This week we went to the fabulous Monterey Bay Aquarium on one of their “Homeschool Days”.  It was a great family day learning about the sea animals.  As with each field trips we take, my second-grader completes a Field Trip Evaluation sheet that I had developed.  The the purpose of this was to help him think a little bit of all the things he’s seen and learned.  This is a simple form where I ask the following questions:

• Date of the field trip
• Location of the field trip
• What did you see or do there?
• What was one thing you learned?

I make sure my child completes the questions in complete sentences.  Upon completion I filed it away in his Second Grade School Record portfolio.  For our home school, the goal is to go on one field trip per month, and this also includes family vacations.

Here is the photo journal of our day:

Learning about jellyfish and plastic pollution in our oceans in the Discovery Lab:

Here are the Leafy Sea Dragon seahorses at the new seahorse exhibit.  Notice how they look like leaves — this is how they camouflage and avoid getting eaten.

Baby seahorses.  Did you know that in the entire animal kingdom, only seahorses have babies through the father and not the mother?  Interesting, isn’t it?  I love learning along with my children.

After a long day of fun and learning, we finished it off with yummy ice cream sundaes at the Ghirardelli Chocolate & Ice Cream Shop on Cannery Row.  It was a wonderful and delicious way of ending the field trip: