New Week, Bad Start

The girls' school work has been disrupted over the past five weeks because of Fred's injury. We left in the middle of the day to pick him up from his school and then had to resume in the afternoon. We had Thanksgiving the next week, along with out-of-town guests and lots of cooking and cleaning and shopping. But here we are in a new week! Fred finished his classes and besides, he's driving now! I had big plans for the girls in getting back to our routine.

But Liana is growling. Arielle is grumbling. They are bickering. It's impossible for them to learn when they are in that frame of mind. Lord, help! I throw up my helplessness in this situation to heaven. Then I remember the book my friend Leslie let me borrow. A book we didn't even look at yet because we have been too busy.

The book is called Poetry Speaks to Children, edited by Elise Paschen. It comes with a CD of poems actually read aloud by the poets. I bring down the little CD player and open the book. (Amidst sighs from Arielle. She says she hates poetry. Liana, however, looks a bit interested.) We begin. We read a couple of the poems ourselves, written by some poets I don't know, but they are cute children's poems. Then we listen to the CD and hear the author's intended rhythm and cadence. We hear Robert Frost's actual voice reading his beautiful poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." And then another poem about a wolf reading fairy tales at night in a pine forest. Then, we begin school. Both girls are calm. Liana's blanket of frustration has lifted. Poetry certainly speaks to this child.