Friday, March 11, 2011

Big Ideas

*1*
My big idea of the week: Poetry Recitaion on Thursday afternoons with tea and scones (this week we settled for p.b. cookies and grapefruit). We've studied and memorized poetry for a couple of years using  The Grammar of Poetry, IEW and other resources. This year  Feeche is taking a class using Immortal Poems of the English Language and the notsolittels are on Section 3  IEW's Language Acquisition Through Poetry Memorization. Our first week found us setting the terms and reading/reciting poems already committed to memory.
  • Participants have to share 3 poems each week.
  • At least one poems has to memorized.
  • Poems, once shared can't be repeated
Feeche read a couple of very funny poems from his book and then the kids creatively embellished what they heard, imagine that!? Kind of like narration with dramatic flair. A good time was had by all at the premier meeting of the NAP society (our last name+association+poets).

*2*
White bean chili: beans made from dry, and fresh cilantro peppered over top. Just the right amount of zing.
Spaghetti with homemade sauce, of course, chock full of green peppers, mushrooms, onions and parsley and oregano.
Sloppy joes with molasses instead of sugar- delish
Fajitas- more fresh cilantro. Can you ever have too much?
Gardening season is comin' soon and baby, I'll be picking it fresh, cilantro, basil and parsley. Have I mentioned I.can.not.wait?
*3*
Drill and skill: + and x flash cards, grammar terms, poetry, Veritas Press History cards, 1815- present. I told you I'd get back to memory work before the year was over!
Singapore, 1 Minute Math and Life of Fred. My blogger buddy Karen, over at The Magic School House, is forever inspiring me to ramp it up in the math and science departments.
Going over Feehce's work each Wed a.m. (Tues is our academic class day) and helping him organize assignments and deadlines. He finished The Great Gatsby and is now writing papers, reading lots and taking long, long walks.

*4*
SNOW- the weather has been LOVELY. 30's with snow- perfect almost spring weather. Cub and Flower have been making good use of the mighty drifts in the backyard to sled like wild things.

*5*
A beautiful pink rose. Thank-you Janel.! It graced our table all week and brought us JOY! And a sweet and uplifting card from my friend Myrna. I was seriously wondering about time I've spent in an area. You know, that ugly habit of comparing?  Her words kept me focused on the vision. Thank-you, dear friend!!
*6*My knee is better. I'm not jumping or running or hopping or skipping but I'm not using a walker or downing ibuprofen like it was my new best friend either. Thank-you for praying for me!

*7*
I am creating a Summer Scavenger Hunt for my 3 younger kids that makes a game of the work. One thought was a Wizard of Oz theme with things to "find" in the 4 areas: courage, heart, brain and home. My plan is to have at least 100 items on the list - some of which can take just minutes, others several days. At the end of the summer, have some kind of final hunt with a  Big Event attached. Thoughts? Ideas?

In related news I finished The  Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and The Help. Both provoking and worth reading.
You can also link up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. or at Conversion Dairies

6 comments:

RockerMom said...

Wow! You have many "Big Ideas". I've been wanting to do a scavenger hunt with my son for a while. I love the weekly poetry recitation idea, too. Thanks for sharing!!

WildIris said...

Thanks for the link to the other blogs. Your scavenger hunt sound like fun. I've always wanted to make a hunt for my kids, but I never pulled it off. Perhaps you could write a brief tutorial for those of us stymied by the process. Have a nice weekend,
Iris

Maria (also Bia) said...

Popping over from Conversion Diary ...

I had a sixth grade teacher that made us memorize poems every week ... and to this day I can still remember them. He may be the reason I majored in English ...

The Help was a great book.

Monica said...

Love the poetry/tea/scones! We do tea and pictures books sometimes. :) Sounds like you are having lovely weather!

Ritsumei said...

That poetry society sounds like a great idea! 3 poems a week sounds daunting, but then, it sounds like you have been way into the poems for quite a while now. Tea & scones should be just the right complement for that.

Kymmie said...

I've been wanting to implement a weekly tea and poetry time for awhile now, it seems like a very fun thing.

The scavanger hunt idea seems exciting! I like the idea of a long-term summer fun project, even though we'll be schooling all summer. I'll be checking back to see if you post more about this idea.