Washington D.C. Part 2: The Art Galleries

The next few days in the Washington D.C. area were pretty much filled with the usual tourist sightseeing hot spots.  I have to admit that I knew my nature girl would be very attracted to the green and natural places, like the U.S. Botanic Garden and the Butterfly Pavilion at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History:

I was a little surprised, however, at how many Art Galleries and Museums she chose to visit.  Or maybe I just didn't realize how including artist and picture study in our days has become another amazingly wonderful natural part of our lives.  Days in which she now can appreciate and seek the beauty for herself:

 

She was tickled about "Miners in the Sierras" it was part of our CA History year.

Her appreciation did not stop at the galleries either.  We visited places where she would comment on how much she enjoyed statues, murals, mosaics, and structures:

 

 

I'm always pleased to see my children enjoy themselves this way, but I have to admit my favorite part is when they want to share the connections they've made with other areas they've feasted on as well.  This makes for such delightful and pleasant days ; )

 

"We cannot measure the influence that one or another artist has upon the child's sense of beauty, upon his power of seeing, as in a picture, the common sights of life; he is enriched more than we know in having really looked at even a single picture."

-Charlotte Mason, Volume 1 Home Education, pg 202 in the 2008 Wilder Publication