Adventures at Home

Blog post by JMM archivist Lorie Rombro. You can read more posts by Lorie HERE.


Like most parents around the world this past week, my husband and I have had to learn how to work out of the home together while two boys (a teenager and elementary student) are at home with us. We were somewhat prepared because our children were supposed to be home for spring break. The problem was we had planned to do things with them like visit museums, go to DC for the day, fossil hunt at Calvert Cliffs, and eat out at all the places they like.

Obviously, none of these things happened, but that didn’t mean we had a bad week. It is not easy, but a rhythm of work and family is starting. My husband, who normally works from home most of the week, has had to get used to the rest of us being home too. My children have been lazing about and I let them all week, because it was spring break.

We took walks together, watched movies (I highly recommend Onward for all), played catch, built a Lego tower taller than my 3rd grader, made chalk art in the driveway, worked on numerous art projects, puzzles, and even had my teenager leave the video games for a bit to join us in the activities.

We are constantly cooking and I’m afraid my dishwasher will break soon from being used 2 or 3 times a day. And the one exceptionally happy member of our home is our dog, Bowzer, who is in heaven that we are all home with him.

A little painter’s tape and a box of chalk can take up a huge amount of time.

In the past week I have also received many emails and Facebook posts about online museums and travel experiences. My younger son and I decided to spend some time each day exploring some of the sites and places that we are interested in. I thought I would share some of these with you!

First, we went to France as we are currently reading together Stuart Gibbs’ The Last Musketeer. The book starts in France with the family going for a tour of the Louvre, so that’s where we started too.
We have another wonderful book at home, The Story of Paintings: A History of Art for Children by Mick Manning & Brita Granstrom.

This inspired us to search the Louvre and then the Musee d’Orsay for the artist and paintings we liked. We also took a tour of the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles and we searched the online database at the Jewish Museum of Maryland for images of France.

This week we have plans to visit Italy and Egypt. Perhaps we’ll follow in the footsteps of the Freidenwald family adventuring through Italy or maybe visit the same places that Lester and Eleanor Levy saw on their honeymoon! In Egypt we will definitely try to see the great pyramid and Sphinx like Harry Greenstein.

Freidenwald family vacation to the Mediterranean in 1911: Harry Friedenwald in Pompeii. JMM 1984.23.48.
Lester and Eleanor Levy in Piazza San Marco on their honeymoon in 1922. JMM 2002.79.228.
Harry Greenstein (2nd from left) on a UNRAA Middle Eat Mission, 1944. JMM 1971.20.163

While we are all learning to work, go to school, and study while being at home, these virtual adventures to other museums have been an enjoyable addition to our life, expanding our limited surroundings. What virtual museums and global adventures are you experiencing?


 

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