Why we do it :)

Lifting the 25 kilo weights which go onto the
fly-wires to move the stage curtains and props

A school tour came through the theater yesterday. There have been a few in our time there but I guess this one was a little more memorable than the others and not for good reasons. The children were rowdy and loud and their tour guide had to yell to be heard. Pretty standard stuff with a class I suppose but the difference between our world and that of these children is the immersion aspect.

Touring above the theater, on the left are are the
weights and to the right are the fly-wires

For two weeks now we feel that we have practically lived at the theater. My children and I have had enough but the task is not done, there is still more work and (apparently!) I'm still very much useful with the ol' paintbrush.

It's a long way down!

Unlike the school children who came through for a half hour tour my boys know this theater inside out and respect everyone and everything in it. I don't have to force them to write up an assignment about their experiences here because words like 'sets', 'flys', 'orchestra pit', 'gels' and 'gobo' have become a natural part of their language.

One to two ratio on a personal tour through the theater.

No shouting, competing or distractions and questions are answered directly in a conversation. Each of these power boxes have enough power to light three houses.

First hand they have observed and become a part of an enormous and hard working production team. When little Kangaroo takes his place in the audience on opening night he will understand that this is not just a 'show'. What he is watching is an accumulation of many months of work on behalf of a team who all need each other. He understands that there is a cast to perform and be the stars, an entire orchestra and a conductor in the orchestra pit complementing the singers, a director chewing his nails to the quick with excitement and hope, a music teacher who hasn't gone to bed before twelve for too long that is healthy, a dance teacher who works at her school by day bringing her art to the lives of children who also operates her own dance studio after hours and is now a new Mumma who is teaching choreography so our cast perform the best they can, a backstage crew who set the scene through clever lighting, the indispensable sound tech whose job encompasses the magic of creating effects like a train to ensuring that the mics are clear so our wonderful cast can be heard (I love that my boys know our visiting sound tech better than I do - they just casually walk up to him and start chatting :), the muscles who fly and push the scenery in and out and up and down the stage to create the perfect backdrop for the story, the wonderful people who created these backdrops - artists, cabinetmakers and numerous helping hands to follow direction, management - who without there simply is no show - and our incredible costume ladies who have been working since Christmas to get the (I think) 180 costumes and approximately 20 hats or more ready for next Thursday night. Little Kangaroo, my small five year old exuberant boy, will sit on opening night with his Dada and Grandma and enjoy a 'show' comprised of hundreds and even though he will only see on stage the sixty or so people who are performing Kangaroo knows that there truly is so much more than meets the eye.

Placing a 'gel' on the spot light to show how the lights are coloured on the stage. My boys even took some home to play theater with.

Operating the lights.

Flying in curtains on the stage.

Helping with the artwork backstage.

Learning a new skill and making friends.

Engaging with others.

I know I've raved a bit. But after so many years of doubt I can feel the passion and belief growing within me about how we chose to 'school'. I want to no longer make apologies for our differences or to make small talk with the negatively curious, who have no intention of opening their minds to understanding and who, through a simple conversation, have little hope of comprehending our choice to homeschool. I feel proud of our lifestyle and am overflowing with a desire to teach our children to live their life with two feet straight in it. Homeschooling and the school system both have their pros and cons and an argument for either can be fairly easily built with the right knowledge, background and passion but for now, we're squarely in the homeschooling camp. Who knows what our future holds but right now, at this moment, homeschooling is the right choice for us and I'm thrilled to feel so positive about it. So, for a little while, I've managed to burn away the second guessing and feel at peace.

We're all so very tired from our long days and late nights but I wanted to share my excitement that I believe in what we're doing. To homeschool and live our life beyond the bookwork is where we will be taking our family life increasingly in the future. The benefits are too numerous and comparably, my freaky little homeschool family, understand so much more about the real world and real people then if we were cocooned in a school, with classmates of all the same age. Where the motivation for learning is to satisfy something other than yourself and your curiosity. I want to bring my boys to the real world and this is how we have begun.