nancyb Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 I have seen many of you talk about having tea time and reading Shakespeare and poetry. How do you pull this off with boys? My boy is at a stage where he hates all things girly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 I have seen many of you talk about having tea time and reading Shakespeare and poetry. How do you pull this off with boys? My boy is at a stage where he hates all things girly. How old? I've mostly seen the Tea Time thing with the Ambleside Online/Charlotte Mason crowd, and the folks who've switched boys to CM after they're 9 or 10 or so have a hard time selling them on poetry. Button is 6, and he's happy with a Tea Time that involves a nice scone, some fruit or carrots, a bit of child-friendly tea and a poem, or a few. By "happy with" I mean that he complains about the poems but gets into them, and sometimes when I'm done reading from a volume with nice illustrations he browses while he finishes his snack. -- the above is our ideal tea-time, from which we've fallen lately. Lately it's been poems over morning snack, or maybe lunch. No Shakespeare yet. To be honest, I'd start with Shel Silverstein or with one of Douglas Florian's books, like the space poems. But that's not very CM ;). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my2boysteacher Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 If you bake, they will come. :lol: Seriously though, my guys loved having tea and cookies. I made a big deal about proper tea-time etiquette. How mens should pull out the chair for a woman to sit, and how they wait until she takes the first bite. How they should stand if I got up from the table, etc. They thought it was so much fun! And, I don't mind sayining, it was nice to be treated like a queen for a brief, fleeting moment. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy in TN Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 If you bake, they will come. :lol:Seriously though, my guys loved having tea and cookies. :iagree:I was just going to type this! At first they may not think that poetry is manly, but I doubt they will turn down oven warm cookies or cinnamon rolls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy in TN Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 I did Tea Time poetry once a week for years with my older two boys and have very fond memories of doing so. For poetry instruction, The Grammar of Poetry is pretty boy oriented. Shakespeare is very, very boy friendly. Julius Caesar and Macbeth are both very, very boy friendly and very easy to follow. The Random House Book of Poetry is one of my favorite anthologies to just open and read. My boys liked All the Small Poems by Valerie Worth. SL uses it in their Eastern Hemisphere. The poems are very short, almost Haiku-esque and often only the title tells the object being described. You can read the poem and have them guess what you were describing. Classic Poetry: An Illustrated Collection was another good one that we used. If they are older, Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle is a good anthology. My oldest likes Robert Frost and Poe. He memorized Puck's epilogue from Midsummer Night's Dream in junior high and can still say it. My middle ds likes Issa and haiku in general. HTH- Mandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy in TN Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 My 9yo wants me to add his favorite. He read it in the Random House Book of Poetry. This has been his favorite for years. The Lizard John Gardner The Lizard is a timid thing That cannot dance or fly or sing; He hunts for bugs beneath the floor And longs to be a dinosaur. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotAVampireLvr Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 My 7 y.o. loves tea - and I don't see this changing. DH drinks tea so its normal here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoVanGogh Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 I have seen many of you talk about having tea time and reading Shakespeare and poetry. How do you pull this off with boys? My boy is at a stage where he hates all things girly. Well, I see several have beaten me to this, but: FOOD. :D We started having (iced, slightly sweetened herbal) tea when DS was five. He is now ten and still asks for tea. It is a quiet moment out of our day. We linger at the kitchen table, sip tea, eat cookies or muffins, watch the birds at the bird feeders, read poetry, listen to hymns, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 My 9yo wants me to add his favorite. He read it in the Random House Book of Poetry. This has been his favorite for years. The Lizard John Gardner The Lizard is a timid thing That cannot dance or fly or sing; He hunts for bugs beneath the floor And longs to be a dinosaur. :):):) thank you (and please thank your son!) for that snippet -- I'm a fan of Gardner's and this is new to me, plus just plain delightful ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nancyb Posted February 1, 2012 Author Share Posted February 1, 2012 These are great ideas! My son is 9 and he has three sisters. I've noticed in the last year he is really trying to separate himself from us. Obviously, my girls would love tea time. I need to think of something else to call it for my son. Any ideas? Oh, and if you have more books for boys to recommend, please keep 'em commin'! