School Day – on a Sunday!

Kelly and the boys came up for the weekend – to stay until Tuesday.  And because the boys are home-schooled, classes and lessons had to be included in their days somewhere.  Kelly did some research and decided on taking the boys to the Westmoreland Museum of American Art.  Her friend Amy and her three children met us there. 

The first thing we did was go to the interactive room, when the students could make their own video, build bridges out of Lego-type interlocking pieces called K’nex.  The amazing thing there was that they all worked together, following directions from a book but also being individually creative where called for.

There was also a topography map of Pittsburgh, with movable sections that could be substituted for city-scapes rather than woodlands.  Before long the tree-laden hills were scattered with houses and bridges and buildings and even a parcel of farmland. It was a fun and amazing transformation.  Logan took a little break before continuing the projects!

While the kids were building and learning, I stepped a few rooms over and sat down in a library of sorts.  It was a comfortable, relaxing room, and as I was still fighting off a low-energy day from my cold, I settled on the couch and read for a while. 

When they were done building, we walked through the rest of the exhibits, reading about the artwork and choosing interesting bits of information from the paintings, statues, and photographs. We saw a painting of the Boston Harbor, and Kelly told me that since I’d seen that, I didn’t really have to take our planned trip to Boston this summer.  NOT!!  The docents were very helpful, interacting with the kids and having them look at the exhibits in a different light and sharing insights. 

We finished up by looking at a few hanging sculptures made from painted, melted clear plastic cups – a project that the kids could probably do on their own to reinforce their day of learning.  They had a good time, learned a little bit, spent time with friends, and got a little exposure to the arts. Not all learning is best confined to the classroom – and we learned that today!