Thursday, July 30, 2009

Museum Learning

One of the great things about homeschooling is that you become aware and focus on learning as a part of living and not a part of schooling. I am always on the spy for little bits of information wherever I can find them. When we were at Higgins Armory, I found a little tidbit that I had not known before and which I found especially interesting due to one of my recent craft projects.
All of us are probably aware of chain mail, a cloth made of metal links to protect the wearer during battle; but, probably few of us know the artisanship that went into these creations. Apparently, in each of these links is an imprinted name of Muslim warriors or prophets. Of course, as they were not written in English but probably some form of Arabic, I would not have noticed this without the help of my handy-dandy museum phone. This idea of writing on each link, reminded me of the prayer shawl that I am crocheting, each link infused with a prayer for the future recipient. Certainly each is used for a vastly different end purpose, but both have a similar concept behind them – encircling their wearer with the protection and comfort of God they believe in.

And I was not the only one enthralled with my museum phone. My nephew, Rowan, would listen intently at age 5 and then inform us what he learned. For example in this Japanese warrior’s costume, Rowan informed us that the face was a mask and not the warrior’s real face.


Rowan was especially excited to be able to try on some of the replica armor.


It is never too young or too old to learn something new. What was the most interesting fact that you learned when visiting a museum?

3 comments:

dawn klinge said...

The only museum that I ever remember trying out those phone tours with, was Alcatraz in San Francisco. I loved learning about the daily life there, the attempted escapes, and the prisoners who lived there. It was interesting.

Dawn said...

oh - did you ever see Escape from Alcatraz with Clint Eastwood?

dawn klinge said...

No, I haven't. I really should. :)