Shakespeare Week

We love Shakespeare in our homeschool. Sophie and Charis love to draw pictures of all the characters and how they inter-relate whilst I slowly read through the summary of the play in the Lambs' book.

Last week was ‘National Shakespeare Week’ here in the UK, so several weeks ago I started planning a trip to Stratford-upon-Avon. We signed up for the primary school resources, and the children each received a ‘passport’ they could fill in. This was to whet their appetite a little, and they were pleased to get certificates in the post to say they’d completed them. We also made sure to read through ‘The Bard of Avon’ by Diane Stanley, which is actually one of Sophie’s set books for this year.

Unfortunately, a lot of what was going on in Shakespeare week seemed to be aimed at schools. However, there were special craft activities going on in the various Shakespeare houses, and so in the end it was definitely worth going to visit this week rather than another. (In fact, I think the kids may have been a bit bored if the craft activities hadn’t been there, to be honest).

Stratford was a beautiful town, and everything we visited was within easy walking distance. We started at the visitors centre, where we collected our tickets. We’d gone for the ‘Family – Birthplace Pass’ tickets, and got 10% off by booking online ahead of time. First up we went to Harvard House, which was owned by a rich family who would have known the Shakespeares. The kids enjoyed the ‘Apprentice Trail’ around the house, with clipboards in tow, and there were some costumes to try on. Afterwards there was a craft activity. 

We took our picnic lunch down by the water’s edge, watching the swans and geese, and the kids had a good run around on the grass. Afterwards, we headed to ‘Hall’s Croft’, the home owned by Shakespeare’s daughter, Susanna. More clipboards, involving finding little toy mice around the house, and another great craft activity. After a welcome coffee in the adjoining café, we headed off to Shakespeare’s grave, which the children found surprisingly interesting, and then walked back up to the visitors centre to see Shakespeare’s birthplace. I guess we should have done this first, but it worked out well to finish a bit nearer to where we’d parked the car. Another fabulous craft activity, and then we took the tour around the house and learnt all about glove-making and wallpaper. The kids listened attentively for quite a long time, again I was pleasantly surprised!

By this time we were all tired and it was time to head back home. There are other houses you can see in Stratford, but I’m glad we didn’t try to do more than we did with little kids in tow. The next day I got Sophie and Charis to write a report each on the day, and it was lovely to see how much they’d remembered and what had particularly interested them. 

I don’t think this is something we’ll do again for a while, since it’s such a long drive for us, but I highly recommend it as an educational day out!

Abide in Him!


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History From Home

How lovely it is to get back to blogging after so long away! Our home leave in England finally came to an end and we've been back in Russia for a week now. The entire contents of our house (minus the larger items of furniture) were in storage, so it's been a huge job getting everything unpacked and back into place, but I finally got to a stage this evening where I could say 'I'm done'! I'm sure I'll write a post sometime on the trials of packing and making multiple moves overseas :-)

In the meantime, I wanted to write this post on Living History ever since I came across this road name in the town in which we were living:

 

"Look, look!" I shouted at Sophie (aged 7) as we were driving past, "Hengist Road!" She looked at me a little blankly. "You know, we've been reading all about him and the Saxons in our school book". (We've been reading 'Our Island Story' by H.E.Marshall as part of the Ambleside Online Curriculum for Year 1). Fortunately she seemed to remember who Hengist was. "Hmmm," I continued, "I wonder if.......?" And sure enough we came across:

I was one very excited homeschooling mummy! Ok, ok, yes I need to get out more, but after that we started noticing names such as 'Saxon Hotel' and the 'Aethelstan Pub'. Suddenly the history we'd been reading about was coming alive.

We were also reading about King Alfred for school. One of the books mentioned he'd been crowned in Winchester, a town very close to where my sister-in-law lives. With a bit of persuading, Hubbie let us have an hour wandering around Winchester town centre, where we came across this statue of Alfred. Unfortunately my camera battery had died (note to self: homeschooling mothers on a mission must always check batteries are fully charged on all electronic equipment), but I found this small photo on the web.

Finally, I was so pleased to have a chance to take the kids to see a real castle (or a 'broken castle' as Nathaniel liked to call it).

This is Corfe Castle, which dates back to the 11th century and was built by William the Conqueror. The kids had great fun filling in a treasure hunt quiz, where they learnt lots of interesting things about who had been imprisoned in the castle and so on, and they even won little medals at the end.

The highlight was getting to dress up as knights and ladies and stage mock sword fights in the grounds of the castle!

I'm so glad I was able to supplement our history studies in this way. The children genuinely enjoyed going around the museums we went to, and were super-excited when I told them they probably had some Viking blood in them from their Great Grandmother's side.

I think I'm going to start making a list of all the places I want to visit in England on our next home leave. In the meantime, we'll be checking out the local museum here in our town in Russia to learn a little of the history of the people from this region.

Qu: What opportunities have you had to involve your child(ren) in Living History?

Qu: What tips do you have to keep history trips interesting and fun?

As always I love reading your comments!

Abide in Him!