The Dauphin Island Sea Lab, founded by the State Legislature in 1971, is Alabama's marine education and research center. Located on the eastern tip of a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico, the Sea Lab offers educational programs, the Estuarium, a public aquarium, and more.

PO Box 672 Madison, AL 35758 Phone: 256-922-0779 Calvary is an umbrella or cover school that provides parents a legal avenue to homeschool their children in the State of Alabama. Calvary School was established because most Alabama Churches only provide for their own members homeschooling. Calvary believes that parents should be able to educate their children and choose the curriculum that best fits their children. They accept homeschool students from all over the state of Alabama regardles...

Cathedral Caverns was originally called Bats Cave. Jacob (Jay) Gurley bought the cave in 1955 and opened it to the public. When he took his wife into the cave for the first time, she was struck by the beautiful of one big room with all the stalagmites and stalactites and said that it looked like a "cathedral." Gurley wisely changed the name of the cave at that point and it has been known since then as Cathedral Caverns, although it has changed hands many times. Cathedral Caverns became a state p...

915-B South Jefferson St. Athens, Alabama 35611 Phone: 256-771-9910 Nanette's Books & Trims offers teacher's supplies, Christian materials, reference books, and much more.

Just six miles northeast of Guntersville, off Highway 227, overlooking the majestic 66,470-acre Guntersville Reservoir, the park ranges over 5,909 acres of ridge tops and meadows. The park's resort lodge, restaurant and convention complex is located on Little Mountain, providing a magnificent view of the reservoir. The Lake is wonderful for fishing as well as swimming and other water sports activities. Recently, it has become the winter home of our national symbol, the Bald Eagle.

This historic park features Fort Toulouse, a re-creation of the last French fort; Fort Jackson, built on the site of the original French fort; recreated Creek Indian houses; a visitor center; Mississippian Mound; the William Bartram Nature Trail; and much more! There are monthly living history programs and an annual French and Indian War Emcampment.

The Alabama Museum of Natural History, located in Smith Hall, the first building to be built on the University of Alabama campus in the twentieth century, is one of the finest excaples of Classical Revival architecture in the region. Experience the natural diversity of Alabama through exhibits from the Age of Dinosaurs, the Coal Age, and the Ice Age. View extensive collections of geology, zoology, mineralogy, paleontology, ethnology, history, and photography. Explore the Alabama Museum of Natura...

P. O. Box 5273 Glencoe, Alabama 35905-0273 Phone: 256-494-1600 Pathways Academy is a ministry of Pathways Family Fellowship, an association of churches, ministers and lay persons, and acts as an Alabama church school.

Housed in the "Company Store" of the former Montevallo Coal Mining Company in Aldrich, Alabama and Historic Farrington Hall. See and learn of local history as well as the coal mining industry as it was back then...See the only monument in Alabama dedicated to all coal miners!

Southwest Alabama Home Educators (SAHE) is a volunteer Christian support group uniting families who home educate their children in the Mobile and Baldwin County areas. Offers email support group, information on state laws, information, support, and more.

This email list is for those in Alabama whose home/family church sponsors the church school through which they home educate their children. This is often referred to as "being your own covering."

Public libraries around the country are finding new ways to serve the growing population of homeschoolers through physical spaces and creative programs catered to homeschooling families’ needs. This article takes a look at what libraries in Illinois, Colorado, and Tennessee are doing to meet the diverse needs of homeschooling families. 

Explore the animal world at the Birmingham Zoo, featuring an alligator swamp, tropical rain forest, and zoo train and carousel.

This is an Attachment Parenting oriented group of parents who gather together with their children in the Birmingham area weekly. Workshops are fun, casual, parent-child interactive, and currently designed for toddlers through preschoolers, with younger siblings welcomed and arrangements that can be made to help older siblings feel at home, too.

Tuskegee Institute, a small black college in Alabama, was selected to host the "military experiment" to train African American pilots and support staff--thus the Tuskegee Airmen were born. The outstanding performance of the over 15,000 men and women who shared the "Tuskegee Experience" from 1942-1946, is immortalized at the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site.

Events include monthly living history programs (the French period and the early American period), monthly meetings of the Historic Blacksmiths, French and Indian War Encampment (held annually in April and re-enacts the time period of the war between the French and the British), Alabama Frontier Days (held annually in November and depicts life on the frontier from 1717 to 1820).

For tourists, family campers, and serious lovers of the outdoors, here is a big, beautiful, color-illustrated book that describes more than 50 national parks, sites, and seashores that stretch from Cape Hatteras on the Atlantic coast to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Yosemite in California, Haleakala in Hawaii, and Glacier Bay in Alaska. More than 400 breathtaking photographs capture the beauty and atmosphere of each site, and 54 color maps show each park's location and major features. Visitor information panels give important details on access points, accommodations, and recreational activities such as hiking, rafting, birdwatching, and fishing. Here is a wonderful volume that will inspire plans for trips and evoke marvelous memories of past experiences in America's great outdoors.

