Re: something cool....
[email protected]
** But it's not the museum that does it, if the mom can go to a museum for
fun,
or go to a zoo without preaching and teaching, just go there to have fun and
look at the best stuff and ignore the rest.**
Well yeah, that was part of the point. But that still only works if the
kid(s) haven't had museums made painful and boring for them by school field trips
with insipid pointless worksheets, being herded away just as they found
something interesting, and droning guides who always seemed to concentrate on the
most inane details. If mom has also tried in the past to turn museum visits into
an "educational experience", the kid may simply not be able to relax enough to
give it a try, and it isn't likely at all to sound to him like something more
interesting and cooler than watching tv. Not at first. Not until mom's built
up some credit with him for suggesting cool stuff that actually turned out to
BE cool.
I'm certainly not putting down museums. Museums in general are some of my
family's favorite places on earth. One of my kids' first questions about any
place they learn we're going to visit is "Are there any cool museums there?" But
I'm well aware that for a lot of families the idea that their kids might find a
museum visit to be "cool" sounds like utter fantasy - I'm saying, okay, save
that till you can all go with fresh eyes. Build up trust with your kids. Maybe
make your first museum visit as an unschooler to someplace none of you have
ever been to before. Watch for visiting exhibits on something your kids are
really interested in, or on something you haven't ever thought of as
"educational". TV, maybe - :)
And if your kids haven't been to school and you haven't done the "educational
trip" thingie on them - don't ever start. Go to museums and have fun
together. Skip the worksheets from the educational department (but check out the loan
boxes sometime and maybe poke through the library if you get a chance). Pick
things to look at because they interest you or a kid, not because you think
it's something they ought to know. Move on when someone gets bored. Spend the
whole visit in one spot if that's what the kid wants to do.
**Family memberships are WONDERFUL because if you want to go and just do one
single thing, you didn't "waste money." We've gone to the state science
museum
just to use the microscopes, and we've gone to the zoo just to feed the ducks
and fish or just to look at the monkeys.**
Also, memberships at museums with ASTC membership give you "visiting
priveleges" at many other member museums, which makes it easy and painless to decide
to drop into a new museum for just a quick visit while travelling. For
instance, this summer we stopped into the Louisville (KY) Science Center for about an
hour while we were driving by on our way from Cincinnatti OH to Olney IL,
because my son had seen a billboard advertising a temporary exhibit that
interested him. It was easy to do without worrying that it might not be worth it.
I try to always keep up a membership with the excellent smaller natural
history museum two counties west of us (http://www.burpee.org/) - we then get
regular notices of the goings on there (including a very cool annual dinosaur fest
where the kids get to meet working paleontologists) and feel the satisfaction
of helping a smaller institution, plus we can use the reciprocal membership
benefits at museums in Chicago and Milwaukee (we're pretty much half way in
between).
Currently Patrick is irritated with me because we haven't been able to fit a
visit to the Health World museum into our schedule this month, and he's aching
to visit the Grossology exhibit. I messed up. Monday.
Deborah in IL
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
fun,
or go to a zoo without preaching and teaching, just go there to have fun and
look at the best stuff and ignore the rest.**
Well yeah, that was part of the point. But that still only works if the
kid(s) haven't had museums made painful and boring for them by school field trips
with insipid pointless worksheets, being herded away just as they found
something interesting, and droning guides who always seemed to concentrate on the
most inane details. If mom has also tried in the past to turn museum visits into
an "educational experience", the kid may simply not be able to relax enough to
give it a try, and it isn't likely at all to sound to him like something more
interesting and cooler than watching tv. Not at first. Not until mom's built
up some credit with him for suggesting cool stuff that actually turned out to
BE cool.
I'm certainly not putting down museums. Museums in general are some of my
family's favorite places on earth. One of my kids' first questions about any
place they learn we're going to visit is "Are there any cool museums there?" But
I'm well aware that for a lot of families the idea that their kids might find a
museum visit to be "cool" sounds like utter fantasy - I'm saying, okay, save
that till you can all go with fresh eyes. Build up trust with your kids. Maybe
make your first museum visit as an unschooler to someplace none of you have
ever been to before. Watch for visiting exhibits on something your kids are
really interested in, or on something you haven't ever thought of as
"educational". TV, maybe - :)
And if your kids haven't been to school and you haven't done the "educational
trip" thingie on them - don't ever start. Go to museums and have fun
together. Skip the worksheets from the educational department (but check out the loan
boxes sometime and maybe poke through the library if you get a chance). Pick
things to look at because they interest you or a kid, not because you think
it's something they ought to know. Move on when someone gets bored. Spend the
whole visit in one spot if that's what the kid wants to do.
