Homeschool Discounts in Wisconsin (2026) — Milwaukee, Green Bay & Old World Wisconsin

Wisconsin treats homeschool families unusually well. The state's marquee living-history site, Old World Wisconsin, opens its entire 600-acre village exclusively to homeschoolers on dedicated Homeschool Days, and both of Milwaukee's big-ticket museums — the Milwaukee Public Museum and Discovery World — extend their school field-trip rates to homeschool groups with a simple PI-1206 form. That knocks $25 adult-gate pricing down to $9–10 a student.

The bargains run statewide: Kenosha's three public museums run $5 Homeschool Explorer Days most of the school year, Bookworm Gardens in Sheboygan opens on closed-to-the-public Mondays just for homeschool families, Green Bay stacks four discounted venues within fifteen minutes of each other, and in Madison three dollars buys a guided dinosaur-and-minerals tour at the UW Geology Museum. Most programs ask for advance registration, so book before you drive.

Confirmed homeschool pricing

Published price on the venue's own homeschool page — most under $20 per child.

When

Homeschool Days

Select dates — see field-trip page

$14

per kid · adult $16

Old World Wisconsin

Eagle · 5–18 focus, all welcome · Advance registration; events have sold out

Sixty restored historic buildings across 600 acres of the Kettle Moraine forest make this the country's largest outdoor museum of rural life — and on Homeschool Days the whole site belongs to homeschool families. Period-clothed facilitators connect 19th-century immigrant farm life to the present.

Regular admission: $24 adult / $16 ages 5–12 — Kids save ~40% on a regular ticket

Homeschool page at wisconsinhistory.org →

Year-round

Field-trip rate

Weekdays except Tue & free Thursdays; 10-student min

$10

per kid

Milwaukee Public Museum

Milwaukee · Book + pay 2 weeks ahead

Wisconsin's largest museum — the walk-through Streets of Old Milwaukee, a live butterfly vivarium, and a planetarium show — at less than half the gate price for homeschool groups. This is the farewell year for the original Wells Street building before the 2027 move, which makes the field-trip rate sweeter.

Regular admission: $25 adult / $19 ages 4–13 — $10/student vs $19–25 gate

Homeschool page at mpm.edu →

Year-round

School-group rate

Weekdays, advance reservation

per kid

Discovery World

Milwaukee · Advance reservation + payment required

Milwaukee's lakefront science and technology center pairs the Reiman Aquarium with two floors of engineering playground — flight simulators, a giant Lake Michigan freshwater exhibit, and educator-led lab programs covering everything from circuits to chemistry.

Homeschool page at discoveryworld.org →

Recurring

Tue–Fri

September through June

per kid

Kenosha Public Museums — Homeschool Explorer Days

Kenosha · Program capacities vary

Kenosha's museum campus is already one of Wisconsin's best free clusters — mammoths and fine art, the nation's largest meat-eating dinosaur collection, and an ambitious Civil War museum. Explorer Days add a museum educator and gallery deep-dives for the price of a coffee.

Regular admission: Two of the three museums are free anyway — Educator-led access to the $15 Civil War galleries

Homeschool page at museums.kenosha.org →

When

2x per year

Next: Things With Wings — Sept 14, 2026

$10

per kid

Bookworm Gardens

Sheboygan · 2–18 with adults · Pre-registration required

Every garden bed here grows out of a children's book — the Three Little Pigs' houses, Charlotte's Web's barn, a Magic School Bus — and twice a year the whole place runs a private, slower-paced day just for homeschool learners and their grown-ups.

Regular admission: $13 adult / $11 ages 3–17

Homeschool page at bookwormgardens.org →

Year-round

Youth tours

Train rides May–Oct included

per kid · adult $12

National Railroad Museum

Green Bay · Reserve 2+ weeks ahead

One of America's premier railroad museums — Eisenhower's WWII command train, a 600-ton Big Boy locomotive, and rolling stock you can walk through. The youth tour folds railroad history, science, and math into hands-on stations before everyone boards the real train.

