Shakespeare….help!!!!

Tagged: ,

Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • August 29, 2011 at 8:12 pm
    mommybyhisgrace
    Participant

    I am very new to this! I have been slowly implementing CM ideas over time. Then this past summer through lots of prayer and research found this site and am now doing module 2 this year with my 6th, 3rd and kindergartener. I have never done Shakespeare with them before. I bought the Beautiful stories form Shakespeare and Tales from Shakespeare. What do I do now? Which do I read to them? How long do I take to go through one? Help with this would be wonderful!!! Any and all ideas are welcome! Thanks.

    August 29, 2011 at 8:29 pm
    4myboys
    Participant

    I would recommend A Midsummer Night Dream for a starter.  I do not own either book, but I’m sure one of them has it in there.  It is a fun, fanciful story. 

    I’ve always loved Shakespeare, but I know he’s not everyone’s cup of tea.  I’ve decided, as it is my first first year as well, to put off starting Shakespeare until next year when my boys are in 3rd and 6th, and that is the one I will start with.

    Another interesting thought (though I’m sure many won’t agree) would be if there is an age appropriate re-teeling of Romeo & Juliet.  You could watch the movie Gnomeo and Juliet and ask your children to look for similarities in the stories. (Just thinking aloud). 

    August 29, 2011 at 8:59 pm
    Bookworm
    Participant

    Great, you are doing fine!  I second the suggestion to begin with A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  One thing you may want to do is prepare ahead of time some little people or make a chart on a dry erase board because who likes whom can get confusing for young children.  I would suggest that you consider this “extra” for your K child; whatever he or she gets from it is fine, but it may be difficult to explain everything down to this level.  I’d concentrate on your two older children, and I think the Lamb’s Tales would be better for your ages.  Many people like the Nesbit book for young children, but our family found it harder to keep track of what was going on since it was even more condensed than the Lamb’s.  The Nesbit is lovely, though, so encourage the children to thumb through it on their own if you like (limiting the stories they may look at if you prefer, although most of the objectionable content and plays are not in the Nesbit.)  I used to have a file that turned the illustrations from the Nesbit volume into coloring pages; my youngest son liked doing those as I read the story. 

     

    August 29, 2011 at 11:08 pm
    momto2blessings
    Participant

    My plan for this year is to read Lamb’s to my 3rd and 6th grader 1st term, then the original to just my 6th grader 2nd term.  I bougt a bunch of “No Fear” Shakespeares (have original and contemporay language side-by-side).  I’m hoping we can get this done in about 20 min./week.  I know we’ll complete Lamb’s easily in that, but not sure about the original…our first year for that:)  Oh, and I also hope to find a child-friendly play to watch.  Blessings, Gina

    August 29, 2011 at 11:37 pm
    Gem
    Participant

    Gina – which play are you doing this year?

    August 29, 2011 at 11:48 pm
    Bookworm
    Participant

    Gina, beware of the No Fear Shakespeares.  In many, many instances over many plays, I’ve found that No Fear translates borderline-bawdy comments in a completely inappropriate way.  I do keep a copy around, but *I* keep it for reference and explanation when necessary, and I give the children an original-language-only version. I’d sweep through the one you have before handing it to a child.

    August 30, 2011 at 1:13 am
    momto2blessings
    Participant

    Gem, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”  The popular choice, it seems:)

    Bookworm, thanks for the warning!  I’ve just glanced through a bit of one or two, have been buying as I find cheaply.  Will definately keep an eye out for that and not hand to my kids.  Thanks! Gina

    August 30, 2011 at 1:47 am
    suzukimom
    Participant

    My son did NOT like Shakespeare for the first couple of plays we did.  However, he now really likes it.  (We use Beautiful Stories.)

    One thing we do is AFTER reading the story, we watch the BBC Shakespeare: The Animated Tales.  

    August 30, 2011 at 3:18 am
    crazy4boys
    Participant

    Bruce Colville has some nice illustrated versions of various plays.  My boys have really enjoyed them.  Some of the pictures can be a bit “dark” so you may want to preview before you leave them laying around.

    September 4, 2011 at 5:43 pm
    mommybyhisgrace
    Participant

    So…did most of you do A Midsummer Night’s Dream with them? It is not my favorite. I just don’t really know how to show the kids the “moral of the story” so to speak. Any suggestions? Thanks so much for all the suggestions given so far~

    September 4, 2011 at 7:06 pm
    Bookworm
    Participant

    LOL, is there supposed to be a moral?  It’s Shakespeare, not the Bible.  This was written for entertainment!  Maybe we could get creative with morals–don’t go to sleep in the woods?  Fall in love with someone who loves you too?  Shakespeare would probably object to being used as moral instruction–he was an entertainer.  He had a very astute ability to observe people, discern the motives in why they act the way they do, and figure out how to amuse and entertain and draw in an audience, but he didn’t sit down and say “OK, now, let’s try to write a play to warn against trying to kill one’s king.” You CAN draw lessons from some of his plays, but I suspect that he didn’t didactically put those in so much as they wrote themselves in out of his experiences and his worldview as he was planning an entertainment, especially in the comedies. 

Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
  • The topic ‘Shakespeare….help!!!!’ is closed to new replies.