Ever since I fell in love with Mary Chapin Carpenter's song, "I Am a Town," the month of September means peaches to me. Have you heard this song? Take a couple of minutes to click below, close your eyes, and soak it up. It's my gift to you today.
Last night, I made a quick peach crisp with South Carolina peaches. Yes, I know I live in the "Peach State," but South Carolina actually produces more peaches than Georgia does. Instead of following a recipe, I did this:
I peeled three peaches and sliced them up. I placed them in a small Corningware casserole dish. I sprinkled a bit of sugar over the peaches. Then I mixed rolled oats and flour together at a 3:1 ratio, diced up some butter and "forked" it into the oat/flour, added some brown sugar and a bit of cinnamon, and mixed with my fingers until it was crumbly and yummy. (I tested it to make sure.) I sprinkled this over the peaches. I like lots of topping. Then I baked everything at 350 til the topping was light brown and crunchy.
Perfection.
This was wonderful both warm and cold. No cornstarch, no lemon juice, little sugar, pure flavor.
And if this is your first introduction to Mary Chapin Carpenter, you're welcome.
This was my fire on Sunday night. Himself laid it for me before he left for his hockey game -- with the girls! -- and I lit it when I was ready to settle down with Downton Abbey. Perfection.
I began working in earnest this week. NEW! It's part-time but still required a schedule revamp. My best bet is to work before the girls rise in the early morning, so that's what I did. The house was quiet, no one called my name, and there were no other distractions (e.g., the telephone). When we began our lessons, I was able to focus entirely on those since I'd already worked that morning.
In our lessons this week:
Augustus Caesar's World: Antony and Octavian triumph over Brutus and Cassius The Story of the Greeks: the Greco-Persian wars and Pericles banishes Cimon Explore the Holy Land: Saudi Arabia The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone: Key to Ancient Egypt: finished up Archimedes and the Door of Science: his love of mathematics Animal Farm: "Four legs good, two legs better!"
Plutarch's Lives: Pericles, part five
In composition this week, the girls added descriptions of places in their historical narratives. They wrote about Ivan IV (AKA, "the Terrible") and St. Basil's Cathedral. This led to research on the cathedral, which is absolutely astounding. I'd love to go to Moscow someday and see it with my own eyes.
On Monday, Tiny Girl entered our bird counts on the GBBC website. We finished up our study of adjectives in grammar; and Tiny Girl learned about estimating with percentages in math. In science, we learned about the four states of matter and how they can change. We added information into our NEW physical science notebooks. We also made notations in our NEW books of centuries. Piano practice continued, with recital pieces in the mix.
For pleasure reading, Tiny Girl read A Good Horse by Jane Smiley; Through the Looking-Glass, by Lewis Carroll; and The White Giraffe, by Lauren St. John. Miss Priss read Rainbow Valley, by L. M. Montgomery. I am reading Beyond the Spring, a biography of Maine naturalist Cordelia Stanwood, by Chandler S. W. Richmond.
We did other stuff, too.
Miss Priss worked on her LEGO White House.
I tried my hand at papercutting. NEW!
Tiny Girl and I spent a lot of time at the barn. Here she is doing groundwork with the ponies. Tuli is on the left, and Patrick is on the right. They are both flea-bitten greys!
I made cupcakes to take to the barn for Tiny Girl's twelfth birthday tomorrow. I ate so much of that fabulous chocolate buttercream that I feel slightly sick. It was worth it, though.
Here's one Carl Sandburg poem the girls and I enjoyed this week:
Good Night Many ways to say good night.
Fireworks at a pier on the Fourth of July spell it with red wheels and yellow spokes. They fizz in the air, touch the water and quit. Rockets make a trajectory of gold-and-blue and then go out.
Railroad trains at night spell with a smokestack mushrooming a white pillar.
Steamboats turn a curve in the Mississippi crying a baritone that crosses lowland cottonfields to razorback hill.
It is easy to spell good night. Many ways to spell good night.
How was your week?
I'm linking up with some wonderful hostesses. Pop over for a blog-reading bonanza this weekend!
I mentioned on Tuesday that Miss Priss was not impressed with Carl Sandburg's poetry thus far. I thought it might help for her to hear a recording of someone reading Jazz Fantasia. Below is a great reading from Alan Davis Drake:
We were all sick this week. Himself even worked from home, so he was here with us. The malaise was oddly up and down: we'd be poorly one day, and the next only stuffy and cough-y. Then back to poorly the next day. We drank gallons of tea and ate a lot of soup, both storebought and homemade. I doctored up a minestrone mix and the results were super delish. I also made some basic chicken noodle soup with chicken Better than Bouillon lower sodium paste, water, spaghetti noodles, and carrots (I doctored my servings with Italian seasoning). I threw it together because I didn't have any ready-made noodle soup. Turns out my homemade version was millions better. Good to know!
Most of our activities were waylaid, but we managed to get in a good week's worth of lessons.
Here's a rundown:
Bible study: Psalm 84 with Young Hearts Longing for God
Story of the World: the Cold War, the Space Race, Civil Rights Movement, and Vietnam (whew!)
It Couldn't Just Happen: continental drift
Exploring the Holy Land: Israel
Queen Victoria: her adventures continue
School of the Woods: continue with the great blue heron. This is a long chapter, and I broke it into chunks over three weeks.
Piano practice
Assigned readings: Snow Treasure (an AO selection) for Miss Priss, and Cheaper by the Dozen for Tiny Girl
Mind Benders and hot tea -- a winning combo.
The beginnings of a Christmas tree.
On Friday, we enjoyed another pastels tutorial from Hodgepodge. This Sunday being the first in Advent, we opted for a Christmas theme. Miss Priss and I drew the Christmas Tree in Snow, and Tiny Girl felt drawn to Fireplace. Another wonderful Advent pastels tutorial is Christmas Star.
