Our community offers SO much that can be valuable to homeschoolers including classes, teams, workshops, etc. All resources listed here are available to all homeschoolers regardless of cover school. Some resources are open to the public by a public facility and some are homeschooling opportunities available to the entire homeschooling community. All resources were valid when listed, but sometimes the venue does not come back and tell us when they change details, so if you find information that is no longer valid, please let us know at everestacademy1@gmail.com . Please also contact us with any resource you feel should be shared here.
Outdoors:
The Land Trust of Huntsville and North Alabama – many hiking trails open to the public, also scheduled groups hikes and events, including the “Tuesdays on the Trail” environmental education series in June and July. http://www.landtrust-hsv.org/
Rails to Trails – Old Railroad Bed Trail (2-mile walking trail) and Redstone Arsenal Fitness Trail (6 miles, biking and walking) in Madison County, Richard Martin Trail AL in Limestone County (10 miles, biking, walking, a d horseback riding). http://www.traillink.com
North Alabama Birding Trail – http://www.northalabamabirdingtrail.com/
Guntersville Dam – http://www.tva.gov/sites/guntersville.htm
Hays Nature Preserve – http://www.hsvcity.org/recreation/hayesnature/
Friends of the Preserve and Sanctuary – organization that hosts many events open to the public at Hay’s Nature Preserve including volunteer work (river clean up days, invasive plant removal days, trail work), guided night hikes, bonfires, and guided day hikes. http://www.huntsvillepreserves.com/about.php
Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, Decatur – http://www.fws.gov/wheeler/
Sauta Cave National Wildlife Refuge (watch the bats fly out of the cave in the summer months) – http://www.fws.gov/sautacave/
Flint River canoeing
Peddle Boats, Gondolas, and Carousel at Bridge Street Town Centre – http://www.bridgestreethuntsville.com/
Monte Sano State Park – http://www.alapark.com/montesano/
Point Mallard Park (park, walking trail, ice rink, water park), Decatur – http://www.pointmallardpark.com/
Green Mountain Nature Trail, 72-acre park free to the public and open from sunrise to sunset – http://huntsville.about.com/library/weekly/aa052701a.htm
Aldridge Creek Greenway (and other greenways – Big Cove, Wade Mountain, Indian Creek)
Geocaching – tons of caches in the Huntsville area
Rosemary Wildlife Refuge and Greg Myers Goose Ranch – 6630 Wall Triana Highway, Madison. Sunrise to sundown, Mon – Sat, free. Take 72 west turn right on Wall Triana, go about 2 miles – just past Capshaw Road.
Harmony Safari Park – drive thru and feed the animals through your open windows http://www.huntsville.org/listings/index.cfm?action=display&listingID=100&menuID=89&hit=1&tab=overview
The Tennessee Valley Audubon Society – scheduled bird watching outings, meetings at the Botanical Gardens. http://www.tvas.org/
This awesome list was sent in by Susan Martin!