Regular admission: $15 adult / $7.50 youth + $6 train ride — Guided program + train ride for less than gate + ride

Homeschool page at nationalrrmuseum.org →

Year-round

Guided tours

Advance registration

per kid · adult $6

Neville Public Museum

Green Bay

Brown County's history-science-art museum on the Fox River runs from Ice Age Wisconsin to Packers history, and its glass curtain wall stares straight down the river mouth. The first bronze plaque of the Packers Heritage Trail stands at the front door — walk it free afterward.

Regular admission: $12 adult / $6 ages 3–15 — Adults tour at the kids' price

Homeschool page at nevillepublicmuseum.org →

Recurring

Field trips

Book 4+ weeks ahead

per kid

Green Bay Botanical Garden

Green Bay · Arrange 4 weeks in advance

Forty-seven acres of display gardens — a treehouse-anchored children's garden, formal rose gardens, and restored prairie — with a two-hour guided learning walk led by Garden educators. Programs run spring through fall and adapt to any age band.

Regular admission: $17 adult / $7 child — Adults enter at ~70% off as chaperones

Homeschool page at gbbg.org →

When

Workshops

Dates vary — watch the calendar

$10

per kid · adult $10

Heritage Hill State Historical Park

Green Bay · 6+ · Advance registration required

A 56-acre living-history park of 27 original buildings telling northeastern Wisconsin's story from the 1700s fur trade through the 20th century. Workshop days put costumed educators and hands-on heritage skills in front of homeschool students at a flat rate.

Regular admission: $14 adult / $7 ages 6–12

Homeschool page at heritagehillgb.org →

Year-round

Guided tours

Email 2+ weeks ahead

per kid · adult $3

UW Geology Museum

Madison · Email tours@geology.wisc.edu 2 weeks ahead

A compact, beloved campus museum where kids stand under a 33-foot mosasaur and watch minerals glow in the dark. The guided tour turns it into a real geology lesson scaled to your group's ages — among the cheapest educator-led programs in the state.

Regular admission: Free (self-guided) — $3 buys the guided hour

Homeschool page at museum.geoscience.wisc.edu →

Recurring

Weekday AMs

10:00, 10:35 & 11:10 slots, as available

$60 group

per kid

Henry Vilas Zoo — Critter Connections

Madison · Book 2+ weeks ahead; April–Aug fills fast

One of America's last free admission zoos welcomes homeschool groups by name for Critter Connections — an up-close animal encounter program with age-appropriate content on classification, behavior, and conservation, followed by the zoo itself at no charge.

Regular admission: Zoo is free year-round — ~$2/person for a 30-person co-op

Homeschool page at henryvilaszoo.gov →

Year-round

Field trips year-round

Museum + USS Cobia; request 4 weeks ahead

per kid · adult free

Wisconsin Maritime Museum

Manitowoc · 4–18 · Trip request form, 4 weeks ahead

The Midwest's largest maritime museum, with a real WWII fleet submarine — the USS Cobia — that groups walk through bow to stern, plus immersive Great Lakes shipbuilding and shipwreck galleries. An easy pairing with a Bookworm Gardens day, twenty-five minutes down the lakeshore.

Homeschool page at wisconsinmaritime.org →

Worth calling about

These venues run homeschool programs but don't publish pricing online. Call before you go.

Recurring

Monthly, Sept–May

Themed sessions; register 24h ahead

Call

no public price

EAA Aviation Museum — Homeschool Half Days

Oshkosh · K–12, sessions grouped by age

Two hundred historic aircraft and serious hands-on engineering — the museum behind AirVenture runs one of Wisconsin's best-reviewed homeschool programs, with monthly builds and a flight year that literally ends in the air.

Regular admission: $15 adult / $12 ages 6–18

How to reach them: Monthly themed Homeschool Half Days — Intro to Flight, Space (build and launch a rocket), Coding, Piloting — wrap each May with free Young Eagles flights for ages 8–17. Session pricing posts with in-season registration; contact education@eaa.org or watch the page when fall registration opens.

