Past Events › Homeschool Programs

Did you know people once used the stars for navigation? Today, technology has advanced and we can use GPS units to find our way from one place to another. In
this class, we will learn how to read a map (youngest children), use a compass (older students) and how to use a GPS unit (oldest students).

Join us for a Rock Cycle Ruckus! We’ll learn about rocks and minerals, how rocks are formed and the difference between igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.

Learn how to make sweet maple syrup by tapping maple trees in the “sugar bush!” Taste maple sap before and after boiling, and learn how different cultures used this sweet resource.

Fire is a great management tool for prairies and other habitats. In addition to helping prevent the spread of invasive species, controlled burns also help to improve habitat for wildlife and stimulate the growth of new plants.

Legend has it that every spring a rabbit would visit children’s homes during the night and leave a woven nest with an egg in it as a sign that spring had arrived. Join us to hear this wonderful story and adorn your own spring basket just as the animals do by using materials from the land.

Beavers are fascinating creatures! Join us to learn the history of beavers from the fur trade to today. We’ll learn all about beavers and their behavior—from kits to castor, it’ll be an afternoon you “wood”n’t want to miss!

Adjacent to the Nature Center is the City of Madison’s Edna Taylor Conservation Park. Rich with wetland habitats, Edna Taylor is a wonderful place to observe the spring migrations of birds, including Mallard ducks, Blue-winged teals, and Sandhill cranes!

In honor of Arbor Day (April 24) and Earth Day (April 22), we’ll celebrate how trees help people, animals and our environment.

Spring is a time to use all our senses! See beautiful spring wildflowers, smell much from the pond and sniff garlic mustard as we pull, hear migrating birds and frog choruses, feel the different textures of nature and explore all things spring with our senses!

From puffballs to morels, fungus is all around us! We’ll learn some common types of fungus, some that are edible and some to avoid, dissect a mushroom, learn how to make spore print and much, much more!

All of us work on teams in some part of our lives. Families, sports leagues, music groups, and other clubs or groups are all forms of teams: people working together to accomplish a shared goal.

Become a herpetologist for the day and search for frogs, toads, snakes and salamanders in this “ribbiting” investigation! We’ll visit the pond and marsh to listen closely for croaks, chirps, trills, and whistles of frogs and toads to learn how to identify them.

Follow us to the pond where we’ll meet some aquatic life! We’ll use nets and bug boxes to catch and identify the critters that live, breathe, and eat underwater. Scan nearby trees for wetland birds and submerged logs for signs of turtles.

Let’s get the garden planted! We’ll get our hands dirty by transplanting seedlings into our phenology & vegetable garden. We’ll also spend time in the greenhouse, learn about vermiculture (worm composting) and study the soil.

Registration Deadline: September 14th, 2015
Let us add an environmental education component to your home school curriculum with our package option (and save 10%!). This package includes all 14 sessions from September 15th through December 15th.

Summer is “bug season” to us, but where do insects go during the winter? Explore the life cycles of some of nature’s most amazing short-lived creatures!

The fall season in Wisconsin is a season full of transformation! From the leaves turning color to the changes many animals must make, there is a frenzy happening in nature.

How do seeds move without arms and legs? We’ll discover the many ways seeds get around and help some along by making a “Living Locket” to take home and plant!

We’d be neck-deep in last year’s plant litter if it weren’t for the creepy, crawly critters we usually overlook! We’ll turn over logs and dig into the soil to get an up-close view of how nature recycles and reuses its own plant material.

Discover the inner workings of trees as they prepare for winter’s return! We’ll “Build a Tree,” make a Tree Detective vest to take home, explore the A-MAZE-ING Basswood tree and enjoy fabulous fall colors!

Pioneers had a lot of work to do during the fall harvest time. Aside from harvesting their crops, they had to chop and stack wood, grind corn, and prepare food for the family. There are plenty of chores to be done on our frontier!

This time of year is when the night time creatures take center stage. With Halloween just around the corner, it is a perfect time to learn all about the animals that rule the night sky.

