Poetry for Young People by Carl Sandburg

Right now my favorite book is Poetry for Young People by Carl Sandburg. I absolutely adore this book. Sandburg's poems are accompanied by beautiful illustrations, and the book begins with a fantastic biography about Sandburg.  The poems range from extremely short to a few pages in length, and cover a wide variety of subjects.  Most are fairly straightforward, and for those that aren't quite as obvious, the illustrations will aid in understanding. 

If you were to use this book in a homeschool, I would suggest reading the poems aloud to one another, and then compare the poems to the illustrations.  Discuss the meanings of the poems and how the illustrations relate.

After every couple of poems, perhaps work on writing a poem reflecting the same style or imagery or themes of one or two of the poems read.

My own son and I enjoy reading poetry aloud to one another over dinner or dessert.  It is a nice way to wind down the day.

For other poetry inspiration and ideas, please check out these links:

• Poetry and Children
• Teaching Poetry

The most important thing you can do today...

Next to telling your loved ones how much they matter to you, watching this video may be the most important thing you can do today.  It's only 34 minutes, barely a blip in the course of your day - you have time for this.

Watch it, share it.

Literary analysis worksheet for short stories...

When I was teaching adult ESL students, I found that many had difficulty sorting out different aspects of short stories in my Contemporary American Short Story class.  As a result, I made up a worksheet for them to fill out.  This worksheet helped them to sort the aspects of the stories into categories and to see how different elements related to one another. During class discussion, the students could use the charts to help them discuss the stories.  This was also a good study aide prior to midterms and final exams.  I hope you will find it useful with your own students whether they be homeschooled, in public school, or in college.

Literature Short Story Elements Worksheet

Also, check  out my Major and Minor Characters in Literature worksheet HERE.

Thankful and excited...

I've been feeling down all morning. I haven't been motivated to do much of anything, including writing the homeschooling related post I had planned for today.  To try to bolster my spirits, I'm going to steal an idea from my friend, Sheri: to list five things I'm thankful for and five things I'm excited for.

Next time you are feeling down, I suggest you try this exercise as well.

Thankful:
1. I have a home
2. My son
3. My parents and siblings
4. One best friend mere blocks away
5. Another best friend just a text message or phone call away

Excited:
1. A project I have planned called "Path to Awesome"
2. Plan to visit a museum on Wednesday
3. A new job
4. Seeing friends from out of town at the end of the month
5. JP turns 15 on the 24th of this month.

Planned August reading...

My July reading didn't exactly go as planned. I had to return almost everything on my list to the library.  I could have renewed, but would have had to pay down some fines first (oops!), and thus decided to just return the books instead.  I should plan better, I suppose!

July 2013 reading:

Finished:

• The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green by Joshua Braff 
• Meet Me At Emotional Baggage by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella 
• The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones by Anthony Bourdain 
• Celia the Dark and Weird by Karen Finneyfrock

Abandoned/Returned to the Library:

• The Hit by David Baldacci - I would like to finish this one eventually.
• The Butterfly Hunter by Chris Ballard - Eh, it was ok, but I probably won't check it out again.
• The No Asshole Rule by Robert J. Sutton  - Definitely want to finish this one! Gotta pay down those library fines and check it out again!
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - Not what I was expecting, and I probably won't finish it.

Continuing into August:

• The Owl and Moon Cafe by Jo-Ann Mapson 
• The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg 
• And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini 

Planned August 2013 reading:

Continuing from July:

• The Owl and Moon Cafe by Jo-Ann Mapson - This is one of my go-to books when I need something familiar and comforting. I've read it several times.
• The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg - Another go-to for comfort and familiarity.
• And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini - I loved Hosseini's first two books, but am really struggling to get into this one.  I want to love it, but so far I'm not even lukewarm.

Other planned reading for August:

• In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson - I started this one months and months ago, but put it down when life got too busy. Time to pick it up again!
• Matar Un Ruisenor by Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird in Spanish.  My Spanish skills are elementary for speaking and writing, and probably low-intermediate for reading. However, I know the original English version of the book so well that I'm going to attempt to read it in Spanish.  I'm hoping that this will help improve my Spanish skills dramatically.  Anyone know where I can find copies in Swedish or Turkish? I'm not having much luck finding To Kill a Mockingbird in either of those two languages.

Whisper your worries...

I created another motivational/inspirational/meditation poster this morning.  The next time you are worried about something, or feeling overwhelmed with worries, I want you to close your eyes. Imagine that you are a child again, and blowing on a freshly picked dandelion. Every time you blow on the dandelion, and the little bits begin to float away, imagine that they are carrying your worries away with them.

Whisper your worries to the wind

Getting published feels nice

Several months ago, I submitted a poem to The Blue Lake Review, an online literary journal. I was thrilled to have the poem accepted for inclusion in their August edition.  It came out today.

Backstory: while riding the 7-train in New York City from Time's Square out to Queens, I happened to be sitting across from a woman that reminded me so much of my grandmother who had passed away several years earlier that the ride was an emotional one.

Click HERE for the front page of the edition, and click HERE for my poem.  Please read through the other works that are in this edition as well. The Blue Lake Review is a lovely journal and deserves your time and attention.

Thanks for checking out my work and The Blue Lake Review!