This past week in our little home school was devoted to a dual theme of poetry and stories of the goddess Brigit (Bride, St. Brigid, Bridgid, Brighde). It was a very interesting week, so interesting that it seems to be spilled over into this week as well!

Celtic Memories by Caitlin Mathews has got to be one of our all-time favorite collection of stories. The boys were very pleased with a timely sharing of “The Cailleach of the Snows” (from the above collection) featuring Bride as the heroine.

Many, many poetry books found their way home from the library this week, far too many to list (there is a reason why Steve refers to library day as “hernia day”!). We’ll just stick to some highlights…

The couple of offerings we had from the “Poetry for Young People” series by Sterling Publishing Company, were well liked by all of us. It turns out that Iain enjoys Robert Frost, while Elijah prefers the fanciful descriptions of Emily Dickinson. I considered this a most delightful discovery on both counts!

Elsa Beskow’s Around the Year came out on several occasions. You know, I can never quite tell whether I care for the poems in this book or not…I’m always too busy looking at the pictures! I’m seriously considering framing a few color copies for our playroom.

We ended off the week by hosting a pot-luck and poetry reading. It turned out to be a rather small gathering, but I think it was all the more lovely thanks to the intimacy. We shared food and then poems. Two of our guests sang songs they had written (still love that). Another family brought, a new to us, collect of poems by Alice Schertle called I Am the Cat. This was a huge hit among the wee-ones! Even though, or perhaps because, some of the poems can get a bit gruesome at times. One little friend gave a very entertaining rendition of some poetry from Alice in Wonderland. I read Goodnight Moon on behalf of the bitty boy. My middlest boy was feeling a bit bashful about reciting in front of people and so chose a very little poem, Jack be Nimble, compete with one giant leap over a “candlestick”. I shared one of my own poems as well as one from one of my favorite collections. Iain had plans for reciting a Shel Silverstein poem and a very beautiful winter poem, but unfortunately he became ill before he had a chance. He ate some food that his sensitive tummy just isn’t ready for and it rebelled. Poor boy of mine…

We did have plans for making beeswax candles later in the evening, but the sharing of poems ran very late indeed and Iain had long been whisked away to the bedroom by Steve. We saved the candle project for today, when all of the children were here for our weekly get together. It turned out just right, as the weather wasn’t cooperating for our normal outdoor pursuits.

But first we made hats. Which really had nothing to do with anything, except that everyone was getting a bit too rowdy while the wax was melting. During which time, Galen happened to pick up the stack of paper bowls leftover from the party, cleverly balancing them atop his head…at which point I shouted “Hey, everybody, wanna make some hats?!?”. Out came the crayons and glitter, glue, yarn, bits of felt, feathers, pipe cleaners and scraps of wrapping paper, and 7 little boys quickly pulled every seat in the house up to my tiny table.

So the hats were made, and everyone had some fruit for a snack, while we started shaping out candle molds. I got this idea from a craft book and liked the concept, but was skeptical about the results it would yield. Basically you roll out a long “snake” of clay and then coil it up in the shape of a beehive, supposedly creating a mold for a beehive shaped candle. But what you get is actually the reverse…sharp bits of wax from the cracks and indents from the curves, instead of a lovely, curved and rounded beehive. Which is rather what I expected would happen. But we decided to do it anyway, and it was fun, and I seriously doubt any of the kids care!