Plants are everywhere! Some plants smell nice, other plants we call weeds, and still others we can eat! Plants are a very important part of food chains and the ecosystem as a whole.

Today, the temperature will be 45 degrees and there is a strong chance of some snow overnight. How do weather forecasters know what the weather will be like?

“Put Red in the Shed and follow Fred.” If you can say this sentence, you can use a compass!

It’s almost Turkey Day! Did you know the Turkey was once suggested to be the national symbol of the United States?

Nature is full of such beautiful sights! Winter is fast approaching and many things have been changing in our outdoor world. We will use our observation skills to record some of the changes that have occurred.

Take a trip back in time to see how Native Americans lived long ago! We’ll explore artifacts used as tools and learn how nature was the grocery store, pharmacy, and hardware store to Native Americans.

Once upon a time huge moving blocks of ice covered Wisconsin, and they are responsible for creating the land shapes we see today!

Large trees were very valuable to Wisconsin’s history and continue to provide value to our state today. We will learn what it was like being a lumberjack and the skills that were needed to make forestry decision and transport trees from Northern forests to Southern sawmills.

Let us add an environmental education component to your home school curriculum with our package option (and save 10%!). This package includes all 21 sessions from January 5th through May 24th.

Program content being developed. Stay tuned for details but registration is still open.

Let us add an environmental education component to your home school curriculum with our package option (and save 10%!). This package includes all 21 sessions from January 5th through May 24th.

There are many stories that can be told in the winter snow. Tracks of animals lead in so many directions and can help us tell where they live, what they eat and where they like to venture.

Program content being developed. Stay tuned for details but registration is still open.

Stuck out in the cold is no fun place to be! Learn how to survive if you were ever lost in the woods in the winter time. We will learn that it is important to always keep a positive attitude and what can be useful in a survival situation.

Program content being developed. Stay tuned for details but registration is still open.

Imagine a peaceful winter day where you can see your breath in the air and hear the sound of every step you take, the snow crunching under your feet. Snowshoeing is a great way to explore our winter environment and try to see some animals that have learned to adapt to their new cold settings.

Program content being developed. Stay tuned for details but registration is still open.

This is a great time of year to hear the calls of a particular animal – owls! Winter time is a time when owls are very active, finding food sources and places where they can nest.

Birds of prey are characterized into a group called raptors. We will learn all about these owl-some creatures and define what makes them stand out, visit with someone who works with raptors, and hike around ALNC in search of our favorite local resident raptors.

There are many discoveries to be made when looking up at the sky. Stars, planets, comets and asteroids are just a few of the objects which take up that great open area we call space.

Is Pluto still a planet? Is there water on Mars? Can other planets hold life? Learn about the amazing new discoveries scientists have to share and what new questions they hope to answer.

How can so many animals share one tree? Does the forest get crowded with all those birds and squirrels? We will learn about the many different animals that call Wisconsin home.

How many different ecosystems and animals can be found in Wisconsin? What are Wisconsin’s state bird, animal and flower?

Aldo Leopold loved spending time outdoors, where he would observe nature and record what he was seeing. We will participate in many of Aldo Leopold’s favorite activities, such as bird watching, tree identification and writing.

To start out our phenology series (documenting when events in nature occur), we will learn about the Leopold family’s legacy and how Leopold’s land ethic influences conservation efforts even today.

It’s the time of year when birds start to come back from their long migrations. We will be here to welcome them back as we look for signs that birds have arrived again for the spring time.

It’s the time of year where birds start to come back from their long migrations. In this second part of our “Phenology Series,” we will use binoculars and learn about bird identification.

Imagine starting life with a pocket of food attached to your body, or having to drill your way through a hard shell on your first full day of life. What if you were surrounded by thousands of other eggs, or had to dig your way to the earth’s surface to start your life? Plants and animals enter the world in all different forms.

Aldo Leopold once said “keeping records enhances the pleasure of the search and the chance of finding order and meaning in these events.” We’ll learn what Aldo meant when he said this, what phenology is and why it’s important to keep long term records of seasonal occurrences in nature.

