Today Z and I went to the newly re-opened Getty Villa in Malibu.
It is free but you have timed appointments to get in. Ours was at 2:30 and it closed at five so we didn't end up seeing everything.
First of all Z likes to read the informational placards in front of everything. She likes to read them aloud too, sometimes in a British accent and by the third room she was adding a "pose" or fancy stance. OMG! It was so embarrassing. She was reading things like this one about Nemesis and attracting a large crowd all of whom wanted to appproach me afterward and talk about her and ask her age. It was like she had her own little show.
When she was reading the placard of Herakles (Hercules) I looked up and all of the 15 or so people in the room were just staring at her.
It wasn't all bad though. (Not that it is so bad, I am just uncomfortable with the attention.) An elderly lady came over to me and asked her age and I said five and she said "She is homeschooled isn't she?" I said she was and she said "I knew she had to be." That was cool.
Then another really cool thing happened. We happened to meet another Davidson Young Scholar in the Children's Room. Since there are only like 800 or so in all of America, what are the odds?
Z and A were playing in the little theatre and painting urns while I talked to A's mom and based on a short conversation about her daughter's educational situation I asked if she was in DYS and told her that Z was too. I ended up giving her my contact information. I hope we can get together with them again.
The Children's Room was really cool and they also had a scanvanger hunt where you had to find a centaur on an urn in one room, a swan kissing a woman on another and a snake wrapped around a stork's legs in another, and so on. It was really fun!
I would like to go back there again soon. My personal favorites were the "full-figured" statues and statuettes of Venus/Aphrodite.
Oh yeah, Z also was a little weirded out about all the penises on display. I took her aside and explained that in Greece that was okay and that they didn't wear as many clothes back then. *wink* Then she was okay with it. But she did want me to explain what that "thing" was that hung down behind the penis... I said "I'll tell you later."
2 comments:
I can totally relate to your story about interpretive signs because my daughter also attracts people while reading them; I have learned not to glance at them to avoid questions. (Part of me thinks it is not a big deal and the other part of me doesn’t want her to get the wrong messages from attention.) I did this recently in Jamestown still some folks can’t help asking.
I remember she shocked her Botanical Garden preschool teacher by reading interpretive signs flawlessly at barely 4. The teacher was taking us on a tour but passed signs and my daughter stopped to read them. (I remember my cheeks burning; it was awkward for me because all of the parents were there.)
Elf Owl
Cher- wow what a day! (This is Nika from Progressive Homeschool, thanks for stopping by!).
Your daughter sounds wonderful! I love how she gets so immersed in the reading and does the added flavor :-).
People should mind their own business re: staring at her. All children should be so fortunate to be so free.
I hope that she can continue that free-spirit.
I know about DYS but have never had our daughter in it because we do not have a portfolio of significance. We have endless test scores but they are now 4 years old.
Maybe I should check out DYS again and see what it looks like for a 9 year old.
We do EPGY when we can afford it and its great.
Nika
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