One of our favorite parts of our morning time is poetry. When they were younger, I used to pick the poems we memorized together and we would recite them every day during morning time until we learned them. Occasionally during the week we reviewed the ones we had learned in the past. We’ve done that for the last 10 years of homeschooling.

Some of the older teens didn’t like being limited to poems that the little kids could learn. Earlier this year they asked if we could all memorize our own poems. Of course I was totally fine with that! So, now our poetry portion of morning time looks a little different.

Our Poetry Time

The kids all pick a poem from our poetry books or online. Then at the beginning of morning time we set a timer for about 5 minutes while we all quietly work on memorizing our individual poems. When the timer goes off, we all take turns reciting what we have learned so far.

This has been wonderful for many reasons. They all have free rein over which poems to choose and consequently have pride of ownership on “their” poem. We encourage each other as we recite, we delight in the word choice and imagery (Longfellow is becoming a fast favorite). They have such a sense of accomplishment when they finish a poem and get to choose another one. This all happens organically; without a curriculum, no in-depth analysis necessary, just pure enjoyment of the beauty and depth of inspiring poetry.

Another bonus is that they are all actually learning multiple poems at once, since they are reciting one and then hearing the other poems each day. By the time they hear a poem that many days in a row, (it takes about two weeks to learn most of their poems) they almost have everyone else’s memorized too. I have been strategically choosing poems that teach principles and lessons. I don’t have to say a word of my own, I just recite the poem 😉

Total win all around, and it was my 17 year old son’s idea!! That makes me happy in and of itself, as he is often not excited about “schoolish” things. Poetry is something he has come to enjoy, and he memorizes well even despite having dyslexia and auditory processing disorder, as does my other teenage son.

Lesson: Poetry is powerful! Stick to it, give them choices, make it fun. Keep going mama, it all works out eventually, right?!!

Poems We Chose

17 yr old son:

• The Bridge Builder by Dromgoole
• Conqueror by Aurin
• Invictus by Henley
• The Day is Done by Longfellow

15 yr old daughter:

• The Captain’s Daughter by Fields
• Little and Great by Mackay
• My Kingdom by Alcott
• The Man Who Fails by Waterhouse
• What I Live For by Banks
• We Are Seven by Wordsworth

13 yr old son:

• The Legacy by Donne
• Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116
• Your Mission by Gates
• The House by the Side of the Road by Foss

I chose:

• A Nation’s Strength (excerpt) by Emerson
• A Psalm of Life (excerpt) by Longfellow
• Speak Gently by Bates
• Recipe for a Happy Day (anonymous)
• Good Timber by Malloch
• If I Were a Sunbeam by Larcom
• Out in the Fields With God by Browning
• Daffodils by Wordsworth

Where did we find these poems? We love the Life Lessons section of Marlene Peterson’s Poetry for a Well Educated Heart. Another great resource is poetryfoundation.org where you can search by poet, topic, time period, etc. I have listed more of our favorite poetry books in the Poetry for Children post.

We are on the lookout for inspiring poetry collections, so if you have one you love, please comment below.