The concept of the national park is an American contribution to world civilization, and it remains a defining characteristic of our country. From the rocky shore of Maine's Acadia to the barren crater and lush rain forest of Hawaii's Haleakala, America's national beauty is celebrated and preserved in its national parks. This book retells the history of each park, describes its most important features and wildlife, and reproduces its gorgeous scenery in full-color photographs that will enthrall armchair travelers and entice others to lace up their hiking boots and reach for their sporting gear. Organized by region of the country, it includes well-known parks like the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Glacier as well as lesser-known destinations like Shenandoah, Biscayne, and Kenai Fjords.

From stunning mountain ranges to arid expanses of desert, America has been blessed with an incredibly diverse land -- and the vision to protect it for our and future generations to enjoy. These lands are ours to view, wander, learn from, and revel in. America's National Parks captures all that is great about all fifty-six parks in the national park system. It also gives interesting, easy-to-understand background on the geological and ecological forces that continue to make each national park so worthy of protection.

Nature lovers will be captivated by gorgeous photos of landforms, flora, and fauna. Families will appreciate the information that is sure to enhance vacations at the parks. And visitors to any of the country's national parks will forever treasure this book as a memento of past visits and an inspiration for future ones.

Unlike any other book published on national parks, America's National Parks is a must-have for anyone who relishes America's natural wonders and wants to learn more about the powerful forces that created them.

Stand amid soaring Douglas fir in the great hall of Glacier Park Lodge or sit in the setting sun and gaze into the Grand Canyon at El Tovar. This beautiful gift book will transport you to the majestic lodges of our national parks to relive the glory of past vacations or plan adventures anew. This book and the PBS television series of the same title (to air in spring 2002) take armchair travelers into these architectural wonders and explore the surrounding natural beauty of our national parks. Lodges, wildlife, and stunning vistas are showcased in 175 full-color and black-and-white photographs, along with historical documents from the PBS series. In his introduction, Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, offers a call to preserve this national heritage, and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book go toward the rehabilitation of these magnificent buildings.

Now in its fourth edition, the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America is the ultimate birder’s field guide. Sturdy, portable, and easy-to-use, it features the most complete information available on every bird species known to North America. This revised edition features 250 completely updated range maps, new plumage and species classification information, specially commissioned full-color illustrations, and a superb new index that allows birders in the field to quickly identify a species.

The National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Fourth Edition will continue to be a bestseller among the fastest-growing sector in the U.S. travel market—the nearly 25 million people who travel each year specifically to observe wild birds.

What makes a trip to a national park so wonderful? For starters, America's national park system is more diverse than any park system in the world. You can stroll the seashore at Olympic National Park in Washington or Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts, climb craggy mountains in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, or go underground into the world's largest cave system at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. You can marvel at the largest canyon on Earth (Grand Canyon National Park), hike among the planet's largest collection or rock arches (Arches National Park), explore the lowest and hottest place in the Western Hemisphere (Death Valley National Park), or wander a realm of forests and misty mountains (Great Smoky Mountains National Park).

And these are just a few of your park options.

America's National Parks For Dummies gives you guidance to decide which park is for you, when to go, and what to see when you reach your destination. This guide will help you plan the best trip imaginable, whether you are

• An inexperienced traveler looking for guidance in determining whether to take a trip to a national park and how to plan for it
• An experienced traveler who has yet to explore the national park system and wants expert advice when you finally get a chance to enjoy one
• Any traveler who doesn't like big, thick travel guides that list every single hotel, restaurant, or attraction, but instead looks for a book that focuses on the places that will provide the best or most unique park experience

America's National Parks For Dummies is user-friendly and organized in a logical fashion. Each park is broken down in a chapter that delves into the nitty-gritty of trip planning and highlights, including tips for

• Planning your trip by touching on the diversity of the park system, explaining some of your vacation options, and telling you when parks are the most (and least) crowded
• Ironing out the details by describing how you get to the parks and how to find your way around after you arrive
• Exploring America's national parks by giving you the lowdown on 15 of the best parks, detailing things like each park's wild kingdom, the best spots for memorable photographs, and a few safety issues

The pages of this book resemble a great long-distance hike – you never know what's around the next bend in the trail. So throw on a backpack, take a swig of water, and get ready to explore the national parks!

If a picture's worth 1,000 words, this book--with its hundreds of breathtaking photos of America's National Parks--is a well-stocked bookstore. Accompanied by the words of poet laureate Mark Strand, These Rare Lands is a perfect coffee-table book for anyone who has enjoyed the wonders of nature's wildest places. From a storm over Sequoia National Park in California to the otherworldly stalactites and stalagmites of New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns and an Atlantic sunset in Maine's Acadia, this is a book that draws you back again and again. Photographer Stan Jorstad's obvious love of nature comes through in the thoughtful approach he takes to his life's work, contained in the pages of These Rare Lands.

Educational Travel on a Shoestring shows parents how they can help their children learn–and have a blast–while traveling. From researching destinations to sharing activities that both teach and entertain, this priceless guide offers practical information for parents who want to have more fun with their kids, build closer family ties, and enjoy richer educational experiences–all without spending a fortune.