Doorways to Imagination

Spanish door with a knocker that beckons...

Doorways spur our curiosity. 

If I knock, will the door open?

Do I want to know what or who is behind the door?

Don't we always welcome a friend?

Keeping a lookout for the unknown...

what would happen if we opened our doors more?

Perhaps we would make a new friend?

No access for me, but just imagine...

Sometimes doors can hint at what lies behind them.

They never give away all their secrets though.

Who came and went through this door, to ascend the stairs towards the light?

Who did this this staircase lead to?

A loved one?

Someone captive?

A friend who could read the stars and talk to the heavens?

Where I come from, people forget to put the detail into their doors.

Why do we think so little about the place we pass through into the rest of the world?

A place of passage should be one that reflects a warm parting and a welcome return. 

Whether a new door or an old one,

does it invite others to find the same refuge you do,

or does it make outsiders think twice about approach?

When we close doors,

does this mean we have lost the opportunity to enter into something amazing?

Or that we are simply satisfied with what we already have?

Do you open a window, when you shut a door? 

Where I come from, in the springtime,

 it is such a relief to open all the doors and windows after a long winter

of being behind closed doors.

Doorways within doors are always a nice surprise. 

Where will the doors you pass through lead you today?

Kids belong in a Museum

During our time in Spain, I had the privilege to share the experience of visiting the Museo del Prado and the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza  with my family. I confess, sometimes going to the museum with your kids involves, at least in my experience, the following scenario. Me, I've just stopped to take a closer look at the painting to examine the depth of the scene at hand, maybe even admire the technique an artist has used to create a sensation of being drawn into the picture. My children, have managed to walk the entire first floor and "see" everything, made it back to me and would like to know when we are moving on, to the next floor, the next room, the exit, and ice cream at the heladaria (ice cream parlor) down the street. Sigh. I try to buy a bit more time by sending them on a brief scavenger hunt, "see how many paintings you can find by Goya" I invite. Oldest one might look at his phone for a minute before answering something glib, like, 27 Goya paintings on this floor but there are more on the third floor as well. Okay, it didn't play out quite like that.

When in Spain, it is good to know that both Museo del Prado and the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornmisza have shorter periods of time that allow the opportunity to see the permanent collection for free. Yes, there are line ups for this great deal. So late on a lovely Friday afternoon, we cued up in a line that snaked around the corner of  Museo del Prado and through the cleverly planned garden squares, obviously structured for winding long line-ups. The entrada gratita is for between 6-8pm, I wondered if we would even get in.  It did take about 40 minutes to get into the place, but I felt like it was pretty efficient for the number of people and the museum didn't feel as crowded as I thought it would. In preparation for our trip, we did study the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya. We watched this video which gave an interesting overview of his later works. It was interesting to see the kids response to seeing some of his paintings in real life. They were able to identify his Black Paintings and were interested in the contrast these showed compared to some of his earlier works. The kids could engage in the artworks and appreciate the ties to the time period because they were given the opportunity to collect some prior knowledge with which to explore the paintings in the museum.

This actually isn't about great home school teaching moments though. This empowerment my kids now have, being able to understand and relate to something in the museum, means they suddenly realize they have the capacity to interact with other works of art that are new to them, by artists we haven't studied. They were able to lead the way of exploring the museum by sharing what they saw in the paintings depicting Bible stories, Greek and Roman mythology, bright colors in contrast to darks, and even to read a bit of the explanations to give more insight into great works of art. They even recognized how some stories made frequent subjects for paintings, like Saturn eating his son. By 8pm, the kids had a good idea of the content of a good part of the museum. They didn't see everything so I offered to take anyone who was interested in returning on another day. I did return, there was so much I wanted to see, I was happy to pay admission to spend the entire afternoon. Although my kids didn't choose to join me, as I was quite clear that I was going to be there a while, I feel like they did experience an opportunity that was important and building into their appreciation of the greater world. 

On the following Monday, we cued up for the free entrance to the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. This is an amazing, private collection that spans the 13th to 20th centuries. It includes a few examples of Vincent Van Gogh's works, which made us excited to see up close. Earlier this year we watched the movie Loving Vincent which is a biographical animation, made with oil paintings done in the style of Van Gogh's own works. It used several of his painting subjects to recreate his story. His work is quite distinctive and even J. was impressed with the intensity of the paintings.

At one point, O. & I were at a different place in the collection than the others. I was taken with the comical aspect of an obscure (to me) painting and invited O. to come and tell me what he thought. O. and I talked about this piece - I read the title to him and asked him to have a closer look at who was inside and who wasn't. Then, noticing that one of the people was obviously left outside of the action, I invited him to compare the profile with the sketch posted above the door frame in the painting. To me, they appear to be the same person & the humor was in the fact that he was sticking his head through the window along the same visual line as the sketch. At any rate, it was fun to find something easy to give a little more attention to- like learning how to look at art, and not just give it a passing nod. I was really glad to be able to search for it later by searching the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection with what I remembered about it. 

