Pondering Shakespeare

Okay, I know this isn't really Shakespeare, but he played Shakespeare. Maybe I'm still bitter about the cancellation of Flash Forward, or maybe I'm enjoying his wonderful new portrayal of Merlin. But this post isn't about Joseph Fiennes, it's about Shakespeare and, in a way, Merlin.

I've been pondering classical education lately. The deeper we get into this journey, the more enlightened I feel. *I'm* having fun learning new things, reading new books, and taking this journey with my son. I was writing up some assignments for next week. Two of them are doing a memory test on a Dickinson poem, one is starting to study a Shakespearean sonnet. Would my decidedly average student be doing that in a public school? Probably not. They'd probably be more worried about his inability to spell well, or suggesting he is somehow strange because he has outbursts of random non-related facts during algebra. 

At this level we aren't doing intense study of Shakespeare. We're exposing, we're learning to enjoy it. We spent two week studying one sonnet earlier this year, we rewrote it, we memorized it, we had fun with it.  That is what I am enjoying about classical education, the exposure. By the time he starts to study the deeper works of literature in high school, he'll be familiar with many of the stories or the authors. He'll know WHO Shakespeare was. He'll understand Greek mythology before reading a full translation of Homer. He'll have a base understanding of the Roman Empire before we read The Aeneid. Hopefully, we'll get to Le'Morte D'Arthur at least in portions. By then he will be well versed in the history and basics of the legend. . 

This summer I've decided there are two books we have to read. One is Aristotle for Everybody by Adler. I fully plan on many rabbit trails as we discuss whether a chair is truly a chair. My other idea is reading Dante's Divine Comedy for Young People.  I'm considering making this a book we read while visiting our local state park. Grab a blanket, a bottle of water, and get ready for Dante in the park! Probably not the same draw you'd get from Shakespeare in the park. Should make our little walks in the woods more interesting, "Z which circle of hell do you think this hill represents?" Why Dante and Aristotle over the summer? Because they are foundational to what we will be studying next year, Renaissance times and formal logic. Will that be his only study of Aristotle and Dante? No. We'll study them bother down the road. 

Yet, my son is decidedly average, academic wise. He balks about reading and writing. He's probably ahead in the critical thinking skills, but that's genetics not training. Should I hold off on these and other classics because he can't spout off his multiplications tables without some real thinking? No. It's exposure, it's appreciation. I believe you must learn to appreciate something before you can dissect it and analyze it. I know I'm learning a lot, and I look forward to those deeper discussions with my son. For now we'll have fun rewriting sonnets. I can't wait to see what we come up with next week.