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy in TN Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Figurative Language and Food? Mandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy in TN Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Oh, oh Figurative Language, Food, and Fun Fridays Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swainsonshawk Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Jack Prelutsky--Awful Ogre's Awful Day is their favorite! Teatime around here consists of a morning snack and juice while reading some poems. It's not very fancy or formal, but the kids like gathering around the table together and getting to EAT. Sometimes I make something special and they like that even more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAutumnOak Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 This is such a good idea!...My boys like to drink tea (DH and I drink it, so they feel like "adults" when they drink it :tongue_smilie:)...Making it a once a week thing where we have cinnamon rolls or cookies and read poetry is a great idea... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnrmom Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 My boys LOVE teatime. Poetry teatime is one of the best things we've done this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doodle Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 I did Tea Time poetry once a week for years with my older two boys and have very fond memories of doing so. For poetry instruction, The Grammar of Poetry is pretty boy oriented. Shakespeare is very, very boy friendly. Julius Caesar and Macbeth are both very, very boy friendly and very easy to follow. The Random House Book of Poetry is one of my favorite anthologies to just open and read. My boys liked All the Small Poems by Valerie Worth. SL uses it in their Eastern Hemisphere. The poems are very short, almost Haiku-esque and often only the title tells the object being described. You can read the poem and have them guess what you were describing. Classic Poetry: An Illustrated Collection was another good one that we used. If they are older, Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle is a good anthology. My oldest likes Robert Frost and Poe. He memorized Puck's epilogue from Midsummer Night's Dream in junior high and can still say it. My middle ds likes Issa and haiku in general. HTH- Mandy I have never considered doing this, but I think my 7 yr old Doodle would enjoy this very much. Thanks for the book recommendations. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetMissMagnolia Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 My 9yo wants me to add his favorite. He read it in the Random House Book of Poetry. This has been his favorite for years. The Lizard John Gardner The Lizard is a timid thing That cannot dance or fly or sing; He hunts for bugs beneath the floor And longs to be a dinosaur. sounds perfect for my son-have been wondering how to introduce poetry to him thanks-will definately have to get this book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicmommy Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Definitely entice him with the food. My boys love our tea time here. They've even used the sweet tea set that they got me for mother's day a couple of years ago. We also read poems as we enjoy the time. We started off with silly poems and riddles. Of course, Shel Silverstein has been a hit with my boys. Now, we've moved on to some deeper poetry interspersed. Last week, our poet of the week was Emily Dickinson. The boys enjoyed many of her riddle poems. For us, the key has been yummy homemade treats that they don't get very often, good tea and keeping it light hearted. If we do a more serious poem or two, we follow it up with something funny or silly. I don't particularly care for poetry myself, so this is a good way for me to stay in it also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 I have seen many of you talk about having tea time and reading Shakespeare and poetry. How do you pull this off with boys? My boy is at a stage where he hates all things girly. Everyone has had great advice. It's true that the food is a great lure. My boys do enjoy all kinds of poetry but I have read them poetry since they were babies, as it's a favorite of mine. I also read a good variety, including some very boyish selections. Edward Lear had some insanely funny, ridiculous limericks. He's a favorite here. It's not all solemn seriousness, but yes, they appreciate and enjoy the serious as much as the silly, just in a different way. But we've built up to it. If I had an older boy who was resistant to girly things, I would start one day with Be Glad Your Nose Is on Your Face. This book is chock full of boyish disgustingness. (My DD actually can't stand the poems in this book, so consider that an endorsement for your boy's needs. :lol:) Start with something that lures them in easily and after a while, introduce something a little more mainstream. You can slowly work your way to Shakespeare. By the way, many of the great poets wrote poems specifically for children. Just because my kids are listening to poems by some of the greats at this age does not mean that they have the patience or understanding to listen to the most complex works that those greats wrote. You don't have to call it tea either. You can call it Slug Snack or whatever floats your son's boat. :lol: You could even read to them over lunch, captive audiences and all that. Lure them in to the fun of the experience. You can serve those hot dog octopuses (with spaghetti jabbed into them before they're cooked...when cooked they become dangly legs...I actually like them with more spaghetti, as jellyfish). Now that I'm thinking of it though, it occurs to me that what helps to make it successful here is that I love poetry and that kind of affection for something can become contagious. So, you might buy yourself an anthology and start reading. Then you can share your favorites. I recommend that adults who aren't familiar with poetry themselves also begin with