Your Corner

Two years ago, Delaware Art Museum started a new tradition with their Kids’ Corner by inviting an Artist-in-Residence family to design and revamp the space each year. The most exciting part of this plan was to involve all of the museum’s families to participate in the shaping of the kid-friendly area.

Delaware Art Museum was where I first envisioned how adventurous home education could be. I left my job and came home to take care of a three-month-old and a two-year-old while my wife, Mary, supported our family. She suggested the Museum and I ventured out on one of our earliest excursions. It was challenging, but it was also enlightening. We could spend most of the day in this venue that I thought was meant for adults. We could talk about paintings and sculptures, sit and read books in Kids’ Corner, or be a little more structured and attend the weekly (and fantastic) Glory of Stories program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was, and still am, an absolute museum novice, but it didn’t matter. I quickly figured out that I didn’t have to be a “teacher” to my boys, I could learn alongside them and simply bring my excitement for knowledge acquisition.

This coming Sunday, families can come and feel that same excitement as the Museum unveils the newest incarnation of Kids’ Corner. You’ll be invited to participate in remaking the space and then visit all year and be able to say to your child, “You helped build this.”

God bless,

Jason

Learn Do

We love knowledge in the Zerbey house. But knowledge without purpose can be dangerous. Don’t get me wrong, I love “useless” facts and trivia. If you’re going to be excited about the acquisition of information, you’re going to end up with a lot of weird debris in your head. But it’s not without purpose if it is part of a habit and lifestyle of learning, if it keeps you educating yourself and those around you even when you don’t mean to.

All knowledge can be interesting and useful, but it is up to the student to bring purpose.

Apprenticeships look like the future to me, but opportunities are lacking for now. I like the idea of internships as they are voluntarily entered into by people who have an interest in something that is actually happening in their world, right now. Delaware Museum of Natural History just announced their 2018 internship program.

My boys are a wee young for an internship, but they love the Museum. I suspect they’ll find their way behind the scenes one day.

God bless,

Jason