We had a wonderful time last week at my folks' house in the country for Thanksgiving. We arrived Wednesday and didn't leave for home until Sunday. The food was sublime and so was visiting with family. Bliss!
Miss Priss reading The Upstairs Room on the way to her grandparents' house for Thanksgiving.
In homekeeping, I made a few things other than soup this week. I replenished my freezer stash of homemade baking mix, and I also tried my hand at homemade dishwasher detergent. The first load is washing now, so I'll let you know how that goes.
Baking mix.
Several Frost poems engaged our rapt attentions this week. The girls especially connected with "A Tuft of Flowers" and "Mending Wall." Those are of course absolutely wonderful, but the one that spoke the most to me was "Revelation," today's selection. I think perhaps the girls are still too young to be as moved as I. They've not yet mastered the art of dissembling, hiding behind words that have lost their meaning, hiding their hearts, yet longing for true connection.
Revelation, by Robert Frost We make ourselves a place apart Behind light words that tease and flout, But oh, the agitated heart Till someone find us really out. 'Tis pity if the case require (Or so we say) that in the end We speak the literal to inspire The understanding of a friend. But so with all, from babes that play at hide-and-seek to God afar, So all who hide too well away Must speak and tell us where they are.
This week was a bit different from normal (I'm wondering if there's such a thing as a normal week, anyway), what with dreary, chilly weather for a few days; The Elections and a friend of the girls hanging out with us most of the day; a day meeting at church, some theatre excitement; and horse show preparations.
I made a few amendments to our schedule, bypassing spelling, grammar, and memory work for the week. I also stretched out our composition assignments and Miss Priss's Critical Thinking workbook lesson.
Hot chai and composition on a wet day
A breakdown of some things we learned:
Ordinary Genius, a biography of Albert Einstein and AO Year 6 selection. They've been notebooking each chapter, and I was pleased overall with their initial attempts.
In history, we read about events following World War II, such as the Marshall Plan and the building of the Berlin Wall; South Africa and apartheid; and the Communist victory in China.
Dion and Dionysius battle it out in Syracusa in "Dion," one of Plutarch's Lives.
Newton's law of universal gravitation was the focus of our Secrets of the Universe: Objects chapter. I'm telling you, the way natural phenomena can be reduced (if you will) to mathematical equations simply blows my mind!
In It Couldn't Just Happen, we read about the ozone layer of the atmosphere and the greenhouse effect and how termites (!!) greatly contribute to it.
Ulysses (Odysseus) and his men are taking their own sweet time getting back to Ithaca in The Odyssey for Boys and Girls. This week, they lounged and feasted with Circe (after she changed half of the men into pigs and back again) for a year or so until one of them said, "Hey, shouldn't we be thinking about heading home?" (I'm paraphrasing.)
We regularly catch sight of a blue heron at our lake cabin and sometimes one flies overhead here in the South, so School of the Woods delighted us.
On Friday, we enjoyed another Hodgepodge pastels tutorial: Harvest Moon Nocturne. The girls were less panicky this week than they were last week and loosened up a bit.
Tiny Girl's on left; Miss Priss's on right.
One of our Frost poem's this week was "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," one of the best-known poems of the twentieth century. And no wonder. The calm, quiet pastoral scene beckons us in and then surprises us with an unexpected depth. Here is an unmissable link: a video of Robert Frost reciting this simple yet magnificent poem.
On Monday evening, Tiny Girl's theatre troupe's production was announced: Peter Pan! And Tiny herself was cast as Captain Hook. Already she's in the throes of practicing at home with her lines and songs (she has a short solo). Miss Priss's troupe has been rehearsing their production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Miss Priss was cast in several ensemble parts, and she also has a brief solo for one of them.
Petal the pot-bellied pig came to visit us at the barn.
Tiny Girl has a horse show tomorrow, so we have schooling later today at the show venue. We'll also be cleaning tack, polishing boots, ironing jods, etc., tonight. She and Max are going to the show, but here she is with Tuli, who's coming along well with her training.
Not so familiar with the Great Blue Heron? Here's a fun video to watch:
Happy fall Friday! The weather today is perfect here: deep blue skies, breezes, and sunshine. Which is great for us. But so many people's lives have been thrown into disorder after the hurricane -- from discomfort to complete chaos -- that my rejoicing in our glorious days is dimmed.
While I type, a dear friend of ours, a widower gentleman in his 80s, bides his time in a power-less house in New Jersey; other friends in Pennsylvania are just now back to school after being without power all week; NYC friends are just getting back to some semblance of normal life, but just a semblance; and other folks we know in the northeast are taking stock and cleaning up.
But everyone we know is safe. So we are thankful.
The girls and I had a good week, a week of delights for the five senses. On Friday night, we visited our town's planetarium and observatory with my two sisters, one of which lives here and the other who was in town for a conference. Yay! The planetarium show was fun; I hadn't been to one of those since I was a child. Afterward, we looked through telescopes to view a few celestial bodies: the Moon, Uranus, and Alberio, a double star in the constellation Cygnus. We all had a wonderful time stargazing and seeing new-to-our-eyes sights.
Other nifty things we studied this week:
We read about Israel's Negev Desert in Explore the Holy Land.
Story of the World highlighted India's partitioning in to Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan; the re-creation of the ancient country of Israel; and the Suez Canal crisis in Egypt.
We learned in It Couldn't Just Happen that Earth's oceans have rivers in them: the Black Current in the Pacific and the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, which are both part of gyras.
Dion marches triumphantly into Syracusa against Dionysius in Plutarch's Lives.
We began a new book, Church's The Odyssey for Boys and Girls.
We read about Mooween the bear in School of the Woods.
