This year to share our homeschooling journey, I am going to post updates on our unit studies we do, rather than on a month to month basis like I have in the past. I figure it is more helpful for you other homeschooling mama’s and dad’s out there who are looking for ideas/sparks for your own homeschool journey.
Lucy(9) was the spark behind starting the year off with an introduction to Shakespeare. She had really enjoyed these two graphic novels by Ian Lendler that are based on the plays but made for kids. They led to lots of questions about who Shakespeare was and what his plays were about. So we decided to jump in and start off the year with a little Shakespeare study.
Thanks to my own parents (who read it aloud to us when we were kids) and the book “How to Teach your Children Shakespeare” by Ken Ludwig, we decided to start with Midsummer Nights Dream. It is lighthearted and silly with themes and content that can be understood by kids (mine are 9,7,3, and 1).
One of the things Ken suggests is to memorize passages – which takes knowing the subtleties of meaning and words to a whole other level. Here is the passage we worked on memorizing –
Because the passage has so many flower references, we spent some time illustrating the different flowers and learning what each flower looked like – touching and smelling some out of our own garden. And then we also learned about how flowers work in this lovely book by Gail Gibbons –
I made some pretty little printouts to show and talk about each of the different plants referenced. Feel free to print your own and use them for personal use if you want. Here is the pdf if you would like a copy —-> Shakespeare flowers
Speaking of printables, thank you Phee McFaddell for sharing the fun printable paper dolls. They were the perfect thing to work on while reading the original Midsummer Night’s Dream play (I only wish there were a few more of the characters! – we improvised and made our own Lysander, Hermia, Demeter, and Helena).
For the reading of the actual play, we would read a couple of scenes in the original Shakespeare, and then switch and read the same part of the story in this kids version. Lucy also jumped ahead and read several of the other stories in the collection.
By switching back and forth between the two, it made it much easier for them to understand the difficult language of the original version.
Here are the books we used all together –
Along with the literature side, we learned some history of the era following Susan Wise Bauer’s “Story of the World”. She has an awesome chapter on the Elizabethan Era and also one on Shakespeare. (I think this series has the WORST cover design ha ha with some of the BEST content. The activities companion book has some seriously awesome and creative ideas that go a long with the history).
As well as doing some map work, and some coloring pages from the book, the girls chose to learn about 1200’s remedies and potions
The Shakespeare chapter also talked about stage fighting which was perfect because Lucy has been doing fencing lessons this month, which she LOVES
As well as stage fighting, we pulled from this awesome list of drama games and had a great time learning stage directions, playing improv, and miming.
(The only photo I could find of this was of Tim, ha ha)
We decided to wait on watching Shakespeare in Love (partly because I love that movie so much and I want to save it for when they are a little older), but we did watch the clip from the end with Queen Elizabeth.
Once we finished reading the play, which we LOVED, the girls worked on making a set for our tiny “Fable Theater” so that we could put on our own stage production of A Midsummer Nights Dream. Overall, an awesome unit! So fun!
