Learning Together: A NEW MUSEUM MODEL FOR HOMESCHOOL FAMILIES

The Ringling launched its new Homeschool Third Thursday program in January 2018, and it has rapidly become an incredible success. Each month, it serves hundreds of homeschool families from the surrounding counties, most of whom return month after month to explore new facets of The Ringling’s collections.

This innovative program creatively serves a growing contingent of the Florida school system: homeschooled students. The Ringling’s regular school tours, which serve public and private school students, are designed for specific grade levels and center on content that meets particular learning standards. However, homeschool groups include all ages, ranging from infants to high school. This range of ages necessitated rethinking the structure and content of their museum visits.

The solution? Homeschool Third Thursdays! On the third Thursday of each month, we station educators and volunteers throughout the galleries, inviting families to move from station to station at their own pace. At each station, the families are asked to look carefully at the museum object, have an open-ended discussion about what they are seeing, and then participate in a hands-on activity that reinforces the connections between the object and the featured theme. Themes this season included Art Edits, Art of Asia, Portraits, Circus, and Mythology.

Our homeschool families have been incredibly receptive and appreciative of this program. One parent wrote, “Your hard work and dedication to our children does not go unnoticed. You have created some art lovers with this program—and now circus enthusiasts.” During May’s session, another parent said that the program "taught her whole family to feel comfortable visiting the Museum and confident in their ability to extrapolate meaning from the objects on display." The Ringling is always striving to better serve our diverse community, and our Homeschool Third Thursday program has allowed us to do just that.