homeschooldrama.com blog
How to Fit Drama into Your Homeschool
Summer is a great time to take a break from the normal academic routine and add some creativity with drama. Drama camps are a lot of fun and are easy to host. You don’t have to pay someone else to lead your kids when you can host friends and neighbors and enjoy a drama camp in your own neighborhood.
Hi! My name is Danielle and I have homeschooled my kids from Pre-K through high school. We have found a lot of creative ways to fit drama into our homeschool and now want to share what we’ve learned with you.
Although there is value in having your kids learn under someone with experience in drama, sometimes it’s just not in the budget or the timing of the scheduled camp doesn’t work with your summer schedule. Don’t let that stop you from allowing your kids the opportunity to enjoy some drama this summer or during a break throughout the school year!
Here are some tips on how to host a drama camp:
Set the schedule based on what works best for you
Minimize extra expenses and work when it comes to food
Invite parents to join you in the fun and to help with logistics
Keep it simple with drama games or a short play
Get creative with a mock trial experience
Unlike joining a theater group for a drama camp, when you host one you get to choose the schedule. You can make it just a few hours in the morning or the afternoon, whichever works best for your schedule. You can also choose to have it only four days or make it five to fill out the week. If the kids are really enjoying it, you can choose to extend your camp another week with some other ideas shared below.
Camps can be a lot of fun until you start adding a lot of extras that add to the planning, work, expense, and clean-up time. If you set the time of your drama camp from 9-12 or 1-4, kids can have lunch at home. You can just have them bring some water and a small snack.
Another option is to have them all bring their own lunch and enjoy a meal together when everyone is done with the activities. The idea is to avoid having extra expenses or work by having the families supply their own food or not worrying about meals during the camp.
When my kids were younger, we enjoyed doing activities with our neighbors. Part of the fun was pulling out the little picnic tables afterwards and allowing them to eat together while the parents enjoyed time talking. Meals together can be fun as long as you don’t have to supply everything or do all the work.
As a homeschooler I loved being a part of everything my kids did. I also enjoyed some time with fellow homeschoolers and neighbors during the summertime. We would often schedule activities to do at one of our houses. Since we as parents were all in, it made each get together more enjoyable because everyone was chipping in instead of one person doing all the work. Also, we got our much-needed adult time while the kids enjoyed the activities and some playtime together.
With a drama club, planning can be easy with the help of others. Being in community is a wonderful part of homeschooling. During the summer our community would expand to our neighbors which made it even better as we all got to know each other more. Many families with kids in private schools and public schools are looking for things for their kids to do during the summertime or during breaks. Having a drama camp is a fun way for everyone to spend their time and get to know each other.
If you look at the agenda of many of the theaters that host drama camps, they are either playing drama games or working on a short play that the kids can perform at the end of the week.
Kids can learn a lot of skills with drama games, and they are a ton of fun. Drama games help kids to:
work as a team and get to know each other better
use their creativity and think quickly to come up with an idea
come out of their shells
express themselves in new ways
An easy way to incorporate drama games into your drama camp is to use a curriculum like Places Everyone! Although this curriculum was originally designed for a semester of fun, it can be easily adapted for a weeklong camp.
There are ten lessons, so you can use two lessons a day if you’d like or pick and choose the drama games that you think would work best for your group. These lessons work on different skills, so you can also choose based on the skills you want to work on for the week. There's even a fun activity at the end the kids can work on and perform for their parents!
Drama games are great for any age!
Another option is to choose a short play to rehearse during the week and perform at the end. This is a fun way for kids to have a common goal, work as a team, plus an opportunity to show their parents what they’ve been working on.
For younger elementary students you could choose to have them perform a one-act play like The Big Race – A Montage of Aesop’s Fables. Another option is Fairy Tales and Fables which has 8 mini plays to choose from.
For any age, you can choose a favorite like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and pick out a few scenes to perform if you are limited on time for the kids to memorize all the lines for this 30-minute version of the play. Keep in mind you don't need elaborate costumes or scenery for any of these performances. It’s really about giving the kids an opportunity to perform.
Whether you play drama games, do a short play or a combination of both, your drama camp can be a lot of fun without a lot of prep work since we have what you need to get started with our drama curriculum, games and plays!
For upper elementary and middle school students, another fun idea is to have kids work on a mock trial. Jack and the Beanstalk is an easy read and a great choice for a weeklong camp. Kids can have fun acting out the mini play or just read through it and start working in teams on the mock trial. Kids learn to dig deeper into a story and really think through each character’s actions and how each action affects other characters. Check out Jack and the Beanstalk – the Mock Trial drama curriculum for a fun way for kids to experience a popular fairy tale.
You can host a drama camp and give your kids the opportunity to have fun with friends and fit drama into your homeschool with these ideas:
Set the schedule based on what works best for you
Minimize extra expenses and work when it comes to food
Invite parents to join you in the fun and to help with logistics
Keep it simple with drama games or a short play
Get creative with a mock trial experience
Want to make life easier and be the first to know when the next blog is posted? Sign up below for our email newsletter to get the latest news and ideas!
Don’t forget to check out all our plays and drama curriculum so you can fit drama into your homeschool today!
Thanks for joining us!
Danielle at homeschooldrama.com