First Field Trip of the Year: State Museum of PA

 We're back at it again, with a new school year and our first field trip! One of the joys of homeschooling is the flexibility to create your own schedule, and start the school year whenever you wish during the summer. We're kicking off with our own "science camp," which we'll share more about later. This week, we've also had guests visiting, so we decided to take them to the State Museum of Pennsylvania.

There were so many exhibits that I couldn't possibly discuss them all here, so I'll share a few highlights. One of the exhibits that felt really impactful for our family was the exhibit that shared local stories of racial integration, specifically a story about a pool in Pittsburgh. Since we regularly go to a town pool that is open to people of all people, it was a bit mind boggling to think that this was not always the case!

We also really enjoyed the exhibit on Native American history. After studying this subject last year, it was really neat to see lots of artifacts in person, as well as a model of a longhouse.

A really fun part of our visit was our visit to the hall of mammals and other animals. We got to see models of the fish that we caught on a recent fishing trip with Grandpa. We also saw several local species, as well as species that most of us have never seen in real life. Sweet Pea's favorite animals were the birds. Pumpkin's favorite was "pretty much all animals."

We ended our time at the museum by exploring the exhibit about geology, landforms, and tectonics. This was interesting because those are some of the subjects we are studying in Science Camp!