The girls continued work on Queen Victoria and Ordinary Genius.
Himself took a business trip to Savannah, a city we all love. We requested some candy from Savannah's Candy Kitchen, and he lovingly obliged: saltwater taffy, peanut butter fudge, peanut butter and chocolate fudge, and pralines! I'm going to try my hand at making these delectable goodies this Christmas season. . . .
I made homemade pizza for supper on Halloween. Himself and I indulged in pepperoni, fresh mushroom, and fresh basil with a generous grinding of fresh Parmesan; the girls had their favorite: cheese. That is just gorgeous, even if I do say so myself.
Speaking of Halloween, if you have gobs of leftover candy, I wrote a blog post of ideas for getting rid of it (or stretching it out). We're donating ours to the troops.
More culinary sensations: I made a wonderfully delicious beef stew for supper earlier this week. Click here for the recipe and then make it this weekend. You'll be so glad you did! I also made another batch of homemade yogurt. I can't imagine being without it nowadays. And I made a double batch of homemadelaundry detergent. I know it's not culinary, but I did make it in the kitchen.
Tiny Girl and I are spending lots of time at the barn. In case you didn't know, we now have two ponies: Max, whom we lease; and Tuli, whom we bought. Tiny works with both of them, and this takes a lot of time. I persuaded Himself to take her to the barn this afternoon so I could have time to write this wrap-up. Here she is on Max. It was an especially gorgeous day.
We bookworms have been reading a lot, too. Miss Priss finished Jack and Jill, by Louisa May Alcott (read my post on that here) and continues Cheaper by the Dozen and Summer of My German Soldier; Tiny Girl continues The Fellowship of the Ring and finished The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss; I finished Mary Stewart's The Moon-Spinners and have almost finished The Upstairs Room.
One of our Frost poem's this week was "After Apple-picking." Here are a few lines:
My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree Toward heaven still, And there's a barrel that I didn't fill Beside it, and there may be two or three Apples I didn't pick upon some bough. But I am done with apple-picking now. Essence of winter sleep is on the night, The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I enjoyed the few Frost poems I recognized for many years, but now that I've read him more widely, I wonder at his insight, his turn of a phrase, his ear for perfect words, his immense gift for poetry.
I'll leave you with a tip:
Everything goes better with chocolate -- especially fractions.
Not only am I linking up with some fantastic blog hops (see below), I'm also having a fabulous time listening to bossa nova music on Pandora internet radio. You can, too! Visit Pandora, and then type in "Astrud Gilberto" as an artist. You'll hear her and others like her. "Tall and tan and young and lovely, the girl from Ipanema goes walking, and when she passes, each one she passes goes aahhhh. . . ."
Last Sunday, as I sat down to plan for the upcoming week, I hit a couple of snags:
The girls needed to practice their solos and monologues for upcoming auditions for their theatre troupes
We'd done precious little notebooking, which I'd wanted to incorporate
We'd also missed a few readings from the previous week, due to two unexpected trips to the ER (everything's fine; more on that later)
I had an Aha! moment (most decidedly not an epiphany) and designated this week -- the fourth in the month -- as a project week. I eliminated several subjects from our daily schedule: grammar, spelling, copywork, composition, logic, and foreign language. Family prayer, Bible study, poetry, piano, and math remained. I limited the readings to four per day (including literature and independent reads), one of which included a notebooking assignment. This left plenty of time for audition preparation.
I have to say, it was a moment of brilliance. At least for me.
In Bible, the girls studied Psalm 32 this week. We are enjoying the pre-inductive study, Young Hearts Longing for God.
Photo courtesy FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
Robert Frost continues to delight us. The girls both picked "Hyla Brook" as their favorite poem this week. (In case you're wondering, hyla is a genus of tree frog.) "We love the things we love for what they are." Isn't that a wonderful line? When I was a child, there was a small branch that ran near my aunt's house. My sisters, cousin, and I played in it for hours in the summertime. By August, it had dried up and left a sandy bed filled with weeds. I thought of that as I read aloud the words of this poem.
The girls are preparing for their Christmas piano recital, so Christmas music rings throughout the house. Feliz Navidad, anyone? I know; it's a bit early for me, too.
We did a bit of online research on Turkey, as part of our Explore the Holy Land selection (we're doing this a year later than the AO schedule). Here is a link to the Turkish Music Portal, where you can listen to samples of Turkish folk, classical, children's, pop, and contemporary music. The girls had a big time dancing around the school room to some of these tunes.
We also watched a few short videos about Turkey on YouTube. Here's one:
A forgotten mug of coffee milk left in the basement was the genesis of an unexpected science lesson. Have microscope, will analyze!
Everyone's working with decimals in math. Tiny Girl and I took a break this week from MasterMath to brush up on some decimal skills. We used the book Math Doesn't Suck (love the instruction; hate the title) by Danica McKellar, and the website Math Is Fun! Here's a link to their decimals menu. Next week, Tiny Girl and I will review fractions using the same resources. Then we'll be back to MasterMath.
Overall, we are really pleased with our decision to place Miss Priss at our neighborhood Mathnasium center for her math studies. She enjoys going later in the day, when kids her age are there. Sometimes she sees friends to wave to -- a fun bonus. She also likes working with the teenage tutors, especially the girls.
