Zombies at the museum

We were very blessed to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit this week. It was awesome to see artifacts that were around when Jesus walked the earth! I was moved to tears several times. Reading documents that fortold of the Son of Man coming...it was so exciting to me. The actual scrolls are only lit every so often, to preserve them, and even then only dimly lit. It added to the mystery to be in this dark room, waiting for the lights to come on so you could see this little piece of history.

This exhibit, like many that we have been to in recent years, offers you a head set with a free audio tour so you can learn more about each part of the exhibit. After you overcome the technological challenge of getting the player to work for you (which doesn't seem too difficult to children, but several adults had to ask their young ones to help them out...including me!) you spend the rest of your time hunting out numbers on the wall, punching them into your hand held device that looks like a TV remote, and wandering around the exhibit. From the very first room and for the next hour or so, everyone walked around like zombies with this remote control stuck to their head. I stood back and watched as people walked in and out of the areas, not communicating with anyone, just drifting from display to display. When I tried to talk to one of my sons about something I found especially interesting at a display, he said, "Mom, I'm listening" and went on with his audio tour. I did manage to engage some of the other children who were through a section of the exhibit and waiting for the slower folks to catch up. Being the babbling brook kind of person, I like to share my experiences with others. I was a bit frustrated, especially since Clankeeper couldn't join us, and I know he would have talked with me about the displays. I also noticed that the audio tour didn't contain a lot more than what was already written on the walls, unlike the audio tours at the Art Museum, which add a lot of new information to what you are looking at. I still learned a lot, though, despite having to wait to talk about it with my family.

Later in the day, in another part of the museum, we went through an insect exhibit. All of us went from aquarium to aquarium, searching out the bug or creature on display and discussing our likes and dislikes together. That is how I like to go through museums...with my whole family, discussing each part in detail, learning more about each other and sharing the whole experience together. I found out that one of my children actually thinks milipedes are more scary than spiders! [Note from MerryK: That child is me.] It was delightful!

I have never seen it mentioned, but I would bet this is probably a personality trait. Some people must like to learn in groups, and others alone. I wouldn't want to learn with people I didn't know, but I do enjoy learning with those I love...my family and friends. I guess that is why I love homeschooling, too!