Poem for the Beginning of the Year

I discovered this poem recently and it seems perfectly suited for the beginning of the year: 

NEW EVERY MORNING

Every day is a fresh beginning,
Listen my soul to the glad refrain.
  And, spite of old sorrows
    And older sinning,
    Troubles forecasted
    And possible pain,
Take heart with the day and begin again.

~Susan Coolidge

Doesn't that first line remind you of Miss Stacy telling Anne Shirley, "Remember, you can always start everything afresh tomorrow"?  And the last line is one I'd like to remember as various challenges crop up throughout my days with the kids, "Take heart with the day and begin again."
Yes, please.  His mercies are new every morning.

Blessings to you all for a wonderful year!
~Stacy

Poetry and Painting

Autumn Leaves
by Angelina Wray

In the hush and the lonely silence
Of the chill October night,
Some wizard has worked his magic
With fairy fingers light.

The leaves of the sturdy oak trees
Are splendid with crimson and red.
And the golden flags of the maple
Are fluttering overhead.

Through the tangle of faded grasses
There are trailing vines ablaze,
And the glory of warmth and color
Gleams through the autumn haze.

Like banners of marching armies
That farther and farther go;
Down the winding roads and valleys
The boughs of the sumacs glow.

So open your eyes, little children,
And open your hearts as well,
Till the charm of the bright October
Shall fold you in its spell.

Evaluating our School Year: Poetry

Hello friends,

This post begins a series of me basically processing my thoughts (and sometimes my kids' thoughts and opinions) here on the blog regarding our homeschooling year.  I plan to cover each subject, describing what we did, what worked for us and what did NOT work.

I find this process so helpful as I finish out each year and before I begin to plan for our next year.  Each year I end up tweaking things and refining them in a way that will result in a smoother run NEXT year.  At least that's the plan.  :)

So... I'm going to begin with POETRY, since a reader (Hi Candice!) recently had a question about this.

WHAT WE DID:
Each month we reviewed one poem from the previous year and learned a new poem.  We read our poems-for-the-month every school day during morning time.  Each child had a copy of the poem in front of them that I would pass out before each reading, then file afterward in my Morning Time binder.

At the beginning of a month, I read that month's new and review poems aloud, to get the right cadence of the poem in their minds.  Then after a week or more of only me reading them, I might have one of older kids read them, or I would read a line and see if the rest of the kids could fill in the following line.  Toward the end of the month when they were all very comfortable with it, they would take turns reciting the poems throughout the week.

Here is list of our poetry selections for this past school year.  (You should be able to google any of these titles and/or poets and find the poem in its entirety.) 

September|October
IF, Rudyard Kipling (new)
Nine o’Clock Bell, Eleanor Farjeon (review)

November
The Mist and All, Dixie Willson (new)
Who Has Seen the Wind? Christina Rossetti (review)

January
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, Robert Frost (new)
The Eagle, Alfred, Lord Tennyson (review)

February
February Twilight, Sara Teasdale (new)
The Children’s Hour, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (review)

March
The Lake Isle of Innisfree, William Butler Yeats (new)
Written in March, William Wordsworth (review)

April
Nature, Poem 9: The Grass, by Emily Dickinson (new)
The Sun Is First To Rise, Elizabeth Coatsworth (review)

May|June
Bilbo’s Walking Song, J.R.R Tolkien (new)
The Cow, Robert Louis Stevenson (review)

My favorite books of poems for young children is either A Child's Book of Poems (illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa), or A Child's Garden of Verses (Robert Louis Stevenson, and illustrated by Tasha Tudor.

One of Fujikawa's illustrations

For middle-aged children I really like Favorite Poems Old and New, with selections by Helen Farris.  Our copy is an old, red, hardbound book I picked up at a thrift store years ago.  I also have a copy of The Classic Hundred Poems (Harmon).  Everything else I find online.  Ambleside online is a great resource.  Click here to find a list of AO's recommended poets.



WHAT WORKED:
The purpose of introducing poetry to the kids is to expose them to the language of the poets and the cadence of verse, and I think we really succeeded in this.  We all really enjoyed it, and the kids all said they want to keep doing exactly what we did this past year.

WHAT DID NOT WORK:
I can't really think of any thing that didn't work.  I will say that my older kids could have taken on more challenging poems.  They are able to memorize more easily than the little girls, and could have tackled longer poems, for sure.  (Ella, for instance, gets a poem down after just a few times of hearing it and can recall and recite it months later.)  But I intentionally chose fairly simple poems that the younger girls would like to hear, and they all liked our poetry time, so I think it's a win.  :)

***

Please feel free to post any questions you might have, or list your own favorite poems!

