More MLK Jr. Day Free Admission – ISGM & The ICA

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is just around the corner from the MFA. Both museums are offering free admission and activities to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Gardner limits the number of people in the museum at any given time, so it may be a better option for people who don’t want to deal with the crowds at the MFA on free days. Though you may have to wait in line before getting inside.

The museum opens at 11 AM, and MLK Jr. Day activities run 1-4 PM.

Join social justice project Wee The People for an interactive, family-friendly workshop that guides young and old in unlearning and reclaiming the legacy of MLK. Together we will explore MLK’s practice as a radical disruptor and honor his most important act of love: resistance. Activities include sign-making tributes to protest movements, a #ReclaimMLK photo booth, and timed acts of resistance inside the Museum.”
https://www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/event/mlk-day-20200120

Free general admission to the Gardner is a rare occurrence. If your name is Isabella or your family is Active Duty in the military, you can get in free anytime. Children 17 and under are always free as well. EBT cardholders can get $2 admission for up to 4 adults. The BPL has a $5/person museum pass available that admits 4 people on weekdays, 2 people on weekends.

Update, January 16, 2020: I’m no longer recommending the ICA as a family destination.

The Institute of Contemporary Art in the Seaport is also offering free admission on Monday 10am to 5pm. One great feature of this free admission day is that there will be FREE, first-come first-served tickets for Yayoi Kusama: LOVE IS CALLING. Right now tickets are sold out through the end of the month, and ticket sales for February go on sale today (1/15/2020) at 10am. So if you want to see Yayoi Kusama’s exhibit and can’t get tickets, head over first thing to the ICA on Monday!

It doesn’t appear that they have any special MLK Jr. Day events, but the ICA is opening two new exhibits that day: Tschabalala Self: Out of Body + Carolina Caycedo.

The ICA is accessible by Silver Line Waterfront out of South Station. You can walk from either the World Trade Center stop or Courthouse. I do not recommend parking for BBHSers because of the expense. The ICA does not have its own parking lot, but you can find their recommendations for parking here.

Boston’s First Night 2019, Family Events

New Year’s Eve is almost upon us. With a sleet and rain storm on tap for the next two days, I’m crossing my fingers that the weather will be good enough and safe enough for a little celebrating Tuesday.

Boston’s First Night has been through a lot of changes over the years, and isn’t nearly as big as it used to be, but it still has a good number of events for families. All events are now FREE! You just have to pay attention to which events require tickets so you can go early to get some.

This year I hope our family can check out:

The Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association’s Arts & Crafts and Cultural Performances running 1pm to 4pm in the McKim Exhibition Hall at the Boston Public Library at Copley Square.
One of Improv Boston’s performances on the other side of the BPL at 1:15, 2:30 and 3:45. These are free but ticketed performances. Go early to get tickets!
My kids might not be thrilled at this one, but I’m really looking forward to The King of Instruments organ performance at Old South Church at 3pm. Have you ever heard an E.M. Skinner organ? They are WONDERS and make such beautiful music. It’s so powerful, you experience the music with your whole body, not just your ears! And they can make all kinds of sounds, including trumpet and flute sounds. It’s like an orchestra packed into one enormous music machine. The program says they’ll have music for the whole family, so hopefully the kids will enjoy it too.

Some other lovely events in the early afternoon for families are the Puppet Showplace Theater performances in the Copley Mall, and interactive drumming sessions and ballroom dance instruction both at the BPL. Click here for the full schedule of events.

There’s a several hour break between those family events and the next events we might attend.

The Skating Spectacular on Frog Pond starts at 5:30pm. But the People’s Procession from Copley Square to the Common starts at 6pm. So we’ll have to choose between them. Finally, the Family Fireworks light up over Boston Common at 7pm. I love heading home at 7:30pm on New Year’s Eve. I definitely feel like we celebrated AND get to leave before the city gets crazy with New Year’s revelers.

Because of that few hours break between activities and fireworks, I’m not sure what we’ll do. As a BBHSer, I love the free holiday festivities, but I don’t want to spend a lot on food in a more expensive Boston neighborhood. I’ll have to research where we might go before we head down to Copley Square on Wednesday. If you have any tips for cheap eats within a reasonable walking distance of Copley Square and Boston Common, please share them in the comments below!

Winter Socializing on the Cheap

This BBHS family lives in a tiny apartment. It’s so small, we barely have enough room for all 4 of us to sit and watch TV. If we have one more person over for dinner, we have to move the couch and bring the table out of the kitchen. If you come into our apartment, I would say, “welcome, let me give you a tour, here’s all of it!”

Having playdate, or teaching a class together over here isn’t comfortable or practical. In warm months we can meet people anywhere outside, but when it turns cold we have to be creative about where to spend time with friends. This post is dedicated to BBHSers with similar challenges to having friends visit.

Places that are Free

A Library is a great place to meet up; it’s free, children’s rooms often have board games kids can play together, or other activities such as crafts, movies and more. The downside is that there aren’t many opportunities for gross motor activities if the kids are bigger than toddlers. I always appreciate libraries where the kids’ room is separate from the rest of the library. The Main branches of the Arlington, Boston, Cambridge, Somerville and Watertown libraries all have very nice, seperate kids’ rooms. In Cambridge and Somerville, there are playgrounds right outside as well.

The entrance to the Children's Library at the Copley branch of the Boston Public Library. — *The BPL’s Children’s Library at the Main branch. Source: BBHS*

There is a winter games day meetup at the Arlington Fox Library organized on the Homeschoolting Together Boston group. This is something you might consider starting up at a library nearer to you! This location is convenient to the 77, 79 and 350 MBTA busses.

