heartofdakota.com

Hello All,
I have been using Beyond for 4 weeks now with two DS ages 6 and 7-Everyday they dread the poetry reading and copywork~ I love poetry and want them to love it as well ~should i still do it or should I drop it until they mature more? They are very fidgety and get distracted easily-any suggestions would be great-

Hi there,

The poetry reading shouldn't take long - at all. Share it with them while they are having a snack or breakfast or lunch or swinging or playing LEGOS.

My 7 year old loved guessing the title every 1st day. It got to be a contest with his brother.

Have them copy what is realistic for them - a word, a phrase, a line.

They might enjoy copying into sand or shaving cream or on the table. Then on the last day on paper.

Keep playing with it. It will happen.

Enjoy!

My kids aren't thrilled with it either. But it does only take a few minutes. They hate the copy work. But that's more a writing thing, than specific to the poetry. I pulled my child off of doing it and I just divide the poem in 5 for my oldest to copy.

My son wasn't crazy about the poems either. I had him copy only a little a day. Usually only a few lines. So he got it copied over 5 days.

Is it reading of and listening to the poetry they dislike or the copywork? If it's the reading and listening, I say persevere, like any listening this may take time to develope. If it's the copywork, why not have your kiddos copy something else instead, such as the bible verses in each unit. For the read out loud time you could try letting them act out or come up with movements for the poetry, this would make it more interactive and maybe more enjoyable. Best wishes.

It took my son up to week 12 or 15 to like the poetry and now he loves it. Week 21 was the best!
So hang in there! the results are worth it!
Dorla

Kris,
I would not sweat this yet! Appreciation of poetry does not usually happen quickly, especially for boys it seems. However, it is well worth persevering. If you'd been doing poetry with HOD for years and years, I'd be more concerned about attitude, but since you are just beginning your poetry journey, I can understand your boys' reaction. In fact, when I first began doing poetry, I wasn't too sure how I felt about it either. Here's a post I posted awhile back about poetry that shares my poetry journey with my boys - maybe it'll help you look down the road and see the benefits of continuing with poetry:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2767&p=20436

I would also not draw out the poetry lessons at this point. I would just do the box as it is written (which should take about 5 minutes), and not add more readings of the poem or more discussion of the poem to it. Doing it cheerfully and quickly will keep the pace moving, while teaching those important skills they need to learn from doing poetry.

As far as the copywork, that is somewhat a separate issue, where they probably wouldn't enjoy copying much of anything. That's alright - it's an important part of their learning that will do wonders for their own writing over time, and it needn't take long. If the actual action of writing is something they need to grow into (which it usually is for that age), I'd just have them copy 1 line a day, completing a stanza or so by the end of the week. Neatness and accuracy are most important, with quantity of writing falling further down on the list (until they are older ). Then, after a few months of that, you can have them copy 2 lines a day, completing 2 stanzas a week - until gradually by the end of the year, you can have the goal for them to copy all of a poem within a week. This will strengthen their copywork skills and fine motor muscles, while also getting them ready for the increased writing for notebooking in Bigger Hearts.

In Christ,
Julie

Julie,

Thank you for your insight and for sharing that old post!! I really needed this!! Poetry was something that I skipped last year because it didn't seem "important enough" but you can be sure that I won't do that this year!!!

Blessings!!!

Glad to help, Krissy! It took me a bit to come around to loving poetry too, but now our whole household enjoys it - I hope the same for you and your dc.

In Christ,
Julie