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poetry struggle
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What do you do when your kids really do not enjoy poetry?
We have studied some poets I really enjoyed but the kids do not.
This year it seems even worst. I, without knowing, chose poets who wrote mostly in old English, it got to a point when I didn’t even understand what I was reading so I keep changing.
Is there value in just persevering with it? Will they benefit from the exposure or I wonder if that can back fire and make them hate poetry forever!?!
I was thinking to take a break from all the classics and go with a more modern one but it doesn’t seem to interest them more.
I am sorry you are struggling with this. Would you consider reading from a book that represents many different poets? They could get a taste of many different poets and styles this way.
Best to you,
Kelly
We did read from Favorite poems old and new our first year.
Super hard to get their attention or interest but I might try something like that again, thanks!
I am doing Favorite Poems Old and New this year. The past several years we had focused on one poet at a time, but with a similar style all semester the kids got bored with it quickly. This year I pick one poem a week – sometimes seasonal, sometimes silly, sometimes related to our history – and read it. That’s it. The next week I read it again before I read our new poem. We’re having a much more enjoyable year with poetry as a reult.
After we read it together, I might point out to my oldest something about the rhythm, structure, or any alliteration or metaphors I find, but if I do it is only a cursory discussion so that he will pay attention for those things.
KEEP AT IT. It’d be one thing if it took a bunch of time. I’m not saying you should read them an hour of poetry a day. A short couple of minutes will do. Just read it, comment briefly on something you liked, or confess you had no idea what that was about, and move on. 🙂 It won’t kill them. I promise. I have read poetry faithfully to all of my children since birth. To my disappointment, none of them really love poetry now. HOWEVER, I recently got a nice post from my college-freshman son, admitting that he was really glad that I persevered through poetry, music study and picture study all those years despite the concerted lack of enthusiasm from the children. He admitted it made his life easier now, and he had a lot of reference points to compare to what he hears/sees/reads today. Also that the familiarity with so many artists has impressed his teachers, and he’s been able to pull examples from these areas in papers. Now that was poetry to my ears!
We add in silly poems along with the classic ones. They also seem to enjoy seasonal poems. We often read from Ambleside’s year one poetry selections that are sorted by month. Adding tea (or cocoa) and/or cookies helps get them excited and sit still for the reading. 😉
When we do a poet study, I like to use the Poetry for Young People series. It selects poems that kids will enjoy most along with a little background information on the poem. Our poet studies only last for a couple weeks…most of the year we read a variety of poems.
If they like reading aloud, you might want to look at Joyful Noise. It’s written for two people to read together and can be a fun way to get them involved in the poetry.
I also agree that you should keep at it. Maybe take a break from the more difficult selections and do something totally goofy for a while like Runny Babbit? Some of those are pretty funny! Humour seems to be one of the best ways to get my kids hooked on something. Then you could gradually work your way back up to the more difficult selections. But only after they already have an overall better opinion of poetry? It’s probably what I would do (and have done before! It worked on them for Shakespeare!).
Thank you all for the ideas, I appreciate it and will look into that…
We already read all the Shel Silverstein’s but might revisit. I got different books from the library today, a mixture of different author, I think we need the variety right now.
If I stumble across an author they can bare I might go w/that..
I think I will get that book Holly, it looks awesome!
Good to know that even if there is no enthousiasm they can still get something out of it!
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