Poetry Day Thoughts and Standards, Kitchen Soapstone Counters, and Links!
Homeschooling/Child Education Corner
Deirdre, who now has six children and lives not far from us — and belongs to the same homeschooling group she grew up in! — hosts a poetry group for children. It meets monthly at her house.
She recently sent out a summary of the goals and methods for recitation, and I asked her if I could share it with you! It’s great. (In this post, I link to a wonderful essay by Jean Kerr on her experience, which was notable in that she did not homeschool and she had five boys — so no excuses!) (Full disclosure, I was terrible at having my children recite things, but my children do very well having my grandchildren recite!)
When Deirdre sends out her email prior to Poetry Day, she says, “Anyone who’d like to recite is welcome to a turn. We love to hear from anyone, from wee beginner to advanced big kid or mom!” If you had this group say, on a Sunday after church, you could include dads as well. My husband has a few poems he pulls out to the delight of our children and now grandchildren.
Deirdre’s Thoughts and Standards for Poetry Day
Why Memorize and Recite Poetry?
– To increase cultural literacy (if your child does not know his poetry, from nursery rhymes to Shakespeare, there is no telling how many references he will miss over his lifetime!).
– To expand knowledge of and appreciation for language usage.
– To develop a sense of rhythm, meter, timing, cadence – the musicality of language.
– To encounter the vast trove of knowledge and wisdom found in poetry.
– To increase poise and confidence; preparation for future public speaking and acting.
– For enjoyment and delight!
Steps for teaching poetry and having kids recite successfully
1. Read the poem aloud to your child with strong expression. We latch on to visual cues, so beautifully illustrated poetry books are the best way to begin!
2. Read the poem aloud again the next day and discuss. This does not need to be tedious or deeply scholarly; simply exchange some ideas about the poem, explain any unknown words, maybe share a favorite line, etc. We memorize better what we fully understand.
3. On the third day, read aloud again. Then have the child recite with you as you repeat it a fourth time. They pick up very fast and will already be well on their way to knowing it by now!
4. Daily: the child stands up and faces you to try the poem on his own. Include hand gestures (especially with little ones) to engage the body, making the poem more fun and much more memorable. Target trouble areas and have him repeat. If you can’t hear him or can’t understand him, have him slow down and try again with more clarity. Be slow to prompt. Let him reach for the words with his memory so that he owns them.
5. You may want to re-enforce the poem by occasionally re-reading it (or reciting it, if you’ve memorized it). Vary your expressions so that the child gets different ideas about how to approach reciting. Affirm expressive recitation with big smiles, strong reactions, and applause.
6. “Dress Rehearsal” — Have the child practice the poem in front of someone who has not heard it before (Dad, other family members, friends), with the expectation that there will be no prompting. If he’s really struggling, you can prompt — but make sure you give him a long chance before stepping in!
7. If Dress Rehearsal didn’t go well, go back to earlier steps and refresh. If it went well, he is ready for a formal recitation!
Further tips for challenging poems (for older/more advanced students):
– We have to have a piece memorized ‘pat’ before we can fully imbue it with expression. At the same time, dramatic expression helps make a poem memorable. Practice by going back and forth between ‘rattling it off’ and expressive recitation.
– Practice the poem again before bed and then first thing in the morning. This increases memorization because of how our brains form pathways while we sleep.
– Practice in a foreign accent sometimes.
– Walking in circles, pacing, marching, dancing while reciting will all help seal the words in our minds.
– Do have siblings learn together in a group! Yes, the toddler can absolutely be listening along and learning the harder poems (while the older siblings revisit the easy ones). While each child only has to master one, all of them learn all the poems (at least a bit) — a great way to maximize learning! That being said, when big siblings are working on long and/or challenging poems, let them do much of the work on their own so as not to tax the littles.
Poetry Day Standards
– Please emphasize to your children at home that we do not talk while others are reciting.* Moms will do our best to keep noisy babies aside so as not to disrupt the recitations.
– The reciter should announce the poem title and poet if applicable.
– In the interest of keeping the session moving and not wearing out the little listeners, reciters should begin promptly once they take the floor.
– Each child has a chance to recite what he/she has learned. If too nervous on the first attempt, he/she should sit down and may try again after a spell. After a second attempt, if he/she’s not up for it, then we’ll try again next month!
– Please establish expectations for behavior with your child before the moment to get up and try arrives.
– The more exciting and expressive the recitation, the better the audience will listen!
*Auntie Leila’s suggestion for decorum: Have a little ritual during practice at home and certainly at Poetry Day of taking a moment to arrange listeners sitting quietly on the floor. Prepare them briefly by saying, “Now we will listen to the poems, sitting quietly, hands folded!” Where there are a lot of children, taking time to get them situated that way (or on laps etc) goes a long way to avoiding the dreaded loud whispers and admonishments as the main event is occurring. Scootch an unruly child right out or have him sit right next to you. Soon they will get the idea… It’s all a matter of habit!
