February 9, 2006

Poetry in Motion

Yesterday I took the boys to see the movie Nanny McPhee and I can honestly say that I enjoyed it as much as they did. Emma Thompson plays the nanny and she is a joy to watch. I am a little biased because I happen to adore Emma Thompson. She did a movie called Wit, the story of a college poetry professor with terminal ovarian cancer. Not a children's flick, but a great film none the less. But I digress...

So Nanny McPhee.

I took the boys to the movies because we needed a change of scenery not to mention a change of pace. They were quite happy and so was I because Joe fell asleep during the movie, leaving me to view the film in peace. I bought each boy a kids pack which included a small popcorn and beverage, Joe had fruit snacks. He thought that they were candy. I was glad when he fell asleep because he stopped yelling, "More, more cany, more, cany, more cany!!!" A most unpleasant mantra.

School has been going very well and we are all settling into a consistent routine. I downloaded a unit study about the Olympics over the weekend and we began working on it yesterday. I love the Olympics! I still haven't given up my dream of winning gold in the Women's Figure Skating competition. I can dream can't I? Stranger things have happened.

Yesterday we read a book about a boy who has to run in a sled dog race to help his grandfather save his potato farm. It's a book suggestion from the author of the unit study to help illustrate the traits of bravery, courage and determination. They really enjoyed it and I cried at the end.

Today we are going to get into the history of the Olympics and some of the athletes who have inspired us in the past, Eric Liddell, Jesse Owens, Jim Thorpe. I think that the boys will really enjoy the rest of this study.

We began memorizing an Ogden Nash poem yesterday. The poem is called The Octopus.

The Octopus
Tell me, O Octopus, I begs,
Is those things arms or is they legs?
I marvel at thee, O Octopus;
If I were thou, I'd call me us.

Cute, right? They wanted to know why it wasn't grammatically correct so we discussed taking poetic license and using language in different ways. Our goal is to memorize a poem a month, we are starting with the small ones and working our way onto the big ones.

Ode to Packing
Packing has come to an abrupt halt.
It really is not my fault.
You see, it's boxes I lack
And I have a pain in my back.
I gave it my all, my best
Now, I think that I shall rest.
More boxes are due to arrive
In this I will no longer strive.
I need boxes to pack my shoes
For in 20 days, we moves!

(Yes, I am aware that I am not Ogden Nash!)

Look to the finish!

6 comments:

Dy said...

Um, you can just have that gorgeous hutch shipped over here. I'll, um, watch it for you... :-)

Love the poem, but I read it wrong and thought for a minute that you needed 20 more boxes FOR your shoes!

You can do it! But don't pack the floatsam - it leaks through the cardboard. ;-)

Dy

melissa said...

Well, I am just Overwhelmingly impressed that you can still homeschool AND pack up a house to move....AND have the good sense to know when to take the kiddos to see a good flick for a change of pace!! WOW! You deserve a medal....get it....Olympics?...medal?

Jersey Girl said...

Good for you, O Poetess of NJ, taking an afternoon off to see a movie. Take heart, your sister will be on her way back Saturday, unless there is a snow storm.

J-Lynn said...

LOL I love your poem!

Thanks for the movie recommendation, good movies are hard to come by these days!

Good luck packing!

CMB said...

Good for you guys! I am afraid to take David to the movies. I am not sure he'd sit still. I will probably try it soon. I read J&J - those boys are GREAT! What talent. I wanted to let you know that on Thursday (16th) I am having a scrapbooking workshop. If you can, come over.
Hope to see you then!

Crissy said...

I LOVED Nanny McPhee. So did both of my boys.
Wit is sitting on my counter. I didn't want to watch it alone, so I'm waiting for my husband to come home.

Crissy