Thoughts on ending the year well, poetry, and a God who knows us

Mark decided we would be done with our school year at the end of next week, so we are officially winding down, and I am thankful because it means the end is within sight.  Except now that I know that, suddenly my brain is revving UP for planning, and I keep reminding myself to slow down, get through the end-of-the-year evaluations first, and then allow myself to actually rest before the planning.  But I love planning.  And I've got ideas and so I am jotting them down and thinking about planning.  :) 

End-of-the-year evaluations are probably not what you think they are.  I generally interview each of my kids to find out their favorites of everything from chores to read-alouds to trips to subjects to activities.  All of it.  I have our schedule in front of me and I just ask away.  I find out their favorites and least favorites.  Then I ask what they missed; what they wish we had done more of, what ideas they have, etc.  Those are sweet conversations, and I learn a LOT.

Now that we're down to the last week, we're in review mode, and these past couple of mornings we've been reviewing the hymns and poems we've learned over this past year.  I was really curious to see if the kids would remember any of the poems we did back in September, and they do!  I'm so impressed by their memories.  (Note: I have learned words and lines, but I don't know that I could even recite one complete poem at this point.  Sheesh.)

This was the year I became a fan of poetry.  We have tried to tackle it every year, and usually start strong, but I always fade out.  This year I selected two poems per month, beginning the school year with fourteen poems tucked away, and then I scheduled it into our morning time and we read those poems every day.  And they learned them.  Simple as that.  And they love them and so do I.  I have our poetry books beside my bed and am already peeking into them to select some for next year.  The kids have also requested certain poets.

* * *

OH!  And I found this gem in the Psalms the other day and wanted to share it with you after my somber last post.  Psalm 38:9:

All my longings lie open before you, O LORD;
my sighing is not hidden from you.

I love that, don't you?  He knows us; He knows our longings and our every need and desire; our tears, our doubts, our disappointments, our pain.  He knows.  He is a hearer of our hearts. He sees all of us. He knows us intimately and personally.  I am so thankful, aren't you?

May you remember today that whatever your longings are; whatever your needs and sighs are-- He knows them already.  He loves you so very much.  (Praying particularly for you sweet readers here.  Tamara.  Quinne.  Candice.  Charissa.  And for you, Melissa, and for your sweet Abby.  And for you, too, Rebecca.)  I love you sweet girls.  I've been lifting up your needs before our Heavenly Father, and trusting that He who knows you will meet each need of your heart.  (((big hugs)))

Mid-year Morning Time Review

[morning time schedule from our first week of school]

Today is Mark’s day off, which means he does school with the kids, and I get to leave the house and have time away all by myself.  As I was getting ready to go, he was reading to them from the Bible-- a long portion, covering the Easter Story.  I made myself breakfast and lingered a bit in the kitchen, listening to their questions and discussion.  It was so hard for me not to sit down and participate. I truly love our morning times together. 

This is week 21 of our 36-week school year, and I was thinking recently how on any given day, we may only do a little bit, one verse of a hymn, one poem, one verse from the Bible, etc.... but that a little bit each day adds up to a whole lot.  Here's a list of the material we’ve covered during our morning times together throughout these first 21 weeks:
*I've marked review items with a star

Hymns:
A Mighty Fortress is Our God
Great is Thy Faithfulness
How Great Thou Art
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
Blessed Assurance

Scripture memorized:
Psalm 19*
Psalm 33:5*
Psalm 105
Proverbs 15:28
Proverbs 18:21
Luke 2:1-20
Luke 6:45

Other memory work:
Books of the Old Testament*
Family Ways

Poems memorized:
If (Rudyard Kipling)
Nine o’clock Bell* (Eleanor Farjeon)
The Mist and All (Dixie Willson)
Who Has Seen the Wind?* (Christina Rossetti)
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening (Robert Frost)
The Eagle* (Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
February Twilight (Sara Teasdale)

The Children’s Hour* (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
The Lake Isle of Innisfree (William Butler Yeats)
Written in March* (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Picture Study:
George Seurat (5 works of art)
Claude Monet (several works; he's one of my favorites!)
...and we spent a couple of weeks reviewing previous years’ artists

Composer Study:
Sergei Rachmaninoff (6 works)
Johannes Brahms (6 works)

Shakespeare:
The Taming of the Shrew (we also watched a video of this one)
A Winter’s Tale
King Lear
...using either Lamb or Nesbit
We also read this book aloud: Shakespeare: His Work and His World

Plutarch:
Marcus Crassus
(This was our first foray into Plutarch, using Anne White’s study guide, and the kids-- especially my boys-- have really enjoyed the readings and discussion.)

Science:
Pagoo (read-aloud)
Nature Study
various experiments

Geography:
-some readings from Home Geography (Long)

Map Work:
-freehand drawings of the continents & oceans
-13 colonies
-Europe (spanning several weeks)

Art:
-drawing lessons using this book: Drawing Textbook
-various nature study drawings
-still-life drawings: setting up objects on the ottoman in the center of the living room and everyone circles around with their sketch books and draws what they see
-our own painted reproductions of our favorites from Monet & Seurat

Grammar:
-lessons from Simply Grammar & First Language Lessons (skipping around those books, where we needed brushing up)
-a smattering of Grammar Worksheets from this site.
-(Most of our grammar is learned through reading and dictation.)


