January 10, 2024 – Lights, Camera, Action! Music and Drama at Home

Beth Mora

Performing Arts for the Kiddo Who Does Not Want to Be on Stage

I was singing and acting on our backyard stage as early as three years of age; that’s extroverted me. Conversely, six of my eight children came into the world with an introverted bent. They hyperventilate in the limelight. However, I wanted them to experience the richness and the learned skills that performing arts fosters.

The goal is to help our students become great storytellers. The ability to express a story, real or to illustrate a point, will help your child no matter what career they pursue. Pastors, businessmen, mechanics, nurses, and even moms and dads use word illustrations and stories to effectively communicate. So, it behooves us to include performing arts in our curriculum that has been remastered for our introverts.

Two skill sets are essential when learning how to tell a compelling story: breathing in and breathing out great performances.

Breathe In Great Performances

First, fill your child with inspiration:

Explore Different Composers and Genres: Learn about different composers and their music. Focus on the classics as well as modern musicians.

Attend Live Performances: Videos are great, but we saw our children get inspired through live performances. Take them to musicals, symphonies, concerts, and theater.

Watch Poetry Out Loud: Poetry Out Loud is a National Arts Education Program and student competition for presenting poems. It is very inspiring!

Read Aloud Great Literature—no matter what age your child is.

Breathe Out Great Performances

Second, give space to these performing arts activities that you can do in your own home:

Engage in a Family Reader’s Theater: Choose a play, divide the parts, and sit in your living room for a lively read-aloud.

Film and Edit Home Videos: So many performing arts skills are learned when you make a movie!

Gently Publish Your Student’s Writing, Plays, and Poems: When we finished a writing project, we would “publish” it by reading it aloud to family or friends.

Host Your Own Poetry Out Loud: Memorize and perform a favorite poem for the family.

Home is an excellent place to learn performing arts skills to help your child grow. Performing art skills becomes as easy as breathing in and out and will serve your child well.

About the author

Beth Mora is creator/teacher-on-camera for Here to Help Learning’s Homeschool Writing Program (grades 1–6) and homeschool conference and women’s events speaker. She loves to blog at Home to Home. She serves up HTHL’s Writing Tip of the Week for those teaching their kiddos to write. Everything she does, whether laughable or heart-gripping, is done to honor One. God’s grace is the salve that has healed her own life and is what she offers liberally to others.

Help your child learn measuring (both customary & metric) with hands-on exercises! Download Math Mammoth Measuring 1 (grades 1-3): https://www.mathmammoth.com/freebook

Todd Wilson

Familyman Ministries

Got Drama?

Hey Mom,

I don’t mean to be unfeeling here, but we’ve got so much drama and action at our house that I don’t think I could handle much more . . . much less have to pay to watch it.

To recap: we don’t do plays, pageants, musicals, or madrigal shows. We do do impromptu puppet shows, skits, Olympic routines, Griddy demonstrations, loud charades, and moments of intense emotional drama. We just don’t have time for rehearsals, practice, or all that goes along with that. People have tried to coax my children into being in their productions and tried to guilt us into letting them . . . but we just don’t have time. So, we don’t and our children haven’t.

But if you have lots of time and your kids love that sort of thing . . . go for it. There are plenty of homeschooling opportunities.

But the key is . . . no guilt, no pressure . . . and no drama (you know what I mean). That’s the beauty of homeschooling. You get to pick your drama. In fact, you get to pick everything!

You want to do musicals . . . do musicals.
You want to do advanced mathematics . . . do advanced mathematics.
You want to have your children to learn certain skills . . . teach those skills.

You’re homeschoolers; you get to choose your drama!