Feel free to use this guide in your own home or homeschool. I will come back and add it in document form. Just do give Deirdre Folley credit — thank you!
Kitchen Renovation Corner: Soapstone Counters
As promised, today we will talk about counters!
I love my soapstone!
How did I choose it? As I was going through images of kitchens I love and pinning them, I noticed I love the yellow of cabinets with black counters.
I did so much research into every sort of countertop! And what I have to say here is really about my preferences, so please don’t feel bad if you chose something different. There are beautiful things about all the types. Even my old white formica had its advantages! I could bleach it; it didn’t break the things I clumsily dropped on it.
My preference is for real stone. I like the idea of things lasting a long time and being traditional.
I also wanted wood counters over on the side with the vintage sink, but in the end, I found out that it’s so long a run (11′), butcher block meant either settling for one with such tiny slivers of wood that it looked ridiculous, or getting it made custom, which would cost almost as much as stone and take way longer. I do love the look of wood counters — it just didn’t end up being practical.
So for me, this meant granite, soapstone, and marble were my choices. I love marble so much, but in the end — and believe me, there was agony of indecision right up to the last minute — knowing myself and my propensity to strew lemon juice everywhere and spatter tomato sauce and in general not be very careful when in the throes of my work, the staining/etching problem was decisive.
I don’t mind the patina/wear on marble at all. I am, as you can tell, not a perfectionist. I almost got it.
However, I think it looks best with darker cabinets and I was definitely going with the yellow. And the actual marbles I saw were very gray; the nice lady told me that the quarries have been sending gray more and more. This is for Carrera. I know there are other kinds, but I wanted Carrera if I was going in that direction (among other reasons, for the budget; but I also love its connection with the other marble in my house, in the fireplace mantels and surrounds).
What I love about the soapstone are these qualities: it doesn’t etch or stain, at all; it is actually antibacterial; it’s black! Here in New England, soapstone has been used for centuries and really holds up to all sorts of wear. In fact, I can remember the soapstone counters in my high school lab in New Jersey, so it was used all over, really!
Mine is very dark, even when it hasn’t been oiled. And that is the upkeep of it: if you want to, oil it. No sealing. Since I scrub my counters all the time, running an oily cloth over them is no big deal. And if I don’t do it, they are still pretty.
I thought I would not want any hint of green in the veining, but I actually just love the warmth of the veins and the ever-so-slight green in them. I truly do! Again, it’s so hard to see how things really are in pictures.
It’s honed — soapstone is soft enough so that it can’t be polished, and I would have gotten honed marble had I gone in that direction. I love the muted light on it, and the actual softness (if stone can be said to be soft) is a bonus for butter-fingered me!
The island’s stone has an ogee edge, just to be fancy that way. I wasn’t sure I wanted everything black (and that was part of the agony — should I get marble for the island?? aaarghh — but in the end, I couldn’t find marble the right color, and I’m very happy with the black and don’t think it’s to much at all!).
I thought I would get channels cut in the drainboard next to the sink; the installer forgot to do them and then very remorsefully offered to come back right away to put them in. But I am truly happier this way (and got that $$ back).
It’s funny how some things that seemed very important in the planning turned out to be not a factor at all. (Not that I was even tempted: but I would say a pot-filler tap over the stove is an example of such an element. If you love yours, great, but I have no need for it at all.)
I wholeheartedly recommend the fabricator, by the way — not an ad, just a very happy customer of OB Marble and Granite. They were super patient with my nigh endless ditherings and uncertainties, answering every email and text and also doing their part as fast as they could.
I cannot recommend enough that when you are choosing the countertop material, you go to several warehouses and look at stones — touch them, imagine living with the pattern and color. The downside is that those places are poorly lit if indoors (which is better for the stone, as opposed to being outside).
It’s so hard to know what the color really is, on the one hand, in there. On the other, there’s no substitute for looking at the material in real life and comparing the various options. I feel that once you see actual marble and soapstone, you won’t love manufactured varieties. (I know granite is popular; it’s just not what I wanted.)
But there are also differences among the stones. Some of the soapstone I saw seemed sealed or somehow imbued with something on the surface, or was not as veined as I wanted. Some of the marble had weird spots or was too gray, which might not have come through in pictures sent to me from the fabricator.
When I saw the stone I chose, I knew right away it was the one. After a frustrating search, I spoke to Natalia at OB and she showed me some of what they were already working on for another customer; she found that the warehouse had something similar. That warehouse, Boston Granite Exchange, had the friendliest staff (and many of the ones I went to were very friendly, though some were not) and the vastest inventory. The lady who helped me was free with her knowledge (and also likes traditional stone, so that was nice) and very patient while I looked at So. Many. Stones. Again, not sponsored, just my experience.
