Poetry, Art, History and Play

The kids played outside the rest of the morning after we finished schooltime - then lunch and naps for Sirah and Ciaran. Rhiannon and I took advantage of the time and worked together. She read me a chapter from Dick and Jane and then two Bob books. Then she did a file folder game with written numbers on it - she needed to match the written number to the amount of spots on a ladybug - she did fairly well - the teens were hard for her to sound out but with help sounding out a few she was able to do it.

Then she went out on our deck with her nature notebook and colored pencils - she drew a sketch of our backyard - with the blue sky, grass, tree and a flower ( she must be imagining that). Then we read two poems from Robert Frost and discussed what we thought they meant. She closed her eyes to listen to the one and imagined it then described to me what she saw. The poem A Time to Talk by Robert Frost reminded her of her friend Madelyn and then she talked about how it made her feel to talk to her. The other poem we read After Apple Picking was longer and harder for her to digest and understand. She could not grasp why he was so tired and I reminded her of when we went apple picking and how tired she was after two bags - how would she feel after picking thousands? That seemed to help her understand and appreciate it more.

We headed downstairs to our library and read the introduction to Story of the World and discussed what history is. Then we talked about how Rhiannon has a history and I had her pull her journal off the shelf in the library. I keep a journal for each of the children discussing what they are doing and important things in our lives. I do this instead of a baby book. The journals are beautiful and I think the kids will cherish them later in life. They tell the history of our family. To read more about this family practice visit here. I read Rhiannon passages from the day she was born and when she was the same age as each Ciaran and Sirah so she could see that she was doing very similar things at the time. It was a lot of fun and she really enjoyed it. Then we talked about how everyone has a history and different ways we could learn history: journals, letters, books, pictures and so on. It was a special time and a memory in and of itself.

We finished our lesson time with money flash cards, talking about time on the clock and reading Amelia Bedilia. I can not believe how much we got accomplished today between our morning and our afternoon times. And it does not even felt like we spent much time on school because we spent SOOOOO much time outside enjoying the beautiful weather. The kids adore the swingset that we have in our backyard and I can see visions of me standing at the swingset all day.

I have to head off as we have company coming over for some adult time.

Peace,
Tenn