Why poetry is worth the time

[my3sons]

On the list of things I wanted my dc to learn, I confess poetry was somewhere near the bottom. I didn't like it all that well myself, and it seemed like if push came to shove, poetry would be the one not to do. Back when I just had 1 child, I had more time however, so I always got poetry done in the HOD plans. I probably rushed through it some days, but I did it. We read it together in BLHFHG and did the short activities, and there were no fireworks. Then in BHFHG, we read it together and did the activities, and a slow and steady change came over both my ds and me. We began to get a little more into them, changing our voices theatrically, and having fun figuring out how we best wanted to read them - sometimes we'd switch reading every other line, or every other stanza, and sometimes he'd just read - then I'd just read it. The activities planned for the poems were short, but they caused a change in us - a love for poetry began to slowly grow.

Well, now we are doing the poetry in PHFHG - and all of the dc and I have begun to love our poetry time. In fact, I had to move it to during lunch because everyone wanted to be a part of it. We're studying Robert Louis Stevenson in PHFHG, learning biographical details about him as well. Just yesterday, my ds said, "Hey, you forgot to tell us something new about RLS today - today's the day we get to find out something more about him!" I had forgotten to read those several facts from the plans out loud - and they really missed it. We're also writing poetry using RLS's poetry as a model to follow. My ds has not ever been into writing creatively. If you can imagine Daniel Boone on the frontier as a 9 yo - that's my ds - very into the outdoors, hunting, etc. And guess what? He LOVES TO WRITE POETRY now!!! And what's more, I think he's pretty good at it (though I'm biased I'm sure).

I am 100% sure that the years of simply enjoying poetry and doing minimal amounts of work with it in Beyond and Bigger gave the foundation for learning to enjoy poetry. If we had jumped in with analyzing it and doing a ton with it (as I had to do in school), I think the results would have been disastrous. It also would not have worked to do nothing with poetry - we needed to start just by reading excellent poems. So, for all of you ladies tempted to skip poetry because it seems unnecessary, please take the 5 minutes a day it takes to do it. I think you will be excited with the results! I have to share a few of his poems - can't resist! I'm a proud mama today - this is written about the bluejays we have outside our window. I only helped him with the adding the word "shoe", with fixing 2 spelling errors, and with moving "faces" up a line. He chose to write four stanzas - I gave him no requirements.

Bluejays

I see the bluejays at noon,
The seasons are winter and fall!
I also see them at teatime,
While they give chase to sparrows!

I see them pecking seeds or
stealing food, while the lookouts
Watch out for our dog!
I sometimes see ten at a time.

They are dressed in blue capes,
Or black headdresses and white bonnet faces
Their white dress cloaks and silver
Shoe buckles gleaming in the sun!

I hear them singing,
Some Chinese others Japanese
New Yorkers singing opera or
Puccini while the lookouts watch the fun!

(By the way, I have got NO idea how he new about Puccini. I had to look that up on the Internet for spelling and to be sure he was an opera singer. )

Also, here is one earlier poem he did:

The Sun

The sun has a face like a lightbulb;
He shines on people on the streets,
On the big and small buildings,
And the swingsets on the ground.

The noisy machines, the creaking swings,
The rumbling of the vehicles
The always talking voices
And the sun gets to hear it all


I'd love to hear your thoughts/experiences in your journey with poetry!
In Christ,
Julie

[Mommamo]

Those poems are great! I think it's so sweet that your boy likes to write poetry. We've always loved reading poetry in our house, and it's something I've done with the kiddos since my oldest was born. We're really looking forward to the poetry when we get to Beyond.

[Patience]

This is incredible! You should be a proud mama. Listen to these lines!

They are dressed in blue capes,
Or black headdresses and white bonnet faces
Their white dress cloaks and silver
Shoe buckles gleaming in the sun!

And the poem about the sun - and the sun hearing it all! What a great thought!
I love moments like those. The sweet and steady gentleness of pleasurable school. I rejoice with you Julie. That is something special to smile about. Your son seems gifted with words.

It's so funny...I used HOD last year but I had originally purchased it for the bible (but wasn't faithful to use it) I didn't even know about HOD, even when I owned it. Anyway, then I saw the poems in the back, I thought they were so well chosen, I had my daughter do some of them for copywork. She did such a nice job on these with her handwriting and illustrating them, that at Christmas we had them spiral bound with a cover entitling her collection "Mother's Jewels"...and we gave these books to a few grandmothers and special women friends. Well, she is repeating some of them now, now that we are really USING Beyond! But she is writing them in cursive this time, instead of print. So that's my daughter. I would say poetry wouldn't be something I'd naturally lean toward or get done, so I think it's wonderful that they get to be exposed to poetry. Both of my kids practically memorize them each week as we read them. I "caught" my son trying to recite his from memory just earlier today! So cute! That's my story!

[MamaMary]

Julie,

Thank you for posting so honestly. I have to say that poetry is the one thing that I started strong in and is often dropped. I needed to hear this. Thank you for sharing the long term picture!

