 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2026 Week of September 28, with a look ahead through mid October. Fifteen things worth your time, each with a link you can tap. Four of them are on a clock, so those come first. | | | ✓ | No link, no mention. Every price, date and address was checked against the venue's own page on Sunday, September 27. If it could not be verified, it is not here. |
| | |  | | | REGISTER BY OCT 1 PHOENIX Arizona State Fair free field trip days The best free thing on this list and the only one with a cutoff inside the week. Homeschool groups are named as eligible, and admission is free for registered students and their chaperones alike. The livestock barns and the agriculture exhibits are the actual learning here. The midway is the bribe. Register by Thursday Oct 1. Trip days are Oct 15, 16 and 22. Free for registered students and adult chaperones. Up to 30 students per registration, so file more than one for a bigger group. Check in between 11 a.m. and noon, and they mean it, no late check-ins even with a registration. Bring the printed confirmation. Phoenix. | | | REGISTER BY OCT 7 MESA Homeschool Happenings at Usery Mountain Three hours run by park rangers and flood control staff, and the only thing on this list built for homeschoolers specifically. Kids study the small creatures that live in freshwater ecosystems, then build a dam and find out what it holds back. Thirty spots and phone registration only, so this is a Monday morning call. Registration closes Wednesday Oct 7. The program is Friday Oct 9, 9 a.m. to noon. No cost beyond the $10 per vehicle park entry. Mesa. Call the Nature Center at 602-506-2930 ext. 4 with your name, phone number and how many are coming. Limit 30. | | | REGISTER BY OCT 14 CAVE CREEK Creatures of the Night hike at Spur Cross A ranger leads a mile of the Dragonfly Trail after dark with a blacklight, looking for scorpions, tarantulas, snakes, owls and nightjars. The ground is rocky and uneven the whole way, which is worth knowing before you bring a younger sibling. Twenty spots. Registration closes Wednesday Oct 14. The hike is Friday Oct 16, 6 to 8 p.m. $5 per person to enter Spur Cross, cash or annual pass only. Cave Creek. Register by phone at 602-506-2930 ext. 8. Limit 20. | | | NEEDS 25 PEOPLE GLENDALE Tolmachoff Farms October field trip The October farm trip worth organizing rather than attending. Every guest walks a garden tour, harvests produce into a bag they take home, sits in the classroom in the corn, and leaves with a pumpkin. The catch is the minimum, and the minimum is not small. October is $15 a person. It drops to $12 in November. Monday through Friday only, 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. $15 per person in October, every age including adults. Minimum 25 people or you pay for 25, which is $375. Pre-K through 8th grade. Glendale. Call 602-377-4747 or email farmfieldtrips@yahoo.com. | | |  | | Dated items only. County park programs cost nothing once you are inside, but the gate is $10 a vehicle and it says so below. | | | OCT 6, 12 AND 17 · TWO COUNTY PARKS $10 A CARLOAD Three ranger drop-ins, no phone call needed The easiest wins of the month, because not one of them takes registration. Show up, stay as long as it holds them, leave. The Hohokam session at Estrella is the strongest of the three and lines up with Arizona history, and the White Tank snake talk usually ends with kids touching a live snake. WHEN Tue Oct 6, Discovery Station, White Tank, 10 a.m. to noon
Mon Oct 12, Remembering the Hohokam, Estrella Mountain, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Sat Oct 17, All About Sssnakesss, White Tank, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. COST Programs are free. Park entry is $10 per vehicle, or $120 a year for a pass good at every county park. WHERE White Tank Mountain Regional Park, 20304 W White Tank Mountain Rd, Waddell
Estrella Mountain Regional Park, 14805 W Vineyard Ave, Goodyear SIGNING UP None for any of the three. All are drop-in at the park Nature Center. AGES The snake talk is suited to most ages. The Discovery Station puts out coloring pages so it skews young, but the skins, pelts and tarantulas still hold an older kid for an hour. | | | SAT OCT 10 AND SAT OCT 17 · SCOTTSDALE FREE McDowell Sonoran Conservancy guided walks Two hours, free, led by trained stewards who teach rather than narrate. Predators and Prey covers how coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions and raptors hunt and how deer and rodents stay alive. The following Saturday is a geology and ecology overview of the whole preserve. Both are rated easy walks. WHEN Predators and Prey: Saturday Oct 10, 8 to 10 a.m.
