28: "The Founding Fathers' Vision" (Drs. T. Conner, P. Moreno, M. Kalthoff, B. Birzer, K. Calvert). You can expect all these hostels to be scholarly. If you're not well-read, you'll likely feel out of place. But if you regard the great books as old friends, if US history is your strong point, or if you have a strong conservative background in government, you'll enjoy these weeks at Hillsdale.

After you've studied your worldview, what are you going to do with it? Patrick Henry College offers four week-long camps on Constitutional Law, Journalism, the Founding Fathers, and Political Activism, all from a Christian perspective, with an eye towards improving culture. Activities will include visits to historical attractions and centers of government, and lectures taught by Michael Farris and the Patrick Henry College staff.

The Rockford Institute's Fourth Annual Summer School, titled "The American Midwest," will focus on the unique people and political culture of the old American midwest. Hosted by the same people who bring you Chronicles magazine, this week will explore the unique Midwestern people, attached to the soil, pessimistic of government control, favoring isolationism, close to God, and self-sufficient. Faculty will include Anthony Buloski, Dr. Thomas Fleming, Justin Raimondo, Scott P. Richert, Aaron D. Wolf, and Chilton Williamson, Jr. Familiarity with Chronicles magazine and the faculty's published work would be helpful.

Registration is priced pretty reasonably, and accommodations for out-of-town students will be on riverfront property (Cliffbreakers Suites). Transportation will be provided to and from Cliffbreakers every day, as well as to dinner. The Rockford Institute's Summer School is meant for future statesmen, educators, and citizens, plus of course their parents, with mature and educated enough minds to appreciate the material.

Another opportunity for worldview training is the Summer Christian Leadership Seminar sponsored by Summit Ministries. Young adults (16 and up) can choose from eight different two-week sessions in Manitou Springs, Colorado, and a newly-introduced Summit at Bryan College in Tennessee. Plenty of recreational opportunities are available, but the heart of The Summit is what you'll take home with you. Summit's purpose is teaching how to use God's word in life, in society, and in response to many of the problems that face the world today. Originally designed to prepare Christian youths for the many challenges of the college environment, Summit intends to give you a sound foundation in Christianity, and to bolster your faith by showing how the Bible relates to the real world.

Worldview Academy Leadership Camps offer young adults intensive training in Worldview, Leadership, and Christian Apologetics. Camps are offered at several locations throughout the United States. My two oldest sisters and I attended the Missouri leadership camp a couple of years ago. Sarah and Frank attended the Sky Ranch camp in Van, TX, last year, and Magda attended the Liberty, MO, camp. These camps involve a lot of "classroom" time, and a lot of right-to-the-point educational lectures on how Christianity affects your perspective on the world, and on what other common worldviews you will face as a Christian. When we visited the Liberty, MO, camp a couple of years ago, we toured an art museum, listened to commentary on the religious background of the art, and participated in frustrating debates with the WVA staff's "evil twins," who embody various anti-Christian worldviews and refuse to get caught by anything in debate. We adhered to a strict schedule, met some great folks, and had a "joyful" time.

Learning Adventures

Looking for powerful adventures beyond those of mundane camps? If you have an active youngster (or not-so-active youngster who needs a physical challenge), you should be! Whether it's a tour of Alaska, a sea kayaking trip, or rock climbing, these camps get you away from the familiar routine and "separate the men from the boys" (and the women from the girls!).

Kids: Look through this section and run it by your parents; make your own choices before dear old Dad suggests something. That will give you some input on what you really want to do.

Parents: If your kids are terrified at the thought of flying off somewhere strange and new, try father-son activities, camps, or expeditions. However, if they're more independent-minded, it may be more of a growing-up experience for them to go it alone. Keep this in mind before you book little Jimmy into a stay-over camp for the first time in his life or before you book yourself into little Johnny's camp.

The traditional, time-honored American camp experience is a great way to make a more rounded individual out of a kid. Traveling somewhere, meeting people, enjoying the outdoors, and having an experience beats hanging around the house. The American Camping Association publishes an 8-1/2 x 11" half-inch-thick directory of accredited camps, certified to be kid-safe, as well as lots of practical advice, aimed at parents, on what to bring, how to prepare your kids for a stay-over camp, and much more. If you're looking for a special interest camp, like a Jewish or YMCA camp, you may be able to find one in this directory. (I'm studying Tae Kwon Do, and I could only find two martial arts camps in the index, and they were YMCA.) If your kids want to attend the kind of camp you'll find in the start of The Parent Trap, that's what this directory is full of, from cover to cover. It sells for $10.95, but it could conceivably save you a lot more in research and planning. You can also find a searchable directory on their website, which you can sort by a number of criteria, including featured activities, from academics and aerobics/exercise to baseball, from caving to clowning, from fencing to horseback riding, and lots more. There are camps where you can learn model rocketry, performing arts, radio/TV/video, SCUBA, skating, team building, and even windsurfing. In all I counted 64 categories of activities. Religious studies is mostly cute fun Christian camps (far from the kind of intensive application found at Summit or WVA), with the descriptions full of "loving, caring, supportive, joyful, self-esteem building," et cetera. A few Jewish camps. In Education, try to sort out the science programs, animal encounters, entrepreneurship training, and foreign language lessons from the therapeutic camps . . . In a therapeutic camp, you can expect fellow campers who need therapy. Also be aware of what kinds of camps won't be included; you won't find serious worldview camps, and you won't find hunting/ hunter safety camps, such as Ted Nugent's Kamp 4 Kids or the NRA Youth Hunter Education Challenge. Still, in general, if you want to seek out a kind of camp that we haven't written up in this magazine, you should look in the ACA list. Though hardly a comprehensive list of all camps, it's certainly a good start. (American Camping Association, 5000 State Road 67 North, Martinsville, IN 46151. www.ACAcamps.org)