[Kathleen]

Julie,

Wyatt's poems are wonderful!! I am so excited for this creative writing that we'll get to do next year in Preparing! I'm also really thankful that the Lord led us to HOD this year so we could start with Bigger. I think I've shared before, but when I was looking at the sample weeks of HOD last year on this site and telling my husband about what our days would be like, I was thrilled with this and that...and then I said, "And, there's poetry. But, I'll just skip that. There are so many other great things here. This is exactly what I've been looking for." My husband and I both had a very boring experience with poetry that we deemed "useless", so we were going to skip it with our kids. But, as we started Bigger this year, we were hooked on the poetry almost immediately. Grant loves it! I love that it's short and sweet and enjoyable...and we're learning. (He wouldn't let me skip it. )

Today, we had our county 4-H Days where 4-Her's get to do a variety of things of their choosing. They have music categories, demonstrations, project talks, readings, solo acting... It's a good experience for the kids to learn to communicate in front of others and is a learning time. Grant was able to do several things, and one that we worked on was a poem that we really enjoyed in Bigger this year. He did solo acting with "Marching Song" by Robert Louis Stevenson. He had the poem memorized from reading it, and couldn't help but acting it out as we read it during it's unit. We took a "highland bonnet" (play gun) and a papertowel tied on a stick.

Bring the comb and play upon it!
Marching, here we come!
Willie cocks his highland bonnet,
Johnnie beats the drum.

Mary Jane commands the party,
Peter leads the rear;
Feet in time, alert and hearty,
Each a Grenadier!

All in the most martial manner
Marching double-quick;
While the napkin, like a banner,
Waves upon the stick!

Here's enough of fame and pillage,
Great commander Jane!
Now that we've been round the village,
Let's go home again.

All 3 of my kids actually can recite this poem now. They have had so much fun acting it out for fun. Grant is Willie. Allison is Mary Jane (she likes to slide into that command role quite well ). And Garret doubles as Johnnie and Peter. (He's the drummer in the back. ) I haven't taken a picture of this yet. I'll have to do that.

Ok, that was a long poetry story. But, I agree, Julie! The poetry in HOD has made a poetry-lover out of a poetry-dreader in me and my kids!
Kathleen

[my3sons]

Ashley - you are so wise to start poetry young - I think that makes a huge difference in our "heart" for it!

Patience - what a neat idea to make a poetry notebook for a gift! Also, memorizing poetry is CM and is considered a higher level skill and mature way of enjoying poetry! I'm going to share what you said about Wyatt's poems with him - he'll be so excited!

Mary - at least you started strong on it! Way to go! I think I probably wouldn't have ever done poetry without HOD having it in the plans. Usually I am reading your posts and thinking "I so needed to hear that"!!!

Kathleen - I wish I could have watched Grant perform that poem! I bet he was great! How neat that you are already laying the groundwork for him to have a lifetime love of poetry!!!

Thanks for sharing the joy, gals! Oh, and if any other moms out there have poems your dc have written from PHFHG - I'd love to read them too - Wyatt can share the limelight!

In Christ,
Julie

[mamaloves4]

We, too, are having an amazing journey with Poetry. Our oldest dd is in Preparing and this is our first year in HOD guides. One aspect I have been surprised by is my dd joy in the poetry. The first week we came to writing creatively from RLS poem, I must admit I cringed inside, not about the poem, but wondering if my dd would 'get' the task. Well she surprised me!!! Ever since then, that is one of her favorite activities of the week--she actually has been inspired to write more poetry about whatever strikes her fancy. I will share a couple based off of RLS poetry.

Sun Covering Desert

Blooming cactus' bloom everywhere.
And spiders craw here and there.

Bats at night, come to look, for
the food it needs in a nook.

Sand bakes hot, the sun's like a big pot.
Until finally, everything's come cool so it feels like a water pool.

Poisonous animals look for food so the
animals scurry, hurry, hurry.

Owls, birds, eat as much as they can,
for soon the sun will rise again.

Kangaroo rats, fight for seeds, but don't see
the danger close to do it's deeds.

So beware, when you go to the desert,
you might just get a scare.


The Blowing Wind

The wind so strong, blows straw around.
He ruffles your hair as you sit in a chair.
He blows over land and sea, sometimes
Hard, sometimes a gentle breeze.

He whistles like a child, only in a tree.
He dries puddles as far as I can see.
As he blows, the rain falls down
He blows the rain all around.

The wind flies, the rain dies.
People come outside wearing mittens.
And they also have some kittens.
Children follow, listening to the wind.


So that is a little example of what she is doing--it has been fun and encouraging to see her enjoy it so much, even if some of it doesn't make a lot of sense.---so the time for poetry is definitely worth the time---your dc just might surprise you, as mine has done!!

Jess

[my3sons]

Jess - your dd made me able to close my eyes and really picture the desert! I never thought about the desert as such an exciting place before, and she really made it come alive for me. My favorite lines in the poem about the wind are "he ruffles your hair" and "he whistles like a child". What great personification! Isn't it amazing how they just sort of seem to get how to write in stanzas and how to vary line length too? They just seem to inherently understand that because they've studied RLS's poems. Thanks for posting these - what fun!

In Christ,
Julie

[funkmomma71]

Thank-you ladies for sharing these wonderful poems and testimonies! Everytime I read posts like these I get a little jealous and can't wait to get into the upper levels of HOD!!

Julie- Your son's poems are beautiful, you should be very proud!

Nancy