Homeschooling at the Museum

As I embarked on my homeschooling journey twenty years ago, I copied the traditional way of teaching: lots of text books, reports, and tests. As the years went by and my family grew to ten children, I developed my own style of teaching; one that I could actually enjoy as I balanced schooling my large brood along with the housework I was responsible for. We use textbooks less and less, although they are available for the children to pull out anytime their curiosity calls, which is more often than you might think.

I collected a vast library of novels, biographies, science magazines, history books, homemaking books, and anything else I thought might be useful to teach my children. I wanted them to learn because they wanted too, because it was fun. I wasn't disappointed.

I have also made use of memberships to various places, and one that has been our favorite for many years is the Fort Worth (Texas) Museum of Science and History. Located at 1600 Gendy Street, this museum has been an invaluable teaching tool, as well as a fun family outing. It has recently been renovated, so it's like discovering a brand new place this year.

The museum has an Omni Theater Imax Dome, the biggest one in the Southwest. My children love going to the Omni Theater. The shows always start with a helicopter ride over the Fort Worth skyline that is still amazing to see after all these years. Even with the vast difference in the ages of my children and me as a parent, we are never disappointed with an Omni film. Many of them we have seen over and over. Having a membership to the museum gives us several free passes to the Omni as well as discount tickets once we have used up the passes, which doesn't take long.

The museum has two sections for children to explore. One is the Innovation Studios, where children can explore shadows, lights and color; build with blocks, legos and other things; tinker with electricity, lights and motors; and mix science and art. My older children enjoy this section more.

For younger children, there is another section where children can use blocks to build a train, shop in a play grocery store with small carts and check out lanes, and take care of dolls in a clinic like setting.

Moving outside to the porch of this section is water play and more building. My children could stay occupied here for hours.

There is a dinosaur's exhibit and an exhibit called Energy Blast, with a 3D film that includes seats that move.

Upstairs is the cattle raisers museum, the planetarium, and the current exhibit. When we were there this week, the exhibit was called Lost Egypt. It was fascinating to see, and my almost fourteen year old daughter asked for more information on mummies, which I'll be glad to supply her with!

All in all, you can't go wrong using the museum to homeschool your children. Take advantage of the museum closest to you, and have fun schooling your children.