(Please see important update at the bottom.)
We've truly enjoyed our exposure to poetry since we added a Poem-A-Day, this year. I got the idea from various Charlotte Mason materials, as well as one of my favorite resources, Ambleside Online. While I'm certain we're not doing all we could in this area, we are doing all we can at this time. We make a poet card--8.5x11 with name and picture to hang in our school room, and a brief questionaire that son fills out when we complete that particular poet. We always start with a biography, and we chose at least one selection to memorize. Most importantly, we take our time. Just the exposure (like with our Art-A-Day) has really helped us to learn and experience new things. However brief the "glimpse", it stays with us all.
Currently we are reading many of the works of William Blake. Though we read one mini-biography about him, and plan to read more, he is not one of our favorites so far. We began with "Poetry for Young People: William Blake" and though I've loved other books in the series, the poems selected for this volume are mostly dark and un-pleasant, with not-so-nice character traits constantly looming and made to look acceptable. Supposedly, one of his influences was the Bible. He seems to throw around a strange perception of who he thought God was. I didn't care for it. Of course, that's just my very un-trained interpretation! The selections chosen by Ambleside, however, are of a different nature. It's sort of like seeing a light at the end of a longggg, dark tunnel! I appreciate the effort put forth for their free compilation.
If you haven't added Poetry or a Poem-A-Day yet, you might try it! It's not time consuming to prepare and how far you go with it is up to you!
Currently we are reading many of the works of William Blake. Though we read one mini-biography about him, and plan to read more, he is not one of our favorites so far. We began with "Poetry for Young People: William Blake" and though I've loved other books in the series, the poems selected for this volume are mostly dark and un-pleasant, with not-so-nice character traits constantly looming and made to look acceptable. Supposedly, one of his influences was the Bible. He seems to throw around a strange perception of who he thought God was. I didn't care for it. Of course, that's just my very un-trained interpretation! The selections chosen by Ambleside, however, are of a different nature. It's sort of like seeing a light at the end of a longggg, dark tunnel! I appreciate the effort put forth for their free compilation.
If you haven't added Poetry or a Poem-A-Day yet, you might try it! It's not time consuming to prepare and how far you go with it is up to you!
Update: The other day I was reading a magazine entitled "Christian History and Biography". It was a special issue on Gnosticism. Guess who's mentioned? None other than William Blake! I did a bit more digging, and though I'm no grand researcher, it appears the guy was indeed a self-proclaimed Gnostic. Sick stuff, my friends! This explains so much and I regret having spent the time we did reading his stuff. I think from now on when I'm unfamiliar with the author, I'll dig and ask questions first!
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My next big project is to coordinate a Poetry Recital with the local homeschool group. We've neglected poetry since we moved, and we all miss it. The kids are very excited to do another poetry recital. I'll send you the information once I get the details worked out. It would be great if you could join us! :)
(I'm determined to get you moved out here! :))
Happy Monday!
I really like this idea, even though I still haven't implemented it. I did get my art calendar though. I think I like it more than my kids. Now if it had pictures of Lego that would be a different story. ;)
Peace to you,
Renae
Life Nurturing Education
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