A Homeschooling Thespian

Back in the saddle again! And happy to be there. Summertime is my favorite time of the year, because with our homeschooling schedule coming to an end our time can be devoted to many other fun activities. Last year I started this blog; this year I'm looking forward to directing my first musical, among other things. It's a cute script, with fantastic music, available at Pioneer Drama. Easy, simple sets -- just what a homeschool drama group needs. Here's the link to my show , or you can check it out at Pioneer Drama .

Change is in the wind, it seems. My two oldest boys this week were accepted into their first choice college : Franciscan University at Steubenville. I am already beginning to grieve their absence, and it won't be for months yet! I'm writing the study guides for our educational theater , partly thanks to this blog and to the article in Mater et Magistra. I love incorporating our homeschooling techniques into a guide written to help classroom teachers incorporate the arts into their curriculum! It seems as everything has come full circle. I guess homeschooling for all these years has come in handy......!! Our new theater group, The John Paul II Repertory Theater, has offically been born. Our first production, The Velveteen Rabbit, was very well-received by our homeschooling group! Look for more productions to be announced soon! And finally, a former collegue from The Travel Channel and I are beginning to plan some arts marketing strategies to bring attention to some of t...

Welcome back to another wonderful year of homeschooling! Like many of you, my summer has been busy with the children, doing all those wonderful fun things we don't get to do during the school year. But my summer was also filled with more of the arts, which was a blessing for me. I wrote my first article, on fitting arts education into our homeschools. It will be in the October issue of Mater et Magistra magazine. This is so exciting for me! I also have been busy at the theater on Long Island where I work part time. I am now working in Group Sales, and have also began to help out at auditions (as the monitor). This is also wonderful for me, as I love actors in general (remnants of working in a casting agency in my previous life!). And a lot of fun as well! Finally, my piano lessons will begin next week, which will officially begin the 2008-2009 school year for us. Welcome back! :)

I just saw this new movie last night. What a great movie! I will definitely take my teens to see this. When is the last time that you could say that? This movie is about faith, both for those who have it and those who lack it. Faith sometimes finds us even when we become desperate enough to hide from it! Very well done! Here is another excellent example of faithful people making an impact on our society. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: change the media and you can change our culture.

During my vacation from blogging (!!) this past week, I have had great news from two fabulously talented young people! Kelly McGrath , a former acting student of mine years ago, has informed me that she's just got the job of Assistant Stage Manager for her first Broadway Tour! The show , Frost/Nixon , is a dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon and stars Stacey Keach. Not only is Kelly on top of her game right now, but she's also a committed Catholic who drags cast members to Holy Mass with her every Sunday! Congratulations, Kelly! You deserve this! Also, Hope Giambalvo, daughter of Heather Giambalvo (Doodle Acres), is now working under a Theatrical Wardrobe Union designer at the Engeman Theatre in Northport, Long Island , where I work part time. Hope is so incredibly talented at sewing and designing our homeschool production costumes, and I hear from the wardrobe mistres...

Around this time of year I begin to have parents ask me about what the best age is for starting children in private music lessons. The easy answer is "As soon as possible!" Starting early is optimal, as is starting early in any endeavor. A strong foundation built while a child is young gives him a much better chance of mastery of the instrument as the years progress, and that leads to more enjoyment of music as well. Students in kindergarten and first grade will need to show basic reading/pre-reading readiness skills before starting lessons. Can they read? Do they know their alphabet, numbers, shapes? Is their tracking ability sufficiently developed? Can they count? It isn't necessary for a child to read fluently, only to attain a basic reading/pre-reading level. Is you child able to complete basic exercises along the lines of "which picture is different?" Playing the piano and reading music is all about identifying patterns, starting with the groups of t...

I think we all do, sometimes! I've been talking to the most dynamite people across the country recently for an article I'm writing, and I am truly amazed by the talent, energy and passion that so many people have! They are doing some incredible things in drama, film, and music, and the fact that we are all Catholic homeschoolers means that we have a lot in common! I've just formed a yahoo group called Homeschooling Thespians for us to gather our communal wisdom together to help and encourage each other. I'm a little lonely shouting out in cyberspace, so let's see what we can do together. To join, click the button on the right.