~ April 2016 ~

Dear Readers,

Happy April! It's the 20th anniversary of National Poetry Month! Poetry is an art form, just like painting or singing. Poetry comes in many different styles. People of all ages can appreciate poetry. No matter what your taste is, there is a poem for you. Poetry can be serious and thoughtful, or humorous and fun. Poems can be in the form of ballads, sonnets, light verse or free verse. Poems often rhyme, but they don’t have to. Poetry can be interesting to read, and enjoyable to write. There are poems in all of us just waiting to be coaxed onto paper. Are you a poet and don't know it? Learn more about reading and writing poetry here.

Featured Article

Poetry is one of my favorite subjects. I love reading, writing, and studying poems. If you have a student who likes poetry, here is a curriculum they will enjoy.

The Art of Poetry is a middle school or high school elective course that teaches how to read a poem closely and absorb its beauty, emphasizing reading poetry for pleasure. Even though the purpose of this curriculum is not for students to write their own poetry, it provides a great foundation for those who wish to do so.

The textbook focuses on comprehension and interpretation while teaching students about a variety of structures, devices, and themes which differentiate one type of poetry from another. It introduces the elements of poetry such as imagery, metaphor, symbols, tone, and the many forms that can make a poem, from sonnet to free verse.

Real poems are used to illustrate the concepts, and the author provides detailed analyses for some of them. The book has end-of-chapter activities as well as ideas for long term projects. Biographies of fifty-one poets are included along with the historical background of the poems. A teacher's manual and DVD are also available.

Read the complete review at HomeschoolingTeen.com.

Book of the Month

April is National Garden Month and Earth Day, and it's a great time for getting outdoors and studying nature. This Spring why not create a wildlife habitat for birds, butterflies, and other creatures in your yard! Gardening for Wildlife will walk you through the process of creating a wildlife-friendly yard and garden. The fully illustrated step by step guide includes: how to get started, planning checklist, required habitat elements, plant recommendations, maintenance methods, helpful habitat hints, scripture references, educational benefits, how to certify your habitat, additional resources. Gardening for Wildlife makes a great homeschool project, family activity, and year-round unit study! This 28-page e-book is only $4.95! Click here!

Famous Homeschoolers

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I -- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” The celebrated Farmer-Poet was a Homeschooled Child AND a Homeschool Dad! Read Robert Frost's biography here.

Reading Between the Lines

Homeschooled all her life in an eco-friendly counter-culture household, 17-year-old Evensong Sparkling Morningdew is not your typical teenage girl. Evie lives with her free-spirited hippie mom in a self-sufficient geodesic dome home in the woods. They have solar power, a composting toilet, an organic garden, bees, chickens, and a cow.

Evie is intelligent, precocious, and has grown up learning how to think for herself. She likes to draw animals, and she builds amazing scale models of buildings, villages, and cities. Evie’s ambition is to attend Cornell University and study Urban Planning with a concentration in Social Justice. In her senior year, Evie decides to go to public high school just to experience what it’s like.

However, the sudden transition from doing as she pleases to being bound by all of the rules and regulations set forth by school authorities causes a lot of difficulty for Evie. She is shocked by the tyranny of teachers and the apathy of students. Outspoken Evie makes a spectacle of herself as she challenges the status quo!

Read the complete review at HomeschoolingTeen.com.

Learning Links

Playing with Poetry (April is National Poetry Month.)

National Parks (April 16-24 is National Park Week.)

Kindergarten Day (Friedrich Froebel, the founder of the first kindergarten, was born on April 21, 1782.)

Freebie of the Month

If homeschoolers had a “Poet Laureate,” it surely would be the early 20th century poet Edgar Guest! He wrote about the joys of home and family, motherhood and fatherhood, the virtues of honest labor and plain living. His poems really make you feel the love of family and a true appreciation of poetry. His down-to-earth verse is easy to read with traditional rhyme and rhythm - no "hifalutin" free verse or need to decipher hidden meanings. I've put together a collection of my favorite poems by Edgar Guest. Download the 50-page e-book here. It's a wonderful resource for reading aloud, memorization, recitation, copywork, or just for fun. Enjoy!

Quote of the Month

"Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words." ~Robert Frost

A Note From Teri...

Happy Homeschooling!

P.S. Did you like this month's newsletter?