Floating School Main Page

Floating School Program

What is the Floating School?

The floating school is an "experience-rich" opportunity to learn marine biology, coastal and maritime history, water chemistry and quality, beach, dune and wetland ecology, and a variety of other topics which takes place in Matagorda Harbor, Matagorda, Texas. It is operated by Texas A&M.

Click here for more details about the Floating School Progam.

Are there any homeschooler groups scheduled to attend the Floating School Program?

During September and October of 2002 there were 4 different homeschool dates for the Floating School Program Since that time, many other homeschool groups have attended the Floating School. It's a great field trip and is a wonderful way to learn about about marine life on the Gulf Coast.
If you attended past Floating School field trips please email Susan with your comments.

If you would like to set up a trip for your group, read on. Coordinators are welcome to post notices on our taffie-announce list if they would like to add additional people to their groups.

What homeschoolers are saying about this field trip:

"We found this to be an excellent program. The instructors were very knowledgeable and made things entertaining for adults and students! I believe I learned as much as the kids! I also liked the fact that they really took time to explain things and answer all the questions. Laura Beach even suggested some ways I could do some of the experiments at home!"

"This is the way learning is supposed to be."

"I was very impressed with the knowledge and patience of the facilitators. They also had wonderful demonstrations and you could see they were learning from us as well as we from them. I liked that. We would definitely go back."

"Another thing I really appreciated was that it was not a traditional "classroom". The instructors were interested in the ideas presented by the participants and treated all with respect and never talked down to us. It was a real hands-on learning experience and I would highly recommend it."

"My kids loved every minute of the program and want to go back. In fact they were disappointed that they couldn't go 2 days in a row! "

There may be other trips booked in the future, check back with this section for updates. If you are considering setting up a spring trip for your group, make your reservations now, spring dates are filling up with other school groups.

Space is limited for each class, contact each coordinator to find out about space availability and payment arrangements.

Please read the details page before asking questions, we have tried to answer many of your questions there.

Everyone who is plans on attending the Floating School should read the details page!!!

All participants, both students and adults, will need to fill out permission slips related to the Floating School program. Those need to be sent to your coordinator/payment person prior to the date of the field trip.
We have provided day of trip instructions about where to meet and what to bring for the day of the trip at this website.

We will also post related resources at this website including related books and websites.

Each family will be responsible for their own transportation and lodging arrangements (should they decide to stay overnight). We have provided some general information about what camping and motels options are in the area at this website.

How did we hear about the Floating School Program?

We run Taffie, a statewide Texas homeschooling mailing list. We post announcements about educator events on a regular basis to our list. In 2002, as a result of seeing an announcement about the Floating School taking enrollments for the 2002-2003 school year, one of our list members contacted them to find out how to set up a school group trip, then sent a field trip notice through taffie-announce and other homeschool lists. The demand was so great that several dates were added, with other 300 homeschoolers attending the first year. There was no problem finding enough homeschoolers interested in this unique education opportunity to book several trips just for homeschoolers.

I would like to set up my field trip for my group on another date, how do I go about that?

Please read the details page for more information. We can add your group's date to our list of trips if you need to find more homeschoolers to fill your field trip. Homeschool groups do qualify for educational scholarships and can attend at a reduced rate.

Click here to go back to Taffie Field Trip Section

Last updated May 30, 2005 Texas Flag