As a way to get the children meeting other homeschoolers I enrolled them in a class that sounded smart, unique, esteem-building, and embedded in the homeschooling community. Unfortunately, the class was in competition with another project going on at the organization, and so my kids ended up being the class. Alas. You would think that that would result in something pragmatic like the class being canceled, or at least something subtle like sub-par teaching. On the contrary, the entire experience was fully realized and my kiddos had a lot of personal attention from an incredible teacher.
The class was twelve weeks, and each class was two hours long. For the first hour they read Wilde's fairy tales, and the second hour they learned different theatre/movement techniques/exercises. Once the stories were all read the children chose their favorite ("The Remarkable Rocket"), and turned it into a play. Once the play was written they made all the decisions on how it should be staged -- what props to make, what costumes to create. They worked on lights -- what effect would make it look like fireworks were exploding? How should a scene change be signaled?
They decided that the best way to handle the challenge of so few actors, and so many characters would be to stage the bulk of it as a puppet show, with a few roles/moments being acted in person. The blending of the two was quite avant-garde. They used black gloves when they were holding the puppets, etc.
They had a dress rehearsal, made the programs, and invited some of their favorite people to attend.
And they attended.
It is critical that you have friends about you when your adrenaline increases -- whether the increase happens from excitement or fear or a combination of the two. Having friends grounds you and counters the flight or fight response, thus enabling you to progress past neanderthal and into civilized artist.
Having friends when you need them is a vital part of a happy and healthy life. Having friends who bring along more friends -- little bird friends -- to congratulate you on a job well done (in lieu of bouquets) is magical.
The kids made programs that they were proud of; they created and performed a play/puppet show that they were proud of; after the show they curated a "props and costumes museum" that they were proud of; they entertained their friends and family whom they are proud of. It feels good to be proud of your kids, but it feels better when you can see that they are proud of themselves and the goodness that is their lives.
