Category: Reading

A Poet That Knows It

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This was our last week of Co-op classes for this school year. I really enjoyed teaching creative writing this semester. This week I taught the children about Poetry using the talents of my friend, Anne Peterson.

I wrote a review of her recently published book “Real Love: Guaranteed to Last” about a month or two ago. You can read my review here.

Currently Anne is working on a book of poems for children and  was gracious to share them with our class.

Today, I have Hannah, my 8 year old here helping me out by answering some questions about our Creative Writing class. She will give some of her thoughts on Mrs. Patterson’s Poetry. She also wants to share a poem she wrote in our Creative Writing class.

A picture of Hannah and myself trying to both fit in a picture on my phone after karate class.

A picture of Hannah and Mommy. We were laughing because we were having trouble fitting in the image viewer on my phone.

Which poem did you like the best in our Creative Writing class this week?

“I liked the one about the baby at the laundromat. Or the one about the fire where she says, ‘You’re God. I’m not.'”

What did you like about those poems?

“Um… The whole thing.”

What do you like about poetry?

“It’s fun. It’s good practice for writing.

It’s easy. I like doing it.”

So what did you think about our Creative Writing class at Co-op?

“It was fun. I want to take it again.”

I would say that means our class was a success. 🙂 I am very grateful to all my friends that helped me out by sharing their talents with my students.

Hannah has written a poem and drawn a picture about it.

 

Basketball Acrostic by Hannah

Basketball Acrostic by Hannah

Basketball

Basketball is fun

A lot of friends

Shouting cheers

Kids play together

Everyone likes to watch

The teamwork

Bouncing the ball

Around the gym

Leaping for the net

Look at them play

~~Hannah Maness

A basketball drawing by Hannah.

A basketball drawing by Hannah

Are you a poet? Do you have a favorite poem? Have you ever written a poem? You can tell us about it in the comments.

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The Cat Who Writes

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In my latest homeschool co-op creative writing class, I taught my students about perspective. Who better to help me teach perspective than Pooh Hodges, The Cat Who Writes.

When I first introduced Pooh’s blog to my children, Hannah, my 8 year old was a bit skeptical that a cat could write. I explained that he dictates to Mrs. Hodges and that she types for him but Hannah wanted proof. I told Hannah she could ask Pooh how he does it.

Pooh not only answered Hannah’s letter, he featured it on his blog.  You can just click on the words “Hannah’s Letter” to read that post.

Pooh dictates to his typist Pamela Hodges who has her own blog at “i paint. i write.”  In fact that Bold Blue Toilet seat you may have noticed in the side bar of my post is a link to her site as well. When your done checking out Pooh’s blog, you should really check her’s out as well.

I brought our pet fish, Peachy, to co-op and Peachy’s presence really opened up both classes to some great discussions. I had the older class write on their own what they thought Peachy was thinking. The younger class I had tell me what they thought he was thinking. Then we had Peachy write a letter to Pooh. Peachy was in a strange environment and was a bit nervous of his surroundings as you can see in his letter. 2013-04-22 11.12.30

“Dear Pooh,

What’s going on here? I am scared in this strange place.

I am hungry. Thankfully my people brought food for me.

If you were to visit our class, please don’t eat me.

I want to be friends. Will you send me a letter too?

Have you ever eaten a fish? You wouldn’t eat me, right?

Thank you for sharing your story with us.

Love,

Peachy”

I hadn’t shared this letter with Pooh yet. You may want to follow his blog to see if he decides to write Peachy back.

Now I want to hear from you. 

Do you understand your pet? Do you find yourself putting words in your pet’s mouth? If you don’t have a pet do you find yourself talking for any other animals?

Please share. I’m curious how many of my friends do that too.

Check out both Pooh’s blog the cat who writes and Pamela’s blog i paint. i write..

And you can find out more about why I have a blue toilet seat on my blog by clicking on this picture.  the blue toilet seat

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When Do I Find Time to Write?

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I’ve been asked this question so many times I decided that I’d dedicate a whole blog post to answer it.

When do I find time to write?

Let’s see right now I have about 45 minutes to type with one finger on my phone while my husband drives us home from karate class.

Oops! I have to pause a moment to feed the baby while my husband runs into the store to get sandwich makings.