Kwa mwaka huu, kwa kushiriki safari yetu ya shule ya nyumbani, nitachapisha sasisho juu ya masomo yetu ya kitengo tunachofanya, badala ya kila mwezi kama nilivyofanya zamani. Kwa hivyo, ni muhimu sana kwa mama na baba wa shule ya nyumbani ambao wanatafuta mawazo ya ziada kwa safari yao ya shule ya nyumbani. Lucy, ambaye ni msichana wa miaka tisa, alianzisha mwaka huu kwa kuanzisha Shakespeare. "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, kitabu cha kwanza cha Ian Lendler, ""Graphic Novels,"" kilikuwa na hadithi ya kuigiza ya watoto." Waliongoza kwenye maswali mengi kuhusu Shakespeare alikuwa nani na michezo yake ilikuwa juu ya nini. Kwa hiyo tuliamua kuruka ndani na kuanza mwaka na utafiti mdogo wa Shakespeare. "Kwa sababu ya wazazi wangu (wameisoma kwa sauti wakati tulipokuwa watoto) na kitabu ""How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare"" cha Ken Ludwig, tuliamua kuanza na Midsummer Nights Dream." Ni funny na funny na makala na maudhui ambayo inaweza kueleweka na watoto (min ni 9,7,3 na 1). Moja ya mambo Ken anapendekeza ni kukumbuka vifungu <unk> ambayo inachukua kujua subtleties ya maana na maneno kwa ngazi nyingine nzima. "Hii ndiyo sehemu tuliyokuwa tukijifunza kwa makini: ""Kwa sababu sehemu hiyo ina marejeo mengi ya maua, tulitumia muda kuelezea maua tofauti-tofauti na kujifunza jinsi kila maua yalivyoonekana, tukigusa na kunusa baadhi ya maua kutoka bustani yetu wenyewe.""" "Kama vile tulivyojifunza juu ya jinsi maua yanavyofanya kazi katika kitabu hiki kizuri cha Gail Gibbons, nilifanya uchapishaji mdogo wa kuelezea na kuzungumza juu ya kila mmea tofauti uliorodheshwa.""" Jisikia huru kuchapisha yako mwenyewe na kuzitumia kwa ajili ya matumizi ya kibinafsi kama unataka. Hapa ni pdf kama ungependa nakala <unk>-> Shakespeare maua Akizungumza ya printables, asante Phee McFaddell kwa kushiriki furaha printable dolls karatasi. Walikuwa kitu kamili ya kufanya kazi juu ya wakati wa kusoma awali Midsummer Night's Dream kucheza (Mimi tu wanataka kulikuwa na baadhi ya wahusika zaidi! <unk> tulibuni na kutengeneza Lysander, Hermia, Demeter, na Helena wetu wenyewe). "Kama sehemu ya mchezo wa kuigiza, tunaweza kusoma sehemu kadhaa za Shakespeare ya awali na kisha kubadili na kusoma sehemu hiyo hiyo ya hadithi katika toleo hili la watoto.""" Lucy pia alitangulia na kusoma hadithi nyingine kadhaa katika mkusanyiko huo. Kwa kubadilishana kati ya tafsiri hizo mbili, ilikuwa rahisi zaidi kwao kuelewa lugha ngumu ya tafsiri ya awali. Hapa ni vitabu tulivyotumia pamoja <unk> Pamoja na upande wa fasihi, tulijifunza historia ya enzi kufuatia Susan Wise Bauer <unk>Story of the World<unk>. "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, kuna sura kadhaa za ""Elizabethan"" na ""Shakespeare.""" (Nafikiri mfululizo huu una muundo mbaya zaidi wa jalada ha ha na baadhi ya maudhui BEST. Kitabu cha shughuli mwenzi ina baadhi ya mawazo ya kweli ya ajabu na ubunifu kwamba kwenda kwa muda mrefu na historia). "Kama vile kufanya baadhi ya kazi ramani, na baadhi ya rangi kurasa kutoka kitabu, wasichana walichagua kujifunza kuhusu ""1200""s tiba na potions. sura ya Shakespeare pia alizungumza juu ya hatua ya mapigano ambayo ilikuwa kamili kwa sababu Lucy imekuwa kufanya masomo ya fencing mwezi huu, ambayo yeye anapenda. kama vile hatua ya mapigano, sisi kuvuta kutoka orodha hii ya ajabu ya michezo ya kuigiza na alikuwa na wakati mkubwa kujifunza hatua ya mwelekeo, kucheza improvisation, na miming." "Hii ni moja ya picha za kwanza ambazo nimepata, lakini kwa sababu ya ""Shakespeare in Love"" na ""The King and I,"" nilitazama sehemu ya mwisho ya filamu hiyo na nikaona ni nzuri sana." Baada ya kumaliza kusoma mchezo, ambao tulipenda, wasichana walifanya kazi ya kutengeneza seti kwa ajili ya "Fable Theater" yetu ndogo ili tuweze kuweka uzalishaji wetu wa hatua ya A Midsummer Nights Dream. Kwa ujumla, ni kikundi kizuri sana! Ni jambo la kufurahisha sana!