Greenview Aviaries: Homeschool trip

This is the last homeschool trip for the year with the home school group. We home school year round because every moment is a learning experience and how hard is it to do a page in a workbook each day in the summer.

Greenview Aviaries and zoo has a few playgrounds, a splash pad, picnic areas, food and animals. I was concerned that it wouldn't be something that I was comfortable with doing as I am an animal activist.

We spent most of the day playing on the equipment, in the splash pad and with the other kids. We did the animals for about 30 mins out of the whole day. They seemed well cared for, yes the pens are what I would consider small for a wild animal but they are clean, the animals show no fear of people at all and love to pet and attention.

neck scratching!

Personally we spent so little time with the animals we could have gone to a park with a splash pad/zipline and playgrounds and the kids would have been happy.

We got to fed the animals and they were all gentle and kind. I feel the pens should be larger for some of the animals but I also feel that about our own animal farm and they are well taken care of in both places. They all had food, fresh water, shade and places to hide from the people when they wanted too.

Will I go again? I am not sure, I might try to find somewhere that offers the same type of play without animals.

Homeschool trip: Storybook gardens

Yes May and June are pretty much fully book for homeschool trips because where we live we try to get as many outdoor activities in while the the weather is nice and before most families end the homeschool year until Sept!

The homeschool trip to Storybook was awesome. The kids had soooo much fine. We had fun too. I went on the rides with Blaine expect the train Sarah did the train. Our group was booked to do the hand on science show at 11:30 but it was too loud for Blaine and Josh so we decided to skip it and let the kids decide what they wanted to do.

There was so much to see and do. We started out at the pretend houses and the kids played pretend store, vet office, fire fighters, farmers and OMG the hilarity of the bounce rabbits and pigs still makes me giggle thinking about it.

There is a a giant bounce pillow that was really cool and they went on that twice!

They did the mud pit for a little bit but it wasn't really muddy it was mainly sand with other parents asking their kids not to play with the hoses so we were not there long.

We did the Splash pad which has gotten so much bigger and better than it was last time we were there. The kids played in the water until they were cold and hungry and then we had sun while they dried in the sun.

The ride on bike were new to us, but Blaine hopped right on and away he went and even when there wasn't a bike for him at that moment he ran around the track and still had a blast!

The pirate play ground area is my favourite, that day there wasn't much seating in the shade but kids had a blast and when they were tired and it was almost time for us to leave anyway we did the rides. Blaine was only tall enough to do two on his own so I went on with him for the Farris wheel, YUP I am still terrified of heights! He asked me to go on the elephants with him which I did and it was a tight squeeze for my legs I am not sure how tall moms would get in there. They did the slide sacks twice and had so much fun! The bigger kids did the swings while we did the elephants.

On our way out we stopped at the carousel which for some reason didn't have music. Blaine asked me to stand on with him while he road a horse which I regretted because of the brain injury. Everyone walked over to ride the train, which I HATE with a passion so Sarah road with them the first ride and the second ride he road with the older kids alone.

I am so proud of him over coming his fears!

It was a long, hot but amazing day!

Homeschool trip: Rock Glen Picnic

Sarah works so hard to put things together for the local homeschool group and this trip is one of them. We all get together and meet at the park in Rock Glen where families can walk the trails, kids can play and of course we all pack our own picnics.

I get asked at least once a day if I socialize my child, this is the same question I ask people who need help training their dogs. I fight to answer with "no we hide in the house 24/7".

Ask me anything you want about homeschooling and I am always happy to answer any and all questions because it isn't the norm for most families but there is a difference between asking a question because you are curious and asking a question because you are being judgemental and yes we can tell the difference.

The picnic as always is a blast the kids "socialize" and the adults "socialize".

Blaine loves the trails and as always loves hiking. Any chance to hang out with Ben and Josh he loves! The park isn't great but Sarah always brings outdoor things to do and of course Blaine and I always have sand and outside toys in the back of the SUV for the homeschool chat and plays.

The water levels are way up this year so the falls at rock glen are raging like crazy!

The first park was crazy busy with 4 buses full of children from schools in one tiny park so we decided the park with the wide open field was the best bet!

All the homeschool kids played in the water pretty much the entire time we were there so outdoor toys and games were not needed. They had a blast, so did the parents. We all sat and chit chated, some went in the water the rest of us who are not a fan of cold water stayed on the rocks.

The only trails we really walked was from the car to the park, from the park to the water, from the water to the park and from the park to the car. As always they are clean and well maintained.

Discovery Western, A homeschool trip!

Western puts on a program for us each year for different ages groups.

This was the first year we were able to attend because of Blaines age. It was great. We missed the first day but we went for the other two days. The first day we went we learned about computer programming. Someone of the information I felt was too old for the age group they working with but they added in a magic school video on computer programing from the early 90s and that was neat. We made circuits that had a battery on one end, a button in the middle and a light on the other end. It was fun. Then mine and Sarah's son made motorcycles "powered" by these circuits. Oh the imagination!!!

