How To Add Poetry Tea Time To Your Homeschool

Poetry Tea Time never fails to brighten our homeschool week and help us refocus on what matters. Keep reading to learn how you can incorporate this enchanting ritual into your homeschool rhythm.

As emo and existential as I was as a teenager you’d think I was the tortured poet kind.

But poetry is one of those things that has always confounded me. I read a biography on Elizabeth Barret-Browning once because I liked the cover 🙂 but music has done for me what poetry seems to do for others.

However that doesn’t mean I’ve given up, and certainly not when it comes to teaching my kids.

Providentially, I came across the concept of Poetry Tea Time when diving into the world of Charlotte Mason for the first time and we’ve been including it in our homeschool ever since.

What Is Poetry Tea Time?

As with many things in motherhood and homeschooling, there is no one right way to do poetry tea time.

Essentially, as the name suggests, you make tea and you read poetry.

But it does not have to be limited to that!

For instance, if your child doesn’t like tea, make cocoa. Or lemonade or strawberry milk. The point isn’t necessarily to get your child to drink tea (although that’s a worthy goal), but to take a moment to make something special. A yummy drink is a simple and effective way to do that.

Over the last two years or so my kids have developed a taste for tea, especially certain varieties. So don’t give up on occasionally offering some and trying new fun flavors.

The second element, poetry, is also very flexible. You can read anything from Shel Silverstein to Lord Tennyson and anything in between.

(Don’t tell anyone but sometimes we just use this time to catch up on our family read-aloud with no poetry at all!)

So tea or any other preferred drink and some sort of reading. That’s it in a nutshell.

Where Do I Even Begin With Poetry??

Don’t stress it.

Now is not the time for diagramming and dissecting.

The goal here is to let the words of the chosen poems wash over you and your children.

What you read, watch and listen to shapes your thoughts and ideas, and in time those shape you.

So choose beautiful poetry that you enjoy hearing. It doesn’t have to be challenging.

A good place to start is with one of the Ambleside anthologies. I got ours for Kindle for like $4 and we have some wonderful memories of reading those together.

Some of our favorite poets include:

• Christina Rosetti
• Cicely Mary Barker (gorgeous watercolor illustrations too)
• Robert Louis Stevenson
• Walter de la Mare
• E. Nesbit
• A.A. Milne
• Emily Dickinson
• Robert Frost

I also highly recommend Favorite Poems, Old and New by Helen Ferris. I love the fact that this one is sectioned by categories like seasons, months, animals, nature, holidays, activities and more. It’s great for choosing a few for a themed tea time, which is kind of my specialty 🙂

Don’t Forget The Snacks

Eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably.

C.S. Lewis

From traditional scones or crumpets to not-so-traditional popcorn and cheese cubes, you can’t go wrong with a tea time snack.

Cookies beg to be dipped into mugs, sweet-and-salty trail mix needs a refreshing drink to wash it down, and iced cupcakes demand a strong cup of tea or coffee to balance their sweetness.

Below you’ll find a list of recipes we love to make for a special tea time. But of course you can keep it simple and hand everyone a granola bar or squeeze pouch.

Ideas To Make Poetry Tea Time Special

• Keep an eye out at yard sales, thrift stores and antique shops for inexpensive tea cups. They make it so much more fun!
• Buy a disposable seasonal table cloth for a themed tea time and easy clean up.
• Pick up seasonal paper plates to match!
• Let the kids help set the table and even make the snack.
• A tea pot or kettle is always fun and impressive to kids.
• Make a list together of which kinds of tea you’d like to try in future.
• Take turns reading short poems- even better if there are silly voices and sound effects involved.
• Practice your table manners while you’re at it- no elbows on the table, say ‘excuse me’, ‘please’ and ‘thank-you’, use you napkin not your sleeve and don’t begin eating until the hostess does (that’s you ;))

A Few Last Tips

1. Keep it short. You really don’t need to take an hour and pack it full of poetry. If you linger for an hour, great! But leave plenty of time for chatting, discussing and for simple enjoyment. I usually read anywhere from 3 or 4, or up to 10 poems, depending on how long they are.
2. Keep it simple. There’s no need for an assignment as part of poetry tea time, unless you and your kids want one. You know your kids best, but keep the goal of connecting and taking in the lovely words in mind, without feeling the need to squeeze every last drop of substance from each poem.
3. Keep it separate. What I mean by this is, if you’re already working on memorizing a poem or section, you don’t need to work on that here. We also select a poem to memorize, which we practice every day. But poetry tea time is a separate, special time .
4. Keep it relaxed. Don’t get hung up on the gorgeous pictures you might see of a flat-lay including antique cups, water color palettes, paint brushes, worksheets, golden croissants and petit fours and hand-crafted wooden manipulatives that astoundingly fit the theme perfectly. It’s a drink and some words. Fill it out however you want, as long as it’s what you want. Remember our kids can sense our stress a mile away and we don’t want to try to force them to “do it right” when there is no right. Just enjoy it 🙂

Resources

• Enjoy the Poems series by Simply Charlotte Mason
• Ambleside Online Poetry Anthologies
• The Well Read Poem by the Literary Life Podcast
• The Complete Book of Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker (we love this one!)
• The Ultimate Guide to Homeschool Poetry Tea Time blog post

I hope you and your family have a wonderful tea time!

-Tara