A Peter Pan Pirate Party::Would Charlotte approve?

***Do you ever compose a blog post, save the draft and then forget it? Here's one from last year..please enjoy reliving our literature adventures with us here!*** Tiger Lily (my niece Sky), Wendy(my niece Rhy), Captain Hook(Gun) who is holding a cardboard/aluminum foil hook and, Peter Pan(Win)..in our backyard. I think Hook has Tiger Lily captive here on his ship even though she is seemingly in charge at the bow of the ship and Pan is there to rescue her.

Captain Hook's Blood Red Punch (with a cool dry ice effect, thanks Mimi and Pop!)



pirate treasure

I planned a co-birthday party for our boys back in November, before Martin's surgery. The party was on the heels of finishing the unabridged, yes, unabridged, written play of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. It was not always easy to get through the story, I admit but, I try to keep the big picture in mind. How you read aloud matters, why you read aloud matters and, feeding upon ideas while cultivating the habit of attention...matters. (Please stop and read those links to expand further.) I should make a bookmark reminding me of these wonderful goals. Sounds heady but all of that good stuff is going on while reading great living books. Charlotte Mason believed in reading the original even if only a handful of sentences at a time (not easy to do I say!) to cultivate attention and to hear the vocabulary that does not "talk down" to the child. I cannot remember when I began it but I know it was last spring/summer so it took us maybe four to six months of reading during the week. That seems long doesn't it? It was frankly but I could remind the boys where we left off or backtrack a paragraph or so to remember more details so it was fine for a first challenge with a large work of literature.

The party included a pile of pirate cupcakes, blood red pirate punch, Tinkerbell and plenty of pirate booty and gear to dress up in and even take some things home like swords, pirate eye patches, bandannas, lost boys ears and play money with a pirate earring. I did a lot of sewing for these props and all in all, it was fun and a unique way to end the book for me..uh, well, and for them too I think.

I wondered how much they really retained since I am in competition with other media like "Dora and the Pirates". Something Miss Mason never had to contend with in her career. I do see that the children confuse some of stories and pirate details but perhaps with a re-reading, a little further down the road, they will appreciate the play as it was intended. Did you know that Tinkerbell was quite bitchy? She called Pan a "silly ass" often in the play due to her jealousy of Wendy. I have to say, I am constantly amazed how Disney pictures sanitize these adult stories, classic stories, for children. I understand that with repetition of a Disney movie where Tinkerbell says "silly ass" would produce a child who repeats it often and well is not desirable. As a side note: I also have to say, upon reading this classic and then watching on Netflix the theatrical version with Cathy Rigby as Pan, the whole relationship with Wendy and Peter is a bit.....odd. If you have read the play or viewed the play, you know what I mean. J.M. Barrie was phenomenally gifted as an adult to imagine this story..to let himself go and create these characters is a wonder to me. The subtle relationship dynamics of Wendy and Pan passed over the little ones heads but it kept my attention so that was a good thing.

Great books, art, etc. should keep your attention as well as the children's attention and interest as I have gleaned from Charlotte Mason philosophy. Again, regarding Walt Disney....On the other hand, the "sanitized" version (cartoons for children) leaves so much out that what you end up with is far from what the artist intended and that bothers me. The original or the book, is often so much better, richer and, more can be imagined than animated. I want to cultivate the classics first as the artist intended before Disney beats me to the punch but it is tough my friends, very tough in this media seduced world in which we live and we all are apart.

I wonder what our theme will be next year? Hummmmm.... (that would be "this year")