This year I decided I wanted to incorporate poetry memorization more and actually spend more time studying poetry and poets. I'm not strictly Charlotte Mason but I love the fact that she incorporates poetry and memorization into her educational model.
So while planning our school curriculum, I came up with a basic outline.
4 days a week-1 poet a month-1 selection by that poet for memorization.
Each child picked their own poem to memorize. We are studying Robert Frost this month, so I checked out books from the library and found some info online. We started with a biographical overview and picking our poems. The kids put their poems in a sketch book we set aside just for poetry. I'm hoping this will be something they can add to every year and actually keep it into adulthood.
We are doing a lapbook on poetry (link listed below), free reading, poem pictures and other ideas as I find them. We do not spend a lot of time on this everyday- maybe 15 mins. or less. This is truly a work in progress, but I've come to realization I would rather do a little than do nothing at all.
These are some links that might help in designing your own poetry studies:
Waking Up the Poet Within Another approach to poetry study
Ambleside Online Poets a great resource website for those wanting to incorporate all or parts of a Charlotte Mason approach
Finding Balance in Memorization I find this article reassuring when it outlines just how much Charlotte Mason felt children should be able to memorize. I must expect too little. :)
Poets.org Website that has bios on various poets as well as selections of their works.
81 Poems Every Child Should Know...dailylit.org An e-book delivered daily to your inbox. I'm going to make this our daily poetry read aloud.
Small World at Home: A fellow homeschooler with several creative poetry resources I'm planning on using this year.
A Peek at Poetry and Poets lapbook Our lapbook for this year...I'll incorporate this once a week at the most as we learn the components of poetry.
Have fun awaking your little (or big) poet this year!
