Sunday, February 13, 2011

Curiosity, Travel, and Adaptive Learning…

Visit to the Israel Museum (2)

Sometimes, it is good to have programs designed for kids.

Sometimes, you can take the attitude of “no matter what, we can make this exciting.”

The point of travel isn’t about a checklist.

It’s about building perspective and creating curiosity.

We took the kids to the Israel Museum and found, slightly to our dismay, that there were no kid-centric activities scheduled for that day.

Not to despair, the NFO and I took turns (it felt very unifying) in creating a memorable experience for them.

First, they climbed in the sculpture garden. Then, when I saw the “do not climb” sign, we moved over to the model of Jerusalem during the 2nd Temple period.

We proceeded to explain why cities had walls, water basins, and gates. From there, our kids took over, asking all manner of questions about ancient fortifications and beliefs. It was inspiring to behold.

Eventually, we made our way to the Shrine of the Book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are located.

Again, Team Finland or KKR as they are known, demonstrated their aptitude and excitement for new experiences by asking questions about who wrote them (the Essenes), why (your guess is as good as mine), and what they talked about.

While the museum is quite large, we spent only about 80 minutes there, but we were able to confidently declare victory after seeing the inquisitive nature of our kids plus feeling confident that we had imparted in them a sense of history and connection to the land.

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