Winter Fancies

Then blow, Winds, blow!

And rave and shriek,

And snarl and snow

Till your breath grows weak–

While here in my room

I’m as snugly shut

As a glad little worm

In the heart of a nut!

This is the last part of a poem, Winter Fancies, by James Whitcomb Riley.  I am a little afraid to admit this because I fear we still have some cold weather here yet to come, but I kind of miss that “snugly shut in” feeling this year.  There is something to be said for hearing and seeing the world outside all in a blur of snow and cold and wind only to be warm and snug inside.  After we read this poem I sent the kids out to play, two were bare foot with no jackets (the girls, of course) and Gabe donned a light jacket.  Just a little glimpse of what the weather is like right now and has been for the majority of this winter. Very mild.

It has taken me about a year and a half to finally get used to reading AND enjoying poetry with the kids.  I wasn’t exposed to it much growing up and I always thought it a chore to figure out what the author was trying to express.  Children’s poetry is a little bit easier than say, Emily Dickenson, but if we still don’t know what is being said, I am glad for the exposure to both of us and am, at the very least, pleased if I get the rhythm and intonations right.

Currently we are reading the works of the aforementioned author and Eugene Field.  The one we read today by Eugene Field was Our Whippings.   We all giggled when we read how the boys faked it when Mother gave the whippings. I’ll leave you to your imagination to what the rest was about or you could just go ahead and look it up.

Happy poetry reading!

 

10 minutes a day

Anyone can do anything for 10 minutes a day right?  I have a new goal for myself to post at least one thing a day.

Today started off a little bumpy.  I’m on here after an apology to the kids for getting onto them for not starting their chores right away.  A moment of reflection on my part helped me to realize that I should have been scolding myself.  In reality, my scolding stemmed from looking around and seeing that it was nearing 9am (school time) and I hadn’t done any of my chores, save making breakfast.  I have a handy excuse of taking care of the baby, but she doesn’t warrant that I sit in the chair for an hour sucking down my coffee to revive me from a too late night of computer time.

The kids are diligently working on their chores now and here I sit.  Here are a few more 10 minute activities that I need to get done today.

• fold laundry
• play with Caleb
• pray
• load dishwasher
• read to kids
• read the scriptures
• run a mile
• reading lesson w/ Soph
• pray
• math with kids
• play with Caleb
• PRAY!

And all the stuff in between, I’ve got a full morning.   Thankfully baby is asleep.

Oh yes, after my apology to the kids and letting them know that I should have been getting onto myself, not them, Sophie chanted, “Oooh, Mama got in trouble.”

My clean laundry awaits!

 

Pigs and School

The kids and I are together writing this post.  Here are some things that have been going on lately.

We bought a Guinea Pig.  She is a girl, her name is Bella. (Those lines were put in by Gabe.)  I have to write and say that I think she is the sweetest Guinea Pig I’ve ever known, but I haven’t really known very many.  She is also very pretty and I’ve never thought Guinea Pigs were very cute.  But she is.  I’d also like to say that I am very excited about cleaning her cage.  I’ll explain.  We started her in a cage kit which included recycled blue paper bedding.  It was mess, little blue paper chunks everywhere.  When I did a search on the best ways to clean Guinea Pig cages I found a few sites that talked about providing a soaker underneath a fleece.  Naturally, I was very drawn to this because I use cloth diapers with the same effect.   So Gabe and I went and picked out two prints of fleece.  One is a camouflage print and the other is pink with yellow and orange flowers (and both were 50% off!).   I lined the bottom with bed pads (I got them for night time accidents) and then put the fleece over the top to wick away moisture.  We’ll change her bedding when we change our sheets.   Along with their morning chores each child has a chore for Bella.  One sweeps her droppings with a mini handheld broom and dustpan.  One changes her water. And one makes sure she has fresh food and sweet hay.  We love having a pet. :)  And from what I understand of Guinea Pigs they are not very cuddly.  She is very much so and will just sit and let us pet her as long as she can bury her head into the towel she is on.  Okay, enough with Bella.

We started school today and it was fun.  Daddy did Reading and History.  I did the rest.  I’d like to record our schedule and subjects here because it’s just fun to look back on. (I don’t have to do the record keeping that some of my friends have to do in NY).  Here are the kids’ narrations from today.  Daddy accidentally read the wrong story in our Fifty Famous Stories which Gabe really liked so he told that one to me.  Chloe did the one that was supposed to be read.   I don’t know that I will do this every time, but yet again, it will be neat to look back on.