In the afternoon we learned about colour coding and using ozobots that are programed by colours on the paper and created our own mazes for them the kids had a blast.

The third day (Our second day) we only stayed until noon because I had to do a couple of stops on the way home for the shop. But we learned how to program lego robots and guide them through tape mazes, we also did relay races with them and built with legos. The kids had a blast and once they had enough robots out everything ran smoothly.

However the third day we were in a tiny room with wheeled chairs, do you know what happens when you put 20 4-8 years old in a room with wheeled chairs? Unhappy instructors thats what happens.


We really enjoyed it, some of the parents weren't happy with the programming this year and some have no idea what it takes for Sarah to put it all together for the different age groups and make it happen. To me I am grateful for an amazing couple of days where my son had a blast and learned a few new things.

With the way things went, sadly there might not be a 4-8 years age group next year which is disappointing but I fully see where she is coming from! 

Homeschool field trip: Children's Museum

Sarnia has a lot of out door activities for the kids to do which is awesome but it is lacking on the indoor activities so most of our field trips have to be help outside of Sarnia.

It is okay with us, but a lot of the homeschool parents from Sarnia for some reason hate to leave the city for anything so it makes it hard to get them out to things.


Today we went to the Children's Museum in London. I love this place it has so many great activities for the kids and keeps them busy, playing and learning all day!

I was shocked to see that play equipment outside was gone. The staff as always were amazing!

I was disappointed that a lot of the items that were supposed to work and be interactive didn't. Blaine had a lot of fun but it could have been better, and has been better in the past. There were a lot of things missing from when we went before that were always there like the working dishwasher and the "how to recycle" area.

They are opening at their new location in 2021 and we likely wont go back again until then.


They used to have rotating displays and this time it was all the same displays. On the first floor the dino caves and dig, the whale, the space pod  and a few things on the wall.

On the second floor there was an old school room and old kitchen. The big pretend play area which is always a big hit with the ride ons, Play McDonald's, house, gas station, dentist, police, post office, bank and grocery store oh and the firetruck. The crane in the construction zone doesn't work anymore which was sad.

On the third floor there is learning about the Arctic. With fishing, dog sled and other things too. Blaine liked the fishing the best. In the middle of the third floor is the pretend kitchen, garden, tree house and room to the side had houses that kids built and painted that they could go in and out.
On the furthest end it is the space station and star room. Most of the things on the space station are broken and we didn't get to see the star show.

I can't wait to see the new location and how amazing new play areas they are going to have!!

Strathroy Emergency Response Day

Wow, I was more than impressed with the turn out of emergency service people, vehicles, "tools", information and so much more.

Every one was amazing! Kind, gentle and had lots of information. Blaine isn't a fan of people and it goes the same for police offers and other people in uniform. As always I explained that they are there to protect us and they would never hurt you.

He was allowed inside EVERY vehicle there and there were A LOT from all-terrain to boats and the fire trucks. He asked lots of questions about each of the tools and everyone answered every single one of them.

There were 911 dispatchers and Sarnia Jail officers, fire, police, EMT's and even boarder patrol. It was really neat and not only did he learn a lot of new things. So did I!!!

I learned that the drones are not only used to find pot in farmers fields but they are also used by the fire marshals to assess large area fire damages like explosions. It helps them be able to see and even figure out how the fire started and where it traveled. Cheaper than renting a plane, which is what they have had to do in the past.

The homeschool trips where he can interact with EVERYTHING are the best.

Towards the end and mom being cold and tired he walked right to a firefighter and allowed him to show him how to use the hose. The firefighter even touched him and had his arm around him. This was HUGE for Blaine and I was so proud of him!!!

Trust and touch no matter who it is from is hard for him. He has a few select people that he will let touch him but even then on a bad day only mom will do.

Today was a blast and I can't wait to attend the next one, we missed the scent dog which kinda bummed me out and the RCMP didn't have horses lol Blaine was confused why not.

What are your favourite field trips?

Home Depot Homeschool day!

20 kids + 2 pieces of plywood on top of buckets + 20 hammers + 20 buckets being used as seat for this plywood table = dear god who thought hammers were a good idea.

All in all it was great! It was a great group of kids and a great group of parents!

The instructor was Katie and we was so sweet, kind and even helped a few of the moms who had more than one child with them. We built book ends the whole thing took about 20 mins. The kids had a blast, the parents had headaches and everyone had bookends.

Blaine loved it, he of course looked at the directions and got to work before she said go, so here I am saying no no you need to wait and here she is saying no hes doing it just the way its supposed to go, its okay.

As always we do things fast and this includes sitting and building something, but hey Sarah was there so I didn't feel alone because her children need to do things fast too.

The other parents were happy about it as well and enjoyed doing it with their children.

We have another one set up for next month because this one filled up so freaking fast. I mean within 10 mins of posting it the event was full.

Do you like to build things with your children? Do you allow your children to use tools?