Okay, I’m back. Um the baby is reaching for my phone now. My husband is still in the store. It’s times like this I a……..

I just answered the question, “Why is that guy carrying trash in a buggy?” Yes, we call the shopping carts buggies.

Okay, back to writing… Where was I? Oh, yes! It’s times like this I really appreciate auto-correct.

20130124-211446.jpg The baby is now thoroughly distracted. She is laughing at her siblings that are laughing at the worker taking out the trash.

She’s not going to be happy when she gets put back in her car seat. I may or may not be able to write during this drive.

What did I tell you? See, she’s mad.
Time to make sandwiches… I’ll be right back.

Those were good sandwiches. My sweetheart went all out and bought cheese for our sandwiches.

Finally, the baby has fallen asleep I can stop patting her mouth. I only got bit once. Okay, back to writing.

Right now I’m writing about when I find time to write. Normally instead of telling you about the interruptions I write a few words about the subject I have on my mind.

I can get quite a bit said in 45 minutes or so even with distractions. I’ll need fewer distractions when I finally stop to edit this. Right now there are a lot of typos even with auto correct. I’m pretty sure I’ve repeated myself a couple of times.

My eyes are tired from looking at this bright screen in the dark. I’m going to stop for a moment. I might have a few minutes to work on this at the house.

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I’m glad I went ahead and got all the dishes washed right before running out the door for karate class. I knew I’d be too tired when we got home.

Just got the kids to bed but I’m too tired to think right now.

I only made it my goal to post two blog posts a week. I didn’t say which days they were going to be posted on. Last week I had my first post out by Tuesday or Wednesday. This week I posted my first post on Thursday. I try to be flexible though. If I made it a set day I’d probably give up.

Good morning, everyone! Yes, I’m finally up and at ’em. I woke up too late to write much this morning. However I have a few minutes right now while the kids are happily chit chatting over their breakfast. The baby is enjoying some Cheerios.

Uh oh! My baby is no longer enjoying her Cheerios. I only got one paragraph in during that break. Of course, I did check my notifications on Facebook but we don’t have to talk about that distraction. Do we?

My almost 8 year old keeps bringing the baby to me before she even cries.

I dare to hope right about now that the baby will take a mid morning nap. I still hear bowls and spoons clanking in the kitchen. I’m feeding the baby who is not cooperating on this nap idea.

Um… She’s working on a diaper. Would that be TMI (Too Much Information)? I better change that diaper.

She is wide awake.

Battery warning!!! I need to charge this phone and get myself breakfast.

Is this post almost done?

Oh, no! The baby thought her sisters’ hair bands were fruit loops. I rescued them and her.

20130125-092414.jpgI think you probably have the general idea of how I find time to write. Last year my goal was to post 1 blog a week. My husband had gotten me a tablet that helped a lot in accomplishing that goal.

This past Christmas my parents gave me a smart phone. I tell you what! That phone has sure helped me with my goal of two blog posts a week. I can type a few words here and there where ever I am at. I just save it as a draft and then I can finish writing on my computer.

Hello, Elisabeth!  I’ll be right back…

Okay, I fed Elisabeth. Picked up Joshua from his job feeding the neighbors animals. Now I’m determined to finish this post!

I used to try staying up at night after getting everyone to bed. However I kept falling asleep with my computer in my lap. Then I’d be tired all day.

I tried getting up early to write. That doesn’t seem to work too well. I prefer to read first thing in the morning. I read my Bible and then the blog updates that I follow. By the time I get all my reading done Elisabeth wakes up.

Basically I find time to write whenever I can. Sometimes I just have to tell my kids to give me a few minutes. I let them know what I am working on and that I only have a few more sentences before I’m finished with my blog. Then I write like crazy for those few minutes.

Typically, with distractions, it takes me a couple of days to get a blog written and a partial day to edit and tweak it. Depending on the topic too.

I’m almost done with this post. Right now, I’m typing with one hand while trying to feed the baby who is fighting sleep. She’ll probably fall asleep right about the time I hit “Publish”.

I know I’m not the only busy person in the world. Some of you probably have more going on than me.

Do you have a hobby? When do you find time to work on the things you enjoy? 