*This post contains affiliate links

Our Simple Schedule, Part 3 (Bible, memory work, poetry)

This is Part 3 in an impromptu series I'm doing in response to a readers question about our schedule.

Here is her question:  

I know this was a while back, but I really love the simplicity of that schedule you shared (the picture in the other post of your school schedule). I'm curious what resources you're using for things like math and dictation (are you using Spelling Wisdom or just choosing something each week, etc.). Anything in particular for Bible, memory, poetry, etc or just choosing as you go? What about geography and science? And, written narrations ... are you just letting Ella choose what she will write from? Thanks so much! You really know how to simplify and make it feel calm (or at least appear that way). :) 

Here is what we've covered so far:
Part 1: our resources for math
Part 2: what we do for dictation.

And in this post we'll cover Bible, memory work and poetry.

For Bible time: Every morning over breakfast we read from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible.  [Another favorite is Catherine Vos' The Child's Story Bible].  About 80% of the time we follow our reading up with a narration: the kids tell it back to me, or I have them draw a picture, or we'll make lists on the dry erase board (observational- listing characteristics of someone, or of God, or of what this or that king did in comparison to another).  Every once in long while I'll have them act a story out, which they love, but which takes a really, really long time.

Mark also reads from the Bible (NIV) in the evenings before bed, before or after our read-aloud.  He started this habit years ago when we only had Ella and Isaac.  Sometimes he only reads a few verses and we talk about it, sometimes he reads a whole chapter.

For memory work,  this year I transitioned from our memory work box, which we'd used for years, to binders (shown in this post) for each child containing all of our memory work.  Honestly, I sort of miss our memory work box and I still can't decide which we'll do this coming year.   The box is more portable and practical, and we could easily do it at the table, and it held an all-togetherness factor that I like.

The binders made for more copying and more papers.  And while I liked that the kids got to have their very OWN, I think we did it less because we had to move from the table to the living room for memory work.  (Because five open binders at our table, usually with breakfast (or the remains) on our table, is impossible.)

What we did for memory work this year: our Family Ways.  Mark and I used this as a springboard to make our own family ways.  We used many of theirs but tweaked it a bit- adding some different verses, omitting a few and adding some of our own.  So we introduced them week by week and discussed them, and then memorized verses to go with them.  We also memorized Psalm 19.  And we reviewed our previous memory work, listed below:

-ABC Bible verses
-Catechism questions
-OT books of the Bible
-NT books of the Bible
-the Ten Commandments
-assorted Bible verses/passages we've memorized over the years
-a couple of poems

For poetry, what I did last year was to choose one to three poems for each month- specific to the month or season, and tried to read through them at least once each week.  My plan* was that the kids would then choose one poem per quarter that they would then memorize and recite.

*I am really quite good at making plans and systems and thinking they're going to go along swimmingly, right up until they don't.  So while that was my poetry plan, what really happened is that we read the September, October and November poems, and the [3 older] kids each chose a selection from them and memorized them (roughly), and kept asking, "When are we going to recite our poems, mommy?"  And I said, "I don't know.  Let's ask daddy sometime."  Repeat about 20 times over the course of a couple of months. One day I did, finally, ask them to recite them to me.  And they did.

We don't school for the month of December, so no poems.  I also miscarried that month, and we were very sick.  While we began school up again sometime in January, I don't think we ever read the January poems I'd selected.  I read February's poems at least twice, March's poems once or twice, April's poems once, May's poems once, and June's poems never.  

I was bemoaning to Mark the other night that we would have gotten far more poetry done if I would have just chosen a book, set it somewhere close to our kitchen table, and picked it up and read from it each day.  

Next up: Part 4: Geography, Science and Written Narrations.  Then I'm going to write a few posts on how I plan for our upcoming school year, since that's what I'm doing these days.

May poem

Vegetables

The country vegetables scorn
To lie about in shops,
They stand upright as they were born
In neatly-patterned crops;

And when you want your dinner you
Don't buy it from a shelf,
You find a lettuce fresh with dew
And pull it for yourself;

You pick an apronful of peas
And shell them on the spot.
You cut a cabbage, if you please,
To pop into the pot.

The folk who their potatoes buy
From sacks before they sup,
Miss half of the potato's joy,
And that's to dig it up.

~Eleanor Farjeon

Poetry for October

Here's what we're doing for poetry this year:  I've selected two or three poems per month that are season-specific.   I read them aloud when I remember to (usually about once a week) and I've told the kids that I'd like them each to choose one poem to recite at the end of each three-month period.  We've never recited poetry so I'm excited about it!

Here are our poems for October:


Nature, Poem 28: Autumn

The morns are meeker than they were,

The nuts are getting brown;

The berry's cheek is plumper,

The rose is out of town.
 
The maple wears a gayer scarf,

The field a scarlet gown.

Lest I should be old-fashioned,

I'll put a trinket on.
 
~Emily Dickinson


             ***


Who Has Seen the Wind?

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

~Christina Rossetti