The kids took their first class at the Meadowlands Environment Center. I’d meant to call the center many times, or just stop by to walk their trails, so when a homeschool mom offered a “Solar” class as a group field trip, I signed the boys up. I thought only Mikey and Gavin would be able to participate in the 4-6 Grades program, but Sean was invited to stay for the K-2 and he was thrilled!

The center is extremely well equipped, focusing on New Jersey marshlands. The teachers were superb. I spend most of my time in the K-2 class with Sean, and the naturalist did an excellent job of keeping such little kids engaged with a good mix of hands-on activities, interesting visuals and live creatures. The learned great vocabulary, information about habitats, and the flora and fauna in the marsh environment.

The older kids’ class was really informative and structured. They were also provided with a nice mix of activities that kept their interest and challenged their existing natural knowledge.

This is also the class in which they had the opportunity to look at the sun. All three boys talked all the way home about the things that they learned. It never ceases to amaze me how much the retain from a setting like this – hands on and on location!

The center has some nice trails – some are currently closed due to destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy – and several are open. There is a small, taxidermy display in the main building and we were made aware of FREE astronomy nights equipped with astronomers to chat up 🙂 The group class rate was extremely reasonable.

The weather is perfect for this day trip – so get out and go.