Sonoran Desert Discovery: Saturday Oct 17, 8 to 10 a.m. WHERE Oct 10: Lost Dog Wash Trailhead, 12601 N 124th St, Scottsdale
Oct 17: Gateway Trailhead, 18333 N Thompson Peak Pkwy, Scottsdale SIGNING UP RSVP required and space is limited. Arrive 15 minutes early. WHAT TO BRING Water and a snack. Restrooms and water are at the trailhead. No dogs on either walk. | | | FRI OCT 9 · GILBERT FREE Star party at the Gilbert Rotary Centennial Observatory The second Friday of every month the East Valley Astronomy Club wheels extra telescopes out next to the observatory's own, and there is an astronomy talk in the library at 7:30. Any other Friday or Saturday you can still walk up and look through the main scope for nothing. WHEN Star party Friday Oct 9, sunset to 9:30 p.m., talk at 7:30 p.m. in the adjoining library
Regular viewing every Friday and Saturday, sunset to 9:30 p.m., weather permitting COST Free. Suggested donation is $5 a family or $3 an adult. WHERE 2757 E Guadalupe Rd, Gilbert, in the Riparian Preserve next to the library at Greenfield and Guadalupe SIGNING UP None for public nights. Private viewing is by reservation Sunday through Thursday, maximum 6 people, $40 donation. ALSO WORTH KNOWING Organized youth groups working on astronomy awards may qualify for a fee waiver on a private night. Worth an email if your co-op has a badge to earn. | | | SAT OCT 17 · GLENDALE FREE Halloween ComicFest Free comics to pick from, local comic artists to talk to, games, crafts and cosplay characters, run by the Velma Teague Library at the Civic Center. It is not a lesson and it does not pretend to be, but it is three hours out of the house that costs nothing and lands squarely in the age range. WHEN Saturday Oct 17
5 to 8 p.m. COST Free. Parking is free too, in the downtown garage at 5835 W Palmaire Ave. WHERE Velma Teague Library at the Civic Center Annex, 5752 W Glenn Dr, Glendale AGES Listed for families, children 6 to 8, tweens 9 to 11 and teens 12 to 18. SIGNING UP Not required. Costumes are encouraged. | | |  | | No date attached. These rotate week to week so you are not reading the same three forever. | | | BIGGEST MONEY SAVER EVERY WEDNESDAY · PHOENIX PAY WHAT YOU WISH Phoenix Art Museum, Wednesday afternoons General admission is pay what you wish every Wednesday from 3 to 8, which is $72 back in your pocket for a family of four, every single week. First Friday is the better version if you can do an evening, because that one adds docent led tours and in-gallery sketching, and a tour is what keeps this age from doing a silent lap of the galleries. WHEN Pay what you wish: every Wednesday, 3 to 8 p.m.
First Friday: 5 to 8 p.m., next one is Friday Oct 2 COST Free or whatever you choose. Regular admission is $23 an adult and $13 for youth 6 to 17, so a family of four normally pays $72. Children 5 and under are always free. WHERE 1625 N Central Ave, Phoenix SIGNING UP Not required, but reserving online lets you skip the line, and 3 p.m. Wednesday is a popular hour. ALSO WORTH KNOWING Special exhibitions still need a separate ticket. General admission is the free part, so check what is included before you count on it. | | | ANY WEEKDAY · PHOENIX FREE Arizona Capitol Museum Four floors of an actual state capitol, always free, and walk-in tours resumed this month so you no longer need to book ahead. The America 250 exhibit on the second floor runs through December and includes a brick from Independence Hall, which is a better hook for a US history unit than anything in a textbook. WHEN Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., September through May
Walk-in tours Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 2 p.m. COST Free, always. No ticket. WHERE 1700 W Washington St, Phoenix SIGNING UP None for walk-in tours. Groups of 10 or more can pre-schedule instead. ALSO WORTH KNOWING The first floor Triumph in Tragedy exhibit covers local Holocaust survivors. It is well done and it is heavy, so look at it yourself before you decide whether to walk your kids through it. | | | ANY DAY · SOUTH PHOENIX FREE Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center A free Audubon center with indoor interactive exhibits and trails through restored habitat on the Salt River, five minutes from downtown. The building keeps short hours, so plan the morning around them rather than the other way round. The trails are open dawn to dusk every day regardless. WHEN Center: Tuesday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon
