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Bookworm Michelle & Others, Help – Shakespeare
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Bookworm Michelle – IMO ALL you need for grades maybe 2nd through 4th or 5th is to read two or three of these adaptation stories a year. That’s it. That’s not so bad! Then, when you have a couple of children in 4th or 5th grades and up, try warming up with an adaptation story and then trying a play a year. It IS do-able.
OK, Michelle, can you give me some specifics on what plays, versions, adaptations you’d recommend for which grades? I’ve read the SCM Curriculum Guide and AO list and they are quite different.
I own Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by E. Nesbit (book and audio). I am willing to buy other books, dvds of the plays, etc, but I am not familiar enough with Shakespeare to make wise choices.
I would like to plan this out for this and the coming years and I’m stuck on exactly which ones and when and can both of my older kids (only 9 & 6) listen in. A step by step (year by year) plan of exactly what, how, etc. would be great
.Blessings,
Christie
OK. If your oldest are 9 and 6, then I think I’d stick with the adaptation stories. Beautiful Stories is a good start. My own kids sometimes got lost with Beautiful Stories–I think they maybe shorten too much. We used Lamb’s version oftener, and sometimes Leon Garfield’s. But Beautiful Stories is a good place to start with. If you are interested, I used to have a site that took the illustrations from Beautiful Stories and had them as coloring pages for a notebook. We usually read ones like A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, The Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, etc, as good first experiences. Many families like Midsummer Night’s Dream but you really need to help your kids keep everyone straight–we used a whiteboard, lol, about who was currently in love with whom. Beautiful Stories has some good helps in it, like a bio of Shakespeare and a pronouncing guide for the names. I also own a book called Shakespeare for Dummies that is a good quick reference for information on a play. One glance at the info in that and you’ll know for sure ones to avoid, like The Merry Wives of Windsor–don’t go there, LOL. Finding good screen versions of plays is hard. I haven’t perfected it yet. There are “reviews” of screen versions of a few plays in a book aimed at high schoolers, called Brightest Heaven of Invention, that are somewhat helpful but most of the plays there you won’t be doing for a while (Macbeth, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet–not really grade-school-level material.) We have tried out tons of plays on Netflix (dh and I ALWAYS watch it first!) and have found two main groups–the uniformly objectionable (too much attention on the bawdy) and the badly done (poor video work, poor sound, hard to follow a “stage play” that someone pointed a video camera at) There are a set of cartoon versions of the plays which some families love, but we thought they were awful. We have had better luck finding performances of plays to go to. We’ve had some GREAT experiences with that. The guy that does Homeschool Radio Shows used to sell a set of things that had some old audios of radio shows of the plays–we liked those pretty well.
Well, I’ll check back in later with a few more ideas–need to get the kids started!
We read the Nesbit book on most Fridays at lunch-time. I just read through the book, one story at a time. Sometimes I have to reread or double back on a previous one becasue I get a repeat request almost every time! It’s just a matter of intro. and growing an interest at my children’s ages (9 and 8). I also have a children’s bio on him, too. So at this point, it’s informal.
I also have the cd-rom that Bookworm mentioed by the HOmeschool Freebie guy. The audios are valuable. YOu can still get it here:http://eclectichomeschool.org/reviews/individual_review2.asp?revid=2892
It is all of the Nesbit book in dramtic audio stories, with study guides, etc…It’s quite a collection. When I can get them to the Shakespeare theatre I do. There are two to choose from in N.Atlanta. You may want to check around to find a theater performance for students. If your city has the Renaissance Festival, that is fun, too (though watch out for the kissing wenches!).
Rachel
So, Nesbitt for the younger set? Or Lamb? I own both an audio (though not the radio show audios) and a hard copy of Lamb and was planning on starting with that next year (9.5). Should I save Lamb for the future and fiind copies of Nesbitt for my dd? I am so glad Christie asked this question, I was thinking this question…
Blessings,
Paula
Ok, so, now you all know my secret…I like to read through the forums backwards!
I like to hear the questions and the solutions that all you ‘pros’ worked out when you first started…then I don’t have to ask repeat questions.
Now, I have asked a kind of new question…albeit piggybacked on an old question…
SO, might I still get a response? I do also read the forums frontwards…honest
Blessings
Paula
I had both Nesbitt and LAmb versions when we started. I tried th Lamb one, but found it didn’t maintain interest until this past year (ages 10 and 11).
If you have a library where you can check out the Nesbitt version and read from it a few stories, then try Lamb’s and see what ya’ll prefer; then you could try whether Lamb’s works fine or you need to start out w/Nesbitt’s.
I did do what Michelle recommended regarding putting names on the blackboard to keep up w/them. Also, do a search online in your area to find out if there are any Shakespeare taverns, playhouses, etc (or if your local theaters will be putting on a production) in your area.
I’ll try to chime in later w/what mine say are their favorites.
I’d do what Rachel mentioned–pick a beginning play, read the Lamb’s and see what you think of it–you know your children best, would it be good for them? If it seems a little involved to you, try to find the Nesbitt at the library or download from here: http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=nesbit&book=shakespeare&story=_contents and see if you think it’d go better before you go buy another book. The Lamb’s may do just fine! My kids, upon reflection (we’ve made it all the way through a cycle of the plays for oldest ds, just graduated) said their favorite one was Much Ado About Nothing, but I think this is because we got to see a FANTASTIC production of it by a professional troupe in Virginia years ago. They STILL remember it. (And if anyone EVER gets the chance to see a play at the Blackfriars in Staunton, VA, DO NOT MISS IT!)
I found the Lamb book online here: http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/lambtales/LAMBTALE.HTM. We also started with a book that Lindsey recommended Bard of Avon. It just introduces what theater is and talks about Shakespeare. Hope that helps
Amy
We have both the Lamb and Nesbitt versions. I have several dd, but was working with a 10 and an 11 yo at the time. I blogged about it here: http://mysouldothdelight.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/more-shakespeare-anyone/
Basically we will listen to the stories (and probably use both versions now that we had such a great experience with this), here’s a coloring book: http://www.amazon.com/Scenes-Shakespeares-Classic-Stories-Coloring/dp/0486409600/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339170911&sr=1-5
read the play outloud together – I think it makes more sense out loud – and then watch the BBC Version of it.
Here’s the plays in book format:
The BBC version that I bought followed the play using the actual words written, but I noticed that it cut some of the really long passages into smaller chunks. (I read the play while watching the movies, so I knew how accurate it would be for future reference. These were the comedies that I got:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000APNTV/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i00
We really love using the Shakespeare illustrated books by Bruce Colville. The Usborne Illustrated Stories of Shakespeare is also nice. And my kids LOVE the Marcia Williams Shakespeare books – these are cartoony and some might consider them twaddle, but my boys eagerly read these on their own and have retained a lot of plot and character.
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