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The Sermon on the Mount for Homeschoolers

The Sermon on the Mount for Homeschoolers. Have a dose of encouragement with a homeschool look at the most famous sermon.

Blessed are the poor in wallet, for theirs shall be creatively constructed or attained curricula.

Blessed are they that mourn that they are not experienced enough to teach their kids math (or art, or chemistry…): for they shall be comforted as they observe that in their weakness God is strong.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the skill not to get sucked into arguments with their kids about why they have to do math (science, spelling…), they’ll just quietly motivate their kids to get it done.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness (rather than hunger and thirst for having a homeschool program that keeps up with the Jones’s homeschool program): for they shall be filled will praise for God when they see that He has a unique plan for each family.

Blessed are the merciful when their children forget how to multiply 7×6 again (or how to spell occasional or how to conjugate faire…): for they shall obtain mercy when they forget where they put the car keys again…

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God’s will and God’s love as their goal for their homeschool programs, not just college scholarships nor the applause of others.

Blessed are the peacemakers: as they model the fruit of the Spirit for their children, their children will want to be like them- children of God.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for homeschooling’s sake: for they will get the last laugh when their children grow up to be well-educated, well-socialized, Christ-following adults.

Want a little creativity in your prayer time? Check out our interactive prayer journals. They are unique and give a refreshing look at our devotional time.

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Here’s a little more encouragement with Sabrina’s vlog on Romans 8 for Homeschoolers:

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4 Ways for Homeschoolers to Participate in Drama WITHOUT Producing a Play

Here are 4 ways for homeschoolers to participate in drama WITHOUT producing a play.

4 Ways for Homeschoolers to Participate in Drama WITHOUT Producing a Play

Producing a play is loads of fun! It’s also a big commitment, and sometimes homeschoolers in your community or even your own children would benefit from involvement in drama at a time when there is no director/producer available to mount a full-scale production of a play.

Here are some ideas for giving student actors opportunity to perform even if there’s just no way to do a play right now:

1. Prepare “An Evening of Monologues and Cuttings.” There are loads of books available created for actors who need a personal mini-library for auditions or classroom work. Find an appropriate monologue or two for each actor, study a bit about the background of the piece, and prepare for a low-key, living room performance.

Watching performances of your monologue by other actors is easy in the day of YouTube, so you can get lots of ideas on how to present the piece. If you try this with a co-op, you’ll have enough performance material for an event! Maybe combine it with a potluck meal (if you subscribe to our weekly e-newsletter, you can try some of Allison’s recipes for this event!) for the families of the actors, invite grandparents or friends, and clap as loudly as you can!

2. Organize a book club, and with the group encourage a drama option for bringing a scene from your story to life. If your students are high schoolers, or are fairly “serious” about drama, find a well-written, published adaptation — don’t subject them to a “Lame!….my mom threw it together and made us do this” script if they will feel insulted by it. Respect their feelings about the endeavor.

3. Organize a talent show in your homeschooling community. If there are only a few kids who want to act, help them find monologues or cuttings from plays (see the books mentioned in #1), and fill out the event with singers, jugglers, artists, dancers, etc.

4. Offer to teach an Acting Class for a semester in your homeschool community. You don’t have to be an expert. Meet weekly for 2 hours, and use those same trusty books for your classroom material. Use the internet and video of productions for your own learning process as you figure out ways to help students bring their characters to life. Basic sites like ehow.com will give you ideas for the core techniques you need to teach.

By the way, by 2012, 7 Sisters hopes to have a full department of resources devoted to fine arts, and will offer in-depth materials for teaching drama to young people.

Creating these kinds of opportunities for student actors will require much less on the part of the director — no need for booking a stage or a church for performance; no need to pay for royalties; no need to find a whole cast; no need to do costumes for a crowd. But even using the limited parameters, the student actors themselves get to learn respected material by published playwrights, and they are limited only by themselves as they prepare a monologue for performance.

Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. The actors have arrived!

4 Ways for Homeschoolers to Participate in Drama WITHOUT Producing a Play

Why Producing a Play With No Scenery Is Good for Student Actors

Today, we discuss why producing play with no scenery is good for student actors. So far, this series on fine arts for homeschoolers has looked at why it’s important to include the arts in a student’s school experience and the importance of giving student actors a compelling, dramatic story to tell. Today’s post looks at one of the most common obstacles for producing plays, and reveals the truth: it is a blessing, not an obstacle!

Why Producing a Play With No Scenery Is Good for Student Actors

I have been to see amazing productions on Broadway, and I will be the first to say that the scenery, the lights, the costumes and the makeup are enthralling! But one of the most common reasons people give for NOT having a drama program for their homeschoolers is that they do not have the money to rent a theatre, they don’t have any way to create scenery…in short, “Where will we perform it? Our living room?!?”

This obstacle was in my way once upon a time as well. I wanted so much to find a way to get access to a stage and a crew for my student actors’ performance. While it’s true that many community theatres will rent their space, it’s not a realistic option for most homeschool drama clubs, co-ops, or classes at umbrella schools. Having the space is only one piece of the puzzle (if you can afford the rental fee!); then you have to know how to work in that space, and have a crew to help you use the equipment. Theatre Tech is a whole career with years of training attached to it, not something you just figure out on your own.

The old cliche says that “Necessity is the mother of invention.” My pal Vicki Tillman has her own version of that idea; she says,

“Anything worth doing is worth doing POORLY until you can figure out a way to do it well!”

So 10+ years ago I had a group of kids who desperately wanted to produce a play. It became necessary to invent a venue for their performance…and if it had to be a lame venue at first, oh well! That was better than no venue at all!

We started with a platform at the front of a church sanctuary. We were allowed to move most of the musical instruments to the sides (but the drum set behind its plexiglass cage had to remain untouched, center stage). There was no curtain. There were no cool lights.

The actors and I paced off the space that was OURS to work in. We pretended that the instruments were not lining the walls. We pretended that the drums were invisible. We had a story to tell, and we were going to tell it. Our stage was not the storyteller; our actors were.

On opening night I was amazed to find that our audience was quick to pretend along with us! We told the story of a tower that reached all the way up to heaven, and of various children who longed to climb that tower to escape their problems in the arms of the loving God at the top. As Lizzie and Paul and Randi gazed up the shining tower, I saw the eyes of the audience turn upward, too…they were drawn in! They “saw” the tower, too!

This is the how-to curriculum I have developed to share with homeschool moms and co-ops. I share the success tips from many simple but powerful drama productions that local homeschool high schoolers have performed with me.

A Successful Approach to Teaching Acting and Directing from 7 Sisters Homeschool

Click image for a full description.

If you would love to find a way to offer a drama opportunity to your homeschoolers, don’t let the lack of a traditional performance space stand in your way. Lacking a physical theatre can actually be a powerful tool in teaching young actors to create the story with their own performance.

Also enjoy our many drama resources in our 7Sisters estore.

7SistersHomeschool's Speech and Drama resources

Click image for many resources.