Today our big focus entailed Shakespearean madness at the dental office!
However, we endured better than Hamlet and Richard III.
Required to choose one play to read on their own, my kids chose Julius Caesar.
Catching everyone’s eyes, the dental staff queried my kids, since that book isn’t standard fare for their clients.
Perhaps they had a mean teacher forcing the boredom upon them?
Imagine the looks on the dental staff faces when the kids explained that of all the plays they chose Julius Caesar to read, and were having fun with Shakespeare.
So when it was my turn to see the dental torturers hygienist and doctor, they asked me…why?
WHY NOT?
Why not do a grand sweep of Shakespeare’s brilliance to lay a foundation for when we watch a DVD, attend a live play, read the play ourselves…for fun!
After all, the whole idea of a Classical education is to inspire a deep love of learning, of exploring, of sinking deeply into thoughts and ideas and words, interacting and ultimately (and hopefully) acting appropriately upon them.
I’ve tossed to my kids the vision and they have caught it!
So far we’ve studied Shakespeare’s background, sonnets, Julius Caesar, Henry V, and yesterday we analyzed the madnesses of Richard III and Hamlet.
SURVEY STRUCTURE
I’m building our collection of Folger Shakespeare Classics from the used bookstore, a copy for each of us.
With them we annotate literary highlights and follow along with movie versions.
At the end of our survey of Shakespeare’s works, the kids will vote on which play to read in its entirety together.
When I told the kids that their eyes shone!
They can’t wait to vote for their favorite.
However, the biggest problem is that finding a favorite changes day by day, as we meet new characters and learn new characteristics of the intricacies of the depths of the cleverness of Shakespeare.
Meanwhile they have chosen their favorite speeches and sonnets to memorize for our upcoming Becoming History presentation.
After telling them to choose one to read on their own, they chose Julius Caesar, which as previously mentioned, came to the dental office with us.
BEOWULF?
Apparently, the kids had a great discussion on Shakespeare with the dental hygienist, explaining to her that no, Shakespeare did not write Beowulf. 😉
I wonder if the kids told her they dress up in historical clothing, even as Ancient Romans. 😉