This was a long post. I'm sorry I don't really have any photos to go with it. Please do see some of the embedded links. The rules about photography in museums can vary. Some, like the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza allow photography (no flash) of it's works but they are for personal use only.

Many museums, some that I have visited and some that I have only looked at online have their collections accessible online. This can include an image of the art piece as well as some information about it.

Here is where you can find Mueseo del Prado  and the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza

I know not everyone can make it to these museums but I want to encourage you, kids belong in a museum. It's a great opportunity to experience the world through different eyes, expand perspective, ignite ideas, tell stories and be surprised at the way visual art can interact with multiple senses. It also provides us with an opportunity to slow down and really pay attention to something...that isn't a screen. Kids can offer unique perspective to art pieces that give adults an invitation to look again. I'd love to hear about your favorite places to explore art with kids!

Exploring in real life and getting help with the internet...

Just a couple more things you should know about our first couple of days. More specifically, exploring El Retiro and area.

 First, as I prefer a good tasting coffee over coffee just for the sake of caffeine, looking up something as silly as "best coffee near El Retiro" is something I really did. So glad too!
On the list was El Oso y El Madroño, and it had excellent cafe con leche y hielo (which is an coffee with milk on ice). It was such a small place, we actually walked past it without really noticing on the way to a market to grab some things to eat for lunch. So, when near El Retiro and you need a great coffee to keep you going- seriously, after walking most of the day we went to stand in line for the free entrance at El Prado after 6pm, I can recommend this fine little cafe.

The second thing, not coffee related, is that sometimes it's worth the effort to read the plaque related to the monument- and if it's in your second language see if you an work it out by cross referencing with the figure. This is also something where the internet will come in handy when I get a chance to research this some more- the plaque is dated to commemorate the person from 1520-1584 who developed a method for speaking, reading, writing and singing with the deaf. I am curious to know how wide spread this method was at that time, if it was taken up elsewhere in the world or if it was specific to this area. This was really an interesting monument in contrast to some others in the park that mainly focused on royalty and warriors. No, I didn't read all of the information on all the monuments throughout the park. Perhaps this one stood out as noteworthy because it was apart from any others.

Stay Curious, Stay Playful

Our flight began late in the night from our place of departure. With a slight layover in Hanover, where, it might be good to know another time, there is a very cool little Harry Potter Shop for all those tourists passing through. A short time later we were back in the air and on our way to our actual destination.  Due to lack of sleep, it occurred to me only on this second part of our flight that some above the clouds photos would be cool- especially since they looked like they might be cumulonimbus clouds (?). I know the grade 5 class has been doing work with clouds, so they probably know more than I do. I tried to catch O's attention to check on my cloud identification but the seats had these cool consoles for occupying your time with movies or video games. Sigh.

This was definitely getting closer to Spain. I hoped the sunshine would follow us into Madrid.

Passenger conduit at Madrid airport. 

 Enter Madrid: 

The interesting architecture begins here, in the passenger conduit. I really liked the ripple effect of the rafters, the wide open spaces and the organic flow of the space. True, I might not speak the technical terms well, but this really made an impression on me- it was really well done (and I have experienced several less interesting passageways in airports).

  

Not far from where we stayed in Madrid we could walk along El Rio, also known as the Manzanares, the river that flows through Madrid. It was a really nice pathway system with interesting parks along the way. Our friend, Michelle, gave us the idea to look for los tobogones (the slides) and I am so glad she did! Our first walk around it was pretty quiet and the slides were very hot in the sun. When we visited another day, the slides were so busy, but that meant that O. had an encounter with another child in line in which he was able to try his Spanish. He returned to me all excited that someone had asked him a question and he understood most of it and was able to reply to some of it (very proud of himself!). Yes, and here am I trying out a zip line. These days I have to push myself a little more to just go for it and have fun! It's an idea I want the kids to maintain as they get older, that you really are never too old to just enjoy the moment!

N. is looking all serious here- I think there are similar expressions in photos of me at this age. In all seriousness though, he is taking in so much! He did a great write up of several things we saw at El Retiro and often points out interesting things to encourage me to take a second look. I really appreciate that!

My hope for you all is that you will stay curious!

Then and now...

Looking back and realizing we’ve come almost full circle.

I think I had some lofty intentions about blogging through our home school experiences. Then life just happened. We began with a parent directed program for a couple of years, moving into a blended program that we grew to love. Now, several years later and we are looking at the older ones moving back into the regular school system for high school and some different opportunities for junior high. For now, one will continue with home schooling and I am considering how I want to continue with my own learning and teaching.

Before we all head into new directions and develop our interests in these new ways, a family trip, to take advantage of the flexibility the homeschooling life offers. Our school life began with the decision to enter a bilingual Spanish program. When we decided to leave the traditional school program, we worked hard to continue learning Spanish and develop it as a second language. The decision to travel to Spain as an educational experience to use our learning was made easier by the overall interest in history and the possibility to travel to several geographic areas to compare familiar environments on the other side of the world…and even see some new things, like the Mediterranean Sea.

So here we are! I may, at a later date, reflect back on our home school experience from years past. For now, I hope to share a bit of what we are learning and experiencing here in Spain. Enjoy!