So, you’ve gone through the entire school year without adding any drama. There’s still time… you can add drama for a more entertaining Year End Event.

After homeschooling my kids from Pre-k through high school, we have found a lot of fun ways to fit drama into our homeschool and love to share what we've done with you. 

Help Your Year End Event to be More Memorable

Every year we would have an End of Year Celebration. Each class would have an opportunity to present something related to what they’ve learned to all the parents and other classes. Maybe you’ve seen something like it before. You go and watch each group come up and regurgitate facts they have learned that year or teach you a grammar lesson that makes you feel like you are in school all over again. They are often not very exciting for the parents or the kids for that matter.

That’s why I always appreciated when we were free to be creative and come up with a fun skit related to what we had learned. It gave the students an opportunity to remember what they had done that year, while the parents and siblings enjoyed a fun performance.

While in the elementary years, each class would represent a different subject. One year my class was chosen to present science. I’ve added drama to a lot of subjects in the past, but science?! - this was a new challenge.

I came up with the idea of "Mrs. Wallace and Her Wacky Scientists." We could demonstrate a lot of what we’d learned by creating various scenarios where the kids could act it out in a skit. For the sake of time, all of the students were on stage with their scientist jackets on, ready for their part.

How a Skit Can Add Interest to Your Year End Event

Here are some snippets from the one we did: 

(Student is putting oil on her arms with a float around her waist.)

Mrs. Wallace: Why are you putting oil on your skin?

Student: I learned in a science experiment that birds float because they have oil on their feathers. So, I thought if I put oil on me, I could float too. Then I won’t need this anymore (points to the float on her waist).

Mrs. Wallace: I don’t think it works that way.

This student could have just told us the facts and moved on to the next student, but this was a quick, fun way to add a little drama and make it more memorable.

Here’s another example:

            
     (Student dressed in camouflage is hiding behind a fake tree.)

Mrs. Wallace: What are you doing?

Student: I heard that God gave animals camouflage so they can hide. I forgot to do my writing assignment, so I’m hiding from my teacher.

Mrs. Wallace: Nice try.

As you can see, there is not a lot to memorize, so it doesn’t add a lot of stress to the end of the year. It’s just a fun way to express what they’ve learned in a unique way. When the kids performed this they personalized it by adding the writing teacher's name. She definitely got a laugh out of it, as well as the rest of the audience.

This is another example with a couple of students, including my son:

 
     My son: (loud) Okay, here it goes! The moment I’ve been waiting for! Mom… Can you take the cap off the toothpaste?

Mrs. Wallace: Whyyyyyyyy?

My son: Pleeeeeeeeease. (with a big smile or puppy dog eyes) Here it goes…. (squeezes the tube) – POOF! YES! Just like a volcano – AWESOME!

     Mrs. Wallace: On that note, what are the parts of a volcano? 

     
     Students respond.

     Another Student: Mrs. Wallace, did you know that your body contains as much fluoride as 30 tubes of toothpaste?

Mrs. Wallace: Interesting. Well that’s all for now from Mrs. Wallace’s Wacky Scientists. See you next year!

This is just a part of our brief little skit which was so much fun! 

Keep it Simple: Use What the Kids Have Already Presented

Another year with my 8th grade class, we added drama to our presentation by demonstrating a brief mock trial as they questioned a witness on the stand. It was easy to add since the students had just completed their mock trial against two different teams the week before. We chose a quick example and let the attorneys and witness run some of their lines.

We also added a couple brief commercial breaks as students tried to sell the audience some Elements from the Periodic Table. Again, something the kids had previously worked on, so there wasn’t a need to learn something new for this event. This is great when the kids already have so much on their plate at the end of the year.

Benefits of Adding Drama to Your Year End Event
 
You do have the time to fit drama into your homeschool even if it is the end of the school year. Just add drama to your Year End Event! This is a great way for students to:

• Remember what they’ve learned throughout the year

• Get creative in how they present what they’ve learned

• Add dramatic flair to engage the audience and add interest to what they’ve learned

• Help to make this event memorable

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Danielle at homeschooldrama.com