Henry V in our Homeschool

This year, we're planning to read Macbeth, As You Like It, and Henry V. Of the three, Henry V was the only one I had never read. In preparation, I purchased a copy of the No Fear Shakespeare version and read through it with two main questions in addition to pure enjoyment:

1. What scenes, if any, would I be concerned about sharing with my children?
2. What scenes, if any, have plain English "translations" that will be too explicit for my children?

While my two younger children are always about and often listening, I do not explicitly include them in our Shakespeare studies, so I was focused mainly on the eighth grade boy and the fifth grade girl. Both of them have had at least some exposure to what can happen between a man and a woman so I was more interested in identifying explicit language rather than the idea of such happenings.

Here are the areas of concern I found, though none will preclude us from reading the play together. 

• Act 3, scene 3 - description of ravages of war on the people of France like mowing down virgins and infants, rape, and violent death
• Act 3, scene 4 - Princess Katherine is attempting to learn English from one of her handmaidens and believes some of the words sound too much like those in French that mean "to have sex" and "vagina." The words of Shakespeare and the translation aren't explicit, but there is a little note on the modern text page to make it clear.
• Act 3, scene 5 - "b*stard"
• Act 3, scene 7 - In this scene, the dauphin of France and one of his men are comparing mistresses with warhorses. It's quite bawdy, but probably in a way that will go over my daughter's head. My son might understand the gist of it but...he might not. My plan is just to read it without going into depth. The modern text does not make the comparison any more explicit than the Shakespearean text.
• Act 4, scene 5 - a reference to violating a daughter
• Act 5, scene 2 - In the modern text, King Henry says, "But virgins close their eyes and submit all the time, and blind love has his way." This sentence is more explicit than the Shakespearean text ("Yet they do wink and yield, as love is blind and enforces.") but I think it's acceptable for my children.

So if you are debating about reading Henry V with your children and don't have time to pre-read, perhaps you could just skim these scenes and decide on the best course for your family.

First Son and First Daughter will each have a copy of the No Fear Shakespeare Henry V as we read.

Our plan for Henry V:

• retellings: I have Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb and Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by Edith Nesbit. Usually the kids read the retelling from these books before we dive into the play proper. However, neither of them include Henry V. I purchased The Shakespeare Stories retold by Andrew Matthews to use instead. The language does not draw from the play so is less lofty or challenging as Lamb or Nesbit, but it is a good quick retelling. We'll start with that.
• a character map
• memorization and background with How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare
• read one act each week with copies of the real play for myself and the two older kids, probably at the table with some of their toys or characters to play the parts for us
• Masterpuppet Theater, if they want

I don't think we'll watch a movie version of Henry V, but we'd do that at the end if I found an acceptable version.