Hands On Artist Study

Our homeschool group in front of the giant Dali moustache

 The end of February brought our final field trip with our homeschool group until Fall.  Most people in our group keep to the school system schedule and end in May.  Most of our summer field trips are solo or with a select group of friends.

Since we were ending our artist study of Salvador Dali and we have the most amazing museum dedicated to him a mere half an hour from our house, it seemed logical that we would visit.  The fact that they allow school children including homeschooled ones in free helped as well. It is beautifully situated right on the St. Pete pier.  Besides the museum, there is a labyrinth and gardens as well.

Our phenomenal docent

 Remember my post about the Museum of Fine Arts docent?  We certainly didn't have that problem this time.  Our docent was beyond phenomenal.  She led the children through several paintings while talking at their level.  She talked about Dali as a boy.  How he got started in painting among other things.  The children had a great time with her.  Did you know Dali was named after his dead brother? Yea, creepy.

JoJo and his moustache!

JoJo especially loved it.  A field trip on his first week of homeschool.  How awesome is that?  His favorite painting was the Abe Lincoln one (scroll down to the middle of the screen to see)  although he did really like the spiral staircase.  All the paintings are on the third floor of the hurricane proof building away from the anticipated storm surge.  There are even some huge doors that close to seal off the building.  The entire building can withstand a Cat 5 hurricane.  It's the place to be for a storm that's for sure.  

Madison's moustache needs help!

 Yes, we made pipe cleaner moustaches in honor of Dali's infamous one.  There was an entire room full of puzzles, coloring pages and other things for the children to do.  It was a great end to seeing the paintings while putting what we learned into practice.

Playing in the kids room

All three children announced that this was one of their favorite field trips.  Who knew?  They thoroughly enjoyed looking at all the painting and discussing them. For a brief moment, I thought who are these kids?  I certainly went to bed smiling that night knowing that my children were learning to appreciate great art in a fun way.  Who needs textbooks anyway?