Narrations by Gabriel Aug 2010

King Alfred and the Cakes

There was a very good king and he was very good to everybody and he was very nice. A king has a very hard life because wars happen all the time. He pretty much always wins the wars because he is such a good king. The Danes were a very strong army too. They started to fight the good king. They fought and fought until finally Britain scattered the good kings men. And the good king fled and ran into a swamp. As he came out and walked he saw a woodcutters house. He knocked on the door and a woman opened the door and he asked if he could have something to eat. The woman did not know that he was the king. And the woman said he could have some food and water. She said, “If you will watch these cakes I will go milk the cow.” And as soon as she left to milk the cow he forgot all about his hunger and the cakes and started thinking about how he would put his army up the next day. As the woman came back and the cakes were sizzling and burnt into hard crust, she scolded him and said, “A lazy man who wants food should work.” And I was told that she actually beat him on the back with a stick.

Narrations by Chloe Aug 2010

The Sword of Damocles

There was once a king who had lots of riches but no one really liked him. And one day Damocles came to the palace. And he said to the king, “Will you give me all your riches for one day?” So the king took Damocles into the palace and he showed Damocles the gold. When Damocles sat down he looked up to see what the jingling was and there was a single horse hair that was hanging a sword. When Damocles saw the sword right above his head he could no longer eat any food or drink any wine. And then the king came in and he said. “What is the fright Damocles?” And Damocles said, “There is this sword hanging above my head.” And the king said, “I always have a sword hanging above my head.”

Charlotte Mason does not recommend children under the age of six to provide narrations, but Chloe has been doing them beautifully on her own since she was 3.  So I’m thinking there really is no harm to ask her, especially seeing that she thoroughly enjoys doing them.

One of the stipulations Daddy had in getting a Guinea Pig was that the children had to come up with five interesting facts about them.   We have yet to do so and Chloe is eager to now.  I better stop playing around and get our assignment done.

 

Travel, garden and homeschool, oh my!

Yet another bullet style post highlighting recent and future events.

• We recently got back from a Florida trip.  It was a combined trip of seeing hubby’s family and Chloe and Daddy going on their “special trip” to Cumberland Island (the report from them is that it is a hidden gem and we will all go back as a family one day.)  The other kids and I stayed in Amelia Island, which was nice, but we missed them.  We all then went on to Jacksonville Beach for about four days.  Hubby and I have declared that this was our least favorite beach.  We were there on the first warm weekend they’ve had and it was during spring break for a lot of college age kids.   Nothing too crazy happened, it was just very busy.  We like the beaches that are more strewn with other families and older aged people.   I’ve also decided that a trip to the beach is better in the fall.  The water was just too cold, our feet were numb if we stayed in any length of time and Caleb was not having it at all.  Speaking of the little rascal he was fun buster!  We tried having compassion with him because of his lack of overall adjustment, but the fact that he has been poorly trained in obedience reared its ugly head on this trip.  We will be promptly entering him in boot camp.
• Hubby is making advancements in his process of a complete career change.  I will share more on the subject when it seems more likely that our lives will be in transition again.  (It could be as early as August.)  Hey, at least we’ll be here for the summer to take advantage of our pool.
• We will be taking a trip to Kentucky on the 19th to see Grandpa.  He’ll be in classes, but we couldn’t miss the opportunity, he’ll be only 6 hours away. 
• I’m going to do a garden this year.  I’ll be doing a square foot garden like I did in NY, but I think I’ve resolved myself to only one box.  I’ve decided that any more would be biting off more than I can chew.  I’m looking at a few of my favorites.  A big variety of tomatoes, sugar snap peas (I know, it’s kind of late for those, but I put them in late in NY and got a fairly decent yield), zucchini, herbs and some easy ones for the kids to plant and care for like radishes and carrots.
• I’m seriously contemplating and am ready to say that I will be starting a study group on the principles of Charlotte Mason and her education philosophy.  I think it will take place over the summer with the possibility of it forming into a co-op of sorts.  I can think of about 3 other ladies that would be interested.  It is a very exciting prospect.
• I have started a pretty rigorous work-out regimen and am feeling great about my progress and the new energy I’ve been feeling.  Can’t complain about an increase in energy.  These kids will drive me to the ground!

The day has begun.  I’m hoping to get back on a weekly schedule of posting again.  Hubby has recently gone through a schedule change at work and it has all of us scrambling for the new norm.

 

Politics and writing

After reading an Old Testament story this morning my 6 and 5-year-old got into a really engaging conversation about politics.  The story was about Jonathan taking a taste of honey after his father, King Saul, made the statement that if anybody should eat anything before they have been victorious over their enemies, that person shall be cursed and die. 

