Adding Theater to Your Homeschool

 There are some things that are really hard to do as a homeschool family without seeking help from outside your home. For some families, it might be musical lessons, although there are great resources for that like Hoffman Academy, which we use and love. 

Another is team sports, for which some states have homeschooling sports programs and other states allow homeschoolers to participate in public school teams.

A love for me, that I have found difficult to experience without outside help, is that of theater. We have attended shows through Educator Series Programs and paid for Broadway Across America tickets as well. I have enrolled my children in dance and drama programs and taken them to community theater auditions so they can have those opportunities. But, it has been missing in our family for a long time now.

When my oldest girls were young, they loved the stage and the shows so we were always looking for opportunities and as they got older, they were motivated to keep up with the schedules as well as help drag along their reluctant little brothers. When those girls grew up and left home, there was no one besides me who was interested in continuing this activity. 

We still occasionally took the boys to see productions, but we couldn't convince them to be part of them. Even the church Christmas program was a stretch outside their comfort zones. Then, we had another girl. She was interested in theater because her big sister was still actively participating in productions in college, but then we lived in a tiny village with limited opportunities for children's theater. By limited, I mean none.

We did spend a year working on the theater badge in her American Heritage Girls troop and through that, we also worked on crafts badges and fabric arts as we made posters, props, and costumes. The older girls wrote a play for their writing badge and earned their Cake Decorating badge while learning to make cakes that could be auctioned off during intermission. It was a great year, and my love of theater was rekindled through working with my daughter and her friends.

We moved to a bigger city to look for more opportunities, not just for theater, but for opportunities in everything and anything.

Then, it was 2020. 

Then, it was 2021.

Now, finally, as we near the end of 2022, my family dynamic is completely different than it was when I last a 'stage mom'. Those older kids are grown and off to pursue their own ideas of entertainment. There is a younger set at home now, and they have never auditioned for a show, or been in a community theater production. 

So, you can imagine how excited I was when I saw auditions for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! This is one of our very favorite books and we read it every year at Christmas time. We were so excited that we called and signed up for an audition slot right away, and then when we arrived, it was so much fun, even I decided to audition for a part. Now, that my youngest is five years old, I don't have to worry about nursing a hungry baby or chasing a wild toddler. Perhaps I will get to be in the show with them.

Knowing the story well, Sarah decided that she wanted to be a Herdman. The Herdman children are wild, dirty, and mean. She took out her braids and frizzed her hair - a Herdman child would never have nice braids. She found a pair of too small leggings with holes in the knees and went outside to put dirt all over herself - a Herdman child wouldn't have showered just last night. She also helped her brother get some dirt on his face so he could be a Herdman too.

 Imagination runs high in our household, and we love to pretend.

Today, we all wait anxiously, with nervous tummies, for the email that will tell us if we got the parts we wanted, or even any part at all. The 'what ifs?' bring back so many memories from shows past, and I anticipate many more memory making moments to come.