Readings: Story of the World: Egypt's first king and Italy's fascism Secrets of the Universe (Liquids and Gases): Archimedes's Principle School of the Woods: the author meets the fawns Ordinary Genius (a bio of Albert Einstein): Chapter 3
Plutarch's Lives: "Dion," Chapter 2 Queen Victoria: Chapter 3 Age of Fable: Chapter 27, "The Iliad" It Couldn't Just Happen: "The Law of Entropy," etc. The Hobbit: Tiny Girl finished this and requested The Fellowship of the Ring, which I ordered from Paperback Swap. Miss Priss continues. The Wizard of Oz: assigned reading for Tiny Girl Jack and Jill (Alcott): assigned reading for Miss Priss
Our activities keep us busy, too. Tiny Girl and I are at the barn every day but Monday. Monday is theatre day, and, boy, am I glad to be part of a three-family carpool! Wednesday evening is middle school Bible study. And today, we travel to a nearby aquarium for an overnight adventure with our Girl Scout troop, along with a few other troops. We'll be "sleeping with the fishes" tonight!
We began our term study of Robert Frost, one of my favorite poets. Much to my delight, the girls enjoy his work, too.
One of the most wondrous things about Ambleside Online is that it introduces us to literature we might otherwise have missed. For example, all three of us were happy to have "met" poet Paul Laurence Dunbar last year. But I am also pleased to acquaint my girls with old friends, such as Frost.
And my heart goes pitter-pat when I learn more than I thought I knew. I love to be surprised like that.
Images courtesy of Foter.
Here's a Frost poem that was new to me (perhaps not to you, though).
Fragmentary Blue Why make so much of fragmentary blue In here and there a bird, or butterfly, Or flower, or wearing-stone, or open eye, When heaven presents in sheets the solid hue?
Since earth is earth, perhaps, not heaven (as yet)-- Though some savants make earth include the sky; And blue so far above us comes so high, It only gives our wish for blue a whet.
Since we got home from our extended trip to Maine (lots of related posts on that; check them out by clicking the Summer label on the list at the right!), I've been a busy girl. I spent a few days and nights making final plans and gathering all our materials for this, our sixth homeschooling year. Miss Priss is now in seventh grade, and Tiny Girl is in sixth. We are thoroughly entrenched in the middle school years. (Aside: When and how did that happen?? They keep growing, yet I'm still as youthful, dewy, and wittily charming as ever....)
Some background: we use Ambleside Online's fabulous and rigorous FREE curriculum as our foundation. Since I am a rebel, I amend AO's schedule, adding and subtracting to create a unique plan for my family, one that fits us best. This year, we are beginning AO Year 6. And we're trying our hand at notebooking in a few areas, which I think will be wonderful.
Spiritual Growth
The girls have begun a pre-inductive study of the Psalms called Young Hearts Longing for God, which I purchased during CurrClick's recent sale. This year, they prefer to work on this independently, which is a new thing, and one I'm not so sure about. But I'm willing to give it a try. If I notice any slap-dash work, I'll be back at the helm.
Math
After much curriculum-switching, we decided to enroll Miss Priss at our neighborhood Mathnasium center for her math studies this year. She goes to the center Monday through Thursday for 1.5 hours each day. So far we've all been pleased, and we have high hopes for this year. Tiny Girl opted for a change as well, and we went with MasterMath, a free online middle school math website with video lessons. (For more info, read my review at Curriculum Choice.)
Logic
Miss Priss has begun a new course, Critical Thinking, by Anita Harnadek. Both girls will continue with the MindBenders series, which they love, and the BalanceBenders series. All of these are from the Critical Thinking Company.
English Mechanics
For spelling, we're staying with Spelling Power. Three days a week, we spend a bit of time on grammar with Daily Grammar. You can read my reviews of both here. Copywork continues as well. However, we are taking a more formal approach to composition this year and using Susan Wise Bauer's Writing With Skill, book 5 in her writing series.
Literature
AO's poet for Year 6 fall term is Robert Frost. To my great joy, Miss Priss is already entranced. We will be incorporating memory work and recitation this year, which we've done in the past but let slide the last two years.
Both girls are reading The Hobbit independently this term. We are STILL reading Oliver Twist as a family read-aloud. Now that we are home and on a more regular and predictable schedule, I'm hoping to move a little more quickly through this one. Tiny Girl and I enjoy it; Miss Priss does not and strongly voices her opinion every time I crack open the Kindle. Also, AO's list of Year 6 free reads is packed with some wonderful selections.
Now that my girls are older, we are returning to Bulfinch's Age of Fable, beginning with chapter 27, the Trojan War and the Iliad. This fits in well with our geography study (see below). I love serendipity!
As for Shakespeare, we will attend a few theatre productions this year. Macbeth is first -- in October, of course. Later, I have in mind Much Ado About Nothing; Julius Caesar; and Romeo and Juliet. Tiny Girl was much put out that A Midsummer Night's Dream is not on the theatre's schedule this year.
Foreign Languages
I had a hard time deciding on a French study. We're beginning with Child's Illustrated First Book in French, by J. G. Keetels (in the public domain; I found it on Google Books). This will be somewhat of a review. Miss Priss wants to continue her German studies via PowerSpeak on our library's website, and I have no intention of dissuading her. Tiny Girl will begin -- and Miss Priss continue -- Latin and Greek roots later in the year.
Readings: History, Geography, Science, Natural History, and Biography Story of the World, volume 4, by Susan Wise Bauer Exploring the Holy Land, by Ann Voskamp and Tonia Peckover Secrets of the Universe (selections), by Paul Fleisher It Couldn't Just Happen, by Lawrence Richards School of the Woods, by William J. Long Ordinary Genius: The Story of Albert Einstein, by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson
"Dion," from Plutarch's Lives Queen Victoria, by Noel Streatfeild (a Tanglewood selection)
Artist and Composer Studies (Fall Term)
Renoir and Debussy
Outside Activities
Theatre, both girls this year
Riding, Tiny Girl
Piano, both girls
Mid-week small group Bible study at church, both girls
Girl Scout Cadettes, all of us
So there you have it! Our 2012-2013 year. Some titles will change as we finish them, of course, and new ones will be added. But this is the basic framework.