About the author

Todd Wilson is a husband, dad, grandpa, writer, homeschool conference speaker, and former pastor. Todd’s humor and down to earth realness have made him a favorite speaker all across the country and a guest on Focus on the Family. As founder of The Familyman and The Smiling Homeschooler, his passion and mission are to remind moms and dads of what’s most important through weekly emails, podcasts, seminars, and books that encourage parents. Todd, and his wife Debbie, homeschool four of their eight children (the other four are homeschool graduates) in northern Indiana and travel America in the Familyman Mobile. You can read more at www.familymanweb.com.

Christine Weller

Lights, Camera, Action! Music and Drama at Home

In today’s ever-changing world, it is important for our children to develop a range of skills and abilities that go beyond traditional academic subjects. Subjects like math and science are undoubtedly crucial, however, there is a growing recognition of the importance of drama and music in a well-rounded education. These subjects not only provide an avenue for creative expression, but also offer a multitude of cognitive, social, and emotional benefits.

Firstly, drama and music stimulate creativity and imagination. Engaging in the arts encourages individuals to think outside the box, explore new ideas, and make connections between seemingly unrelated concepts. In drama, a child can take on different roles, develop characters, and invent storylines, fostering a creative mindset that can be applied to various areas of life. Music, on the other hand, offers a unique language for self-expression, allowing our children to convey emotions and experiences that may be difficult to articulate in words alone.

Learning drama and music also enhances communication skills. Both subjects require active listening, empathy, and effective expression to convey ideas and emotions effectively. Theater offers opportunities for teamwork, as actors and crew members work together to bring a play to life. In music, ensemble playing demands cooperation and listening to others in order to promote harmony and unity within the group.

Beyond personal development, drama and music have been increasingly recognized for their impact on academic achievement. Studies have shown that engagement with drama and music can enhance cognitive abilities such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and memory. Learning lines and remembering musical notes involve the strengthening of neural pathways, resulting in improved memory retention and cognitive flexibility.

While it may seem difficult to slip these subjects into your daily schedules, there are certainly benefits for doing so. You can even add elements of drama or music into your existing lessons. Aim to add it in at least once a week, and make it something fun to look forward to. It will bring a level of variety to your learning and help towards developing that well-rounded education.

About the author

Christine Weller has been homeschooling her two boys, 10 and 6, since birth in the lovely province of Ontario, Canada. She is also a mom blogger and children’s book author. She is currently working to support homeschoolers everywhere through various roles at The Old Schoolhouse®.

Pillar of Knowledge

Roger Smith

Applause, Please

Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.

Pablo Picasso

One of my all-time favorite TED Talks was given by Sir Ken Robinson, a world-renowned education expert. Its title is, “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” He explains how creativity is squashed in the attempt to standardize and quantify education.

Homeschool families can kill creativity, too! We feel the pressure to show how smart our kids are (and how well we are doing) by comparing them to the next kid, or searching for the “best curriculum.”

The Human Genome Project was the group that finally mapped out the human chromosomes. Its leader was homeschooled as a kid! When asked what his homeschooling looked like, he replied, “We read books a lot, and did plays.”

You’re kidding me! That’s it?!

You can do it, too.

1. Have a costume trunk.
2. Get a joke book, take your kid to a nursing home (or the grandparents’ house) to read it.
3. Make some puppets from paper bags; let kids create the characters and story to be told to a younger audience.
4. Play charades, I-spy, Pictionary, Name That Tune.
5. Laugh, and praise their attempts to create.

Enjoy the journey.

Sir Ken Robinson went on to say, “Creativity is as important as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.”

About the author

Dr. Roger Smith is a family doctor in rural Louisiana, where he and his wife, Jan, raised four adventurous children who are all grown, making their own mark in the world. He speaks and writes on parenting issues and produces brief videos that can be found on Facebook @ParentingMattersNow.

Do you frequently hear singing throughout your house? Maybe it’s time to take our course Music/Voice! Throughout the course, these lessons encourage all family members to be comfortable with the voice God has given them and to use it, regardless of self-image or what others may think. Learn to sing as a family and reap the benefits of fellowship while making great memories.