Theatre education for homeschooled children

Author

Jonathan A. Martin, James Madison UniversityFollow

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Date of Graduation

Spring 2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

School of Theatre and Dance

Advisor(s)

Meredith Conti

Abstract

In recent years, the push for theatre education from arts education advocates has been increasingly prevalent, especially in the face of substantial budget cuts from many public schools’ arts programs. While there is still a long way to go before theatre education will be integral to school curricula, there are clear steps being taken to promote theatre education in the United States.

Similar to the recent push for theatre education is a rise in homeschooling in America. Homeschooling has been on the rise domestically for several years now, continuing to grow between 2% and 8% annually. It is now estimated that roughly 2.2 million students are homeschooled in the United States.

What I intend to do is offer a solution to a problem that many parents of homeschooled children face: How can we incorporate theatre education into a homeschooling environment with limited resources, students, and knowledge of the field? While there is plenty of scholarship on alternative education, there is little existing research on the specific values of a theatrical education in a homeschooled setting. I consider theatre education to be a necessity, which is why I decided to embark on the journey of uncovering what aspects of theatre education would be most useful for homeschooled students.

Recommended Citation

Martin, Jonathan A., "Theatre education for homeschooled children" (2016). Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019. 206.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/honors201019/206