The kids couldn’t quite understand why the King would say such a thing.  (I reminded them that the Israelites begged Samuel to give them a king and now they are seeing why God was so reluctant to do so.  Men are faulty, no one can rule as perfectly as the Lord.)  Then we discussed how an earthly king or ruler can and will make poor decisions.  And even if he is a good leader, there are bound to be people who will not agree with some of the decisions he makes.  We talked about our current president and presidents from the past.  We also discussed how the president just can’t make a law by himself.   The kids were very interested and I was sorely reminded that I need to be more fluent in the workings of our government.  I just told them not to repeat anything I had said until we confirm it with Daddy.  It was fun to be challenged by their questions and reflect on their interest of the topic.  I know I was certainly not interested in politics at age 5 or 6. 

Chloe is taking off.  She tries to read anything she gets her hands on.  She also loves to write her own stories.  If we are available to help she will ask us how to spell things, but sometimes she takes a stab on her own.  She wasn’t able to ask anybody at church this last Sunday. We instruct them that if they talk about what they are drawing or writing, they will have to put it away.  I have asked them to try to draw a picture of anything that might stick out to them when they are listening to the sermon.  Here is Chloe’s story.  Somehow I don’t think the pastor talked about giraffes. 

Oen sumr mornig Saru woc up  She pict up hr petsol and hr papr a Graf woct into the rum it was etig a lef

Here is the translation in case you can’t make it out.

One summer morning Sara woke up.  She picked up her pencil and her paper.  A giraffe walked into the room, it was eating a leaf. 

I think she did pretty good.  I can see that she is working things out very well phonetically, maybe I need to give her a few other rules.

A side note: Just finished a great book by Jeannette Walls called The Glass Castle. Very sad, she tells of her life growing up in poverty and living with an alcoholic father. She has a gripping way of not stating the obvious and telling it the way a child would see it (it’s all an adventure) , but as you read it, you’re thinking, “What is wrong with these people.” I laughed, I cried, and everything in between. My description doesn’t give it justice, but I highly recommend it.

And I am now reading another book called Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. I won’t go much into it because I think next week I’m going to be quoting some of it. So so good. That’s all I’ll say for now.

Until next week…

 

I love homeschooling my kids

I have to admit there were some times when we were just thinking about homeschooling that I wondered if I would really like it or if it would be something like a chore.

It is no chore.  It is something that I am excited about doing everyday.  I do enjoy the break when weekends come only because there are things that desperately need to be done around the house, but when that school day starts again, I’m happy and ready to go. 

Granted, I’m just doing Kindergarten this year so it really is lots of fun.  Watching the kids grasp concepts, make profound statements and ask questions that I don’t know the answer to is so thrilling.  When Gabe comes home from his one day of Veritas it’s hard to get anything out of him about his day.  I often wonder what it would be like for longer days at five days a week in public school. 

Not only is it just fun to teach my kids, I’m spending time with them that I will never be able to get back.  I’ve read some organization books lately because of our move. (Highly recommended, I didn’t know there was such great information out there on getting organized.)  One of the books talks about how time is our most precious commodity.  I know we’ve all heard it, but it struck a chord with me when I read it.  We can get money back if it’s spent or stolen, we can replace material things if taken away or broken, but time is something that is gone forever once it is spent.  How do I want  to spend my time? 

I have a small secret and it is this:  Before homeschooling, I was beginning to grow weary of the time I spent with the kids.  Playing pretend, dress-up, and dollies was starting to drive me crazy.  I found myself making little excuses as to why I couldn’t play with them.  I felt really bad about this and couldn’t understand why I wasn’t enjoying these things anymore.  We all needed new challenges, new discoveries, new worlds for our imaginations to play in.  Homeschooling has provided that for us.  I love watching my children learn and see them take their new found knowledge and express it in their play.  And I love that we, as parents, were the ones to help impart that knowledge, that we are a part of their world through work and play.  It makes me smile. 

I am so excited to announce that we might be following Ambleside Online (AO) exclusively next year.  We’ve enjoyed Veritas for accountability and an outlet for Gabe to be in a learning environment with other children, but we are not in love with Veritas.  With the risk of sounding a bit cheesy, I’m in love with Charlotte Mason.  I’ve incorporated some of AO’s curriculum with Veritas and hands down, have enjoyed AO much more.  Gabe has taken a big interest in early american history, stories of battles and pioneer adventures.  (And Rome, after receiving the Playmobil arena for Christmas, he wants to know everything about the Colosseum.)   Miss  Mason states that “education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.”  I’m not feeling that with Veritas or any other curriculum.  Here is a short excerpt from the preface of a  book I keep at hand all the time, When Children Love to Learn. 

