Homeschool Days
On a weekday when many classrooms are taking shape around kitchen tables, library corners, and backyard experiments, Sarasota’s homeschool community can head somewhere built for curiosity: the Mote Sc
By Edit Sarasota Staff
On a weekday when many classrooms are taking shape around kitchen tables, library corners, and backyard experiments, Sarasota’s homeschool community can head somewhere built for curiosity: the Mote Science Education Aquarium. Homeschool Days invites students to step beyond the textbook and into the living world of marine science, where questions about the ocean are best explored with hands, eyes, and an appetite for discovery.
Designed for homeschool students ages 6 to 14, the program offers an approachable way to engage with the research and conservation work that has long made Mote a vital part of Sarasota’s cultural and scientific life. Through hands-on learning experiences, participants can investigate the forces shaping Florida’s coastal environment and gain a closer understanding of the animals, habitats, and scientific questions that define the region.
That local connection matters. Sarasota is a community whose identity is inseparable from the water, from the bays and beaches that frame daily life to the working scientists studying the health of the Gulf. Mote has helped translate that complicated work for the public for decades, pairing rigorous research with an unusually welcoming spirit of education. At Mote SEA, families encounter marine science not as a distant academic subject, but as something unfolding just beyond the shoreline—and something in which the next generation can take part.
The October session is part of a monthly series built to make learning active and social. While the broader program serves children through age 14, the schedule includes classes tailored for 6- to 9-year-olds, offering younger students an age-conscious entry into the wonders of marine biology and ocean research. For homeschooling families, the format provides both enrichment and community: a chance to learn alongside peers while meeting educators who can turn a question into an investigation.
Homeschool Days takes place Thursday, October 29, 2026, at the Mote Science Education Aquarium, 225 University Town Center Dr. Families looking to connect classroom learning with the waters that surround Sarasota will find an inviting setting—and a day shaped by the simple, lasting pleasure of asking how the natural world works.