And it’s amazing how much experience you get! I had had no idea that there were these different aspects — fabricators, warehouses — each with its own part in the process. I had no idea how many of each there are in my area, at least. Literally dozens if not hundreds. The fabricators I got quotes from were all super nice, friendly, and helpful. And you should know, if you only have a small area to put a counter on: they have yards full of remnants! If I had a small bathroom counter to do, I would definitely check in to see if I could get a bargain.
You can see what a beautiful job they did here with that curved part of the counter.
By the way, here is the “before” of that counter with the Berkey:
I wasn’t totally happy with where it was, but didn’t exactly know what to do. Rosie suggested getting a stand for it, but I am honestly sick of buying things for the kitchen at the moment!
But on Thursday I was at a consignment store, and looking down (always look down!) lo, what did I see! A Berkey stand for $5.81 to be precise!
And amazingly, it fits perfectly right there between the sink and the shelves. I was even sort of questioning why I didn’t have the shelves go right to the window! But if I had, it wouldn’t have fitted here.
Here are two other things I got there: a Polish Pottery bowl and a ceramic soap dish for a bathroom the soap holder of which I was recently noticing needed replacing.
(Fork for size reference.) I decided a while ago that if I’m going to scramble a couple of eggs or mix up salad dressing, I’d just as soon do it in a nice bowl!
So, in short, love the soapstone.
Love it.
Speaking of the sink, we’ll talk about my sinks in another post, but I wanted to say quickly that contrary to what you might have thought, my main sink is double! It has what’s called a low divide. This means I can put a large pan in there but I can also be dealing with a chicken on one side and not contaminating the other.
Plus, each side is big enough to hold my large lasagna pan (10 x 14″).
This is another decision I made not quite knowing if I’d be okay with it, but I do actually love it.
I think that’s it for the counters!
bits & piecesAs I always say, use the time when your children are little to learn self control and to become well read and informed, especially on matters of education. Here’s a nice article on the subject: Early days for learning virtue. (I would only caution against listening to something with earbuds while your children are awake; it’s important that you have awareness of what they are doing; even if it’s not anything dangerous or trouble-brewing, you learn a lot from overhearing their chatter and may even be delighted with their independent play — another part of your own development.)
Elizabeth Lemme, whose work I’ve linked to before, alerted me to her new Bury the Alleluia coloring page she created for the approaching Septuagesima Sunday and/or Ash Wednesday. I love her delicate work. The Etsy links are here for home use, and here for parish/classroom use. (These are downloads, so you get them instantly.) The difference between them is the number of copies licensed with the purchase. It’s kind of on the honors system – with the $2.50 purchase, one can make as many copies as they want for their household. With the $15 purchase, a pastor or catechist can make as many copies as they want, each year, for their parish. She also has a Jonah and the Whale Alleluia drawing for coloring! The home use is here and the parish use is here.
She writes: The Bury the Alleluia is a loose tradition that could be done very simply at home, or at church with a great deal of fanciness. For a Bury the Alleluia at home, each of us in our family colors an “Alleluia” coloring page, and on the eve of Septuagesima Sunday (today is the eve!) we bury it because of the Alleluias disappearing from the liturgy until the Easter Vigil. (Families who follow the new liturgical calendar could bury the Alleluia on the eve of Ash Wednesday). One year I just stuck the coloring pages in a coffee table drawer, and then brought them out on Easter to display on the wall. Another year, the kids hid them in a secret place and they were excited to surprise everyone and bring them out on Easter Sunday. This year, however, there has been some talk amongst the boys that they will actually bury it in the backyard! It will be interesting to see how my six-year-old plans to package the coloring pages so as to waterproof them! I believe the Benedictines of Ephesus bury theirs outside. Our own pastor had the kids in catechism class color an Alleluia and write one virtue they want to work on throughout Lent across the top of the page. He will bury all of their alleluias at the church and then resurrect them on Easter.
These Tiny Baroque Prints Once Served as Edible Prayers
A review of some books about angels, with a nice long excerpt from one of my very favorite authors, John Saward.
from the archivesLast year I had a lot of success with my winter sowing. Especially the beets, which we are still eating now!
A post in my Moral Life of the Child series
liturgical living
As I mentioned above, tonight is the eve of Septaugesima, the time of preparation before Lent begins in the old, traditional calendar. I have learned to appreciate being given, liturgically speaking, a heads up on the matter. Some thoughts on the matter.
Last chance for Candlemas prep before I see you again! It wouldn’t hurt to get your Advent candles blessed, you know what I mean?
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