Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Halloween fun

It's dark and dreary here today, and we're taking it easy as one of the kiddos is under-the-weather.  Some of the holiday-related things we've got on hand for the week are coming out today:

One book I forgot to mention in my Book Sharing Monday post--another great title from Barefoot Books: Tales of Mystery and Magic (book and audio cd), retold and narrated by Hugh Lupton and illustrated by Agnese Baruzzi.  We're listening to this one as I type.

Classics for Kids October shows from years past (and this year, though this last podcast has another episode to be released before it is complete).   Mussorgsky (2008)Grieg (2009), and Stravinsky (2010) are the featured composers.

Halloween Shrinky Dinks: my younger two love these!  This set comes with a halloween tree from which to hang the shrunken ornaments, once finished.  

Spooky Doodles: great for the artistically inhibited, or kids that just wanna have fun.  The black pages require metallic gel pens or other such drawing implements.

Spooky Classics for Children, as told by Jim Weiss, which includes abbreviated versions of Oscar Wilde's "The Canterville Ghost," Hawthorne's "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," and Kipling's "The Sending of Dana Da."  We are big fans of this storyteller.

I'm also tempted by this unabridged version of "The Canterville Ghost," narrated by Rupert Degas, which is also available on iTunes.

And then there are also the movie versions of the tale!  I grew up watching the 1944 version starring Robert Young (Father Knows Best, Marcus Welby) and Margaret O'Brien, but have also enjoyed both the 1986 movie featuring Sir John Gielgud and Alyssa Milano and the 1995 made-for-tv version with Patrick Stewart.  Neither of these latter two versions appears to be available in DVD or streaming format, but there is a 1985 version that is bargain priced at Amazon and might be worth checking out.

Because I can't let go of homeschooling completely, even on a "sick" day, I put together a few pages of copywork (for this year and next) with a spooky theme.  Charles Dickens predominates, but Conan Doyle and Poe make appearances, too, as does childhood favorite L.M. Montgomery.


2 comments:

Lynne said...

I love Shrinky Dinks!

I'm glad the weather is rainy because we would need to be outside if it weren't. Now we can sit down and read our scary tale, Frankenstein. I hope to finish it by Saturday!

Tracy said...

Thank you so much for the link to Classics for Kids--we're loving it!

As a family, we're lucky enough to live in Chicago and enjoy frequent visits to performances by the CSO (they do amazing programs for children and adults alike). This sort of site is a fantastic addition to our musical education.