Oriental Institute Museum

This place is very cool! When I hear a museum has free admission, I tend to think it won't be all that interesting - was I wrong! We are studying the ancients this year, and this place was a goldmine of artifacts and exhibits from ancient Near East.
Charlie just learned about the Lion of Ishtar at the Greenhouse~

This stone threshold was in the Mesopotamian galleries, as well - it was made to look like a beautiful carpet~

This human-headed winged bull from Khorsabad was one of the coolest things we saw! It is awe-inspiring to think this stood in the palace of the Assyrian king Sargon II, who ruled from 721-705 B.C. ~

Mummy of Petosiris~

Somebody loved this person (and I know as C.S. Lewis wrote, "You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body." that this isn't the important part of this person, but still. If this were my child, I'm not sure how I would feel about his body being displayed in a museum.) ~

The museum was very well organized, and surprisingly child friendly and accessible~

Children's shoes~

I love when museums allow photography~

I love being reminded of how we really haven't changed all that much~

A quiver~

This place was way less nerve-wracking than the Museum of Contemporary Art (where one isn't allowed to touch anything, not even a blank section of wall inadvertently) ~

I ♥ timelines ~

Another thing I love about homeschooling is that everyone (even the littlest) gets so many cool "educational" opportunities as part of their cumulative experiences. Sadly, I can guarantee, if Charlie and Sam were in school, I would not be taking just Mary and myself down to Hyde Park on a Tuesday morning~

One of the things I love about classical education is the way it presents history from the very beginning through the present, rather than starting with American history like so many of our own schools did and do. I've learned since embarking on this homeschooling journey that history makes sense, when you start at the beginning!

Grandma was nice enough to take a day off from work and go with us today. It was nice to have a kidless extra adult along. After the museum, we went over to Chinatown and had lunch~

Sam's patiently waiting for his food, so he can get to what really matters - rice candy!

We had fun stopping in some of the little shops, as well. I love visiting Chicago, but it always ends up being a longer and more exhausting day than I plan. It was very helpful to have Grandma along, though :)