Today I took the kids to a homeschool workshop at the Walter's Art Museum in Baltimore (www.thewalters.org). The programs always look so interesting (to me, at least!). Oliver turned 5 recently and so both the kids were old enough to go. We had plans to go a few weeks ago and got snowed out, much to our disappointment. Finally, the next one came around today and off we ventured into Baltimore.
Here's what they were headed for: "What can art tell us about the climate and the geography of the area in which it was made? Discover how geography influences art before and after it’s created. Be inspired by the plants, animals, and colors of Maryland as you create a work of art influenced by your own geography." Sounded fun to me!
The kids were excited--right until the time they got divided into age groups that ended up separating them . . . . Oliver marched off with his group--unhappily but he went. Levi, however, refused to go with his. I finally convinced Levi to just give it a try with the promise I'd check on him in 10 minutes. When I went to check on him, he was hanging back from the group looking very tentative, was clearly relieved to see me, and wanted to know what took me so long! It was clear that he wasn't going to stay. They were in the Egypt gallery--his distress was so great that he even claimed to hate Egypt!
So, with one child collected, I wanted to go check on Oliver but 45 minutes of wandering around the museum didn't turn up his group so Levi and I looked around a bit (he was impressed with the Roman and Greek art, unlike the Egyptian!) and then took a break in the museum cafe. Oliver appeared, all smiles, just as we were going to meet him. He said he had fun making his project but the rest was "boring."
Sometimes you just never know what's going to interesting and what's not.
