Tea with Friends

It is a lovely thing to share something which is means something to us. Poetry tea has long been a corner-stone of our home education and it was special yesterday to welcome Lucinda and her children, one of whom joined the home ed world only in January, for tea and cakes and favourite poems. Lucinda brought the sequel to Marriott's Edgar's "Albert and the Lion", which was a joy to me as I didn't know there was one and Albert and his Lion are old friends of ours. I dug out Jim while we were on the subject of lions eating children (I was assured that our guests would not find it too gruesome) and we finished off with "The King's Breakfast". All the children read aloud, ate cake and drank tea and it was a very civilised affair.

It doesn't look much like school and it certainly doesn't feel much like school and I can't imagine what the lesson plan would look like, but as we reflected together, as the children bounced on the trampoline, we could list so many of the benefits. We have "covered" home economics, socialization (learning about sitting at the table and taking turns), socializing (having friends over), learning to read as our new readers follow the words of familiar poems, reading aloud in front of an audience, literature and ideas, (we have touched on World War I recently and Albert's Dad taught us about life insurance). All this in a warm and loving environment - and cake! What more could we want?