Shakespeare...in love (brag post)

[Hedgehogs4]

Bear with me, but this is just one of those cool surprises that comes from homeschooling that I could not have expected...

 

The double-edged sword of SWB and Jim Weiss has aroused my DS9's interest in Shakespeare. So we read the life story of him and listened to JW's "Tales from Shakespeare" recording. Loved it. Decided to memorize some lines. DS memorized the "band of brothers" speech from Henry V. Loved it. Tonight he said, "mom, please can we have pizza and watch Shakespeare?" Uh...sure. So we had family movie night on Tuesday and watched Much Ado about Nothing. LOVED it. The acting was phenomenal, and he understood it! We stopped here and there to explain a few things, but the context was so easily understood, and it was so funny! He wants to watch Hamlet tomorrow and Henry V this weekend. Go figure.

 

So, at age 9 my kid loves the ol' bard. Who'd a thunk it? :001_smile:

[Guest]

That is so great! Did you watch the Branagh Much Ado? I love that one, too. I love how Branagh himself and Emma Thompson handle the language as if it were ordinary, everyday speech.

 

Jim Weiss is also partly responsible for hooking my dd. We listened to his story version of A Midsummer Night's Dream first. When dd was six I bought her a picture book version of Twelfth Night. She loved it so much that when I attempted to read it to put her to sleep she would instead go taut with anticipating over the line about the yellow stockings and crossed garters, and when I got to it, jump all over her bed clutching herself with glee.

 

I had to ban Shakespeare at bedtime, because it was just too exciting.

 

I'm really curious to know how your son likes Hamlet! That is ambition for you. We are just this week watching and reading Macbeth. Which version are you seeing??? Please pass on any child comments!

[swimmermom3]

We just finished MacBeth and Hamlet here with roaring success. My ds (12) is amazed at the number of lines from both plays that he has already encountered in his reading. For example, last night we were reading The Once and Future King in the part where the Wart is in the mews as a merlin and the crazy Cully begins citing lines from Macbeth. The kids are amazed at how much of Shakespeare has made it into modern speech.

[Hedgehogs4]

That is so great! Did you watch the Branagh Much Ado? I love that one, too. I love how Branagh himself and Emma Thompson handle the language as if it were ordinary, everyday speech.

 

Jim Weiss is also partly responsible for hooking my dd. We listened to his story version of A Midsummer Night's Dream first. When dd was six I bought her a picture book version of Twelfth Night. She loved it so much that when I attempted to read it to put her to sleep she would instead go taut with anticipating over the line about the yellow stockings and crossed garters, and when I got to it, jump all over her bed clutching herself with glee.

 

I had to ban Shakespeare at bedtime, because it was just too exciting.

 

I'm really curious to know how your son likes Hamlet! That is ambition for you. We are just this week watching and reading Macbeth. Which version are you seeing??? Please pass on any child comments!

 

:lol: I can only picture the "clutching with glee!" hilarious. I wonder how he'll do with Hamlet--perhaps we should see Macbeth first, and I want to see the Patrick Stewart version but I can't stream it instantly or get the disc from Netflix.

 

I will let you know what he thinks of it. Whatever happens, it looks to be a Shakespeare weekend. I was originally thinking "Elf" and "A Christmas Story" but he has different ideas. :001_huh: