I’m going to be completely honest with you. I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to survive 3 days as a chaperone to my daughters 5th grade class. BUT I can wholeheartedly tell you that it was the experience of a lifetime for not only these awesome kids but for me too. 

Sound to Sea is an educational program located on Pine Knoll Shores, NC. Their amazing property is snuggled literally in-between the sound and sea. Everything you could possibly need is on campus, including 3 meals, lodging and all the classes. The instructors were young, energetic and oh my goodness….they were incredibly patient. I watched them kindly redirect the kids to keep them on task (all the while never raising their voices), find the positive even in wrong answers and constantly giving the kids opportunities to learn while playing. They were AMAZING. 

It wasn’t all fun and games (even though it felt like it was), there was serious learning going on. Being able to witness first hand how these 10 and 11 year olds were retaining the information they were learning was amazing. There is something to be said for hands on learning. It truly makes a difference. They played memory games, were presented challenges that encouraged teamwork and got to muck around in the mud. Fishing, wading in the sound and crawling around in the sand like sea turtles… were just a few of the fun activities. Oh…and dissecting a squid was quite smelly but super cool! 

Even the meals were centered around learning. They encouraged you to only fill your plate with what you knew you could eat. The very first meal, I believe we (the two schools together) had 17 quarts of left over food. Compare that to our last meal there, we had less than 3 quarts and most of that was compostable. The food was incredibly good too (and not just because we were starving from all the days activities) 🙂 !

Special thanks to the AMAZING teachers who set this up, the bus drivers and the amazing staff 🙂 If you are a teacher or a parent, I strongly encourage you to set up your school for a Sound to Sea field trip. It was worth.every.single.penny.

Here are some of my favorite moments captured over the 3 days…..Enjoy!