If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.
-Mark Twain
This is a quote about doing the hard thing. If there’s something you don’t want to do, do it first and get it done. This was my philosophy behind putting poetry first each year in our reading courses. I think poetry is hard. My husband loves it. I don’t get it. But, it’s good for our brains and souls. It’s behind all the songs you love. It’s the words of the Psalms.
But still, poetry isn’t my thing. I can appreciate a good limerick. Making up those fun rhymes is the extent of my poetic ability. So, I do it first. It’s why you put laundry in first thing in the morning. Get it done by getting it done now.
While math starts off with an easy review at the beginning of the year, reading starts with poetry. I’m writing this post to encourage you to not skip it. Get it done. It will pass. My husband has been working on making videos for the poetry sections so that there are audio versions and to help with comprehension. I even jumped on one video to read a favorite poem of mine. See, even this math girl can like poetry. You can too!
So, while you, as the teacher and administrator of the school in your home, have every right to skip things and decide what works for your family and what doesn’t, I would encourage you to not just let your kids skip the hard things. That’s not a lesson you want learned. Let’s not encourage others to follow our lead if we don’t bother with it.
The more you skip things, the more your kids will want to skip things. It’s a slippery slope. If they know they have to do all their assignments, they won’t ask to skip things. They’ll know they have to get it done. If they know they can sometimes get you to let them just skip something, they will ask and push to get away with what they can.
Let’s go for it and push through. That doesn’t mean you everything gets understood. That doesn’t mean you have a breakthrough and love poetry. It means you did your best and didn’t give up. Eat the frog.
What great encouragement! My oldest hated poetry! We did it anyways and tried to push through. A solid effort meant he got to take it easy and do poetry on his own. Meaning I would pick out an object and he would write some rhyming words about it. He even wrote a stanza or two on his own 😊 I’m sure I speak for the majority in saying you’re a godsend and the effort you put into your site shows! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Great job making it work. And thanks for the sweet note. The site is as much as a gift from God to me as it is to everyone else. 🙂
I love this encouragement! And as a mom who has homeschooled for the last 8 years, I am in complete agreement with you when it comes to allowing our kids to skip certain things. I have a daughter who never pushed the limits and did everything that was put in front of her. I have a son, on the other hand, who would skip things if allowed and often asks. Thank you, again, for reminding me that as I begin this new school year we’re not skipping!
I have the same experience. 🙂
This is a good reminder for a lot of moms.
However, some moms struggle with checking ALL the boxes and balancing what can/should be left out like busy work. Some things should be skipped for the sake of the relationship. Pushing through is good, but there must always be balance. One of the ways I found balance was to switch to 4 day school weeks. That just made it seem doable.
Math is my poetry. I just struggle with it. I heard Rachele Baburina (sp?) speak on math a few years ago. She pointed out it was a language God had created. She depicted math as a mountain, with some people climbing all the way to the top, while others just explore the lower regions. For some reason, that stuck with me. I do feel more comfortable when I approach math now than I did, but it still is not my favorite subject. 🙂
Yes, I still think people should adapt and make things fit their family. This is in response to a something we see this time of year. People post on facebook about poetry being hard and then a bunch of people chime in and say they skipped it. I like the thing about the mountain. That’s my view. Give them the basics and do it well and then let them climb to the peak where their talents and interests lead them.
I love the poetry in this curriculum. The mystery behind the meaning is like the answer you search for in a math problem. I love both. And I also think it is nice for my boys to work up to the longer chapters by starting with shorter poetry. Thank you for all your work and effort put into this curriculum. It is more than enough!
I love algebra because I love solving the puzzle. 🙂 I’m glad you can find the same excitement in poetry. They are great units. I’m glad you appreciate them.