What did I tell you? She’s out like a light! Now that the baby is finally asleep, it’s time for me to hit “Publish” and get the rest of my kids back on task.

Now if I could just find the time to shower. 😉

 

 

 

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Learning to Read Through the Stages

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Our older 3 children all have pen pals that they write to every month.

The other day they were writing letters, while their younger brothers were pretending to write letters as well.

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My 5 year old wrote this letter. He asked me to read it. So I made up what it said.

“Dear Mommy, you are the best mommy in the whole wide world…”

He started erasing it, “No! No! No! Mommy you need to learn how to read!”

Ha! I laughed but informed him that the real problem was that he needed to learn how to write.

My husband and I were realizing the other day that we have kids in just about every stage. Here in about 6 years we probably will have kids in every stage as our eldest will be old enough to move out on his own.

Wow! Where has the time gone?

Meanwhile we’re continuing to learn.

This past week we’ve dealt with everything from teething, potty training, to puberty.

My solution to all these issues? Give the kids more work!

Yes. They might not like me now but I hope they will appreciate all this work when they’re grown with families of their own.

For now I’ll just keep on praying for each one of them and dream of the days when we start having grandchildren come over. My husband and I can’t hardly wait until we can spoil those grandchildren real good and send them home. I’m beginning to understand this spoil the grandkids thing. 🙂

How has your week been? Do you have days that you struggle with the new stages your children are going through? Feel free to share with me in the comments.

I have had a lot on my plate lately and haven’t had much time at all to post on all the social media sites that I normally frequent. After all I do have a Rock Solid Family to build.

This blog will be the place I’ll be doing the most writing and I’ll do my best to answer your comments here on my blog as soon as I possibly can.

If you know someone that might benefit from our lives feel free to share this blog with your friends.

And if you haven’t already, sign up for my free email updates in order to not miss a single post.

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Shave and a Haircut … 2 Bits!

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I cut Scott’s and the kids hair today. No, I didn’t get two bits for it. But I did think about it. This picture shows them all after their haircuts.

I started with Hannah’s hair. It is hard to get her bangs straight, since she doesn’t sit still very well. I used to try keeping a hair band in her hair and I hoped that she would eventually have her hair long enough to stay behind her ears, but the hair band would get lost and her hair wasn’t staying out of her face at all. So out came the scissors. It’s nice seeing her eyes.

After Hannah’s hair cut, I cute Joshua’s. His is the easiest hair to cut. I just use the razor with a fairly short guide and shave it all over the same length.

Then I cut Scott’s hair. His is the most stressful. He likes his hair a certain way, but he’s not sure what that way is. I know that he doesn’t want it sticking up anywhere. He has very straight hair and it has specific calic spots. Which makes his hair rather difficult to work with. It turned out pretty good though and he seemed pleased with it. He’s definitely pleased with the price, he doesn’t complain nearly as much after I cut his hair, than with someone professional that he has to pay.

After Scott’s hair, I cut Jonathan’s hair. This was his first real haircut. We had tried to cut his hair before while he was asleep but it wasn’t a very good one. This time I took him to the bathroom and stood him in front of the bathroom mirror. I showed him the electric hair shaver that I was going to use. I turned it on for him and let him hold it. I wanted him to get used to the sound and not be afraid of it. Then I turned it off and brushed his hair with the comb of the razor. Then I showed it to him again and turned it on for him again. Once he was used to it, he started playing with some of the combs I had set on the counter top. That was when I started cutting his hair. He didn’t mind at all. I kept talking real cheerfully with him about how pretty his hair looked. I think hearing me praising his haircut and having seen that the razor wasn’t going to hurt him, he wasn’t scared and didn’t mind.

Scott took Ruth with him to a Mission Rally today. I chose to stay home with the younger two kids and Scott gave Joshua and Ruth the choice to stay with me or to go with him. It was going to be a pretty long evening, since Scott was going early to play some music with another man from the church there. I didn’t know what there would be for Hannah and Jonathan to do. They would get bored and 4 hours of trying to keep them out of trouble sounded tiring. Ruth brought her mandolin along. She also brought her book with her in case she got tired of playing and wanted to read. She had a good time.

Our kids are growing up so fast. God has richly blessed me with a wonderful family.

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