Trails: every day, 7 a.m. to sunset COST Free admission all year. Donations accepted, not expected. WHERE 3131 S Central Ave, Phoenix SIGNING UP None to visit. Guided bird walks and field trips are run separately, so ask at the desk about dates. WHAT TO BRING Binoculars and water. Shade is thin on the trails once the sun is up. | | |  | | Factory floors, a working maintenance hangar, and the cheapest per student rate of the month. | | | BEST STANDING DEAL MON TO FRI, ALL YEAR · GLENDALE $28 FOR FOUR Cerreta Candy Company factory tour Seven dollars a head to walk a working candy factory past machinery that has been running since 1913, with samples at the end. No reservation, no group minimum, five start times a day. If you add one thing, add the taffy pull at $11.50, because that is the kid actually making something instead of watching. WHEN Monday through Friday at 10, 11, 12, 1 and 2. No weekend tours. Arrive at least 10 minutes early. COST $7 per person for the tasting tour. Family of four: $28. Hands-on upgrades run $11.50 for the taffy pull, $13 to decorate a chocolate teddy bear, $16 for a chocolate bar, chocolate football or candy pizza. WHERE 5345 W Glendale Ave, Glendale SIGNING UP No minimum group size or reservation listed for the standard tour. Call 623-930-9000 if you want the hands-on upgrades held for a group. ALSO WORTH KNOWING It is a food production floor, so the tour is a walking one and it moves. Budget about an hour with an activity. | | | WED TO SAT · MESA $60 FOR FOUR Airbase Arizona Flying Museum The rare museum where the exhibits are being worked on while you stand there. You walk through the maintenance hangar and watch mechanics keep airworthy WWII aircraft flying, then climb aboard the bombers and cargo planes yourself. The docents are often the mechanics, which is the whole reason to go. WHEN Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. COST $20 adults 18 and over, $10 kids 5 to 17, under 5 free. Family of four: $60. Veterans and seniors 65 and over are $15. WHERE 2017 N Greenfield Rd, Mesa, at Falcon Field SIGNING UP No reservation or group minimum listed for general admission. ALSO WORTH KNOWING Cockpit tours are $15 more per person. Skip them unless one kid is genuinely obsessed. The hangar floor is the real draw and it is included. | | | TUE TO FRI, OCTOBER TO APRIL · PHOENIX $4 A STUDENT Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve field trips Field trip season opens this month and homeschool groups are named on the page, not tolerated in the margins. Half a mile of gravel trail past more than 1,500 petroglyphs, plus an archaeology museum and a scavenger hunt booklet that gives this age something to do besides read labels. Four dollars a student is the cheapest rate in this issue. WHEN Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon, October through April.
Or visit on your own Wednesday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., last entry 1:30. COST Group rate is $4 a student and $9 an adult, children 6 and under free. Walking in on your own is $14 an adult and $5 for children 7 to 12, so $38 for a family of four. WHERE 3711 W Deer Valley Rd, Phoenix SIGNING UP Group pricing needs a minimum of 10 people paying in one transaction. Book no later than two weeks ahead, and up to a year out. AGES Self-guided trips take mixed ages, which is why this one suits a co-op with a spread of grades. | | | ESA FAMILIES Quarter 1 closes September 30, and your Q1 debit card receipts are due on or before October 31. If you spent nothing this quarter you still have to log in and attest to that, which is the step that quietly costs people their account. State rule also lets you ask in writing for up to a 30 day extension if something genuinely got in the way. Quarter 2 runs October 1 through December 31. | | | Ten people is the usual number, and this week one of them wants twenty five Deer Valley needs 10 paying in a single transaction. Tolmachoff needs 25 or the price of 25. OdySea needs 10 and does not comp homeschool chaperones the way it does for schools. Wildlife World will go down to $8 a child, but only for a group that can produce articles of incorporation and a 501(c)(3) letter, which most Valley co-ops cannot. Joining one group fixes most of this at once. |  |
| | |  | | | 1 | Register for the State Fair field trip before Thursday. Free for students and chaperones, homeschool groups explicitly welcome, and the deadline is Oct 1. Trip days are Oct 15, 16 and 22, and check-in is 11 to noon with no exceptions. |
| | | 2 | Call Usery Mountain on Monday. Homeschool Happenings on Oct 9 takes 30 people and registration closes Oct 7. Phone only, 602-506-2930 ext. 4. It is the one program this month written for homeschoolers. |
| | | 3 | Upload your Q1 ESA receipts before Oct 31. Spending nothing this quarter still means logging in and attesting to that. It is the deadline that quietly costs families their account. |
| | | Know a family who would use this? It is free, and it is meant to be passed around. Forward this email, drop the link in your homeschool Facebook group or co-op chat, or text it to a few families. THE LINK COPY AND PASTE THIS Free Friday email for Phoenix-area parents, homeschool or not: free days, field trips and things to do with your kids around the Valley, every one checked that morning. carpoolingwithjesus.com/homeschool |
| | | FROM THE SAME FAMILY Five minutes, on the drive to co-op. Carpooling with Jesus is a free kids Bible podcast built for the drive you are already making. No ads aimed at kids, ever.  Carpooling with Jesus EVERY SCHOOL MORNING One verse and one real kid situation, in five minutes. |  Goodnight Psalms BEDTIME One Psalm a night to wind kids down. |  Heroes of the Bible FIVE-PART SERIES One Bible character at a time. |
On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you already listen. | | | This list is free because Carpooling with Jesus Ministries, a 501(c)(3), keeps it that way. Support it. |
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