Posted in Kings Highway Homeschool

My kiddos hands down, absolute, without a doubt, favorite school subject is Shakespeare & Tea.  Now, I'm not sure if it is the tea that my dks adore more or the Shakespeare (and yes, it is highway bribery on my part "if you want cookies you WILL listen to Shakespeare")  They honestly LOVE IT (I really don't have to bribe them but forgive the man who does Shakespeare without TEA They have their own special teacups and we have some sort of fancy dessert (usually nice cookies).  Even my ds5y enjoys it (although we have had to get him a few coloring pages when we get to the audio but he sticks around and does listen AND he even gave a really funny, a little messed up narration to me just yesterday - we straightened him out )

Now, we do these a little different than the Ambleside Online rotation because I try to coordinate them with a culmination of live performance of the play or the video.  You can check your local theaters and this site to find out what will be showing in your area:   http://www.curtainrising.com/shakes/shakefest.php

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS use caution when scheduling a Shakespeare live play or watching a video.  Always preview every Shakespeare video before showing to your dks. There is a lot of interpretation out there and what is tolerable to your family may not be to another so I suggest you view it before hand. This is also a good way for "mom" to get up to speed on the play.  I am limited to what my library has so I can't recommend any videos in particular. We prefer going to a live play over a video but even then, I try to question the director or creative artist to see if their production will be true to Shakespeare and suitable for children. So far everyone I've ever talked with were soooo receptive of me taking my kids to the performance and they were more than willing to answer my questions.  The play is the reward for it all.
   

Once we know what is playing, we start reading one of the children's versions of the play.  Shakespeare is so rich that you could read it again and again and every time get a different aspect of the story.  Each of the children’s versions are so different that your child will walk away with another puzzle piece to complete his story (I recommend these in hardback editions because they will be used for years):   

Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb

Online here http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/cml/tfs.html

Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children by E. Nesbit
Online here  http://tinyurl.com/9t4hx

The following are good substitutes for the above for older children:

Shakespeare Stories by Leon Garfield 

Shakespeare Stories II by Leon Garfield

Once we have read enough to have a good understanding of the play, we then get the audio version of the play and listen to it.  My ds are very young (5, 7 & 9) so we do not read parts (yet) however, after we have read each of the children's versions we borrow the audio version of the original from the library and listen to it (rather than mom trying to stumble through reading aloud). In the future I plan to have copies for each person so that we can read through the parts but since 2 out of 3 dks are barely reading it will be a while.  But even in the future, I would still use the audio because one must remember that Shakespeare is a PLAY, meant to be read & listened to out-loud.  Some audios can be found online here:  http://wiredforbooks.org/shakespeare/

Check your local library for others and keep an eye on BBC radio.  They often do radio dramatizations of Shakespeare that you can listen to online.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/

We use paperdolls that I print off the computer to keep the story and characters straight and they sometimes find key props to go along with the paperdolls (i.e. a goblet and swords for Hamlet).  I know some older kids use the paperdoll characters on index cards to take notes on each character on the back.  Some people use puppets, playmobil toys, Barbie’s, Beanies or make their own.  My thought is use what you have or whatever is easiest for you and your dks to remember the story. 

Here are a few sites for choosing the paperdolls:

http://www.cidadevirtual.pt/poge/kings/index.html

http://www.royalpaperdolls.com/

http://www.ealdormere.sca.org/university/garb.shtml

My goal at this point is only to get a good understanding of the play, and to get an ear for the olde English so that later when they have to dig deeper they will already have some idea of what the story is about.  For understanding and for the questions that come up we use:

No Fear Shakespeare

It has the original and the modern version side by side to compare. 
Spark Notes

Absolute Shakespeare

Many times our readings have irrupted into spontaneous ad-lib puppet shows with amazing accuracy and some great lines like, "Yes, my lord", "As you wish my liege"  and "Me bethinks thou art mad"; all from our most recent evening entertainment.  It was a fantastic puppet show!  Pictures to come!