I once wouldn’t touch Shakespeare with a 10 foot pole
Hi folks,
Just in case you missed my report on this in our blog,
we have our final numbers from survey last week on
what upcoming collections you’d like to see most.
Here’s the results….
Stories from Shakespeare (made easy to understand) - 55%
Stories of Pioneers & Explorers - 42%
Stories of Mark Twain - 29%
Classic Short Stories of Suspense - 25%
So… it looks like our Shakespeare project is a “go”!
We’ve actually been working on all of these over the
summer, but we’re putting Mr. Shakespeare on the “front burner”
now, and hopefully it will be ready in a couple weeks or so.
I must confess, however…
When I was younger, I wouldn’t touch Shakespeare
with a ten foot pole.
I suspect some of y’all can relate.
His plays and sonnets seemed too complex
and creaky for my tastes, and I just couldn’t get past
the olde English and “High School English Class”
textbook style “read this or else” trappings…
Well, to be fair, I must admit I never even gave his work a chance.
I just avoided him whenever possible.
It wasn’t until we actually started thinking about this project
last spring and I actually started LISTENING to some very good,
vintage dramatizations of his plays that I actually “got it”.
They were downright good. In fact, I really started enjoying
them once I got used to them and “into” the proper frame of mind.
Even our kids have even been enjoying them
(especially the creepy ones like Macbeth).
I think it is kind of like “training your
palate” when trying a new food… you have to take a few
small bites and train your palate a little at a time… and
after a while, you find yourself accustomed to, and
even enjoying that new “taste”. Better late than never, huh?
Anyway, I suspect more than a few of you can relate to
my long-held (but admittedly flawed) reservations.
I’d really like to ask you to take a second
to let us know what YOU think of Shakespeare… so we
will know precisely what study resources we should include
in this new collection that will
be useful for other folks in the same boat.
So… it’s survey time again!
We’ve put together a quick little survey to get your input
on this. Here’s the link:
If you have a minute or two, please give us your thoughts, one
way or another, about getting to know - or trying to avoid -
Mr. Shakespeare.
We’d really appreciate it, and it will help us a bunch in
fine tuning this collection.
In return, we again have a little “thank you” present ready for you
in exchange your help. Will your kids like it? Oh yes.
Again, we really appreciate your help and support… thanks so much!
Best Wishes,
The Erskine Family
www.homeschoolradioshows.com
