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!