Time to *ham* it up!

Posted by Tammy | 0 comments

When beginning to homeschool, it’s a wonderful feeling to finally decide on the curriculum you want to use and then get your students started. Settling into your days, you learn the the best way to approach different subjects and continue to make adjustments with the flow of your days. Things are clicking well and life is good.

THEN, out of the blue someone asks you about the “extras”. What about sports? What about the arts? Music lessons? Co-ops? Community service projects? Church activities? And suddenly you have to consider a whole new realm of additional activities for your homeschool students.

Our children have done a wide range of extra activities through the years with some choices being better and more well liked than others. I was recently reminded of this fact when we read an announcement in the local newspaper. But let me back up a bit.

For you see, my children are a bunch of *hams* (proper definition – a performer who overacts, overdoes, or exaggerates). From the time my oldest was young and continuing to this very day, there have been many dramatic play productions going on in our household. The children write the scripts, design the costumes and sets, and film the productions. All those robes and gowns sewn for church Christmas plays are put into use as well as Snow White and Sleeping Beauty wigs, mom’s old make-up, and grandma’s gaudy jewelry. Blankets and sheets are dragged out for backdrops as they design each scene. And then off they go with the shout of “ACTION!”

The acting by my little performers has been of the finest overdramatic quality known to mankind. The sorrow so full of sobbing!  The laughter so hardy!  The sword fights so scary!  The kidnapped princesses so melodramatic!  Let’s just say that their creativity absolutely soars during these projects. And we continue to enjoy watching the productions as we go through the archives of old family videos.

This *ham* talent that they have – and just WHO did they inherit it from? – has been stretched through the years when the little red truck from the Missoula Children’s Theater arrives in town annually. A two person team hosts an open audition on the first day in which fifty to sixty children will be cast into parts for a musical production of a favorite children’s story or fairytale – a story which always has an interesting and fun twist. For a few hours each day for a week, children will be attending an intensive rehearsal schedule learning lines, singing songs, and figuring out choreography. At the end of the week the community gets to enjoy two public performances and every parent is astonished to see what can be accomplished in just a week. Missoula Children’s Theater provides all the costumes, make-up, basic lighting, and necessary sets and scenery for the performances – all of which fits into the back of their little red truck as they travel from state to state – with the only need from the community being children who love to act and perform.

The recent announcement in our local newspaper led two of my children to try out this past month for a production of Robinson Crusoe. One was cast as a member of The Very Hairy Frowny-Face Tribe……

…..and the other as a beautiful singing stork named Stella.

And they thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it which has been our experience through the many years of our children’s involvement whenever the Missoula Children’s Theater has stopped in our community. Be sure to take a peek to see if they are touring near your area in the future.

Perhaps one of the best rules to follow when it comes to extra activities is to pick the things that your children enjoy naturally and for each child it may be something different – although we’ve been fortunate in the acting area as each child has been a natural born *ham*! The investment will be well worthwhile as they shine and grow stretching their talents through the years. And isn’t that really the heart of the matter?

Married in 1980 and still living in the same house in a woodsy rural setting, Tammy’s homeschooling journey began in the fall of 1987 when her oldest turned six years old. As rather new believers professing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, homeschooling was a way to live out the principles found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Through all the challenges of life Tammy has stayed the course growing to a family with nine children who presently range from preschool age to college graduates married with children. Her role has transitioned from learning everything she could about homeschooling to becoming an encourager to others coming along the way. Please visit Tammy at Garden Glimpses.