What a fun-time we had in our read aloud time yesterday! I don’t read aloud everyday…I wish I could be consistent enough to do that but we do it when I really feel the inspiration. I blogged the other week about taking a read-aloud/literature book and take as many lessons as we can from that. Well, my children asked me the other day if they could watch the Sword in the Stone movie. I said yes, since we are still on ‘vacation’…and it gave me a thought to go get books on knights, and armor and such. So I consulted the reading list from Teaching the Trivium’s products. The Bluedorns son and daughter has published a list of good read alouds and biographies and such. So I chose to get books by Homer Pyle(fitting with my dc’s desire to watch the Sword in the Stone and medieval times). I got the one entitled Some Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. I was seeking an unabridged version and I think I got one…most of them say “adapted by such and such”.

As I began to read I could tell it was not ‘capturing’ my children’s attention. They were in the room listening but out of obedience, if u know what I mean. Their minds were elsewhere. As I read the scene describing how Robin Hood met Little John and how they had a ‘duel’ fighting with ‘cudgers’ and ‘goose-feathered arrows’ I started to really act out the scenes as I read them and the more I got into they did. I even began to have them act out scenes. I told boy(5) that he would be Robin Hood and girl(7) that she could be Little John and when I got to the part where Robin Hood told his merry men “Three blasts upon the bugle horn I will blow in my hour of need, then come quickly, for I shall want your aid”—-I had boy(5) blow his pretend horn and then had “Little John” run to his aid. We had a blast!!!

The second chapter was the story of how the Sherriff of Nottingham tried to trap Robin in by having a shooting match. As the archers from surrounding towns came to compete — “And now the archers shot, each man in turn, and the good folk never saw such archery as was done that day”–my children went and grabbed their “bow and arrows” they had made out of plastic clothes hangers and my dd’s hair elastic hair bands and used non-sharpened pencils for arrows — they each took their turn at shooting—each other and me.

I loved it and they did too. I stopped after the 1st chapter so that we could clean up the downstairs and my dd says to me “Mommy what about the story of Robin Hood”? I promised her I would read more after we cleaned up and I tended to the baby. Then we read the 2nd chapter.

I decided to try and make a “little” vocabulary lesson to enhance their understanding of what they hear me read. I made up a sheet of vocabulary words b/c this book is written in very similar style as the King James Bible…using words like nay, no harm shall befall him(Robin Hood speaking of LIttle John), guile, etc. so I made a list of 10 vocab. words from the first 2 chapters that me and dd(7) will look up in the dictionary and define.

Here are the words I chose:

• archer
• forest
• skill
• cunning
• yeomen
• outlaw
• bold
• shrewd p. 12
• cudgels p. 13
• 10.Nay p. 14

Part 2 of this assigment is to copy the sentences that these words are used in from the book–exactly as the author wrote it. I think I’ll use these sentences as copywork for our cursive handwriting, vocabulary, grammar/sentence construction, paragraph writing. Here are the passages we will attempt to work on:

Copy each sentence. Underline all vocabulary words.

• No archer ever lived that could speed a gray goose shaft with such skill and cunning as his.
• There lived within the green glades of Sherwood Forest, near Nottingham Town, a famous outlaw whose name was Robin Hood.
• Nor were there ever such yeomen as the seven-score merry men that roamed with him through the greenwood shades.
• When Robin was a youth of eighteen, stout of sinew and bold of heart, the Sheriff of Nottingham proclaimed a shooting-match and offered a prize of forty marks to whomsoever should shoot the best shaft in Nottingham.
• So shrewd was the stroke that the stranger came within a hair’s breadth of falling off the bridge.
• I must needs own thou art a brave and a sturdy soul, and, withal, a good stout stroke with the cudgels.”
• Nay, forbear!” cried Robin; “he is a right good man and true, and no harm shall befall him.”

I received in my email a wonderul example of how to teach grammar, spelling, vocab, and penmanship straight from descriptive texts of living books. You can view this article on how to do that here at Trivium Pursuit email list archives.

I would just be sure to add/teach the biblical origin/purpose and the biblical prinicples of each of these subject areas.

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1. Dee,

   thanks for the Trivium link. It was really helpful and also led me to a site where I could download Webster’s Blue Backed Speller, which I have wanted to see for the longest time. I can see how you could even use passages from Scripture as well (it’s the REAL living book!).

   Your Robin Hood adventures sounded like fun too!

   You are awesome!

   Anna-Marie

   Comment by Anna-Marie — September 19, 2006 @ 10:16 am

2. Thanks Anna!!

   Good to hear from u…I’m glad what I shared was a blessing!!!!!! I’m still here although I have not been to any chats lately…I have business calls on Thurs. nights…business…I want to comment on it but that’s a whole ‘nother separate blog!!!

   dee

   Comment by lovinghim4ever — September 19, 2006 @ 9:51 pm

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