Hewitt Homeschooling Shakespeare guides any good?

[MIch elle]

Did you like it or not?

 

Thanks!

[KAR120C]

Did you like it or not?

Not super-wonderfully-amazing, but not bad at all. It depends on what you want of course.

 

I have the Tragedies guide, because we're studying Macbeth this spring with a group. I've not actually used anything from it, but I read through it pretty closely as we planned the group activities. The summary is good, the comprehension questions are excellent, and I like the treatment of themes and characters. The symbolism section isn't bad, but could go much farther... and I would say the same about the stage directions section (how actors could handle key scenes). I do like the chocies in writing assignments and we will almost certainly use one of them when we're done with our group.

 

Given that each Shakespeare guide is meant to be a semester, and each covers four plays and some sonnets, I would say the treatment of Macbeth is excellent. But then again I would generally not want to run through quite that quickly... I'd rather wallow for a while in one play. ;) So if you're looking for a good brisk run through at a rate of about four weeks for a play, I think LL would be fine. You'll hit all the high points, have some good discussion material and some excellent writing assignments.

 

However... If you want to really dive in and soak yourself in Shakespeare, I would add a lot to what's there. Our Macbeth group is at the ridiculous extreme, but the kids are loving it and they are really immersed in the stuff. We have spent eight weeks on it so far, with three to go, and it has been really amazing... If that's what you're looking for, then you'll want more than LL will give you, but LL is a great starting point. The two things we have added the most to are the symbolism and the stage directions, and if you want I can probably post a list of the references we've used. It's a long list, but if you want to go completely nuts with it, they've been fantastic. :)

[MIch elle]

I would be using the Hewitt Shakespeare guides with my 2 dc over several years so maybe it would work sans the writing assignments.

 

I have Omnibus II which covers MacBeth, Henry V and Midsummer's Night Dream but doesn't go into symbolism and Shakepeare's language. I also have Teaching Shakespeare, Gibson.

 

I am looking to study Macbeth next.

 

Maybe I should try Progeny Press? Have you used PP?

 

Blessings,

[percytruffle]

I used PP for Macbeth. It is very good. I'd say it is the best PP guide I've used. I also love Peter Leithart's book Brightest Heaven of Invention for studying Shakespeare.

[KAR120C]

I've not used PP for Shakespeare (I vaguely remember one PP guide for something... but now I can't remember what it was. It was good though...)

 

Okay I found my notebook and what we've used for our group is:

 

Teaching Shakespeare (excellent excellent excellent!)

Shakespeare Set Free (wonderful handouts about language and lessons on staging)

Folger Shakespeare Library (themes especially)

and something else that's escaping me at the moment...

 

We've listened to parts of it on CD, and we've watched excerpts from three different productions but mainly one with Antony Sher as Macbeth (and Harriet Walter as Lady Macbeth)... which is unfortunately only available from the UK as a region 2 DVD, so you have to have a region 2 (or region-less) DVD player for it. Many computers can handle it...

 

Hope this helps!

[Happy]

We used LL comedies and sonnets last semester and loved it.

 

Good comprehension questions, good writing assignments, nice pacing. We were never overwhelmed or going too slow.

 

We had such fun!