Around The Bend Nature Tours

Field Trips!

Homeschool Schedule
Fall 2007 - Spring 2008
Students & Chaperones FREE

9:30am - Noon

Trips will be advertised via e-mail about 3 weeks before
If you wish to be on the notification list
contact us now

karen@aroundbend.com

Around the Bend Nature Tours is delighted to announce our seventh year of doing ecology based field trips and activities for Homeschool families. All trips are fully funded and FREE to your family except for the Rye Thanksgiving food cost. We will be using the watershed as an overarching concept and incorporating local history and ecology at each site.

If you have attended our activities before, join us this year also. We update our material regularly and always have something fresh. Some of the themes and activities are used each year, but repetition is really good for kids – it helps set facts in their mind and as they grow they are able to understand different concepts.

Trips will be advertised via e-mail about 3 weeks before
If you wish to be on the notification list
contact us now

karen@aroundbend.com

Friday, September 21 : Leffis Key
Anna Maria Island

This is just after the Autumnal Equinox. Stand on top of a thirty foot (re-created) dune and learn about the importance of dunes to both beaches and the nearby mainland. Dip net in the bay. Participate in the International World Water Monitoring Day with water quality testing. You may picnic on your own after the activities on the bay side, or at the beach.

Friday, October 19: Emerson Point
Palmetto

Learn about the Native American Mound builders and the villages of Emerson Point. We demonstrate Native American Technology and taste foods of the area. Sample smoked mullet, learn to make rope!

Thurs Nov 15, 2006 Rye Preserve
Upper Manatee River

Thanksgiving at Rye: Discover the Lifeways of the Florida Pioneers of the 1890's. We will hike to the remains of the Town of Rye pioneer cemetery and upon our return experience a pioneer feast. Bring a covered dish to share. Miss Stephanie will be making ice cream! ($5/person - max $20/Family - Feast Cost)

Friday, January 18: Fogartyville Cemetery
Bradenton

Explore another of the oldest cemeteries in Manatee County. This one has a special section that was set aside for the poorest of Manatee’s citizens who were often black. When well-to-do families moved here before the Civil War, they brought their slaves with them, but they were often not even mentioned, or counted in a census of residents, so their history is often obscure. Learn the challenges of burying in a swampy, tidal watershed. Take rubbings of the old headstones. Sample some of the Fogarty Brothers Ship Stew and have a picnic near the ancient Cedar tree.

Thursday, March 20 : Manatee Mineral Springs
East Manatee County

This was the site of a very important fresh water source first for Native Americans and then the pioneer settlers of Manatee. Learn about how the water source shaped the history of the area and how it affects the watershed and drainage even though it is now capped off. Take a walking tour around this community’s earliest neighborhood. Afterwards, you may drive across Manatee Avenue on your own to visit the Manatee Historical Village for more examples of early architecture that you can walk through.

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