Learn how to make sweet maple syrup by tapping maple trees in our “sugar bush.” Taste maple sap before and after boiling, and learn how different cultures used this sweet resource.

Students will learn basic tree identification, try tools used to “tap a tree,” taste sap, learn the science of sap flow and watch it cook down to syrup during the boiling process.

Legend has it that every spring a rabbit would visit children’s homes during the night and leave a woven nest with an egg in it as a sign that spring had arrived. Join us to hear this wonderful story and adorn your own spring basket just as the animals do by using materials from the land.

As we finish up with our phenology series, join us to present your findings as a newscaster in front of a green screen!

Imagine tasting a chocolate sundae with your whole body…if you were a catfish, you could! In this program we’ll explore the world of fish senses and how these animals have adapted to life underwater.

Naturalists will guide students in a preliminary aquatic field study of the pond at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center. During part 1, students will gather data on the living parameters of an aquatic system and will analyze that data in order to begin to determine the health of the pond.

April showers bring….chances to see Earth’s water cycle in action! We’ll spend the afternoon learning about water resources, exploring the water cycle, experimenting with fresh and salt water and seeing water conservation in action.

Now that we’ve examined the biotic components of the pond at ALNC in part 1, it’s time to take a look at the abiotic components. We’ll head back down to the pond and use scientific tools to measure the pH, temperature and dissolved oxygen.

The stuff we call dirt—more formally, soil—is actually made up of two distinct types of material: minerals (the main ingredient) and much smaller amounts of organic matter; that is, living things and their decaying remains.

What is so important about soil? Get your hands a little dirty as we discover what makes up the dirt under our feet.

In honor of Earth Day, we’ll learn how we can make a positive difference towards the earth! We will learn about the people, including Aldo Leopold, who were important in conserving our resources in Wisconsin.

In celebration of Earth Day (April 22), we will team up with the younger homeschoolers to learn all about people who were and are like-minded in the role of conservation of natural resources.

Have you ever been on a treasure hunt? Imagine finding something that has been buried for over a thousand years! Join us on an archaeology adventure as we learn about what can be found underground.

Wisconsin has been inhabited for close to 11,000 years, but our state is only 168 years old. To learn about the people who once lived here we need to use anthropology to talk with people, and archeology to learn from the land.

The snow has melted, the temperatures are warming, but is there still a risk for hypothermia? Join us on a survival adventure as we learn how to find food, make a shelter, and access clean water in many survival situations.

In part 2 of our survival series, join us as we learn how to properly prepare for outdoor adventures. We will build shelters, identify edible plants, and learn how to purify water.

Each spring nature graces the woods and prairie with a rainbow of colors that last only a few weeks. We’ll learn about those beautiful spring wildflowers known as ephemerals.

…getting to grow all about you! Join us for an introduction to Botany! Learn about plants, how they function and grow and why they play a vital role in the various habitats at ALNC.

We will learn all about the group of animals known as reptiles. From snakes to turtles, lizards to crocodiles, there are so many fascinating reptiles that can be discovered!

How do scientists classify animals? What are the characteristics of each group of animal? From reptiles to mammals, we will learn all about different types of animals and how to classify them.

The Earth is constantly changing and scientists have made observations of these changes over many years. We will learn the difference between short-term and long-term changes, such as climate and animal adaptations.

Short-term changes for you include the clothes you wear each day. Long-term changes are the height you grow. What are the short-term and long-term changes for our planet? How do we affect these changes, and how do these changes affect us?

Let us add an environmental education component to your home school curriculum with our package option (and save 10%!). This package includes all 14 sessions from September 6th through December 13th.

Let us add an environmental education component to your home school curriculum with our package option (and save 10%!). This package includes all 14 sessions from September 6th through December 13th.

Let’s kick off the fall semester by building our collaboration, cooperation and group challenges. These games and challenges will build the foundation for a semester or creative thinking, problem solving and communication skills for a group.

Let’s kick off the fall semester by building our collaboration, cooperation and group challenges. These games and challenges will build the foundation for a semester or creative thinking, problem solving and communication skills for a group.

