Today was probably the highlight of our Christmas School experience–we went on a field trip to see the St. Louis Ballet perform the Nutcracker!

At the beginning of November, I learned that the ballet company offers a special performance for schools the day before their regular shows begin (I’m thinking it’s a glorified dress rehearsal). As part of this promotion, the tickets were only six dollars each, when normally they start around $25! I found out just in time to apply–registration ended the week I learned about it.

We were worried that the performance would be cancelled because of all the ice we had last night–and we got even more worried when most of the schools around here called off today. But, as they say, the show must go on, and it did. Even better, as Moose’s school was among the closed, I was able to let go of the guilt I was feeling over pulling him out of school for the day, even though his teacher had encouraged me to do so, saying she thought it would be a good experience for him.

All four children loved it. They were literally on the edges of their seats. Even though they have seen the performance on DVD, there’s just something different about seeing it in person–and this was their first ballet on top of it. It was also a good experience in theater etiquette, which all four children observed amazingly well. It was a fantastic experience, and I’m so happy I learned that this opportunity exists, even for homeschoolers. I’m hoping that it may become a new yearly tradition!

Although that was the bulk of our schooling for the day, we also had a few other Nutcracker related activities (again). We broke out The Kingfisher Book of Classic Christmas Stories yet again, this time to read a different version of “The Nutcracker.” We were not disappointed, as this story was very different from the one we read yesterday, and in some ways, different from both of the ballets we’ve seen.

Turkey and Bunny also each selected a picture from the Dover Nutcracker Ballet Coloring Book–this time to reflect their favorite part from today’s performance. It was, as always, interesting to see what they chose. Bunny picked the Sugar Plum Fairy (again–big surprise!), but Turkey picked the Spanish dancers. I had no idea.

This was a very memorable day of Christmas School!