

Lights, Camera, Action! Music and Drama at Home
January 10, 2024
Beth Mora
Performing Arts for the Kiddo Who Does Not Want to Be on Stage
Todd Wilson
Got Drama?
Christine Weller
Lights, Camera, Action! Music and Drama at Home
Roger Smith
Applause, Please

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.

Todd Wilson
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!