Homeschool page at eaa.org →

Plus more free and cheap educational outings in Wisconsin

Already on DiscoverCheapUS — free and low-cost Wisconsin attractions homeschool families plan whole field-trip days around.

Milwaukee

9 free or cheap

Milwaukee Art MuseumPay-what-you-wish Thursdays 4–8pm / Free kids 12 & under / $27 adults
Milwaukee Public MuseumFree 1st Thursdays / $25 adults / $19 ages 4–13
Mitchell Park Domes$10 adults / $6.50 ages 3–12 / Free under 3
Basilica of St. JosaphatFree / $5 donation audio tour
America's Black Holocaust Museum$7 adults / $5 ages 3–17 / Free under 3
North Point Lighthouse$8 ages 12+ / $5 ages 5–11 / Free 4 & under
Pabst Mansion$19 adults / $12 ages 6–17 / Free 5 & under
Grohmann Museum$5
St. Joan of Arc ChapelFree

See all Milwaukee attractions →

Green Bay

6 free or cheap

Bay Beach Wildlife SanctuaryFree
National Railroad Museum$15 adults / $7.50 youth 2–12 / Train rides $6 extra (May–October)
Heritage Hill State Historical Park$14 adults / $7 youth 6–12 / Free under 5 / $6 winter rate
Neville Public Museum$12 adults / $6 ages 3–15 / Free 2 & under
NEW Zoo & Adventure Park$14.50 adults / $10 ages 3–15 / Free under 3
Green Bay Botanical Garden$17 adults / $7 children / Free 2 & under

See all Green Bay attractions →

Eau Claire

5 free or cheap

Chippewa Valley Museum$12 adults / $10 seniors / $5 youth 5–17 / Free under 5
Sculpture Tour Eau ClaireFree
Pablo Center at the ConfluenceFree building / shows priced separately
Wisconsin Logging Museum (Paul Bunyan Logging Camp)$12 adults / $5 youth / Free under 5
Children's Museum of Eau Claire$11 ages 1+ / Free under 1

See all Eau Claire attractions →

Madison

8 free or cheap

Wisconsin State CapitolFree
Olbrich Botanical GardensFree outdoor / $6 Bolz Conservatory / Free Wed & Sat 10am–noon
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA)Free
Henry Vilas ZooFree
Wisconsin Veterans MuseumFree
UW Geology MuseumFree
UW–Madison ArboretumFree
Monona TerraceFree rooftop / $5 tours ($3 ages 5–17)

See all Madison attractions →

Oshkosh

6 free or cheap

EAA Aviation Museum$15 adults / $12 ages 6–18 / Free 5 & under
Oshkosh Public Museum$8 adults / $4 ages 4–17 / Free 3 & under
Paine Art Center and GardensAdmission not posted online — call to confirm
Menominee Park ZooFree
Military Veterans Museum & Education CenterFree (donations welcome)
The Grand Oshkosh$10 tours / $5 each for groups of 10+

See all Oshkosh attractions →

Sheboygan

8 free or cheap

John Michael Kohler Arts CenterFree
Art PreserveFree
Bookworm Gardens$13 adults / $11 ages 3–17 / Free 2 & under
Above & Beyond Children's Museum$10 ages 1+ / Free under 1
Lottie Cooper ShipwreckFree
Maywood Environmental ParkFree
Sheboygan County Museum$10 adults / $5 ages 6–17 / Free 5 & under
Kohler-Andrae State Park$13/vehicle WI plates / $16 out-of-state

See all Sheboygan attractions →

Kenosha

6 free or cheap

Kenosha Public MuseumFree ($5 suggested donation)
Civil War Museum$15 adults / $8 ages 12–17 / Free 11 & under
Dinosaur Discovery MuseumFree ($5 suggested donation)
Electric Streetcars$1 / 50¢ ages 5–12 / Free 4 & under
Southport Light Station MuseumFree museum / $10 tower climb
Anderson Arts CenterFree

See all Kenosha attractions →

See all 79 Wisconsin attractions on the directory →