“Miss Mason was profoundly Christian, rooted in Scripture and immensely practical…She drew her view of human beings and especially of children from Holy Writ: ‘And first let us consider where and what the little being is, who is entrusted to the care of human parents.  A tablet to be written upon? A twig to be bent?  Wax to be moulded? Very likely; but he is much more–the Bible shows the deepest insight into what is peculiar to the children in their nature and estate…’ ”

Okay, I was only going to write a few minutes on how I love homeschooling and now it is way past my bedtime.  I’m a teacher, I’ve got to get up and be prepared to educate my children!

Until next week…

 

Bikes, trips and school

We have been quite the spectacle of late with our new contraptions.  Children especially will stop and say, “Look at them Mommy, wow, cool!”  We have had a bike trailer for awhile and that alone used to get some comments, but now we have four children so we weren’t able to get out on our bikes like we used to.  So we now have Gabe on a tandem bike behind me, Sophie is in the bike seat behind hubby and he pulls the bike trailer that seats Chloe and Caleb.  We all love it.  Today we went to several neigborhoods looking at houses for sale and snagging info sheets where available.   AND it was a great workout!

We’re planning a divided trip on the Fourth of July weekend.  Hubby and Gabe are going somewhere in North Georgia to go hiking (he was thinking the Appalachian Trail, but has gotten word that parts of it might be a little too rough for a five year old.)  He has invited his dad and two brothers and their boys.  So far one brother is really wanting to make it.  Hubby says he’s taking Gabe no matter what.  Since Gabe is officially entering Kindergarten with Veritas in the fall, Daddy is making a special trip to honor Gabe and his entrance into his education.  (Something like that.)

The girls and the baby and I will be heading off to see Auntie and Bump (Everett’s affectionate nickname).   It will be nice to have some Sis time while the cousins play together.  Hubby thinks I’ll be jealous when we part our separate ways, but I’m glad father and son are doing something special together and I’m always happy about being with my sister. 

Caleb is finally on a great day time schedule of napping.  We are now doing more schooling than we did this winter.  Although I’d say what we did do this winter is nothing to laugh at.  Gabe had a sort of Kindergarten graduation with the homeschool group I’m in and I had to send off his accomplishments.  Here is what I sent.

Gabriel Hensley
 
Made a cross country move from New York that involved going through about five states.  Learned that the sun is closer to the southern part of the United States by experiencing our first winter in Tennessee.  Learned about the basics of the earth traveling around the sun.
 
Observed closely the habits of a pair of Robins taking care of their five eggs.  Watched the chicks’ growth and behavior after they hatched.  Learned the basic feeding pattern and behavior of a family of robins.  (They nested in a tree right outside our front window.)
 
Learned the habit of a moth during and after laying her eggs (we kept her in a glass jar).  It takes about 10 days for the eggs to hatch and the tiny caterpillars begin to eat any other eggs that have not hatched.  The moth dies before she sees her babies.  The caterpillars grow fast.  (We’re going to keep a few caterpillars to watch the process of metamorphosis.)
 
We have read six of the Little House on the Prairie books and are now on book 7.  We love learning about the lives of the first pioneers in the Midwest.  Life for the Ingalls was a lot different than today.
 
Gabe has read three Hardy Boys books with his dad and they are now on a fourth. Gabe loves adventure and solving mysteries.  Hardy Boys have given him a good helping of those and more.
 
He is currently playing t-ball/coach pitch and loves being a part of a team and learning the basics of playing a game and just throwing, catching and hitting. 
 
He has memorized a handful of bible verses and catechism questions.
 
We have read through much of Genesis and Exodus, some of Leviticus and part of Numbers and various parts of the New Testament.  We will continue to read through the bible over the summer.

End

I should have mentioned that he learned to tie his shoes and ride a bike without training wheels.   He has decided that his bike and helmet are getting a bit too small and are rather babyish for him.  He’s got a birthday coming up soon, so I imagine he might get a “big boy” bike. 

