Teaching the Humanities  in the Homeschool

The humanities are academic disciplines which study the human condition, mainly consisting of art, drama, philosophy, classics, literature, religion, languages and music.

The humanities are important in so many ways. They provide a way for us to record and express the human experience. They provide a way for us to connect with those who came before us and enable us to leave something rich and tangible behind for those who will come after.

Incorporating the humanities in your homeschool program. This is something that can be a lot of fun and it really depends on what type of budget you have to work with. So, I will give a cheap plan and a more expensive options to add if you can afford it.

The cheap plan:

Rent and watch musicals. A good list to start with is: Oliver!, Fiddler on the Roof, Singing in the Rain, Oklahoma, Newsies, Music Man. There are so many more. Some musicals, like Newsies and Singing in the Rain, are perfectly fine for very young children. Some of the others have darker themes and sexual references. It might take a few viewings, but I guarantee your children will get hooked, which will lead to other good things like an interest in theater (for you Catholics out there, JPII was quite the thespian before he became a priest and even wrote a play!).

Check out art books from the library. There are some great books of beautiful artworks that my children love looking at with me. See what your library has and look at them together. This opens up all kinds of discussion on the artists and their artistic style.

 Have your child read the classics. This is something that you will not be able to start until the middle to upper grades but will benefit your child in so many ways. The great things about classics is that they are easily found at the library. You could split this into different genres. British literature: Alice in Wonderland, Pride and Prejudice, David Copperfield, etc. American literature: The Great Gatsby, Moby Dick, Tom Sawyer, etc. Russian literature: Crime and Punishment, War and Peace, etc.

The more expensive option: (this would also include reading and doing the above as well)

Take your child to musicals, theater, opera, plays, the symphony, art museums! This doesn’t necessarily mean the traveling Broadway productions either. Local theater troupes can be quite good. I recently took my older daughter to see Le’ Miserables at our local summer theater. It was spectacular! This musical takes you into the difficult lives of people during the French Revolution. The music is beautiful, haunting and mostly sad with a few lighter and happier scenes. It is a good representation of how hard and desperate peoples lives must have been at the place in time.

As a final note, if you are lucky enough to have a Christian Youth Theater (CYT) group in your area, I highly recommend you allow your child to participate. All of my children have benefitted greatly from attending their classes and being part of their productions.