People have a lot to say about poetry. I found perusing the web for poetry resources to be a daunting task. It's impossible to read or even locate everything. However, I've highlighted below some resources that are most promising -- to my mind, anyway.
Silvia Vardell's blog, Poetry for Children, is a powerhouse of information. Her Poet Links list will introduce you to active children's writers you may not know. Perhaps you'll find one whose work delights your children. And you.
This page from the University of Lethbridge in Alberta suggests numerous books and websites on teaching poetry, as well as ideas for teaching and enjoying poetry. Developed by the Curriculum Laboratory, the page offers ideas for classroom centers, which homeschooling families could easily adapt. I especially like the prompts to spark an interest in children writing poetry of their own. Some of the listed websites and books are more pedagogically philosophical than necessary for my purposes, but lurking underneath this veneer are great suggestions and inspiration. I loved discovering Georgia Heard and her books!
Don't miss Poets.org, the website of the Academy of American Poets. Its drop-down menu, For Educators, provides a wealth of information, tips, resources, and plans. The site is also a good source for poet bios. I enjoyed the audio files of poets reading their own work. Hearing Robert Frost read "The Road Not Taken" or Dylan Thomas read "Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night" is a not-to-be-missed experience.
Teaching Student to Write and Read Poetry, a free ebook published by Jefferson County (KY) Public Schools for high school-aged students, is available here. I downloaded the PDF file and have only glanced at the contents, but I have high hopes based on my first look.
The Poetry Foundation website has a children's poetry section (look under the Resources drop-down menu) with book picks, a poem of the day, and articles on children's poetry. Here's the article that caught my eye: "Home Appreciation," about -- you guessed it -- homeschoolers and poetry. The website offers a FREE poetry app, too. And the Learning Lab (also under Resources) is packed with helpful and useful content.
While you're making your plans for next year, take some time to explore poetry. These resources can help you hone in on poets, explore poetry teaching methods, and discover family favorites. As always, use your discretion in making poetry choices for your family. What suits one family may not suit another.
This list is by no means exhaustive, nor was it meant to be. Use it as a springboard for your own poetry adventure. Click links and Google book titles (or poets or poem titles) to see what you might find. I found this poem at the Poetry Foundation website. I liked it, and perhaps you will, too:
The Ocracoke Ponies by Jennifer Grotz No one saw the first ones swim ashore centuries ago, nudged by waves into the marsh grasses.
When you look into their faces, there is no trace of the ship seized with terror, the crashing waves and the horses’ cries when thrown overboard.
Every afternoon you ride your bicycle to the pasture to watch the twitch of their manes and ivory tails unroll a carpet of silence, to see ponies lost in dream.
But it isn’t dream, that place your mind drifts to, that museum of memory inventoried in opposition to the present.
You felt it once on a plane, taking off from a city you didn’t want to leave, the stranded moment when the plane lifts into the clouds.
That’s not dream, it’s not even sleeping. It is the nature of sleeping to be unaware. This was some kind of waiting for the world to come back.
In my previous installment of this poetry series, Poetry Pushback: Bridging the Disconnect with Older Children, I made the argument that poetry study is a critical component of a liberal (wide) education. A nodding acquaintance with the "major" poets (you know the ones) goes a long way toward college prep. Even more importantly, poetry adds grace notes to life. (More on this topic later.)
So read and discuss with your older children Milton, Shakespeare, Spenser, and Dante. Introduce them to Browning, Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Byron. Mull over Dickinson's pithy lines, Eliot's symbolism, and Donne's "Batter my heart, three-personed God." Light the fire of your children's imaginations.
And if the fire is weak, throw on the gasoline.
Adolescents can be maddeningly apathetic about many things (chores, for instance, or polynomial equations -- frankly, I can relate) and then vividly passionate about others. These can be tumultuous years. Teens are busy individuating, shaping their specific dreams, formulating plans, studying the world. They often see things differently from adults.
True, all this can make teens and pre-teens difficult to live with (I know I was); but you can use it to your advantage when it comes to poetry. Tap into their energy, whether they are quiet percolators or swirling vortices. Give them a jolt.
Consider this, by Gwendolyn Brooks:
We Real Cool THE POOL PLAYERS. SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
Did you flinch? Are you affronted? What's poetic about this? you may think. Didn't you just quote Philippians 4:8 in an earlier post?
I did, and I began quoting at ". . . whatever is true. . . ." This poem is an example of an all-too-real truth in our culture. And not just American culture, either, but world culture, merely played out differently depending on the country.
Read this poem with your older children. Listen to Gwendolyn Brooks read this poem* and consider her thoughts on it. Read this short interview with Brooks about the poem. And then talk about it with your teens.
Who are these kids?
Can you picture them?
How is their world different from yours?
What choices have they made?
Why might they have made these choices?
When Jesus spoke of the "least of these," do you think He meant these guys?
The predicted outcome is both bleak and realistic. Can anything be done to help?
That last question is intended as a call to action, to service. Now, I'm not suggesting you go hang out in pool halls, although people do that. But if your teen shows interest, talk about service options. Just off the top of my head, I can think of several actions my daughters and I could take:
Make sandwiches for a local homeless outreach program.
Serve breakfast to the homeless once a month with a church group.
Read to or tutor young at-risk children.
Donate books, games, whatever to youth outreach programs.
All because of a poem.
Poetry can also inspire young hearts and minds, even if those minds tend to cynicism. I admire this poem by Langston Hughes:
Dreams Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow.
Its brevity may tempt you to zip through it; resist the temptation. Delve a little deeper. Spark some conversation.
Have you seen an injured bird that can't fly? How did it act?
Compare a bird when it's first injured to a bird that's adapted to its condition (at a nature center, perhaps).
