background on Robert Frost poems

[Mom of Three]

Has anyone found a good resource on the background on the Robert Frost poems in Creation to Christ?

Today we're reading one that seems to be set in Gold Rush era California, but I'd like to know more about it. It would be more fun for dd to read definite information than to just hear me say that I think it's about California.

[Mom of Three]

Perhaps I should rephrase this. How are you introducing these poems to your children? Do you just google the background information?
This one about gold dust certainly needed some explanation! Not only the history but the old phrase about eating a peck of dirt.
Very confusing to a modern fifth grader!

[Carrie]

Mom of Three,

Poetry has different purposes in each of our guides. Some guides teach vocabulary and poetic devices along with the poems. Other guides use poetry as a springboard for kiddos to write their own poetry. Other guides include discussion questions and questions to ponder. Still other guides match the poetry to the history to make connections there.

In Creation to Christ, the goals of the poetry study are to appreciate the poetry of Robert Frost, to grapple with the meaning of each poem (which is by no means an easy skill but is an important one in preparation for RTR), to be inspired to look at nature in a different way, to learn painting skills and techniques as a way to express Robert Frost's poetry, to learn a bit about Robert Frost, and to share Frost's poetry with an audience (thus learning to speak in front of an audience and interact with them). The poetry is coded as an "I" box, as the child is meant to be the one interacting with the poetry without the parent stepping in and explaining the poetry to the child. With this in mind, the poetry in CTC serves a specific purpose, and if your child was a bit confused by the poem and needed to reread or ponder more to make sense of it, or came to you with questions, then that is exactly the mental work we want the child's mind to be doing with Robert Frost's poetry. If it led to an interest to know more about the poem, then that is a wonderful result!

One thing I would caution you against would be to take over this "I" box of the plans by making an introductory lesson each time to introduce the poem. In reality, you would then be taking away the mental work we desire the child to be doing, and you would be doing the mental work for the child by giving your child the "answers/explanations" instead. I would encourage you to just let your child interact with the poetry on his/her own instead (thus making connections of his/her own)! This grappling with information to make meaning on one's own is a needed skill for the readings that are coming in RTR. In Preparing and Resurrection to Reformation there is plenty of discussion/interaction with the poetry with the parent but that is not one of the goals for the poetry in CTC.

Blessings,
Carrie

[deltagal]

As a bit of an aside, my eldest did the Robert Frost assignments, but "murmured" a great deal about poetry the entire year last year. He even polled his public school friends to find out what they knew about Robert Frost and thought he had a "scored a point" when he discovered they knew nothing. Most of them didn't even recognize his name. Fast forward to this year - he's taking a high school literature class away from home. His first assignment is to memorize a poem by Robert Frost.

[Mom of Three]

This is her first year doing poetry, so doing them all by herself would be overwhelming.
We don't live on a farm so the pasture spring needed some explanation also.
She'd never heard of the Golden Gate bridge or the Gold Rush or the peck of dirt saying, so there was a lot that was way over her head in the week three poem.

The rural settings of some of these poems are going to need LOTS of explanation to a desert city kid. Even the seasons are so different here. I'm glad that we are studying some of these things, but I don't want to assume she knows about things she's never heard of.

[deltagal]

I've been thinking alot about your question. Most - not all - of Frost's poems are based in New England. Why not see if you can locate some picture books of New England - travel guides, local history, etc. and simply have them available for your daughter to peruse? You can mention as an aside that Frost had a strong affinity for this geographical area and allow her the space and time to make her own connections. Sometimes connections aren't made until well after the fact, as in years later, but as she lingers with Frost over the course of a year a great deal will seep in that she will have available to draw on in years to come. On a personal note, I enjoyed reading a biography on Frost while my oldest was studying his poetry. Then from time to time in our poetry lesson if my son had a question I had a little bit of insight that I offered.

[Mom of Three]

I need a book about Frost's poetry for ME.

Because I want to know!

There was a stanza in this week's poem that I never could figure out.