**Family memberships are WONDERFUL because if you want to go and just do one
single thing, you didn't "waste money." We've gone to the state science
museum
just to use the microscopes, and we've gone to the zoo just to feed the ducks
and fish or just to look at the monkeys.**
Also, memberships at museums with ASTC membership give you "visiting
priveleges" at many other member museums, which makes it easy and painless to decide
to drop into a new museum for just a quick visit while travelling. For
instance, this summer we stopped into the Louisville (KY) Science Center for about an
hour while we were driving by on our way from Cincinnatti OH to Olney IL,
because my son had seen a billboard advertising a temporary exhibit that
interested him. It was easy to do without worrying that it might not be worth it.
I try to always keep up a membership with the excellent smaller natural
history museum two counties west of us (http://www.burpee.org/) - we then get
regular notices of the goings on there (including a very cool annual dinosaur fest
where the kids get to meet working paleontologists) and feel the satisfaction
of helping a smaller institution, plus we can use the reciprocal membership
benefits at museums in Chicago and Milwaukee (we're pretty much half way in
between).
Currently Patrick is irritated with me because we haven't been able to fit a
visit to the Health World museum into our schedule this month, and he's aching
to visit the Grossology exhibit. I messed up. Monday.
Deborah in IL
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
liza sabater
On Wednesday, December 31, 2003, at 01:56 AM, DACunefare@... wrote:
go to the museum and, "do nothing". Literally. To take a newspaper and
sit and read it head to toe while the kids "do nothing". This could be
a very liberating experience. I HAD TO DO IT (those hads, heh heh)
because my kids looooooove the AMNH (Museum of Natural History) with
their dinosaurs and all but I kept getting in their way. So we got an
annual membership and now I have no reason to get in the way --we can
always go back for more. So we sometimes go there to have lunch and
hang out. Or they want to go to a particular exhibit, like the Whale
Room, and play I Spy Nemo. Or we go to the Discovery Room where they
get to play with microscopes and what not. I always bring something to
read. I stay close in case they need me or I'll wander with them 10
steps behind, but the freedom of exploring, that I can see, is what
they value the most. I just have to remind myself that my job is to
ensure they have that freedom, not to show them how much I know.
l i z a
=========================
www.culturekitchen.com
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> If mom has also tried in the past to turn museum visits intoWouldn't it be then a good experiment for the mom and the kids to just
> an "educational experience", the kid may simply not be able to relax
> enough to
> give it a try, and it isn't likely at all to sound to him like
> something more
> interesting and cooler than watching tv.
go to the museum and, "do nothing". Literally. To take a newspaper and
sit and read it head to toe while the kids "do nothing". This could be
a very liberating experience. I HAD TO DO IT (those hads, heh heh)
because my kids looooooove the AMNH (Museum of Natural History) with
their dinosaurs and all but I kept getting in their way. So we got an
annual membership and now I have no reason to get in the way --we can
always go back for more. So we sometimes go there to have lunch and
hang out. Or they want to go to a particular exhibit, like the Whale
Room, and play I Spy Nemo. Or we go to the Discovery Room where they
get to play with microscopes and what not. I always bring something to
read. I stay close in case they need me or I'll wander with them 10
steps behind, but the freedom of exploring, that I can see, is what
they value the most. I just have to remind myself that my job is to
ensure they have that freedom, not to show them how much I know.
l i z a
=========================
www.culturekitchen.com
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 12/30/03 11:58:22 PM, DACunefare@... writes:
<< Go to museums and have fun
together. Skip the worksheets from the educational department (but check out
the loan
boxes sometime and maybe poke through the library if you get a chance). >>
There are sometimes worksheets out in at the door, with the exhibit flyer and
my kids look and laugh, because the questions are inane. They're not
designed to do anything but prove that the kids scanned the whole room, and they DO
scan. They end up ignoring important and interesting things just to find
their answers. Just like answering the questions at the end of a chapter, only
worse. One question for the cool Canadian sports exhibit was "Which exhibit
had a green ball?"
The greeness of that ball had NOTHING to do with the game, with physics,
history, materials, folklore, it had nothing to do with anything useful. It was
trivia of the most useless sort.
But the things the kids came up with on their own were profound and personal,
at their precise "learning level," because the things they learn are the
things they didn't know but that do tie in to something they were already
interested in or curious about.
(Ooops. Preachin' to the choir. You all knew that.)
Sandra
<< Go to museums and have fun
together. Skip the worksheets from the educational department (but check out
the loan
boxes sometime and maybe poke through the library if you get a chance). >>
There are sometimes worksheets out in at the door, with the exhibit flyer and
my kids look and laugh, because the questions are inane. They're not
designed to do anything but prove that the kids scanned the whole room, and they DO
scan. They end up ignoring important and interesting things just to find
their answers. Just like answering the questions at the end of a chapter, only
worse. One question for the cool Canadian sports exhibit was "Which exhibit
had a green ball?"
The greeness of that ball had NOTHING to do with the game, with physics,
history, materials, folklore, it had nothing to do with anything useful. It was
trivia of the most useless sort.
