poetry – iHomeschool Network

Homeschooling With Dr. Seuss

photo credit Sharyn Morrow, flickr Dr. Seuss has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My mom spent countless hours reading the same Seuss books to me over and over again. I did the same for my kids. In fact, The Cat in the Hat was the first book I purchased when I knew we were starting our family. I have incorporated Dr. Seuss in our homeschooling from the very beginning. It’s very easy and fun to homeschool with Dr. Seuss. Homeschooling with Dr. Seuss: Subjects Let’s start at the beginning. ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book was one of our first books when we started “official school”. It was the perfect transition from the various Suess books that we read each night to naturally use Dr. Seuss in our home learning. The alphabet was just the beginning. We learned about the human body, the solar system, and even the weather. Who knew there were so many? He even did editorial cartoons during World War II. Want some more specific ways to learn with Dr. Seuss? Introduction to Rhymes It was fairly easy for my children to understand the phonic families when you add different consonants to an ending like “-at”. Bat. Cat. Hat. You get the idea. But when it came time for them to find a word on their own to finish “-at” without the lesson actually giving the consonant, they were stumped. I actually pulled out my trusted Seuss books again and while reading them, I would point out the words that had the same endings. It helped to show how phonic families exist in the real world. Writing Poetry Very soon after we learned phonic families, it was time to start teaching them about poetry. To say they were less than thrilled was an understatement. While I loved to share Robert Frost and Shel Silverstein, my kids had no desire to write poetry. Again, Seuss to the rescue. I knew they loved One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. They just didn’t realize that it was poetry. There were rhyming words, a repeating rhythm, and a story was told. My children just needed permission to be silly. Dr. Seuss gave them that permission. Speaking of poetry, I have to mention tongue twisters. Yes, many of the books include tongue twisters but did you know there is a book dedicated just to tongue twisters!! Give that challenge to a beginning reader. Expanding Vocabulary If it weren’t for Dr. Seuss’ Sleep Book, we might not even know what a Hinkle-Horn Honker is or that they honk themselves to sleep. Thanks to Dr. Seuss, we all have expanded our vocabulary a little. While many of the words might not be “real” words, they have given us all encouragement to learn new words. Isn’t it fun to sometimes use words that you know no one else knows what you are talking about? It’s like your very own secret language. More Resources from Homeschool Moms As Dr. Seuss is a favorite author of so many, I just have to share some favorite ways to incorporate Dr. Seuss in your homeschool: Are You My Mother? Unit Study by Susan Evans (She even shares how to make Crazy Dr Seuss Hats!) Ashley Fox shares her You Tube playlist of Dr. Seuss books Amy Milcic has an awesome list of printables and activities for specific books. Want to learn how to draw like the illustrations we all love? Tricia Hodges has you covered. What are your favorite Dr. Seuss books and how do you incorporate them into your homeschool?

5 Poetry Activities for Young Homeschoolers

Are you wanting to teach poetry to your children or lead a poetry class for your co-op? Here are some great poetry activities for early elementary homeschoolers! First Things First Read poetry out loud (everyday if you can). Maybe this goes without saying, but it is so important that I’m saying it anyways! More than anything, your goal should be developing a love for poetry in your children. Read funny poems, poems that paint a picture in their minds, and poems that have a catchy beat. The more they hear poetry read to them, the more their ear will become accustomed to different types of rhythms, rhyming words, and syllables. Make the setting special. Poetry is beautiful and deserves special treatment! Read it at the table with juice and cookies, or spread out a blanket on the grass and learn it while looking up at the trees. Your children will look forward to this time and will associate poetry with beauty instead of drudgery. Fun Poetry Activities Don’t expect your children to write poetry until they have been exposed to many great examples. For most children this will cause frustration and take the joy out this beautiful subject. Take these early years to tune you children’s ears and hearts to what poetry sounds and feels like. Here are some fun ideas to help! Picture It Pick an image filled poem, as the children to close their eyes and try to imagine what you are reading. When you are done, ask them to tell you what they pictured. The first couple of times, you might need to give them examples of what they could have imagined. This will help them to start to understand the concept of imagery in poems. Finish the Line Read a poem that ends in very obvious rhyming words. Read the first line completely, then read the second line but leave out the last word. Have the children guess what word comes next, using context clues and knowing that it has to rhyme with the last word from the previous line. This might be easy for older students, but they will have fun shouting out the words! As your children get better at this, pick more difficult poems or poems with a higher vocabulary level. Beat it Out Choose a poem that has a steady beat. Have your children practice finding it and clapping it out. You can have them start just clapping on the down beat, and then advance to patting their legs on the down beat and clapping on the up beat (or whatever work for the poem you choose). Choose poems with different, or less obvious beats as they master finding the more simple poems. Draw It Once your children start to understand how imagery is used in poetry, have them try drawing one of the images from the poem. If you have a group of children, have them each draw the image from a different line, then have them practice reciting the poem together, each child saying the line they drew and showing their picture. Poems as Songs Ask your children to name one of their favorite songs. Show them how most songs are actually poetry set to music. Tell them that putting poetry to music is a great way to memorize poems. If you need simple examples, use nursery rhymes. Most nursery rhymes have a little ditty that go along with them. For extra fun, get out a jump rope and have them see if they can say/sing the rhyme while jumping to the beat! (This might be tricky for some children, but just have fun with it!) Use some of these ideas and poetry will become a delight!

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