Homeschool Days
On a weekday when many classrooms are quiet, Mote Science Education Aquarium will be alive with questions: What lives beneath Sarasota Bay?
By Edit Sarasota Staff
On a weekday when many classrooms are quiet, Mote Science Education Aquarium will be alive with questions: What lives beneath Sarasota Bay? How do scientists study the sea? And what can a young observer discover by looking closely, touching carefully, and testing an idea for themselves?
Homeschool Days invites students ages 6 to 14 into the working world of marine science through hands-on learning experiences rooted in Mote’s research. Rather than treating science as a subject confined to a page, the program offers children a chance to approach it as a practice—one built on curiosity, evidence, collaboration, and a willingness to be surprised.
That approach feels especially meaningful in Sarasota, where the Gulf is not distant scenery but a daily presence. Our waters support wildlife, recreation, tourism, and a complex coastal economy, while also reflecting the pressures of storms, warming temperatures, pollution, and habitat loss. Helping children understand those connections is one of the most useful forms of community education: the next generation of scientists, advocates, boaters, voters, and neighbors will inherit the responsibility of caring for this place.
Mote SEA provides an apt setting for that work. The University Town Center facility extends Mote’s long-standing commitment to marine research and public education into an environment designed to make discovery accessible and engaging. Here, the aquarium is not simply a place to look at sea life. It is a gateway to the questions that drive research, and to the idea that meaningful scientific learning can begin with something as simple as noticing what is in front of you.
The monthly classes are structured to meet young learners where they are, including sessions designed for children ages 6 to 9, while the broader Homeschool Days program welcomes students through age 14. Families can expect an experience that values active participation and makes room for different levels of knowledge, attention, and wonder. For homeschool students, it also offers the social pleasure of learning alongside other curious children—an important part of building community beyond the traditional school day.
Homeschool Days takes place Wednesday, November 11, 2026, at Mote Science Education Aquarium, 225 University Town Center Drive. For Sarasota families looking to connect their children with the living science of the Gulf, it is a timely invitation to learn not just about the marine world, but how to ask better questions of it.