But the things the kids came up with on their own were profound and personal,
at their precise "learning level," because the things they learn are the
things they didn't know but that do tie in to something they were already
interested in or curious about.
(Ooops. Preachin' to the choir. You all knew that.)
Sandra
[email protected]
In a message dated 12/31/03 11:22:34 AM, listdiva@... writes:
<< Wouldn't it be then a good experiment for the mom and the kids to just
go to the museum and, "do nothing". Literally. To take a newspaper and
sit and read it head to toe while the kids "do nothing". >>
Going there and reading a newspaper seems to me to treat the museum like a
thing for kids and not for adults. I like museums. I like to read the fine
print, so I find myself choosing the few placards I'm going to get to read while
the kids move faster than I do, and then I go along at their pace.
Sandra
<< Wouldn't it be then a good experiment for the mom and the kids to just
go to the museum and, "do nothing". Literally. To take a newspaper and
sit and read it head to toe while the kids "do nothing". >>
Going there and reading a newspaper seems to me to treat the museum like a
thing for kids and not for adults. I like museums. I like to read the fine
print, so I find myself choosing the few placards I'm going to get to read while
the kids move faster than I do, and then I go along at their pace.
Sandra
liza sabater
On Wednesday, December 31, 2003, at 03:11 PM, SandraDodd@... wrote:
for a few times, i found myself getting "itchy" and bored. I'd look at
the exhibits as well. then the guys started dragging me to their points
of interest and asking me to read stuff. At first I'd read the whole
thing and they'd lose interest. so I started asking, what do you want
me to read, what's it you want to know? they'd tell: what does X eat?
where does it live? and I'd look in the plaques for the information and
read it to them. then off they'd go to find something else. at this
point, they just wander about, playing tag or pretending to be part of
the exhibits (ie:, TRexes on the lose) and I just gobble up the stuff
or read the supplemental materials they have (AMNH has pretty
interesting stuff for free).
unschooling is not just an experience my kids go through. this is a
life long experience for my husband and I as well. we've been going to
the dinosaur exhibits way before having kidlets. mark and I went there
in one of our first dates. we grew up with National Geographic, Mutual
of Omaha Wild Kingdom and NOVA. that's why we love the Eyewitness Video
series and books. they just call to the science kids in us. but just as
we chose to see those shows as kids, we have to remind ourselves that
our kids should have the same opportunity. i'm still deschooling, so I
know that going into teacher mode is still an issue with me. "doing
nothing" is actually doing a lot for me. that's why I put it in
quotations.
/ l i z a, nyc
============================
http://culturekitchen.com
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> In a message dated 12/31/03 11:22:34 AM, listdiva@...i did not mean to imply that. I love the museum as well. when I did it
> writes:
>
> << Wouldn't it be then a good experiment for the mom and the kids to
> just
> go to the museum and, "do nothing". Literally. To take a newspaper and
> sit and read it head to toe while the kids "do nothing". >>
>
> Going there and reading a newspaper seems to me to treat the museum
> like a
> thing for kids and not for adults. I like museums. I like to read
> the fine
> print, so I find myself choosing the few placards I'm going to get to
> read while
> the kids move faster than I do, and then I go along at their pace.
for a few times, i found myself getting "itchy" and bored. I'd look at
the exhibits as well. then the guys started dragging me to their points
of interest and asking me to read stuff. At first I'd read the whole
thing and they'd lose interest. so I started asking, what do you want
me to read, what's it you want to know? they'd tell: what does X eat?
where does it live? and I'd look in the plaques for the information and
read it to them. then off they'd go to find something else. at this
point, they just wander about, playing tag or pretending to be part of
the exhibits (ie:, TRexes on the lose) and I just gobble up the stuff
or read the supplemental materials they have (AMNH has pretty
interesting stuff for free).
unschooling is not just an experience my kids go through. this is a
life long experience for my husband and I as well. we've been going to
the dinosaur exhibits way before having kidlets. mark and I went there
in one of our first dates. we grew up with National Geographic, Mutual
of Omaha Wild Kingdom and NOVA. that's why we love the Eyewitness Video
series and books. they just call to the science kids in us. but just as
we chose to see those shows as kids, we have to remind ourselves that
our kids should have the same opportunity. i'm still deschooling, so I
know that going into teacher mode is still an issue with me. "doing
nothing" is actually doing a lot for me. that's why I put it in
quotations.
/ l i z a, nyc
============================
http://culturekitchen.com
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Krisula Moyer
I read that the LA County Museum of Art (LACMA) rents works of art for about
$25 -$35 for a month and part of that can be put towards the purchase price
of an art piece bought through the museum.
Cool
Krisula-----------------------------------------------------------
$25 -$35 for a month and part of that can be put towards the purchase price
of an art piece bought through the museum.
Cool
Krisula-----------------------------------------------------------