Covid has thrust us into the world of home-schooling with s huge shock. It was not something which I had much experience of or appetite for but I have ha to learn pretty quickly. Compared to my own time in school technology has played a huge part and enables us to give he kids a really well rounded home school, with huge variety and infinite options of topics, themes etc. I have seen a great mix of taught classes, workshops, and themed classes in languages etc. My kids attend an Irish and Spanish language workshop with kids from all over the world. I think its fantastic for kids and fosters a natural inclusive culture which society will benefit from in the long term.
Art and History
My pair love art and love history and one of the most interesting finds has been the existence of digital museums. One of the assigned projects for my almost 9 year old was a collage on the Mona Lisa I don’t think there would be many of us who haven’t heard of this famous piece of art, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. 
Mona Lisa Foundation
Like anything you try to research on the internet there is an overwhelming amount of information out there no matter what topic you try to search. One excellent resource we leaned heavily on for this particular topic was the Isleworth Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa Foundation provides a wealth of information on this topic. An interesting fact which I didn’t know already was that both Leonardo and the Mona Lisa were both born in Florence in 1452 and 1479 respectively. The Mona Lisa was a commission by her husband. Its a wonderful history to this amazing work of art.
Something which I have being doing is teaching the kids that you need to consider your source of the information in terms of its reliability. The old adage still rings true “don’t believe everything you read”. Its so important to trust your source.
EPIC Museum
The digital world has really opened up kids learning environment which has to be a positive. Another resource which we love is the EPIC Irish Emigration museum another fantastic museum available digitally during the current global pandemic. The EPIC museum takes a look into the history of Irish Emigration all over the world. Over 10 million Irish left their country to see out a better life and watching this history come to live is just fascinating.
Also available on their site are online events, virtual tours and themed downloads. For example during Christmas there was a fantastic pack for kids which taught history of Christmas around the world.
The EPIC museum was recently voted no 1 visitor attraction in Europe and its not hard to see why.
While we can’t travel at the moment, we do long for the day where we can visit both the Mona Lisa and the Epic museum in person in their own environments. However while its not possible at the moment, digital museums are an excellent alternative for kids and adults alike.
Note: This is a collaborative post
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