Our Partnership with the Lutz

We searched high and low, far and wide. We searched for a location that had a large room where we could hold group classes and activities, several smaller spaces where we could teach smaller groups of children, some space outside for kids to run around and interesting things for younger children to play with and explore while their siblings are in classes. We searched for a location that felt warm and comfortable, where it would be easy to keep track of our children, where the staff was friendly and helpful.  And we wanted this magical location to be fairly close to where the majority of our membership lived.  We found all this and more with the Lutz Children’s Museum.

The Lutz Children’s Museum is a wonderful resource located in a former schoolhouse building in the town of Manchester, CT.  They have two Galleries, a live Animal Collection and the school auditorium is currently used as a Multi-Purpose Room for concerts and other special events.  At the Lutz we are able to hold large classes in the Multi-Purpose Room or divide the room between two smaller classes.  We can hold other smaller classes in the Animal Room, the Galleries or the Office.  Children can play outdoor games on the field out back and younger siblings can explore the Galleries.  As a bonus, we can hold classes and explore the trails at the Oak Grove Nature Center, a 52-acre nature preserve located only 1.5 miles away.  In addition, we have easy access to the Lutz educators, who offer interesting and exciting classes for us every session, and we could not ask for a more helpful and friendly group of people to work with.

So, what do we give to the Lutz in exchange for the use of their buildings and resources?  Do we pay rent, are we required to carry liability insurance? Instead of paying rent or being asked to provide our own liability insurance, the Lutz very generously simply asks that we become members of the museum.  As members, their insurance requirements are met and our membership fee is our entrance to the museum.  A family reciprocal membership to the Lutz is $100 a year (pro-rated for the calendar year) and includes unlimited admission to the museum, as well as admission to a wide range of children’s museums and science museums, both in CT and nation-wide.  Membership to the Lutz also includes several other benefits, all of which you can find at their website: www.lutzmuseum.org.

If you find yourself not visiting the Lutz during the rest of the year, or if you do not visit other science museums or children’s museums, you can think of the membership fee as paying for rent and insurance for Monday Homeschool Classes.  We typically use the Lutz Museum 25 Mondays out of the year, which works out to $4 per week for rent and insurance for all members of your family.  We don’t think we would find a better deal anywhere else!