Playing With Plays - A Review

I received free copies of four of the books in this series in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

I've been meaning to get this review put together for about a year now. Yes, I do sometimes get that far behind on, well, everything. And in the last 18 or so months we've had two kids with broken arms,  1 child who needed several months of physical therapy, one kid diagnosed with an anaphylactic allergy, two different children who each had 2 surgeries, 2 new babies added to the family meaning 2 c-sections,  one baby spending 3 weeks in the NICU, one baby spending time in the PICU, me being so anemic that I required a blood transfusion, and a deployment thrown in there for good measure. So, um, yes, I have put a few things on the way back burner and just let them simmer away in my mind somewhere until I was able to deal with them. Like this wonderful review.

Playing With Plays is a series of books that takes higher end literature and breaks it down into child friendly language. Each book contains three different versions of the plays, each meant for a different number of actors. As a performance, the plays are designed to be relatively short (15 minutes or less) but creativity is encouraged on the part of the actors.

One major deterrent for many young children and participating in plays is the fear of forgetting lines or not being able to memorize a long script. This problem is alleviated with Playing With Plays. Some of the words within the script are bolded. These words are particularly important to maintaining the character of the original work and are meant to be said as written. The rest of the words are meant to be a guide. Say them as written or get creative and ad-lib. These are the ones my kids had the most fun with during their performance.

At our Homeschool Expo last year, a group of kids performed one of acts from Hamlet. No one got any of their lines exactly right and there were a few times when younger siblings wandered into the play unexpectedly but everyone enjoyed themselves. More importantly, the kids involved understood the gist of the play. Our performers that afternoon ranged in age from 6 to 16. Everyone was able to find a part they could both understand and perform easily.

These books are very affordable at under $10 each. Group discounts are available directly from the publisher if needed. If you are neither charging for the performance nor the classes to learn the play, you are able to use the materials for free and make photo copies of scripts if needed. If you are charging for the classes, you must purchase a book for each student. If you charge for the performance, there is a royalty fee required but it is a very reasonable one.

These books are perfect to use in a homeschool to introduce your younger children to Shakespeare, Dickens, and other classic literature in a very relaxed, fun way.

My only complaint is that there is too much negative, demeaning language thrown into the plays in an attempt to make them relevant to modern kids. I realize that Shakespeare himself wrote quite a few insults in his plays but the modern take on them was a bit beyond the original meanings for a children's version in my opinion.

Overall, these books earn a 4 out of 5 in my book. If the language was a bit less modern, I'd like them even better.

Announcing Kolbe Vincent

Kolbe Vincent was welcomed into the world on October 30. This adorable little dude is the perfect addition to our crew.

Surgery Update

Busy Weekend

Have you tried out the Home Depot Kids Workshops yet? If not, you are missing out on a wonderful FREE resource to share with your kids. Particularly if you have any crafty kids or kids who want to always be the one helping out with any projects at home.

This month I took 7 of the kids with me. Liam still loves to get a hammer in his hands any chance he can and Katie likes to come along to help with Seamus (because she is too big to do a project on her own she says). We made butterfly nesting boxes and as soon as the snow melts, we'll search for 6 places in the yard to hang them up. Maybe plant a few extra butterfly attracting plants.

The rules may vary by store but at our store you just show up. No signing up needed. This is great because we can go when it works with our schedule and not go when we are too busy. But check your local store because some do have sign up requirements.

We also finally got around to making our Pascal Candle. We took a super easy route this year because last year I ordered the pascal candle making kit from Illuminated Ink. Then I got to feeling rather sick and the project never got done. In fact, the 2015 pascal candle making kit is still somewhere in the house. So this year I lowered my standards and we finished the project. I call that a win.

Plain white tall candle (available at Aldi's or the Dollar Store), pascal candle print out from a creative person online. Project complete. We even managed to remember to take it with us on Sunday to get it blessed by Fr.

Dear God, I Don't Get It

We all have those times when we feel like God is not answering our prayers. This can be a hard thing for adults to understand but getting a child to understand why prayers appear to go unanswered can be a struggle. The book Dear God, I Don't Get It by Patti Maguire Armstrong helps children understand just this question.

Dear God, I Don't Get It is the first in a series of books about the Ajax family. In this book you meet brothers Aaron, Luke, and Tyler.  As the story opens, the family learns that they must move. This is something that feels like the end of the world to 12-year-old  Aaron Ajax. He prays to God to please find a way for the family to stay where they are but his prayers are not answered in the way Aaron expects.

This book helps broach an often misunderstood concept in a way young minds can easily grasp.  Adults are often heard saying that prayer works but they fail to understand exactly how prayer works. Many children often grow up with the mistaken notion that all you have to do is pray and God will grant your every desire. Failing to understand that God often answers our prayers with a no because He has something else in mind for us can cause many people to question their beliefs. By the end of the book, Aaron begins to understand that God's answers are not always our own.

This book does a wonderful job at weaving faith into the lives of the characters without being preachy or pushy. It successfully walks that fine line without beating the point home with a morality stick. This helps to keep the story interesting without turning you off.

I recommend sharing this book for kids in the 8 to 12 age range. The entire series promises to provide an easy way to tackle some of the tough topics in life with your children.

The Empty Jar

You see that empty canning jar? Yes, the picture is awful but it's not the point. That jar. My favorite Christmas gift this year.

Why? It was simple and a reminder. A reminder I needed.

You see the paper taped to the jar? That paper has a note from one of the children. The note says:

To Mom and Dad: A jar of nothing for the people who have it all.

Ok, it is quite possible the child behind this gift was just looking for something simple, easy, and free. But I see something else.

I see a reminder that even with all of the chaos, the medical bills, the car repairs, the kids who are behind in school, the laundry that won't stop, the appliances that keep breaking, the darn freeloading chickens who won't lay eggs right now. In the midst of all of that chaos, when I've been oh so sick for weeks, going on months. When the baby isn't quite gaining enough weight to keep everyone happy, when we are still struggling to find a parish where the entire family feels at home and we are struggling with our faith. In the midst of all of that. We do have it all. And that is just what I needed to hear.

Happy New Year