Hiking/Going for a walk is also a good, cheap activity that’s better with friends. In winter you just have to have good enough outerwear and know where the nearest bathrooms are. If you need some inspiration or ideas on city locations for hiking, check out Outdoors Rx! When you register and sign up for their newsletter you can join their organized activities in and around Boston for free. If you just want information on where to spend time outdoors in nature in the city, check out their brochures on Boston (Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan), Chealsea/Revere, Framingham, and Waltham.

Almost Free/Cheap

Go with your friends to a museum’s free/cheap day! Or take advantage of library free admission museum passes. Most of the bigger museums in the area have days and times with free admission or admission by voluntary donation (which can be zero dollars, too). Visit the website of a museum you’re interested in to find out if they offer free admission days/times.

The Museum of Science is a decent place for indoor, gross motor opportunities. You can easily get a free admission pass from various libraries. There’s the Science Playground on the top floor (although they got rid of the running feature) and the Charles River Exhibit on the lowest level for some wonderful sensory play. If it isn’t busy, it’s not much of a problem for the kiddos to run a little bit. I’m not advocating full on running, just noting that it’s an indoor space where it’s more acceptable for the kids to get out some big movements. Also, there’s a lot to see without needing a ticket, such as the little zoo and hands on lab (check schedule for topics and hours) both downstairs from the Discovery Center, the ball machine and the solar system exhibit outside the Omni Theater.

If you have favorite go-to places for meeting up with friends in winter, I’d love to hear about them in the comments!

Summer Plans – Community Boating, Near Charles/MGH

Community Boating Inc. has a 10-week Summer program for kids ages 10 to 17. Called the Junior Program, it offers lessons in sailing, canoeing, paddle-boarding and wind-surfing. They have STEM classes, games and activities through the season.

A group of tweens and instructors in life vests standing on a dock in the Charles River on a sunny summer day. There are sailboats in the background. — *First day of a beginner sailing class in 2018, source: BBHS*

Last year I sent my two for beginner sailing lessons and because of their extremely generous sliding scale program, they qualified for $1 memberships!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!! (Please pardon my excitement, our BBHS household doesn’t typically qualify for aid programs though we totally need them)

Anywhoo…the best way to describe the overall program is that it’s kind of like a Boys & Girls club where kids can come and go during open hours, no adults besides instructors are allowed inside during Junior Program, and there are specialty classes they can choose to take.

Once a kid passes their sailing tests they can check out various kinds of boats and go out on their own.

There are some drawback to this program you should be aware of. It’s not an easy thing to get to the CBI location. You have to take the pedestrian bridge over Storrow Drive and it’s a long walk. (I’m getting older and the walk over from train platform to CBI was really long for me.) There are no reliable cheap places to park near the pedestrian bridge. We saw many parents pull over near the base of the bridge and let their kids out to take themselves to CBI. This is fine for older kids, but might be tricky if your kids need accompaniment. Other families, like ours, took the T. Some kids take themselves to and from the train.

Another drawback – if you need to accompany your kids to and from – is what to do with yourself while they are there. If they go for the whole day, it’s not so hard because you can easily leave and have time to get things done before returning. But if they only go for the lessons, that’s 3 hours you have to fill for yourself. The West End branch of the BPL is reasonably close enough if you want a free place to be to get out from the sun and heat.

Registration for Summer 2020 has already begun. I whole-heartedly recommend this program!

Interlibrary Loan is a Miracle

For almost two years, we lived where it was very difficult to access a public library. You know what happened? I very quickly started hitting up used book stores and homeschooler book swaps, jumped on free book offers, and even bought some books new. When we left that apartment, we had 9 more boxes of books than we moved in with, SMH. Now we can easily access a library again and I’ve bought very few books in the last year, in large part due to interlibary loan!! A priceless civic treasure.

Screen capture of a Minuteman Library Network catalog search highlighting delivery locations for interlibrary loan. The example item in an audio CD of "The Story of the World, Vol. 1" — *Pick your library, borrow a book for free!*

Not only can you get “The Story of the World” books and audio CDs (vol. 1-4), you can get almost all of its recommended readings from Minuteman Library Network or the BPL network. 👍👍😃😃 A book can be in a library in another town or just across town in another branch and you can still get it delivered to a library near you. I am so grateful for this public service!!

TLDR: Interlibrary loan is free and is an absolute treasure for homeschooling!

List of Free admission passes from BPL

Picture of a man's hands holding tickets — *Photo by Kaboompics .com on Pexels.com*

Only some museum passes offered through BPL give you free admission. Many give discounted admission, which can really add up for a family of 4. Below is a list of the free admission passes!

Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Lyric Stage Company of Boston
Mary Baker Eddy Library & Mapparium
Massachusetts DCR ParksPass hang tag
Museum of Science, Boston
New England Aquarium
Old South Meeting House
USS Constitution Museum*
American Repertory Theater
Boston By Foot
Dreamland Wax Museum
Edward Kennedy Institute
Harvard Art Museum
Larz Anderson Auto Museum

Please note that not all passes are available at all branches. Some are only available at a single branch. The online pass reservation system has details. Remember that all residents of Massachusetts can get a BPL card!!

* The USS Constitution Museum offers admission by voluntary donation. You don’t need a pass to get free admission and you are free to walk in and not even talk to the front desk, though the volunteers are very nice! But I admit I’ve gotten the pass because I didn’t want to be rude at not paying. OMG introversion is the worst! 🤦🏽‍♀️🙃

Which are your favorite places to go with a BPL museum pass? Comment below!