Picture a "barren field frozen with snow." What does it look like? What's there?
How are dead dreams like injured birds or a snow-enveloped field?
Where do our dreams come from?
If we allow that God is the source of dreams/aspirations, what does it mean, then, when we let a dream die?
How can we determine if a dream is one of our own selfish desires or, conversely, part of God's plan for our lives?
Are we sometimes meant to let go of certain dreams and go in another direction?
If so, how can we keep from living like an injured bird?
On the flip side, what might happen if we reject God's dreams and follow paths of our own design?
Expose your child to a wide variety of poetic styles and expression. The Who's Who in Poetry list is important, but don't neglect the 20th century and later poets, either. If you need some help, I plan to list a bevy of resources in a later post. I'm gathering information now.
A word of warning: Don't turn your child loose! Poetry can be as dangerous as any other literary form. And it's not just the contemporary poets, either. Some of the Earl of Rochester's poems (1647-1680), for instance, freely celebrate his dissolute and libertine lifestyle. Another word of warning: please resist throwing water on the fire by too much talk about symbolism and the like. The poet Jean Little says it better than I do in "After English Class":
I used to like "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." I liked the coming darkness, The jingle of harness bells, breaking--and adding to --the stillness, The gentle drift of snow. . . .
But today, the teacher told us what everything stood for. The woods, the horse, the miles to go, the sleep-- They all have "hidden meanings."
It's grown so complicated now that, Next time I drive by, I don't think I'll bother to stop.
I recall discussing a short story (I've forgotten which one) in Advanced Junior English in high school. The teacher pointed out all the green in the story (basically the trees and plants in the woods). "Why do you think the author used all that green?" she asked. The class wisely chose not to respond aloud, but we were all thinking, Because a lot of the action takes place in the woods? The teacher smiled teasingly and drew out the word: "Money!"
Oh. Suuuuure. And since we were teenagers, I'm sure there was a fair amount of eye-rolling, even if we waited until after class to do it.
* Brooks mentions in this recording that this particular poem has sometimes been banned for the term "jazz," since it can have sexual overtones. Listen to the recording yourself to decide if you'd like your children to hear it. You can always have your children tune in after Brooks's intro.
So it's time to read today's poem at your house. You hope for happy smiles and murmurs of appreciation, but you get wailing and much gnashing of teeth, perhaps manifested in heavy sighs, dismissive shrugs, and pained expressions. And let's not forget the adolescent's coup de grace: the eye roll. Frankly, it would be easier to just zip through the thing and be done with it.
Consider this: when your child(ren) whined about simplifying fractions, you did not throw in the towel. You persevered. You kept your end goal -- a well-educated child -- in mind. We study fractions; we study Tennyson.
To my way of thinking, a complete education includes exploration of and experience with poetry. A well-educated child should be acquainted with Browning, Coleridge, Donne, Wordsworth, et al. Reading poets such as these supplies our minds with beautiful and meaningful imagery, rich language and expression, and noble and profound ideas.
That's all well and good, but when you're faced with teenage (or pre-teen) ennui, what can you do? How can you make the experience more meaningful for your older children?
First off:
Read poetry together. A resistant (or even a developing) appreciation needs shoring up
Take time for discussion. Explore the poem with your children. Encourage them to connect with the poem. What emotions does the poem excite (or at least prod)? What images come to mind? What do you think the poet wants us to do with his/her words? What's the point? What is your favorite line or phrase?
Consider keeping a poetry notebook, journal, or commonplace book of favorite lines of poetry. Do some research on poets' lives. Search for interviews with poets to discover what they say about their work. Have children jot down their own impressions of a poem or a line of poetry.
Whoa. I just looked at the clock. We need to get started with our day! So I'll have to leave my next tip (it's a biggie) for tomorrow. Check back for part two of this post: Jolt Them Out of Their Apathy.
Young children naturally seem to enjoy poetry, in general. But what if yours don't? What if their eyes glaze over when you read a poem to them? What if they openly resist listening?
Well, you could grit your teeth and slog through. But if your end goal is to cultivate a love of poetry in your children, I have a few items for you to think about:
Are you careful in your selections?
The unfortunate truth is that many poems for children are utter twaddle. I reviewed some online poetry websites and found a few that made me wrinkle my nose in distaste. Potty humor, slapstick silliness, doggerel*, and poor verse abound. The same holds true for nursery rhymes. Some are fun, lovely, or both; but others are just plain foolish. Of course, many of these parameters depend on personal taste. What's ridiculous to me may not be so to you.
But if you're asking Just what is poor poetry?, consider this, which I’ve just made up out of my own brain:
A rose climbs up our garden wall
as red as red can be.
When visitors all come to call
it’s quite a sight to see.
Ta da!
We can call this little quatrain a verse, but we cannot call it poetry. It inspires no connection, it invokes no emotions or understanding or images (other than the rose itself). It's not one whit engaging. In fact, there's nothing to it besides an ABAB rhyme scheme and a plodding meter. So in my most humble opinion, this is not poetry.
Let Philippians 4:8 be a guideline for you; it's excellent advice for anyone: ". . . whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things."
Are the children developmentally ready for the poems you've selected?
A year or so ago, the girls first encountered William Wordsworth, one of the poets AO designated for a term. Dutifully, I began reading his work to my daughters. They gave it a frosty reception, so I laid it aside for now. They were simply not ready, and I didn't want to ruin Wordworth for them, before they even begin to fathom "thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears."
How do you approach the poems?
First, take care not to bog down younger children with too much background or biographical information on the poet. As Silvia points out, "They [her young children] are starting to pay attention to some of those poems, and they know, for example, who A. A. Milne is when we read his poetry because of Winnie." And that's all they need to know at this stage.
