Isle of Wight County Museum

Smack in the middle of Main Street, the Isle of Wight County Museum takes visitors back to the 19th century. Step into an old drug store and play checkers or complete the scavenger hunt. Then more back further in time to the history of the Native Americans in the area. Dig through sand pits and look for shells and shark teeth. See the world's oldest peanut and the world's oldest ham. 

Admission is free for children 17 and under, and $2.00 for adults. The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10:00-4:00 and Sundays from noon until 4:00. The museum is about a three minute drive from Windsor Castle Park. 

Windsor Castle Park

Windsor Castle Park sprawls across 208 acres in Smithfield, Virginia. Walk along the four miles of wooded trails and let the kids play in the nature playscape. Let them climb up rocks to slides, walk on logs and beams, and play in sandboxes. On site is a dog park, a kayak and canoe launch, and a fishing pier. Visitors can also visit the manor house, which was part of the original land from 1450. The park is included on the Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail.  Windsor Castle is inspired by Central Park, green space inside of a city. Spend a little time seeing the sites, and all that the park has to offer. 

Sum One Cares

I'm not exaggerating when I say that I wouldn't be the teacher that I am today without the guidance of Sum One Cares owner Nancy Estepa. We taught third grade across the hall from each other and collaborated constantly. She became a math specialist and continued to fight for students. Nancy has always been a fierce advocate for public schools and the challenges that students face. She spoke at school board meetings, stood up for students in SPED meetings, and put her whole heart on the line. But when she wasn't getting the results that she knew students needed, she took matters into her own hands and opened Sum One Cares. 

Sum One Cares has grown into a business with multiple instructors and several different offerings. They offer professional development for schools and school systems, but more importantly, they work directly with students to work smarter rather than harder. Sum One Cares meets students where they are, and every student has a customized support plan. Offerings include summer camp, after school tutoring, and home school groups during the day. 

Students play games and have fun while developing skills in math, reading, science, technology, and more. During camp, students are even exposed to music, art, passion projects, in-house field trips, and they work with community partnerships. 

We chose the one night a week tutoring option this summer to avoid the summer slide. Small groups have up to six kids and last for one hour. Every time I came back for pickup, the kids were all smiles. You could see their confidence built from being successful during the sessions. Tutoring groups continue this summer and throughout the school year, and homeschool groups start up soon. More information can be found on their website. 

Fluffy Honey Farm

Located in Smithfield, Virginia Fluffy Honey Farm (named by their daughter when she was six!) is a working alpaca farm that is now offering educational tours. The farm has 11 alpacas including two babies. Danny and Sam are a mother son pair who are the friendliest on the farm, and they will come right up to you and even wag their tails when you scratch them! 

The goal of the farm was to share their love for alpacas, and to share with people how fun and quirky alpacas are. The farm focuses on using alpacas for therapy. Studies show that gentle animals can help lower stress and anxiety for people, and Fluffy Honey is developing programs to promote grounding and meditation, mindfulness, and relaxation to make visitors feel stress-free and safe. 

The farm also sheers the fibers of the alpaca, and we learned a lot about uses and types of hair. We also learned about their life cycle and eating habits. alpacas across the world, and adaptations that alpacas have to help them survive. 

Tours can be booked on their website. Adults are $15 and kids are free. Come for a visit, and give your family a really cool experience. 

DBat Virginia Beach

We recently visited DBat Virginia Beach to get in some swings at the batting cages. The cages can be rented by the half hour, and they range from slow pitch softball to 70 mph. Dbat offers lessons, camps, and clinics. The camps have a wide variety including full day or half day, and full week or single day which makes them really flexible. They also have memberships which let kids use the pitching machines every day with discounts on lessons and camps. They also offer birthday parties. It's a great way to get out some energy!