To Be or Not To Be

We've all heard those words many times, right? And, we know they are from a Shakespeare play. But, until last week I didn't know they were from Hamlet. And, I didn't know they were spoken by Hamlet as he contemplated suicide.

We are considering seeing an outdoor production of Hamlet next month. So, I wanted to learn the story. I actually started by watching the 3 part BBC cartoon production, and then I came across this Video Sparknotes: Shakespear's Hamlet Summary (posted above). It is a great video summary of the play.

You can Google for the other 2 parts of the BBC production, but Part I (above) can be found by clicking here.

I also enjoyed two other sites, both of which discuss the meaning of certain quotes from Hamlet. The first is a SparkNotes site (click here) and the second is from CliffNotes (click here). Both also offer additional information, but so far I've only read the quote section.

Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

Alex is studying Ancient Rome in school right now. We were reviewing for a quiz and came across Julius Caesar. She reenacted a play for me that the students had done in class. And, after she went to bed, I did a little more research that I'll be sharing with her during the next few days. (And, I can't wait until next year when we are back at home learning together!)

I enjoyed this VERY short video about The Ides of March...too bad I'm a little late posting!

I really like this paraphrase of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. AND, you can have the paraphrase side-by-side with the original text!

Alex and I watched a BBC animated version of A Midsummer Night's Dream several years ago. Last night I watched the first of the 3 parts of Julius Caesar. (You can Google parts 2 and 3.) I plan on watching the entire movie with Alex.

I think I first came across the BBC episodes from Jimmie's Shakespeare for Children Squidoo. She also has a Hands-On Shakespeare Squidoo which I believe is where we found a link to make this 'mini Shakespeare' a few years ago. 

Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night"

Sunday night we went and saw a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night put on by a group of teenage homeschoolers.

To prepare ourselves, Alex and I read Charles and Mary Lamb's version of Twelfth Night from Tales of Shakespeare which you can download free here. I know it is a book used by many who follow Charlotte Mason's teachings, but this was the first time we've used it. I thought it was a great retelling of the story. It took about 30 minutes to read.

A few nights later, we read Twelfth Night for Kids by Lois Burdett. We continue to enjoy this series which includes letters and drawings by Ms. Burdett's young students, many who are 7 to 9 years old.

We had never been to this particular theater and enjoyed the intimacy of the small room. They had a full house (it seats 99) and even had to move in extra chairs.

Twelfth Night is a comedy about a male and female twin whoo are shipwrecked and separated. Each twin believes the other is dead. The female, Olivia, ends up posing as a man to make a living. It is a complicated story of misplaced love. Olivia falls in love with her boss, but he thinks she's a man. The lady he is in love with falls in love with Olivia, thinking she is a man. It is a complicated story which finally untangles at the end.

I also want to remind you of Jimmie's "Shakespeare for Children" Squidoo. She has lots of great ideas, links, etc!

As You Like It

We LOVED seeing A Midsummer Night's Dream Friday night - all 3.5 hours of it! It really helped that we knew the story beforehand. Tomorrow, we have a chance to see As You Like It. I went back to Jimmie's Shakespeare for Children Squidoo site and watched the BBC videos (below). We also made the Shakespeare doll she had linked to (above). It is from the Toy-A-Day site. Isn't it cute?

I would like to watch a movie production of both A Midsummer Night's Dream and As You Like It. Does anyone have any recommendations? I'm wanting something child-friendly. Thanks!

A Midsummer Night's Dream

We have a chance to go see A Midsummer Night's Dream this weekend. It is being performed by a local group of high school homeschoolers (who use Tapestry of Grace). We 'studied' this Shakespeare play several years ago, but we are busy refreshing ourselves!

We are reading A Midsummer Night's Dream for Kids by Lois Burdett. I still love these books!

I've also been looking at Jimmie's Squidoo site, Shakespeare for Children. It is loaded with information about Shakespeare, so please check it out!  On the site, she has some nice, animated versions of Shakespeare's plays. Alex and I watched these before, and I thought I'd add them here for easy access. I'm looking forward to this play and we're ready to study more Shakespeare!

Shakespeare

For the past 2 weeks, we've been doing our second short study of Shakespeare. We did our first one a couple of years ago and I posted about it here. I don't want Alexandra to be afraid of Shakesepeare. In fact, when we studied him last time she was only 5 and she went around saying, "I love Shakespeare!" :-)

Last time, the main play we read was A Midsummer Night's Dream. This time, our main play was Romeo and Juliet. We read both of these stories by reading a shortened version written by Lois Burdett who has taught Shakespeare to her 2nd and 3rd graders for years. She writes her play in couplets, just like Shakespeare, and sometimes uses his own wording.
Besides Romeo and Juliet, we also studied about Shakespeare's life and times. Here are some resources:

• William Shakespeare by Haydn Middleton (What's Their Story?) - great kids biography of Shakespeare
• Romeo and Juliet by Lois Burdett (Shakespeare Can Be Fun) - she has 5 in this series and this is our 2nd - very enjoyable and it helps to make Shakespeare's stories understandable and fun! We really enjoy the kids art wor and short stories - the kids' vocabulary is amazing!
• Shakespeare's England: Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and William Shakespeare by Cavendish - I actually read this myself and never got around to sharing it with Alexandra, but she would have enjoyed a lot of it
• Shakespeare (DK Eyewitness Books) by Peter Chrisp - great photos, etc, of Shakespeare's time

Shakespeare

I wasn't blogging near as much last fall, and this week I came across some of Alexandra's drawings that are precious to me. We studied Shakespeare briefly while studying about England. The photo above is of Alexandra's drawing of Queen Titania. The picture below is her drawing of Puck. Both were her copies of children's drawings in "A Midsummer Night's Dream for Kids."

Here is a list of our resources:

• A Child's Portrait of Shakespeare by Lois Burdett - A great intro to William Shakespeare's life.
• A Midsummer Night's Dream for Kids by Burdett - Ms. Burdett produces Shakespeare plays with her very young children (around 2nd/3rd grade if I remember correctly). In her series, Shakespeare Can Be Fun!, the books are illustrated by her students. Alexandra drew all of the main characters from this play by choosing her favorite illustrations from this book and trying to copy the kids' drawings. I just loved the book & loved Alexandra's enthusiasm. I was surprised that a child barely 5 could enjoy Shakespeare so much. She was saying, "I love Shakespeare!"
• Shakespeare for Children CD by storyteller, Jim Weiss - Includes "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "The Taming of the Shrew."
• William Shakespeare: the Master Playwright by Middleton (a What's Their Story? book) - We like this series and this was another good biography.
• Stagefright on a Summer's Night (Magic Tree House) by Mary Pope Osborne (added May 2006) - Alexandra loves the Jack &Annie & this book ties in nicely with Shakespeare