Shakespeare for kids

I have a secret: I don't read Shakespeare to young children.

Now some of you are like, I don't read Shakespeare at all! And I hear that. But in some homeschool circles, my little confession might seem very shocking. But I don't teach Shakespeare to grammar level/form I/II/III /elementary age students, and I will explain why.

So the Bard: Plot line: net very original, nothing special. Star crossed lovers, the Bad Boys of history, bottom line, he was looking for things that would make a good show, not trying to influence the course of the English language for centuries to come. That was just a happy coincidence. Besides, his plays were written for adults, and such, contain adult themes.

 No, the real reason to read Shakespeare is for the language, for his way expressing human emotion and feeling.  Words and phrases invented by Will are still in use today. And even though y'all know (or should know!) that I'm all about reading vocabulary-rich literature to children, there's a time and a place for everything. And the time for deciphering brilliant-but-archaic-poetic language is, in my opinion, not until age 12, at least. High school for some students.

Sure, you could read any of the many wonderfully done children's adaptations, but without the language, what's the point? Would you really be reading that story if it had any other name on it than William Shakespeare? 

Despite this belief, we have, as you can see, a fair amount of the Bard's plays in picture book format. In fact, this one (published by Candlewick) is one of my children's favorites. And I like them because even if you're an adult, it's incredibly helpful to have some prior knowledge of the plot before you dive into the original plays. If you're a visual person, having some illustrations can help you keep characters straight. Plus, they're just kinda fun :D Although my daughter tells me I should warn you that all the people in William's book have "kissy lips." ;D  

Year 1.5

Last fall, when my daughter was 6 1/2, I started formal lessons with her. She was more than ready, so in addition to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, Italic Handwriting, and math, we did Ambleside Online's Year 1. My son, who is my daughter's faithful sidekick in most things, had just turned 5 and was NOT ready for Year 1, and so we did Year 0 with him. I kept both schedules as light as possible, for my own sake, because the addition of these two children meant I was teaching 5 different students/grades in our little homeschool and well, yeah. There are only so many hours, and so much sanity, to go around.    

Anyhow, THIS fall my little guy is ready for Year 1, and in interest of consolidation, ease, and family togetherness, I decided to create a Year 1.5. This way, they can be reading the same books (or rather, be read the same books) in Bible, history, geography, natural history, and literature, without repeating too many of the ones my daughter already did this year. They will still each work at their own level in math, reading, and handwriting. It is also going to allow me to include some books that I either didn't have time for this year, or that I didn't feel we were ready for yet. Then the year after next these two students will move on to Year 2 together, and continue to go forth together in the future. So here's what we'll be doing:

Bible
Ergermier's Bible Storybook - part 2 of 3
                Because we have daily family devotions, I try not to overload our school time with Bible readings. But I love this book and feel that it's a good way for young children to learn these stories. We have stretched this book out over three years (YR 0-YR 2) but other families may prefer to do it all in one or two years.

57 Stories of Saints - I am using this in place of Trial and Triumph, and have only scheduled 2 per term.

Parables From Nature - Two per term. I've not had success with this book in the past, but I am giving it another try. I think it will be a good fit this time. 

History
Child's History of the World - ch 5-41 (skipping ch 37) this year. The more I read this book, the more I like it, and am excited to use it with my littles this year.   

Boy of the Pyramids, Alexander the Great, A Triumph for Flavius, & Viking Tales (also available free for Kindle)

Geography
Paddle-to-theSea - I skipped this with my daughter this year, but I think they are ready for it now.

Natural History
Burgess Animal Book  - one chapter per week     

Literature
Grimm's Fairy Tales  When looking back, I was surprised to find that we haven't covered more of Grimm's tales already. But our Year 0 selections seemed to be mostly Hans Christian Anderson and Perrault, and Year 1 was The Blue Fairy book. I chose only two per term because I am also adding in a few longer stories that I wanted to share with my children. They are:

King of the Golden River, The Velveteen Rabbit, and The Reluctant Dragon

Peter Pan and Pinocchio

(There are so many different versions of these literature selections, that I am hesitant to link to just one. I love lavishly illustrated hardcovers, but there are many less costly paperback versions that are equally nice, especially when you can find one illustrated by the likes of Milne and Arthur Rackham!)

Poetry: A Child's Garden of Verses (Robert Louis Stevenson), When We Were Very Young, & Now We Are Six (A.A. Milne) - yeah, I just read these with my daughter this year, but I love them so much, I'm doing them again. Although, I just now occurred to me that some Edward Lear might not be remiss in Term 2 instead....

And that's it. Pretty simple, but I'm always excited when I get to introduce kids to good book for the first time.

NOTE: I am NOT an Amazon affiliate. I will get absolutely nothing if you click any of these links. I simply include them because I know how much  it enhances *my* blog reading experience, to be able to immediately click and see which book is being referred to.