children's volumes. Favorite Poems Old and New is a good one to start with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy in TN Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 x-post from the poetry anthology thread. some of it I posted her earlier and in a pm to someone.:) I am planning to try IEW's Poetry Memorization next year and we will see how it goes. We do memorize poetry. These are some of the favorites from my shelf. For the littlest learners I like Mother Goose and the board book Eloise Wilken's Poems to Read to the Very Young. I like the Ambleside Yr1 free online poetry, The Random House Book of Poetry for Children and Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho for the early grades. The Random House Book of Poetry is one of my favorite anthologies to just open and read. Grass Sandals is a picture book that is used in one of the FIAR volumes. I like Classic Poetry: An Illustrated Collection and All the Small Poems for middle grades. My boys liked All the Small Poems by Valerie Worth. SL uses it in their Eastern Hemisphere. The poems are very short, almost Haiku-esque and often only the title tells the object being described. You can read the poem and have them guess what you were describing. Later in middle school/ early high school I like Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle... and (for poetry instruction) somewhere in there both my big boys also did The Grammar of Poetry. This is pretty boy oriented. My oldest went on to use the rhetoric stage poetry from The Harp and the Laurel Wreath. It was not fabulous, but he didn't complain. These poetry books were used by both my big boys and the little guy has started on them. I have these on my Amazon wish list. I can't review any of them, but don't they look fun!: A Kick in the Head Color Me a Rhyme Cool Melons- Turn to Frogs! Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys HTH- Mandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rieshy Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Ogden Nash- Zoo. Very short funny poems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nina560 Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Nothing wrong with offering tea to the boys. You might wish to remind them that all the cool kids in London and UK drink tea. It will give them a uniqueness that they just might embrace. As others have stated, make sure to combine with baked goods or something similar (biscotti?). And be sure to get quality tea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 I don't see anything inherently "girly" about either tea or poetry. I mean, there is female-oriented poetry, I suppose, and one could serve tea in a setting that is more feminine and frilly. But neither of these things is inherently feminine. Start with "Ooey Gooey was a worm" for poetry. Move on to Sea Fever. Read some Hillaire Belloc. (Realizing that all of these are included in Andrew Pudewa's Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization, which may, I suppose, be particularly appropriate for boys...) Read some Jack Prelutsky or Shel Silverstein or Walter de la Mare or Lewis Carol. And yes, have food the kids like. Tiny cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off may be a bit too feminine, as would be little pink petit fours... ;) But there's no reason why you can't have carrot sticks and hummus or chocolate chip scones or cheddar biscuits or oatmeal cookies or graham crackers with peanut butter or apple slices or... Whatever your child enjoys. It doesn't have to be tea either. Serve popcorn and cocoa, if you prefer. Read silly poems or martial poems and, eventually, some nature poems. Skip anything romantically oriented for now -- there's plenty of other stuff to read. Do voices. Try a poem a couple of different ways. Whisper it. Shout it. Slow it down or speed it up. Replace the words in a favorite poem to make it absurd or applicable to your current circumstance. It's not about playing "Victorian tea party". There's absolutely nothing wrong with doing that if that's what a family wants. But the goal is to spend time together enjoying the delightful ways poets have used language, and the ways we can do so too. If that's with frilly doilies and pinkies up, that's fine. If it's rolling around on the floor in fits of giggles between sips of hot chocolate, well, that's another legitimate approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybear Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 These are great ideas! My son is 9 and he has three sisters. I've noticed in the last year he is really trying to separate himself from us. Obviously, my girls would love tea time. I need to think of something else to call it for my son. Any ideas? Oh, and if you have more books for boys to recommend, please keep 'em commin'! Call it: Snack time and read aloud combined. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homemama2 Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 We have tea or hot cocoa with cookies or some other snack. If the weather is warmer, then it is iced tea or lemonade. We don't 'call' it teatime....we don't really call it anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nancyb Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 You guys are so awesome! I think hot chocolate would do the trick. Why didn't I think of that? I can't wait to check out all of the wonderful recommended books. You guys rock! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 I give my kids milk in a pitcher and tiny tea cups. It's basically snack time. My son told me yesterday, "I love tea parties!" However, I don't read poetry, just have snacks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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