Poetry's Part in Homeschooling

We have had a wonderful time memorizing both scriptures, songs and poems in our homeschooling.

The video shows the first week's poem.

The Owl

by Edward Richards

There was an old owl

Who sat in an oak.

The more he sat,

The less he spoke.

The less he spoke,

The more he heard.

Why can't we be like

That wise old bird?

Here are some others we've learned....

The Clock

There's a neat little clock

In the schoolroom it stands.

And it points to the time

With its two little hands.

And may we like the clock

Keep a face clean and bright.

With hands ever ready

To do what is right.

Brother

By Mary Ann Hoberman

I had a little brother

And I took him to my mother

And I said I want another

little brother for a change.

She said, Don't be a bother,

So I took him to my father,

And I said, this little bother

of a brother's very strange.

And he said, one little brother

Is exactly like another,

And every little brother

Misbehaves a bit he said.

So I took the little bother

From my mother and my father

And I put the little bother

of a brother back to bed.

This one we will spend another week on, because they don't quite have it yet. It is a bit more abstract. I try to choose poems with meaning and lessons, and tangibility. I also try to give them movements and inflection. My sister is a master at this. I love to snitch her ideas!

Careful with Words

By Will Carleton

Boy flying kites, haul in their white-winged birds,

You can't do that when you're flying words.

Careful with fire is good advice, you know.

Careful with words is ten times doubly so.

Thoughts unexpressed may sometimes fall back dead,

But God, himself can kill them once they're said.