In some way related to the Sandy Cove Conference Center, Camp Sandy Cove is a Christian outdoorsy sort of camp, in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. There's a lot of physical activity, and ongoing Bible study, at this camp. Week-long camps you could attend include canoeing, backpacking, Adirondack Mountains camping, and leadership training. These activities are aimed towards two age groups: "Scouts and Maidens," age 7-11, and "Warriors and Squaws," age 11-14. (In my opinion, the warriors got the better end of that deal . . .) The counselors are referred to as "chiefs," following the cowboys-and-Indians naming convention. Any kid who's got the will and the strength is welcome, "regardless of race, religion, or national origin." And, yes, the camp is ACA-accredited. The LIT (Leaders in Training) course, involving Bible study and a three-week out-of-camp expedition, is the sort of thing I'd have loved to do when I was young enough to try it.

The Citadel Summer Camp is run out of the Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, in Charleston. Its purpose is to grow strong patriotic young citizens. The major focus of this camp is sports and athletic development. The boys and girls attending this camp should be enthusiastic about lots of healthy exercise, because that's what they'll be doing! Students will be drilled in formations, will be expected to wear uniform, and will have daily room inspections. You can expect them to come back not only stronger, but sharper. Fun activities include tennis, softball, football, team handball, soccer, basketball, volleyball, swimming, racquetball, wrestling, air rifle marksmanship, boy or girl scout projects, drum & bugle corps, SCUBA, beach trips, optional hunter safety programs, dances each weekend, and a lot more. Your kids will be in good hands; the Citadel staff have been training athletes, soldiers, and leaders for over a century.

The Citadel Summer camp is only open to kids aged 10 to 15. It's recommended for kids fascinated by the military, or kids who enjoy physical activity.

Hocking College offers a research excursion to Macchu Picchu and the Amazon Jungle. You can learn all about the incredible plant and animal life in this region over the course of three weeks in South America. Study the influences of topography, climate, geography, and people on nature in the jungle. Come home with hordes of stories to tell! Total price, including everything you need, comes to $3229, plus however much it costs you to get to Columbus, OH. That's quite a reasonable price to begin with. Now consider that you also get four college credits from the trip! As Hocking College's promotional materials say . . . "Can you afford not to go?"

The NRA hosts a large number of NRA Shooting Sports Camps, to teach at all different levels, from gun safety and basic operation to hunting or marksmanship. If you're a parent who wants his kids to know what guns can do and how to be safe around them, or if your kids are fond of their Second Amendment rights and you'd like to see them better educated, or if you'd like to learn about the art of hunting, most likely you can find a camp to help.

Outward Bound is for mature teens, so I'll be writing the next couple paragraphs to the future attendee, not his parents. If you're mature enough to handle an Outward Bound camp, you shouldn't need your parents to decide it for you. North Carolina Outward Bound offers physical challenges, and some mountain hiking and wilderness training, all in the Appalachians. There's some cliff climbing, whitewater paddling, mountain biking, wilderness hiking, leave-no-trace camping techniques, and of course classes in gourmet camp cooking. Outward Bound prefers not to be known as a "survival camp" per se; they'll air-drop food and supplies at certain spots, and you're supposed to have enough provisions to make it without trouble. You don't have to go out picking mushrooms and hunting wild squirrel. Students will camp with groups, and solo at one point. They will be trained in wilderness skills and gradually given more initiative and less direction by counselors.

Outward Bound was originally designed by the British Navy, when they noticed that the older sailors would actually survive longer than the younger, stronger ones when a ship went down. They concluded that it was because the younger sailors didn't have the same will to live as the older ones, so they invented Outward Bound to build confidence, and foster a stronger will and instinct for survival. When you attend an Outward Bound camp, you'll be learning how to explore the wild without spoiling it for anybody else, how to navigate in the wilderness, and of course many other outdoor skills such as water navigation, mountain climbing, and mountain biking.

I expect that every American boy, and a fair percentage of the girls too, have once dreamed of going to the moon. Space Camp won't send you to the moon yet (give them time!) but it will get you into the Space Shuttle simulator, the monstrous IMAX theater, astronaut training simulators, classes on space exploration, rocket building and launches, the actual rockets who brought men to the moon, NASA research labs, space station construction software, technology museum, and maybe the spectator seating for an actual shuttle launch! I don't know about you, but for me there's something delightful about seeing an enormous Saturn rocket on display. If you have a kid who wants to be a rocket scientist some day, check out this camp!

