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Working with Museums
Dateline: 6/18/00
By Debi Richter
I recently attended a workshop on Effective Strategies for
Working with Homeschoolers at the Association
for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM)
Conference.
This conference had over 500 museum personnel and volunteers.
My daughter was asked to speak on this panel and we learned some
very interesting things that I would like to pass on to Homeschoolers
everywhere. Those of you who plan field trips for your groups,
go on field trips or just like visiting museums will benefit
from the following as well. Represented were museums as small
as your local history sites to Williamsburg,
the "Godmother" to all living history sites.
First of all Museums are anxious to learn how they can serve
the growing homeschool population. They are ready and willing
to put together programs or adapt existing programs for us. They
are excited by the potential, however often times confused as
to how to deal with our diversity. The following are areas that
need to be clarified when booking a group or even a family activity.
The majority of the confusion stems from these different areas:
1) Age groups, age ranges and ratio
of adult to child.
The problem here is when we show up for say, a talk on a specific
topic and it is geared to the K-3 grade crowd, they are then
at a loss as to how to include the older crowd at the same time.
They would like us to be more flexible in splitting the group
into two, thereby servicing both groups more effectively. This
is especially true with hands-on projects. Also, they would like
to be able to ask the parents to be flexible in chaperoning the
older kids. Often times, the projects for older kids are in smaller,
and more challenging situations where large groups (one parent
for one child ratio) may not fit and may not be effective; for
example, blacksmithing or candle making. The physical space can
create challenges for them to accommodate us all.
2) Group payment
What constitutes a Group? If they need 10 children for a program
to be cost effective, then we can't show up with 6 kids and 4
adults and not expect the entire group to pay, even if only the
children are participating. They still need their minimum. Also,
often times parents who are not in the group, express a desire
to make whatever hands-on item the child is working on and they
should be prepared to pay as well. Museums are normally non-profit
organizations and are there to share the love of their particular
interests....but they do need to cover expenses. Insurance and
liability are a big expense, as well as staff.
3) Staff
That brings me to the next point, we homeschoolers generally
don't have a bus to catch or a schedule to keep, which is wonderful
for us, but can wreck havoc on their staff availability. We usually
tend to ask more questions, especially us moms, and take longer
to go through an activity or tour. Because of this, we need to
remember that the museum may have another tour or group following
us and make clear what happens if we go over the allotted time.
Many museums only offer Guided Tours and cannot let you wander
on your own when your tour is over. Be sensitive to this. Believe
me if they can, they'll stay with you as long as possible, but
the smaller the facility, the smaller the staff and often times
they are doing 3 jobs at once. Also getting to the facility ON
TIME (my emphasis) is a big help. (Admit it, we are all guilty
of this occasionally <g>) This way the tour/activity can
get started on time and then end on time.
4) Discipline
It's a hard thing for them to deal with as we all have different
family policies, but as one staffer put it, their goal is to
treat you like a guest in their home, as graciously as possible,
and sometimes their home is like that great-aunt you have that
doesn't have a 'baby-proofed home", so we all need to be
sensitive to this issue. If you have little ones, strollers,
etc. clarify ahead of time what the policy is...sometimes we
will have to be flexible here as well and possibly swap children
so the older ones can do what they have to do and the younger
ones can either go to a park or go to the museum's "touch"
rooms. This won't happen all the time, but we do need to be agreeable
and flexible when it does. I know we (moms) can get caught up
in what is being shown, taught, etc., and often times forget
to step back and see what our little darlings are doing. (We
missed a lot, we weren't homeschooled! <g>) Don't expect
your other 'older children' to be the chaperones.
In Conclusion
I found that the museum staff were excited and curious about
"us." They listened with interest and patience as the
panel explained the various methods of homeschoolers, the various
reasons we homeschool and listened to all that my daughter has
gotten out of her work with our local museum. They were happy
to note that we do have newsletters, e-mail loops, etc. where
they could alert the groups about special programs or even get
in touch with leaders to work on programming. They wanted me
to urge all of you to get on your local, regional and state museum's
mailing lists and contact them for information on how they can
best serve us all. Mystic
Seaport actually 'tries out' new programming on homeschoolers
because they get such good feedback from us. Another museum even
requested a homeschool leader to be on their board! The possibilities
are endless and with Clear, Concise Pre-trip Information,
Good Communication, and Flexibility we should have
many stress free, informative and fun activities with our local
museums.
Thanks,
Debi Richter
Feel free to e-mail Debi about this article at kero54@hotmail.com
. For comments about this website, please contact Ann
Zeise.
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