Guilford Christian Academy set up a field trip to the Desert of Maine this past Monday (June 22nd). I was not sure if it would be interesting enough for the children but I had heard great things about it.
Once everyone from our group arrived there was a wait for the next tram. So, while we were waiting the children went to dig for gems in the sand. There
were tons of gems that have been thrown in the sand and each child got to pic 3. I have to say it was a hard decision. They would fill their hands with the gems and then have to choose their three favorite. There were beautiful gemstones from every color of the rainbow. The gems were everywhere you looked in that particular area. This is available to children 12 and under and boy did they have a blast.
Once the tram arrived we got on board and listened to the instructions from our tour guide Raven. She did a great job of keeping the students attention (and the adults for that matter). She shared the story of the desert and how it came to be. Without spoiling too much it was once a beautiful flourishing farm. Now it is a sandy hot desert. How can that be? You will have to go and take the tour yourself to find out.
We heard about how they used to have camels at the desert, they are gone now but after the camels they had a donkey that they used to pull the cart with the attendees in and that is how they did the tours. The old jeep that they use today with the large tram suits me just fine.
Once we finished our tour we went to the picnic area and had a nice lunch together and following lunch we went to the butterfly house. There were lots of butterflys and couple of sticks full of empty cocoons. Over all it was a great day of fun for the group and it was better than I had expected.
If you get a group together and go you can save some money, we had a small group of 24. It was a good size though because we could all fit on one tram. If you are looking for a nice field trip that is suitable for all ages I recommend the Desert of Maine in Freeport. There are many other things to do while you are down there as well.
Share with other homeschoolers one of your favorite field trips! We would love to hear about it. There are so many places to visit here in Maine and a lot of the smaller spots get over looked. Leave a comment with your favorite spot to visit in Maine. Include a link if you have one.
Thanks for reading and Happy Homeschooling!