Teen Missions offers a variety of missionary experiences to a wide range of countries, from Australia to Britain to Egypt or even America. Kids signed up for these courses will receive "boot camp" training. The emphasis will not be largely on fun, but on the work in question. That work may be personal ministry; it may be helping out with a hospital; it may be building facilities somewhere. In any case, while there may be some recreation time, shopping and exploring will have to be cut short in favor of the trip's main purpose. Students who enter these camps may be traveling to the other side of the world under adult supervision, likely doing physically challenging work. A great opportunity to gain experience and try out missionary work at a young age, and get a feeling for the field.

Texas A&M University at Galveston offers one-week summer camps for students age 10-18. Galveston has a large maritime and engineering campus, and these camps are, accordingly, all related to the ocean. Ten camps are available for 2001: Ecology/Marine Biology, a second week of the above, Fish Camp, Marine Mammal Workshop, Coastal Camping, Study in Belize, Ecotourism Adventure - Quintana Roo Peninsula in Mexico, Ocean Careers Awareness, Coastal Photography, and Introduction to Marine Geological, Chemical, and Physical Oceanography. All this camps will include instruction from professional researchers and opportunities for the students to research on their own.

The Visual Manna Art Camp is a unique alternative to traditional summer camps. Held in Salem, MO, the first of three five-day camps features fishing, swimming, hiking, biking, and of course all manner of artwork. Students spend the morning learning about the science of flight and the afternoon building flying machines and sculpting birds . . . and if they can stay through the evening, they can participate in other fun activities, including caving. Every day, guest presenters will teach a variety of hands-on activities. The second art camp is for talented artists, and will bring in guest professional artists daily, including the well-known watercolor artist David Plank, to teach techniques to students. The camp will feature a variety of media, from watercolors to computer artwork, and the staff will help students produce portfolios of their best work. Finally, the last camp will feature a combination of horses, artwork, and ballet. This camp is located near Bixby, in small-town Missouri, out where they keep all the scenery . . . So while you're learning the technical skills of artwork, you'll have plenty of subjects to paint! Visual Manna teaches actual art skills, not "activities." Students use high-quality art equipment of many kinds, and also Enthusiastic artists, take note!

If your budget is somewhat more limited, you could try your local YMCA. Ours offers a good number of summer camps, from theater, dance, and art to gymnastics, circus, and in-line skating. Prices range from $25 to $205, depending on options and member status. These are for summer only, but you ought to have time to get into them even just before they start. YMCA may have a few adventure camps too, in local forests, on local lakes, or wherever they can get their hands on a little wilderness.

Or if your thing is travel, not wilderness, check out the European Planning and Rail Guide, free from the Budget European Travel Service. Tips on moneychanging, passports, trains, inexpensive attractions . . . to help you plan a trip to Europe that you can afford! You can order the free guide from BETS, 2557 Meade Court, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, call (877) 441-2387, or visit www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

Theme Parks

For homeschooling fun with a more kinetic flavor, take a look at your regional theme park. If you have been reluctant to bring your family during one of the regular days because of the mass of rowdy teens that typically flock to these parks during the summer, attending a homeschool day can give you the best of both worlds—a friendly environment with a lot of good fun.

Six Flags theme parks, in cooperation with Harvest Home Educators, have been offering special homeschool family days for over four years now. The normal crowds will be absent, so you'll actually have a chance to get at the rides. In addition to the regular attractions, parents can also browse the onsite curriculum fair, with a variety of vendors displaying their homeschool-friendly products. Or take a break to hear some words of encouragement and inspiration from a special speaker.

Silver Dollar City, in Branson, MO, is also offering a homeschool weekend. You get about a third off the entrance fee, though you have to reserve your tickets by phone, as opposed to buying them at the front gate. Silver Dollar City is an interesting mix of amusement park and history and culture exhibit, with fast, scary rides that involve getting the passengers very wet. The homeschool weekend will be held during the "Festival of American Craftsmanship," featuring American foods from coast to coast, native American artists, craftsmen, and storytellers, Civil War artifacts and experts, re-enactors, the Will Rogers Exhibit, and more besides. And when you get tired of immersing yourself in the culture of this grand nation, try the enormous loopy new roller-coaster "Wildfire." Learn a little about colonial history, while facing your fears on a ride's starting drop . . . What could be more fun?

Dollywood, located in the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, is more than just an amusement park. Dollywood is about music, crafts, entertainment, education, and atmosphere. Students who attend the fourth annual homeschool day on Friday, September 21, will receive a lesson plan notebook which they can fill during the day. In addition to the regular attractions, the rides, the music, and the workshops by Dollywood's Master Craftspeople, students can enjoy a theme park with no lines . . . on a Friday, everybody but homeschoolers will be in a classroom!

Wherever you travel this year - across the country, across the state, or across town - take your homeschool with you. You'll be making memories as a family and learning about life. And that’s what homeschooling is all about!