Museumschooling

[skueppers]

My daughter will be registered with the state as a Kindergartner this year; it's the first year we're accountable for anything.

Since we live in the Washington, DC area, I'm planning to do a fair amount of what I think of as "museumschooling". We currently go to the museums fairly often, so this won't be a big change for us, but I expect that exactly what we do at the museums will change.

What great things have you done with your kids at museums?

Our most popular activities so far have been:

* Visiting the mammals exhibit in the Natural History Museum and sketching the (mounted) animals.
* Participating in a program at the National Gallery of Art involving looking at a work of art, hearing a story related to the artwork, and doing a related artwork yourself.

The American History museum offers free science experiments; we did one of those in the spring and will probably go back for more. Of course we'll also just visit the museums, and read related books or do related projects if she's interested.

I look forward to hearing your ideas!

[kgianforti]

We went to the Science Museum to see the human brain exhibit. My big girl's latest passion is the human body. There is a (free) class this Friday that I'm thinking about going to as well on the brain!

I would get the little brochures that tell you all the classes and activities that are upcoming so you can plan to attend some.

[phathui5]

I would call the museums and ask if they have anything special during the year for homeschoolers or teachers to participate in.

[astra]

We live near the DC area, and have been visiting the museums a lot too!
You should check out the little sprout classes at the botanical gardens. We did one a few months ago and it was a lot of fun. I also heard the national aquarium is doing some homeschool classes soon!