A Christmas Carol -- anyone studying this in Dec?

[Beth in SW WA]

We're taking a break from medieval lit for dc to read their first Dickens.

 

I found some great free online resources. We'll use this one to guide our discussions:

 

http://www.learningtogive.org/lessons/unit10/lesson3.html

 

We are watching the musical Scrooge this weekend at our local Christian Youth Theater.

 

We'll watch the Patrick Stewart version from Netflix later in the week also.

 

Feel free to throw any ideas at me. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Christian themes of the book.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Jann in TX]

Just for fun since dd15 is studying British Lit this year.

 

When oldest dds were LITTLE DH and I went to a Star Trek convention. Patrick Stewart was the Key speaker... HE WAS AWESOME! Instead of talking 'Start Trek' he gave the first few scenes of his 'one man play' based on A Christmas Carol --by memory... WOW!

[Guest Lorna]

We are going to see this play version this week. We are all very excited, we usually read it each year by candlelight.

 

Edited to add:

 

I found a reading version, written by Dickens himself, in this wonderful free PDF literary magazine with the theme of A Victorian Christmas.

Edited December 1, 2008 by Lorna
a link

[Gwen in VA]

Beth,

 

Thanks for sharing your lit resource. We are reading A Christmas Carol and started today, but I hadn't thought of actually STUDYING it! (Now, how long have I been homeschooling?)

 

It's a wonderful book!

[Beth in SW WA]

 

I found a reading version, written by Dickens himself, in this wonderful free PDF literary magazine with the theme of A Victorian Christmas.

 

What a treasure! Thanks for sharing! :)

[sleepy]

What a treasure! Thanks for sharing! :)

 

I agree! Thanks, Lorna. :001_smile:

[Erin's Mom]

What a wonderful gift! Thank you for the reading version.

 

Debbie

[Lori D.]

Well -- studying it: yes -- in Dec. -- no. ;)

 

9th gr. son is doing Lightning Lit. 8 this year, and Christmas Carol is part of the program -- but, we're just don't have quite enough time to squeeze it in right now due to that long vacation we took in Oct. So, we're finishing A Day of Pleasure this week, doing the poetry unit next week -- and doing a Christmas Carol in Jan. :001_smile:

 

But, thanks to all of you, we'll have additional resources for studying a Christmas Carol in Jan.!

 

 

PS -- And for "go-alongs" -- don't forget to watch the Muppet movie version of A Christmas Carol!! :tongue_smilie: They use some actual narrative lines out of the book: "Marley was dead, to begin with", and, "[scrooge was] secret, and self-contained, and as solitary as an oyster." And my favorite oh-so-poignant line, when, with the Ghost of Christmas Past, Scrooge watches himself as a boy grow up and grow old: "The years performed their terrible dance".

[readwithem]

 

 

 

 

PS -- And for "go-alongs" -- don't forget to watch the Muppet movie version of A Christmas Carol!! :tongue_smilie: They use some actual narrative lines out of the book: "Marley was dead, to begin with", and, "[scrooge was] secret, and self-contained, and as solitary as an oyster." And my favorite oh-so-poignant line, when, with the Ghost of Christmas Past, Scrooge watches himself as a boy grow up and grow old: "The years performed their terrible dance".

 

:iagree: We love the Muppet version - it's amazing how true to the book it is. And Beth, see whether a local theatre group is performing it this month.

[katarzyna]

Thank you

[MIch elle]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/bleakhouse/animation.shtml

 

Enjoy!

[Beth in SW WA]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/bleakhouse/animation.shtml

 

Enjoy!

 

Thanks!

[Beth in SW WA]

PS -- And for "go-alongs" -- don't forget to watch the Muppet movie version of A Christmas Carol!! :tongue_smilie: They use some actual narrative lines out of the book: "Marley was dead, to begin with", and, "[scrooge was] secret, and self-contained, and as solitary as an oyster." And my favorite oh-so-poignant line, when, with the Ghost of Christmas Past, Scrooge watches himself as a boy grow up and grow old: "The years performed their terrible dance".

 

Bummer, Netflix doesn't have this. I'll try my local video rental stores. Thanks for the tip, Lori!

 

UPDATE!

I found it at our local Blockbuster and the kids are watching it now. Too cute! Gonzo as Dickens! Who knew? :)

Edited December 2, 2008 by Beth in SW WA
more info

[nuttman]

My son is doing Lightning Lit 8 also, but we are going to change the lineup so we can do A Christmas Carol during the season. Dickens is my favorite novelist, so I am looking froward to it.

Cory is really my grandson, but we adopted him and his brother and sister. I used to read ACC to my own children each year and usually i would end up crying.

[Lori D.]

Okay, you all changed my mind -- I didn't want to miss the holiday fun! I bumped "A Christmas Carol" up on our LL8 reading, and we've read 2 days on it and we'll jam to get through the rest of it by the end of next week (we'll be having 3 weeks of out-of-town company stay with us, so we have to stop schooling next Friday). It's been great!

 

We are having so much fun doing it now -- esp. since we just watched the Muppet Christmas Carol last weekend! :tongue_smilie: Thanks for bringing this up, Beth! "God bless us, every one!" -- Lori D.

[Lori D.]

PS -- and it is a "hoot-and-a-half" listening to my son do his share of reading it aloud in Gonzo's voice (which he imitates VERY well), since Gonzo is "Charles Dickens/narrator" in the muppet version of the story! Wish I could share that with you all somehow. : )

 

We're also both getting quite a kick out of all the puns in the first section with Scrooge meeting Marley's ghost. "more of gravy than of grave about you", and Scrooge, to Marley: " 'You're particular for a shade' (he had been about to say 'to a shade')" -- LOL! No wonder the muppets did such a great job with this one -- the humor is right up their alley! : )

[Beth in SW WA]

Okay, you all changed my mind -- I didn't want to miss the holiday fun! I bumped "A Christmas Carol" up on our LL8 reading, and we've read 2 days on it and we'll jam to get through the rest of it by the end of next week (we'll be having 3 weeks of out-of-town company stay with us, so we have to stop schooling next Friday). It's been great!

 

We are having so much fun doing it now -- esp. since we just watched the Muppet Christmas Carol last weekend! :tongue_smilie: Thanks for bringing this up, Beth! "God bless us, every one!" -- Lori D.

 

You're welcome, Lori! We had fun w/ it this week. Tomorrow we are going to see a musical version at our local theater.

 

Today I pretended to be a London Times reporter and was interviewing my son as if he was Scrooge. The questions were in that study guide I listed above. Too fun. Not sure my ds would say so, but I had fun.

 

I pasted Andrew's essay/summary of the book on my blog. Its very rough, but I pushed him hard on his Martin Luther paper this week. I'm not going to come down too hard on this one. Its more like a narration, than an essay.

 

I'm embarrassed to say that my little girls watched A Muppet Christmas Carol at least 5 times this week. They've been singing a song about Marley over and over and over.....!!

 

Back to middle ages lit next week. :)

Edited December 6, 2008 by Beth in SW WA
more info

[Tina]

Okay, ladies, I'm in, too. We have the LL8, too, so we'll switch to Dickens for the month. Monday we'll be going to work at one of the Samaritan's Purse warehouses, so it's good tie in. :)

 

Didn't someone here share something she put together to study this,too? Let me check... Then again, maybe I just imagined it... Well, better go get something done. Thanks for sharing this and bringing it to my attention. :)

Edited December 6, 2008 by Tina