Homeschool & Enrichment
Homeschool Science Days
About Our Program
It’s a homeschool class uncrated and integrated throughout the museum!
Families explore the museum around learning objectives in special, one-day-only booths for homeschool groups. Expect hands-on investigations, interactive stations, demonstrations, live animals, fossil specimens, and educator-led activities.
Each event transforms the entire museum into a dynamic learning environment centered around a monthly science theme.
Activities are designed for a wide range of ages and learning styles, allowing siblings and homeschool groups to learn together while exploring topics at their own level. Burpee Museum believes science is best learned through exploration. Our Homeschool Discovery Days encourage curiosity, observation, experimentation, and discovery while giving families access to museum collections, live animals, fossils, laboratories, and educators.
Learning Through Exploration
Our Homeschool Science Discovery Days encourage curiosity, observation, conversation, and hands-on investigation while giving families the freedom to experience science together.
A la Carte Options
If you are not able to make it to Burpee for the full semester series, consider joining us for specific topics/dates throughout the semester.
What to Expect
- Drop in anytime between 2:00–4:00 PM. Arrive when it works for your family and stay as long as you’d like.
- Explore at your own pace through 10 themed learning stations located throughout the museum.
- Choose your own adventure. Visit every station or simply focus on the activities that best fit your family’s interests, ages, and schedule.
- Participate in educator-led science investigations featuring hands-on experiments, demonstrations, and guided activities.
- Meet live animals, examine fossils and museum specimens, and experience authentic science throughout the museum.
- Learn together as a family. Parents and caregivers participate alongside their students, making discovery a shared experience.
- Designed for multiple ages. Activities engage a wide range of learners, making Homeschool Science Days ideal for siblings and homeschool groups.
Fall Homeschool Homeschool Science Days
Different interactive stations each event
Inspired by more than 80 years of scientific research and education.
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Flexible Come and go, build your own experience, explore at your own pace.
2026 Fall Semester Themes
Nature’s Engineers
Nature has spent millions of years solving challenges through evolution. Animals and plants have developed extraordinary adaptations that allow them to fly, build, hunt, communicate, defend themselves, and thrive in changing environments. Throughout this series, homeschool families will investigate these remarkable natural designs through hands-on activities, museum exploration, and interactive learning stations located throughout Burpee Museum.
Each Burpee Science Homeschool event transforms the museum into an exciting learning environment where families explore together, meet live animals, examine fossils and specimens, participate in experiments, and discover how nature continues to inspire modern science and engineering.
Costs:
Single Event Enrollment:
Save with Multi-Event Full Semester Enrollment:
- $60 for Homeschool/Cohort Museum Members
- $66 for General Museum Members
- $95 for Non-Members
September 14
Adaptations and Survival
Discover the remarkable adaptations that help plants and animals survive. Investigate camouflage, defensive structures, specialized diets, and behaviors that allow organisms to thrive in diverse environments.
Drop In Hours: 2Pm-4Pm
September 28
Animal Architects
Explore the incredible structures built by animals, from intricate spider webs and bird nests to towering termite mounds and beaver dams. Discover how these natural engineers solve complex challenges using instinct and simple materials.
Drop In Hours: 2Pm-4Pm
October 12
Predator and Prey
Investigate the fascinating evolutionary “arms race” between predators and prey. Examine claws, teeth, venom, speed, armor, camouflage, and other adaptations that shape survival in the natural world.
Drop In Hours: 2Pm-4Pm
October 26
Masters of Disguise
Explore how animals hide in plain sight through camouflage, mimicry, warning colors, and deceptive behaviors. Discover the many creative ways organisms avoid becoming someone else’s lunch.
Drop In Hours: 2Pm-4Pm
November 9
Flight in Nature
How do animals conquer the skies? Investigate the science behind flight by exploring birds, insects, bats, and prehistoric flying reptiles. Learn how wings, feathers, body shape, and physics make flight possible.
Drop In Hours: 2Pm-4Pm
November 23
Amazing Animal Senses
Experience the world through the eyes, ears, noses, and specialized senses of animals. Discover echolocation, infrared detection, ultraviolet vision, and other extraordinary abilities that help organisms survive.
Drop In Hours: 2Pm-4Pm
December 7
Nature Inspires Innovation
Discover how animal bodies are designed for movement, strength, and efficiency, and explore how scientists and engineers use these natural solutions to inspire inventions and technologies that improve our everyday lives.
Drop In Hours: 2Pm-4Pm
2026 Fall Semester Series
Nature’s Engineers
Throughout this series, homeschool families will investigate these remarkable natural designs through hands-on activities, museum exploration, and interactive learning stations located throughout Burpee Museum.
Each Burpee Science Homeschool event transforms the museum into an exciting learning environment where families explore together, meet live animals, examine fossils and specimens, participate in experiments, and discover how nature continues to inspire modern science and engineering.
Drop In Hours: 2Pm-4Pm
Why Burpee Homeschool?
At Burpee Museum, we believe science isn’t something you simply read about. It’s something you experience.
Every Homeschool Science Day is designed to connect families with authentic science through real fossils, living animals, museum collections, and the scientists and educators who study and care for them. Rather than recreating a classroom, we invite learners to explore, investigate, ask questions, and make discoveries throughout the museum.
Our goal is about more than teaching scientific facts. We want to spark curiosity, build confidence, and help young people see themselves as explorers, problem-solvers, and future scientists. Whether a child dreams of becoming a paleontologist, conservation biologist, educator, engineer, or simply develops a lifelong appreciation for the natural world, every scientific journey begins with curiosity.
Today’s curiosity becomes tomorrow’s discovery.
Burpee Museum has inspired generations of researchers, educators, and science enthusiasts. Through our collections, active research, field expeditions, conservation work, and educational programs, we provide opportunities that few museums can offer. Every visit is an invitation to step beyond the textbook and experience science as it truly happens.