This time of year many insects are making their final push to lay eggs, hibernate, or migrate to warmer climates! We’ll examine insects in the prairie, pond, and forest, and discover how each insect is adapted to survive in its habitat.

This time of year many insects are making their final push to lay eggs, hibernate, or migrate to warmer climates! We’ll examine insects in the prairie, pond, and forest, and discover how each insect is adapted to survive in its habitat.

What’s the buzz about? Bees! We’ll investigate the lives of bees, which include not only these insects, but also people, plants and other animals. Learn the social roles of each bee in a hive, discover how honey is made and extracted.

What’s the buzz about? Bees! We’ll investigate the lives of bees, which include not only these insects, but also people, plants and other animals. Learn the social roles of each bee in a hive, discover how honey is made and extracted.

It’s time to prepare the ALNC Pioneer Garden for winter! We’ll learn all about gardening while we plant garlic, spinach and other cold-tolerant plants, compost old plants and prepare the beds for the long winter ahead.

It’s time to prepare the ALNC Pioneer Garden for winter! We’ll learn all about gardening while we plant garlic, spinach and other cold-tolerant plants, compost old plants and prepare the beds for the long winter ahead.

The prairie is a community of plants and animals, each with a story to tell. Learn the history of Wisconsin’s prairies, learn about prairie fires and collect and spread seeds for a future ALNC prairie.

The prairie is a community of plants and animals, each with a story to tell. Learn the history of Wisconsin’s prairies, learn about prairie fires and collect and spread seeds for a future ALNC prairie.

Let’s make apple cider! We will press apples as we learn about the historical use of apples and hike the woods to feed deer and other critters with our leftover apples. Bring an apple to press!

Let’s make apple cider! We will press apples as we learn about the historical use of apples and hike the woods to feed deer and other critters with our leftover apples. Bring an apple to press!

Come celebrate the “Fall Harvest” season in full pioneer style! We’ll play some traditional outdoor games like Blindman’s Bluff, Drop the Handkerchief and Sack Races, as well as ‘pioneer dress up’!

Come celebrate the “Fall Harvest” season in full pioneer style! We’ll play some traditional outdoor games like Blindman’s Bluff, Drop the Handkerchief and Sack Races, as well as ‘pioneer dress up’!

If you were a frog, how far could you leap? How can we estimate the height of a tree? Is there a way to tell how old a tree is without cutting it down and counting its rings? How much grass does a groundhog need to eat to store up enough energy for the long winter?

If you were a frog, how far could you leap? How can we estimate the height of a tree? Is there a way to tell how old a tree is without cutting it down and counting its rings? How much grass does a groundhog need to eat to store up enough energy for the long winter?

We’ll explore the relationships between earth’s life forms. We’ll search for examples of these many relationships on how different species interact in nature throughout the ALNC grounds.

We’ll explore the relationships between earth’s life forms. We’ll search for examples of these many relationships on how different species interact in nature throughout the ALNC grounds.

Adjacent to the NatureCenter is the City of Madison’s EdnaTaylorConservationPark. Rich with wetland habitats, Edna Taylor is a wonderful place to observe the fall migrations of birds, including Mallard ducks, Blue-winged teals, and Sandhill cranes!

Adjacent to the NatureCenter is the City of Madison’s EdnaTaylorConservationPark. Rich with wetland habitats, Edna Taylor is a wonderful place to observe the fall migrations of birds, including Mallard ducks, Blue-winged teals, and Sandhill cranes!

Lion’s Mane, Chicken of the Woods, Puffballs, Fairy Rings and Inky Caps—it’s such fun being fungus! Fungus is mysterious, grows by moonlight and is quite unlike any other organism.

Lion’s Mane, Chicken of the Woods, Puffballs, Fairy Rings and Inky Caps—it’s such fun being fungus! Fungus is mysterious, grows by moonlight and is quite unlike any other organism.

We hear a lot about white-tailed deer in Wisconsin in November! It’s no wonder--able to leap tall fences in a single bound, the white-tailed deer is an animal of incredible beauty and power.