CSH Week 2 - History

    We have the privilege of living near the awesome city of Grand Rapids, MI. I am literally blown away with the awesome opportunities we have, and lately by God's providence in lining them up in perfect timing for our school journey this year.
     This week on Tues, since I had babysitter for the littlest 3, I decided we should take in the King Tut exhibit at our local museum: Grand Rapids Public Museum This ended up taking the place of Art in my lesson plans for the week.
     I apologize for the blurry pictures! I toted my heavy camera around the whole day... only to find that I forgot to put the SD card in it :-( Thank goodness for phones though, since blurry pictures are better than none!

The exhibit was made up of awe inspiring, museum grade reproductions.

     The site says to expect 90 min to get through the exhibit, but it took us closer to 2 hrs. We had audio tours (a cool little gadget; you punch in the exhibit numbers as you go through, then hold it to your ear, to hear a narrator talk about them.) You also use the gadget to listen to the many videos with additional information. It was a fascinating multi media experience, although it didn't entirely sit right with me to have everyone in their own little bubble, which makes for less discussion and shared experience. So we did try to stop in between and talk and look without the "noise" in our ears.

    I believe that everything in the exhibit was actually museum grade reproductions, as the originals are too fragile to travel, but they were stunningly executed! The first rooms that you go into made it feel like you were right there when they discovered the tomb.

     I especially loved the replica of the Rosetta Stone. The boys picked the model boats as their favorite.

We took time to look at a section of unfinished fresco on one of the tomb walls, and talk about the next art project "Making a Bull Leaping Fresco"

This "Shrine" held the Canopic jars

This was King Tut's Throne!

     It's hard to see the mural on the back of the throne, but we easily recognized it when flipping through something Egyptian the next day!

     Not Egypt related, but we had time to fit in a planetarium show and carousel ride (both free for members, which helps!) Then we grabbed lunch to make it a special day all around. I am really enjoying reaching this stage with a bit older kids, we share interests and all have fun hanging out together. Of course after a little break, I was more than happy to get home and snuggle my little 3 too :-)