Descriptive Writing can be hard to teach...

[my3sons]

BUT NOT with the way it's done in PHFHG!

I cannot say enough how thrilled I am with the writing lessons in PHFHG! My ds is flourishing. This past week, we read Robert Louis Stevenson's "Where go the boats?". Here he drew a scene to match the description of several stanzas of the poem, and then he added a new element to his scene. He chose a fish of course, since he fishes with my dh. I am very pleased with his description of his pictures. I can see bits and pieces of Robert Louis Stevenson in it, but I also see a lot of my ds's personality in it too - which is completely what I want! Emulating an excellent poet's writing, but also making it his own - just what I've been wishing he would do for awhile. He also added in some personification, which is a lesson we have several weeks back. PHFHG is doing a wonderful job of teaching my ds to not only learn great writing skills, but to enjoy it as well!



Here's what it says:
The dark brown river flows beside the golden sand.
The foam castles stand until leaves flow through their gates.
The fish swim while trees on the banks watch!
And while all this is happening, the boat watches it all.

How have your dc grown in writing? I'd love to hear about it!

In Christ,
Julie

[Samuel'sMommy]

Your son did a great job on his drawing and on his poem!

[mamaloves4]

Your son did a great job! I love to see all the great pictures!

Yes! I love what PHFHG is doing for my dd!! We just started a few weeks ago and she has always loved to write and work on short stories, BUT I have had no idea to help her 'spread her wings' so to speak and she is loving writing creatively from Robert Louis Stevenson's poems. I just have to share this poem based off of Stevenson's poem 'To Any Reader', which was from Unit 4. (this is copied exactly as she wrote it, commas and all).

The Happy Memory

A Mother one day looks,
out a window to see,
me playing outside among
the garden trees. The mother
takes down a book that
is very interesting, to take
a look. She sees a child
in the book, playing in
another garden, not wanting
to look. She gets an invitation
to look at the wonderful
book. She tries to get his
attention, but he does not
stop. He does not come,
nor does he stop, but
The Mother thinks, of
a happy memory.

Anyway, I am also loving this guide--I feel I am learning such wonderful stuff--it makes me wonder what I spent my school years doing? Thanks for letting me share---it is great to have a place to share our struggles and victories!!

Jessica

[Carrie]

Oh ladies, those budding poets bring tears to my eyes. Robert Louis Stevenson is one of my favorite poets, and I know he'd be thrilled to see his poems inspiring others to write too!

Here's one of my son's recent poems from Preparing Hearts titled "The Wind":

The wind flies all around,
Dancing through the trees.
It blows the grass to the ground
And shakes the shutters -
Just for fun.
He'll whistle in your ear,
Then, take your hat and run.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Candice]

To all,

So very neat to hear your children's accomplishments, you must be so proud! I really enjoyed reading the poetry and seeing the artwork, really beautiful and quite amazing! Thanks so much for sharing. I love being able to "peek into the future" and look forward to all the really great learning opportunities with HOD.

Candice

[Kathleen]

Oh, those poems are all wonderful! You all have me really excited about next year! It's going to be so fun to see Grant start some creative writing. At this point he has a wild imagination and loves to talk (ALL the time! ), but if he's writing something he approaches it from the "how can I say this in one word" standpoint.

Kathleen

[my3sons]

... but if he's writing something he approaches it from the "how can I say this in one word" standpoint.

Kathleen

You are describing Wyatt last year here! So do be encouraged - I think PHFHG will help Grant put all those wonderful verbal ideas into written form quite happily!

Jessica - I really enjoyed reading your dd's poem. Thank you so much for sharing it, and she has a good grasp of creating a mood to her writing already, which is hard to teach. I think some dc naturally have that emotional link to their writing, and your dd obviously already does!

Carrie - Shaw did such a good job with his wind poem! His "wind" was kind of a fanciful wind, and it really showed off Shaw's creative imagination and joy for writing. What a blessing to be able to enjoy poetry in this way! I wish I had learned it in this manner as a child. I would not be so leery of writing it myself had I gone about it this way as a child.

Thank you ladies - Wyatt will be beaming when I tell him what you all said about his writing.

In Christ,
Julie