Tuesday Teatime

In Bravewriter fashion, we have begun Tuesday Teatimes and they have proved to be HUGELY popular!  We haven't missed a one so far.

Each Tuesday, someone (usually Daisy) volunteers to bake something and at 2pm, we set the table with a table cloth, flowers and the good china.  I make the tea and everyone brings a poem to tea.

We serve the tea and snacks using our best manners and then, one at a time, we share the poem we've brought.

I gathered all of the poetry books we own (and which we've very seldom used in 15 years of homeschooling!) onto one shelf.  One week, Banana Boy even wrote an original poem and brought it to share.

So, like never before, we are enjoying poetry on a regular basis.  The kids enjoy choosing a poem to share.  I get to share some of my favorites.  We're sampling many different authors and types of poetry.

And the tea is good, too!

A Story, A Story!

Daisy wrote this lovely little story today.

Her writing prompt was, "Jonah had always wanted a dog, but there was something strange about the little puppy sitting on his doorstep..."

she continued (without any help):

"He ran into the house and found some scraps from lunch to feed to the puppy.  It ate and ate.


All of a sudden, the puppy started growing.  It grew 1 foot tall then 2 feet then 3 feet.  He thought it would never stop growing.  When it finally stopped growing, it was 5 feet tall!


He had no idea what he would do with a 5 foot tall dog.  He noticed it was panting so he decided to try giving it some water.  But where would he ever get so much water?  


He decided to bring it to the swimming pool.  It drank and drank.  Then it started shrinking.  First 1 foot, then two feet.  It finally stopped at its normal 1 foot height.


He decided to keep the puppy and he named it Giant.  Whenever someone asks why a tiny dog is called Giant, all he has to do is give Giant a bowl of scraps and they understand.  He always carries scraps and water, just in case!"

Beginning, Middle and End

Today Banana Boy's writing assignment was to write a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. (the focus of this is organizing a story).

Here is his story, more remarkable for what happens in the story (which is true, btw) than for his writing prowess...

"I was chewing my flaverful gum.  I was playing with it.  I got it stuck in my hair.  Daisy had to cut the gum."

A testament to Daisy's ability to think on her feet, since I was not home at the time (ran Sunshine to preschool).

Journal Cat

Grammar Cat

Homeschool Grammar

Daisy was working on her R&S grammar book, practicing statements, questions and commands. The Rod & Staff books are published for Mennonite classrooms. One of the exercises was to write down 3 commands her teacher might give her.

Rose Bud pipes up matter-of-factly from the next room, "Sit down. Stop crying. Get out your books."

More Adventures of Spider

Yeah, I promised I'd post these after we edited them. Well, we never edited them, so except for spelling and punctuation, here is the raw adventure.

By Rose Bud

Spider's Great Adventure

Hello, my name is Spider and I'm a black cat. I'm going to tell you about my adventure last night. I was walking through the laundry room around 5:00 and smelled fresh air. It smelled too fresh to be a screen, so I went to investigate. Guess what? The window was open! Tonight I would escape. I would have to act casual so no one would guess. It was hard, but I finally made it to the kids' bedtime. I went to sleep in Pepper's bunkbed. Suddenly, I woke up. It was already midnight so I had to hurry downstairs to the window. I jumped on the washer and out the window. I was free! Free from that annoying little cat they got. I hate him! He follows me around and bats my tail. I walked off into the night. I walked down the trail into the woods. As I walked past the creek, I realized I was thirsty, so I stopped to get a drink. Blehh! That water tasted really bad. I kept walking and then I smelled chicken. Chicken is third on my list of favorites. First venison, then beef and then chicken. I sniffed around but no signs of chicken. Who knew these people had chickens? I had no idea. I walked past that green building and suddenly I smelled the most tasty, delicious smell ever. Catnip. There was a huge clump of it. Yummy! I had just started to feast when: drip, drop, right on my back. I looked around for shelter and saw the kids' playhouse. I ran over there to check it out. It looked great. A roof on top and a huge litter box underneath! I settled down to wait till the rain was over. Somehow, I fell asleep and when I woke up, it was morning. I had to get back to the catnip patch. I was trotting across the lawn when suddenly I heard Dad calling my name. I ignored him. I wanted that catnip! Then I remembered the love, the food, Pepper's bed. So I ran to the door and said, "Meow, Mrrrrrrooooowwwwwww!" They heard me and I got let inside right away. I went to my food and ate, then I drank. I ran upstairs and jumped in Pepper's bed. Soon I fell fast asleep. My adventure was fun, but I'm glad to be home.

Spider's Great Escape

So it was hot in the house last night AND it rained, so dh opened a window in the laundry room which is under our porch. ie: no rain could come in that window. However, he mistakenly opened the window without a screen. This morning, he looked out the window and saw a cat who looked remarkably like our cat, Spider, trotting across the lawn. Mr. GT called out to him, but the cat ignored him. Hmmm. Not our cat, then. Still suspicious, Mr. GT called once more. Still no response. However, 5 minutes later, there was a meow at the door and here was Spider, begging to come in. He's not normally an outdoor cat, so this was a great adventure for him.

I heard the whole story before the kids got up and it immediately struck me as a perfect chance to get them writing! As soon as everyone was out of bed, I relayed the tale and assigned them an essay, from Spider's perspective, on his adventure. The only guidelines were that it had to begin with him going out the laundry room window and contain these words near the end: "I was trotting across the lawn, when suddenly I heard Dad call my name. I ignored him. But then I remembered: the love, my food, Pepper's bed. And I went to the door and said, 'Meow.'"

As we edit them, I'll be typing them up and posting them here. So far, they're really cute.

Since he won't be doing any editing (at 5, getting a creative story onto paper at all is an accomplishment) here is Banana Boy's. He dictated his story to me and I wrote it down. He needed a little help getting started and was greatly assisted by the prop of Spider joining us for the writing session. He had Spider whisper to him what had happened.

Spider jumped out the window. He went on a trip. He went under the laundry hanger thing. He went in the front yard. He ate kitten chow. He saw his dad. He ignored his dad. He went in the forest. A bunny rabbit was there. He sniffed the bunny rabbit. The bunny hopped away and Spider tried to catch the bunny rabbit. He wanted to go home so he went home. He snuggled his dad and his Banana Boy.