Second, consider your delivery, i.e., how you read poetry aloud. Take in account the themes, tones, or moods of poems when you read them to your children, and do your best to read poetry in such a way that inspires a connection.
Do you like the poem (or poet's work)?
You can't fake it with your children. They know you well and will be able to sniff out your dislike. Select poetry that you enjoy, too, and perhaps your enthusiasm will impress your children. (If your children are older, as mine are, the latter is not likely to be effective. More on older children in another post.)
Whew! That's a lot to think about. If this sounds like work, well, it can be. In my last post of this series, I'll point you to resources to help you in selecting good poetry for your family.
Here's an example from our family, in case you're interested:
When my children were toddlers, I had a subscription to a lovely little literary publication written for their age group. It's been many years, but I still remember this poem (and can quote it from my feeble memory):
Rickety Rackety
Rickety rackety
Rocking chair
I bring my book
And my teddy bear
Mama reads
And strokes my hair
As we rickety-rack
In the rocking chair.
-- by Heidi Roemer
And here's another:
Taste of Purple
Grapes hang purple
In their bunches,
Ready for September lunches,
Gather them, no minutes wasting.
Purple is Delicious tasting.
-- by Leland B. Jacobs
Yesterday, I read a marvelous post about one family's poetry experience. Pop over and read about Angie's quest to engage her younger children in poetical delights. For more insight into these topics, read part one of this series, especially Rev. H. C. Beeching's comments about poetry.
I'd love to read your thoughts and ideas, so comment away!
* Doggerel, according to Wikipedia, is a "derogatory term for verse considered of little literary value. The word probably derived from dog, suggesting either ugliness, puppyish clumsiness, or unpalatability (as in food fit only for dogs). "Doggerel" is attested to have been used as an adjective since the fourteenth century and a noun since at least 1630. . . . Doggerel is usually the sincere product of poetic incompetence, and only unintentionally humorous." The article also points out that writers often use doggerel to "for comic or satiric effect" and to lampoon "popular literary tastes. "
Welcome to part two of my series on poetry for children -- and all of us. In part one, I offered several tips for enjoying poetry with your children. Today I'll address some surefire ways to kill the joy, douse the flame, squelch the delight, sever the connection, and set your children on the path to lifelong irritation, derision, and other means of unappreciation: poetry is "boring, a waste of time, weird, difficult. . . ." Just in case that's your goal. I'm trying to address all options here.
Here we go:
Avoid reading poetry with your children. Pretty straightforward. Children never exposed to beautiful and, especially important, evocative poetry will never develop an appreciation for it.
Succumb to your children's resistance. Young children seem to have a natural predilection for poetry. My children loved (and still do) the poems of Christina Rossetti, Robert Louis Stevenson, A.A. Milne, Walter de la Mare, Sara Teasdale, Hilda Conkling, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Emily Dickinson. Even now, if we need to soldier on in an activity (say, housecleaning), I'll cry out, "Excelsior!" and they know what that means, thanks to Longfellow. But now that they're older, I'm getting some flack or a touch of boredom. Bad attitudes, all. Now's the time to throw in the towel.
Read a poem once and slam the book shut. Poetry, check! If you decide to expose your children to some poetry after all, do not talk about it or the poet. No background information, no short biographical sketch, no exploration of emotions or images the poem might have inspired, no thoughtful consideration of the beauty of the words . . . nothing. Make no attempt to encourage any connection with the poem whatsoever.
Alternatively. . .
Read a poem and immediately begin to dissect its parts. go beyond mere rhyme scheme. Peruse the poem for instances of dactyl, anapests, enjambment, caesuras, elisions that preserve the poem's meter, etc. Analyze the poem's metrical pattern. Is it iambic pentameter, blank verse, free verse, etc.? What's its arrangement, so to speak: sonnet (Petrarchan or Shakespearean?), villanelle, epic, sestina, epigram, lyric, blank verse, or perhaps an elegy? This is crucial if your children are in the middle grades. Nothing kills poetical delight easier than early and accelerated literary criticism.
Of course, it goes without saying that if your aim to to engender a love of poetry in your children, then you'd strive to forgo these tips. Basically:
Do read poetry with your children.
Do persevere in the face of discontent. (I'm planning a separate post on this topic.)
Do talk about the poem with your children. Share your thoughts, but take care not to trample on their own experience.
Do postpone serious literary criticism until the later years, perhaps until college. Considering a poem's rhyme scheme (ABBA, etc.) for middle graders is fine by me. If you'd like, casually add in a consideration of figurative language: simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia (which is fun!), and the like. If your children are in high school, a basic understanding of poetic analysis would put them on the right road for their literature classes. (Hmm. This would make a nice post topic, wouldn't it?)
What are your experiences with poetry? Did any of the above points ring a bell with you, perhaps in your own education? How would you like things to be different for your children? Respond in the Comments section to your heart's content!
I'm embarking on a new series about poetry. I'll discuss studying poetry in your homeschool, cultivating a life-long enjoyment of poetry (instead of loathing); and finding wonderful sources of poetry.
Homeschoolers, especially those who adhere to a literature-rich philosophy, tend to agree that poetry is an important component of their children's studies. That's progress. I was educated in the public school system and didn't study poetry until high school. Fortunately, I enjoyed it, but many of my peers had an unfavorable opinion. I'm now persuaded to think that poetry appreciation, like many other fine arts, must be cultivated, and it's best to start when children are young.
Here are some tips I've learned:
Make time for poetry. Our days are full and busy; fine art study can fall victim to our schedules. Commit to setting aside a routine time for reading poetry, whether weekly or every day. Some ideas include: at mealtimes; after family devotion and prayer time; right before bed; even in the car!
