Throughout our school week, we try to have as much hands-on learning as possible. Whenever we can take a field trip to enhance our learning, it makes the learning that much more memorable. This week’s science was about the honey bee. Join us for our homeschool science lesson at the bee farm.
Have you been to a bee farm? I mean a full-blown bee operation? We make it a priority to visit all kinds of farms throughout the year. Last week, we visited a citrus farm. You can see all about our visit here. We visit animal, flower, and food farms. We’ll see the bee boxes next to the vegetable patch. But we had never been to a proper bee farm. It was a happy day for this bee loving mama.
At the farm
Our two hour bee farm tour started with an in-depth presentation of all the information anyone would need to know to keep their own backyard bees along with bee history, anatomy, and life cycle.
Wow, I had no idea bees are so smart! I mean, they can turn a regular bee larvae into a queen bee by feeding it royal jelly. Can I get some of that royal jelly, please?!
We taste tested many varieties of honey, including wildflower, orange blossom, palmetto, and blueberry, and learned about all of the culinary and health benefits, such as for seasonal allergies.
I brought home some wildflower honey to try and help with my crazy seasonal allergies. Here’s hoping it works!
We tried on bee suits and visited bee hive boxes. We took lots of pictures and came home with a block of beeswax for candle making and a honey comb.
On a side note, I got to bring my cute new Christmas gift Vera Bradley backpack with little bees on it. Here is the backpack so you can see how stinking cute this thing is!
At home extension activities
In the days after our farm visit, we followed up with informational and fictional literature about our experience. For example, we read Cat and the Hat’s On Beyond Bugs, Beatrix Potter’s Mrs. Tittlemouse, and Patricia Polacco’s The Bee Tree.
In their notebooks, the kids drew a picture of our filed trip experience and wrote about their favorite part or what they learned.
Then, we’ll finish our honey bee learning experience by using honey in our favorite recipes, including orange honey marmalade and making beeswax candles in the next week.
I hope this encourages your homeschooling family to visit a local farm and take your learning outside with hands-on experiences.
Thanks for stopping by! I’d love for you to follow along @homesteadonlakeside for homeschooling inspiration through our school year.
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