poetry tea time
Over the past decade, our family has grown quickly and in ways we hadn’t ever imagined. Each time adding a new life to our school, as well. A few years ago I began praying over the things that I wanted my children to remember about homeschooling. I knew that I didn’t want them to just remember worksheets and checking off lists and schedules. I wanted to cultivate rich and meaningful memories of home, family, togetherness, warmth, laughter, freedom and books. I want and desire to serve these little people well.
At the start of our homeschooling journey, a fellow HS mom told me about their weekly tea time. Every single Tuesday rain or shine, they had a tea. A fancy one at that- they broke out all of the beautiful tea cups and plates. They baked for it. Laid out their best tablecloth and sometimes even invited friends over for it. It changed over the years as her kids aged but it was still always a priority and a memory for her children to cherish.
I didn’t own a single tea related item (and still do not, besides a kettle!) so I didn’t think this idea would work for us. Until I found an entire Instagram community that held “poetry tea time”. It was the same idea, except you didn’t have to have a fancy tea at all! You could make it whatever you wanted it to be- a place to gather together, a place to eat together and a place to unwind together. All of the other details were up to me. Why didn’t I think of this on my own? I’m not sure, but I was sold.
I chose evening, after our school day was ending but it’s not quite dinner time …and there is that nice chunk of time people often call the witching hours. We pulled out our favorite books, I baked something and often the kids will help bake for it, which includes them and excites them even more. In the winter we have hot chocolate in our favorite mugs, in the warm months, we have our favorite almond milk. I play classical music and we gather, read together and just be together.
We try our best to do this once a week all school year long. Some weeks it happens and some it doesn’t, but it’s already something each child looks forward to. It has been such a blessing to have this precious time with them. No checklists or workbooks to do, just enjoying each other.
“If you have something you want your children to assimilate like poetry or music or scripture or Shakespeare, forget the grand schemes. Forget what the Konos mom is doing down the street, start giving that thing one or two minutes of your time daily and watch the years roll by. For me, the years did roll by, and they are rolling by for you, too. You are never going to have a lot of time, but you do have a little time here and a little time there and those little times all add up to a life.” -Cindy Rollins