Select age-appropriate poems. Reverend H. C. Beeching, in his excellent article "An Address on the Teaching of Poetry," says it this way:
The poetry must be suitable to their years. You must not expect little children to enjoy what you enjoy. You can drink claret, perhaps port, perhaps champagne, they cannot; their natural beverage is milk. The sources of joy open to them are the simplest, and to these you must bring them. The grandeur of Milton's blank verse will be as little to them as an organ concerto of Handel's; they must have simple rhythms to begin with, and they must have rhyme; they must have verses that sing themselves. And the subjects, too, must be appropriate to their age.
Strive for joy and charm, especially for younger children. There are many, many wonderful poems for young(er) children, but there's also a world of twaddle. How can you discern the difference? Here's an example Rev. Beeching offers:
. . . I agree with Miss Mason (whom we all delight to honour) in somewhat dreading nonsense verses for children as being a trifle (shall I say) profane. I once heard a mother of the upper classes reciting to her young hopefuls these graceful and spirit-stirring lines: 'Old Mrs. Hubblechin, Had a little double chin.' What a criticism of life!
Indeed. You'll find that much verse for children is of this ilk. But that's all they are: verses. They are not poetry. Is there anything inherently wrong with verse? Well, not really. I'll go so far to admit that some of it's quite fun! Just don't call it poetry, and don't teach it as such.
Focus on one poet at a time. There are lots of children's poetry anthologies, and those are lovely. But in the study of poetry, it seems best to select a poet and study his or her work for a bit of time. Call it poetry immersion. Introduce the poet to your children with a brief biographical sketch. For example, my children and I were much better equipped to appreciate the poetry of John Greenleaf Whittier because we knew something of his life. Also, when you immerse your children in the work of one poet at a time, you can compare and contrast different poems. Paul Laurence Dunbar, an African-American poet, wrote movingly and beautifully about life's difficulties and triumphs; but he also wrote immensely humorous poems in the black dialect of his enslaved forebears.
Read the poem more than once. This year, I've been guilty of slighting poetry. Although we've dutifully read our poems, I've tended to read each aloud once to the children, discuss it briefly, and move on to other things. I'm now seeing the weak and withered fruit such activity produces.
Here's a better method, which we've followed in the past. Read the poem out loud to the children. Read carefully; pause at punctuation marks, inflect where it seems natural to do so. Then let the children take turns reading it aloud. I find they enjoy the poem more after several readings than on its debut.
Talk about the poem, giving it more attention that a mere, "Do you like it?" Here's where true poetical delight comes in. Ask children to consider their personal responses. What feelings does the poem prompt? Could you see the scene in your head? How did you picture it? What ideas did the poem suggest to you? Can you relate to the poem or the poet's experience? How so? What line/phrase/words did you find especially lovely/moving?
Some of these questions are obviously more suited to older children, but you get the idea. Talking about the poem encourages us to connect with it and relate to it.
One more tip: don't kill children's nascent apppreciation for poetry by introducing literary criticism too early. Frankly, that can wait until they are much older. When I read poetry today, I never assess a poem's meter, form, or rhyme scheme. Instead, I read for the beauty of the words, my overall response, a connection to the natural world and often the spirit world. I'm reading for the joy of poetry.
And that's what I want to cultivate in my children.
For further enlightenment, I recommend reading Rev. Beeching's excellent article yourself. Here's a link to it on Ambleside Online. I'm linking up with this week's Hip Homeschool Hop. Check it out for great ideas!
It was back to business this week after taking a week for spring break. Our daily activities of Bible/devotion, poetry (Paul Laurence Dunbar), math, piano, copywork, foreign language, Latin roots for Miss Priss, critical thinking, grammar, and spelling clicked along as usual.
I'm still pleased with Daily Grammar for our grammar studies. This week, we reviewed nouns. What I particularly like about Daily Grammar is that the first lesson is quite rudimentary, and the lessons afterward pick up in complexity. Today's lesson, for example, highlighted collective, mass, and count nouns.
Collective nouns: class, group, choir
Mass nouns: gasoline, water, oil
Count nouns: arena, girls, bus
We made good progress in our readings, as well:
Oliver Twist: read through chapter three. We are all enjoying this story, but Tiny Girl does not comprehend many of Dickens's ironical descriptions (which are laugh-out-loud funny to me).
Harriet Tubman: completed. Both children liked this.
Sea Clocks: The Story of Longitude: completed (Read my review here.) We thought this was very interesting.
George Washington Carver, by Suzanne M. Coil: read through chapter two. Both children are enjoying this thus far.
Lilias Trotter: A Passion for the Impossible: read through page 43. Miss Priss and I are enjoying this more than Tiny Girl, who wasn't thrilled with Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution, either.
Story Book of Science: read the chapter "The Velocity of Sound," which discusses the differences in speeds of light and sound in a thunderstorm. AO added this to Year 4, and I thought it looked good. So we're reading it this year in our Year 5.
Abraham Lincoln's World: manifest destiny and westward expansion.
This Country of Ours: the Civil War, particularly the battle of the Monitor and the Merrimac. I've noted that Miss Marshall's overall tone is decidedly pro-Federal; it's especially noticeable in this chapter, wherein the Merrimac is described as a "black monster" and "ugly" more than once, while the Monitor is a speedy, clever machine. I was a tad surprised, since she was able to keep a more balanced tone while writing about the American Revolution.
Next week will be different for us, since Miss Priss will be taking the CAT5 exam. I ordered from Seton Testing Services, and they offer the short form of the test. Ergo, it won't be a tedious exercise of leviathan proportions, like our state's own standardized test.
Here's a lovely poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar, written in 1901:
Rain-Songs
The rain streams down like harp-strings from the sky;
The wind, that world-old harpist sitteth by;
And ever as he sings his low refrain,
He plays upon the harp-strings of the rain.
