One of my favorite Brave Writer Lifestyle practices is Poetry Tea Time. Combine the magic of words with snacks and my children will linger around the table reading or listening to others read poetry. Poetry comes in all shapes and sizes from funny to sad to scary to lovely. There is something for everyone to enjoy. During the school year we aim to have a poetry tea time about every other week. Occasionally we make it a bigger event and host one with our Homeschool Book Club.
Today was one of those group events. We keep things very simple and kid-friendly because in our small group of 4 families there are more than 20 children ranging from babies to high school when everyone is able to attend. This time it was just us and one other family, daddies included. Each family brings a snack or two to share. I provide the teacups, saucers, and teapots (pictured above). Drinks vary, this time we had water, juice, and milk available. In winter there would be hot cocoa. I tried a new-to-me recipe for scones, making pumpkin scones (pictured above), cinnamon scones with a caramel glaze, and orange glazed scones. Makayla made lemon puppy chow. Others contributions were equally delicious!
The preparations were simple. Each person was invited to bring a copy of a poem to share. This week my children browsed poetry books looking for just the right one to share. Even daddy got in on the poetry hunt with us. We ended up with silly poems like Runny Babbit, tongue twisting poems like Whether the Weather, and beautiful poems too.
Quick Tea Time Tip: Obtaining Teacups, Saucers, and Teapots
While I would love to buy a beautiful matching tea service for my whole family it is expensive, especially for 11 people. What I did last year was visit several local thrift stores once a week for about 6 weeks hunting for dishes. I was pleasantly surprised at how often there were partial sets of teacups, saucers, or small teapots inexpensively. I have enough dishes now to serve around 30-35 people during a poetry tea time together. I spent about $25 for all of it a little bit at a time.
Hi Tristan,
ReplyDeleteI have been looking into purchasing some products from Brave Writer and am wondering if you might have some suggestions. I have a 6 and 8 year old. I was thinking of purchasing the Jot it Down ebook but am not sure if it might be better to purchase The Writer's Jungle.
Thanks, Rebecca
Hi Rebecca, Jot is Down is definitely the way to go! It will give you 10 month long projects to work on as well as encouragement for the brave writer lifestyle habits to add to your days (things like copywork, movies with conversation, word play, read alouds, art appreciation, etc).
DeleteThe Writer's Jungle is more of a "writing theory course" for mom. It does give you ideas of how to work with your kids on the writing process and you can then come up with your own projects. But to dive right in I love Jot it Down!