The Charlotte Mason Girl

Poetry Part 2

So, what else does poetry do for our children?  It can serve the teacher in so many ways!  One thing I want you to always keep in mind – the material we use to teach our children will become part of our children – so only choose what is excellent!  Don’t waste your children’s time or brain power with dumbed down silly poems that only appeal to their base desires. 

 

“Poetry is, perhaps, the most searching and intimate of our teachers.”  Miss Mason obviously loved poetry.  Do you think this is why Psalms and Proverbs are such appealing books?  How often did the Lord inspire the writer to pack so much meaning and instruction into just two short lines, that you could spend all day meditating on those two lines? 

 

Select wonderful poets and poetry that inspire your children to great thoughts.  So that as they encounter the poet in many poems and with many exercises, they take in only what is excellent.  For younger children, Robert Louis Stevenson is an excellent choice. He speaks of childhood experiences as if he just lived them yesterday.  They connect with our children, and help them to say ordinary things in noble ways.  And who could deny that A.A. Milne knew how children thought?  All those poems about that silly bear, that expressed childish thoughts so tenderly, have captured the imaginations of thousands of children in several generations for a reason!  As our daughters grow, they may learn to love the poetry of Emily Dickinson (our sons may like her, too!).  For a good list of suggestions for poet and poetry, you can visit AmblesideOnline and see their lists. 

 

My husband and I like to hunt for old books at used book stores, estate sales, and even garage sales will have some.  We have recently been looking through all the old books we’ve gathered over the years, and have been pleasantly surprised to find some excellent poetry among our old books!  Your grandmother may have even owned a book or two of excellent poetry. 

 

There are countless sites on the internet, and the local library is full of books that contain wonderful poems!  I encourage you to take some time and go a-hunting for excellent poetry in your area.  Please share with me what you find, and how you found it!

 

Well, I really got into the “who, what and where” of poetry, didn’t I?  Next time, I’ll get a little more into the how and when of poetry for our homeschool.  Meanwhile – keep learning, and bring your children along for the ride!

Thank you, Chris Klicka!

If you have been in homeschooling for long, you have no doubt heard of the Home School Legal Defense Association.  This fantastic organization came into being to protect our freedom to educate our children in the way we as parents deem fit.  They have worked over the last many years to keep our freedoms, and to restore them, when necessary. 

 

One of the men who have worked so tirelessly in this endeavor is Chris Klicka.  He has a VERY short bio on HSLDA’s website that reads, in part:

 

“Since 1985, Chris has intervened on behalf of thousands of homeschool families across the country who have been threatened by prosecutors, social workers, and truant officers. He has represented many homeschooling families in court and testified before numerous state legislatures and Congress. He currently directs a staff of 10 lawyers and legal assistants and together they annually handle 10,000 legal conflicts/issues and monitor and lobby the 50 state legislatures.”

 

For those of us who have been around for little while, we know this isn’t even scratching the surface of all Mr. Klicka and HSDLA has done for us!  Remember HR6?  Remember CA district court ruling in Feb of 2008?  Remember when people would voice the question to us – “Is homeschooling even legal?”  It was Mr. Klicka and the others at HSLDA that helped us and fought off the threats to our freedom to homeschool.  We can never repay the debt we owe.

 

Well, I just found out a couple of years ago, that Mr. Klicka suffers from MS.  He has been dealing with this disease for years.  I never knew!  Well, it appears that Mr. Klicka’s fight against this disease is coming to a close.  Last week, he fell ill while in CO at a leadership meeting.  They have placed him in hospice care, and do not expect him to travel home to VA before his death. 

 

We do not grieve as those without hope, but we do grieve.  I’ve never met him, but I owe so much to him!  I have never shed so many tears for the impending loss of someone I’ve never met.  His crown will weigh a ton! 

 

Thank you is not enough for all he’s done, but it’s all I have to offer.  I’ll miss him deeply, and so will the homeschooling movement, whether we all know it, or not.

Using Poetry in Your Homeschool

Well, I thought this would be a good time to share with you how you can use poetry well in your homeschool!  We have gotten into our homeschool year, now, and we are having a lot of fun with all these subjects that are often considered “extras” in school.  It’s easy to see how this happens.  We focus on reading, writing and math, and that can take up much time and energy, add to that the homemaker responsibilities we have, and we don’t feel we have time to do anything else.  Fortunately, it can be easy to incorporate poetry into your homeschool!

 

Charlotte Mason said about poetry - “Poetry is, perhaps, the most searching and intimate of our teachers.”  And – “Poetry, too, supplies us with tools for the modeling of our lives, and the use of these we must get at for ourselves.”  Aren’t these great benefits from reading and memorizing poetry? 

 

Once again, the aspect of letting the material instruct the child comes up.  Poetry is something that is only harmed when the teacher comes between the child and the material.  If you keep the poem to your breast, and let the child read it only after you have given a lecture about the poet, the meaning of the poem, and the type of poem it is, you have dampened the child’s enthusiasm to discover some new thing.  However, if the child is first introduced to the words the poet put to paper, the child discovers wonderful things on their own!

 

Our son recited the poem “Death by Not Proud” by John Donne when he was 8 years old.  Imagine hearing a boy put voice to these words:

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[s] be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke;  why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more;  Death, thou shalt die

 

I must tell you, I got goosebumps when I heard him recite this poem for the family!  As he worked on memorizing the poem, the words began to speak to him.  I didn’t work with him as he memorized, he did it on his own.  By the time he recited it to us, he had gotten the feelings behind the poem, and he expressed them well as he recited the words!  As the lines found their way into his memory, he had a chance to ponder them, to digest them, and he experienced something Miss Mason wrote about.  She said, “As we 'inwardly digest,' reverence comes to us unawares, gentleness, a wistful tenderness towards the past…”  I could see it in my son’s eyes, hear it in his voice, in the cadence of his speech, in the way he held his body as he spoke.  He understood that the words had depth and much meaning to them.  WOW!  All from memorizing a poem!

 

Next time, I’ll share some more ideas on using poetry in your homeschool.  Meanwhile, will you share with me how you like to use poetry in your home?

Speaking at Scott AFB - What a great time!

I took my daughter, Rebekah, with me to the Scott AFB homeschool group yesterday and we had a wonderful time together with those ladies!  You all are so much fun to be with!

 

We spent some time talking about the basics of teaching our children with Charlotte Mason’s philosophy on educating children.  The questions asked and the discussion that followed were so enjoyable!  I hope everyone else had as much fun as I did!

 

I really appreciate you all having me come – I hope you were encouraged.  I was very blessed to be there!

 

If any of you other group leaders out there would like to have me come to speak to your group, just leave a comment, and I’ll get you all the details about how you can have me come and encourage your group, as well!

New and improved website - Ancient Paths Christian Bookstore

We are so excited here, today!  My husband and his web designer have been working hard on a total makeover of his website, and it is done! 

 

This has taken longer than expected, but it is so worth the wait!  Of course, I think it’s beautiful – and I’m not THAT biased!  You can find all kinds of wonderful resources for your family.  We have Charlotte Mason resources – including my favorite – A Charlotte Mason Companion.  You will also find great audio dramas your children will LOVE – and you will want to listen in, too!  There are resources about Church history, books for family read aloud, American History resources, and much, much more!  Check it out for yourself, and let Larry know I sent you over!