Have you ever participated in the NASA KSC Exploration Station field trip in Florida? If not, read on to learn more about this awesome opportunity for homeschooled kids!
Signing Up for the Exploration Station
Sometimes I feel like when I’m signing up for these free programs, it’s like a Black Friday sales event. You have to plan it, then once the time slot is opened, you have to rush to sign up and ensure all the proper documents and information were submitted correctly. It’s extremely stressful! And then, there is this waiting period to see if you got in or not.
But, it’s usually worth it. Especially when you see your kids having fun and learning, and you didn’t have to actually carry out the educational plan yourself!
So, how do you sign up for the exploration station. Well, let me back up for a second. How do you even hear about an opening for the exploration station? You need to go to their website and you need to sign up for their emails. This is essential as everyone in your homeschool group is not going to talk about when it opens because it’s so competitive to get in for the spots. So sign up and be ready for it!
Now, there used to be homeschool groups that usually a home school leader would sign up the entire group, but it seems like they did away with that, and now it’s each homeschool family for themselves.
Preparing to Sign Up
When you get ready to reserve a spot for the homeschool days, there is a form that is emailed or that you could find on their website (see the picture below). This form has to be filled out for each student. What I did was fill out the form and save it to my computer. I actually organized myself to sign up one kid, and then I had my older son sign up for himself. He sat right next to me so I could ensure he did it correctly. This was the stressful part because we had to choose the grade level, the date, the time, and then upload the document. I had to double check and triple check both my information and his information at the same time. Slots went quickly as some of our homeschool friends were not able to match the same date and time, within minutes of the time slots opening. But once you’re in, you can relax! You are allowed to make changes apparently after you get in, but I do not know how that works. But to err on the side of caution, be accurate the first time. lol.
Preparing for the Field Trip Day!
Yay! It is time for the field trip!
What I LOVED about this field trip was that when we signed up, I was able to sign myself up as a chaperone for my younger son, and my husband was the chaperone for our oldest son. This was awesome because we all got to attend KSC for FREE! And…you get to enjoy the park all day long! So head on over there early so you can walk around, attend the KSC class, and continuing exploring after. Wear comfortable shoes and dress for the weather! You don’t need to bring anything for the class, just show up on time! Warning, the wi-fi does not work well in the building, so bring stuff for you to do for the hour that your student is in class, or just chat it up with other homeschoolers.
You are allowed to bring food and beverages, just not glass or alcohol. Since we have food allergies and intolerances, we pack our lunches, snacks, and drinks, with us. My favorite “field trip bag” is this one as it holds our thermoses, bentgo boxes, 4 waters, and my wallet, keys, and phone.
Side note: If you are wondering how to keep lunches hot, we use this brand of thermos. I like to heat up water, pour it in the thermos for five minutes, empty the water, and then heat up the food real hot (or we actually cook early in the morning so we don’t have to heat the food up again.). I also bought Bentgo lunch boxes for our snacks. I usually put simple mills crackers and cookies, mandarins, seaweed, and rice crackers with jam and almond butter (“jamwiches” my kids termed it), in there.
Things To Do Before/After the Class
There are places to eat here in case you do not bring your own lunches. There’s also a souvenir shop.
There are quite a few things to see and do- you can visit the Rocket Garden, play in the awesome playground area “Planet Play”, visit the Treasure’s Gallery, visit the Lunar Theater, and so much more. Check out their website so you can plan your day there! It really is so informative, breathtaking, and fun to see all of what NASA has accomplished.
Hope this information helps!
*Adult Supervision Is Required For All Activities*