Back to some schooling thoughts.  I was trying for a time to work through “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” with just Gabe, but we both got frustrated so we took a break for a while.  Then I made an amazing discovery.  And a rather “isn’t God amazing” moment.  I have had hesitation with including Chloe in our lessons, she is practically teaching herself to read, and for this reason I did not want Gabe to feel less then bright.  I was missing out on a huge blessing for both of them and for me!  Chloe has all of the letters and sounds down pat and that is precisely what Gabe struggles with.  Now Gabe’s strength is following directions very carefully and executing with perfection.  Chloe gets ahead of herself and then gets sloppy on the execution.  Welllll, they do the lesson beautifully together!  And neither seem hindered by one anothers strengths or weaknesses.  Gabe joyfully instructs Chloe how to correctly sound out a word without putting a pause between the sounds and following the letters carefully with her finger.   Chloe happily gives Gabe the sounds of the letters he is struggling with at the moment.  I decided I would try starting the book with Chloe because of her eagerness to read and she really needed some guidance.  I told Gabe to come along because he could help Chloe on the hard parts.  Now I couldn’t possibly do the lesson without either of them present.  Isn’t God amazing!  Oh, and Sophie?  Well, she sits in with us, but I think we’ll wait a year or two before I get too serious with her.

Our next mission is to catch a turtle at the pond in W.C. Johnson park.   We’ve got two hop toads named Blacksmith and Todd who need a friend.

 

The ultimate homeschool excuse

While at the park a few days ago I started chatting with a lady who had her younger son there.  She said that her older son would miss playing with my son, being that they were the same age.  This led to a discussion about my homeschooling Gabe and where she sends her son to school. 

I had told her that we’re pretty laid back and don’t do a lot of the sit down, workbook type stuff they do in public schools.  Plus, just getting settled in from a move and the fact that a new baby is coming doesn’t really allow us to be very rigid in our schedule.  I could tell I had already said too much.  Before I could get into the education philosophy that I’ve been learning so much about (not that it would have mattered much with her) she was telling me that I should really think about getting Gabe into Kindergarten.  “It’s not too late and it would really help you out, especially with a new baby coming, you won’t be able to do anything, he could suffer academically.”   I could tell that I really just did not want to keep talking homeschool with her.  So I pulled this one out for the first time and am so grateful that it will pretty much stop any more conversations that I don’t want to have with people about homeschooling.  “My husband works an odd schedule, if my son were in public school, he would only see his Daddy maybe 20 hours a week.”

Oddly, she was visibly preturbed that the conversation was over.  There really was no more argument and I’m glad becasue she was obviously not interested in what I had to say about it anyway.

This excuse has been a good motivator for both my husband and I to really make homeschooling work for us.  Daddy time is huge around here, my kids would be different people without it.

 

Schedules and School

I’ve been feeling pretty weak and exhausted these past few days.  Which makes my upcoming task seem more daunting than it normally would.  I’ve got to get the kids and I off to church this morning by myself.  Hubby, regretfully, started his new schedule.  Now this is the kicker.  It’s the schedule he had when we first moved to Ithaca.  The schedule that allowed him no Sundays off.  The schedule that prompted us to start looking elsewhere for jobs so we could worship together.  There is hope though, since the last tower he worked at was represented by the Union he will be able to use his time there as seniority.  It just won’t be until after he has been rated. So, we’ve got about 6 months of this rotten schedule.  I’ll try very hard not to complain because the Lord has certainly blessed us in coming here.  I can’t help but think of my rough times in Ithaca on this matter and always thinking that God was preparing me for hardships like this.  I guess I am an old pro at going to church by myself with little ones.  It’s just now, I have three and I feel as big as a house! 

What am I talking about hardships!  I just have to think about some of the people I’ve been praying for and am reminded that this is a little bump compared to what they are going through. 

Hubby started his new schedule this weekend so we didn’t get to go to GA as planned, but we are leaving tonight and coming back on Wednesday.  I’m glad to be going and am looking forward to a relaxing drive, that’s if the kids do okay, which I think they will.  They have learned this summer to be pretty good little travelers. 

I started schooling Gabe (the others are in on it too) with the Italian books I got and some learning letters books.  I was going to try and preserve the books so that all three could use them, but I really don’t think Chloe will ever need to and I’m not too concerned about Sophie either.  Yesterday was a test run for the letter ‘f’ and Gabe was ‘f’antastic.  I asked him if he would like to look at some of his school stuff and Chloe came bouncing over.  Gabe was playing with his cars and said, “Naw, I don’t think so, not right now.”  Chloe said, “Can I Mama? Neat what are these pictures for? Can I draw on this page? Hey Gabe, can I write in your school book?”  That was enough for Gabe to stop what he was doing and come take a look.  I explained to Chloe that this was Gabe’s school book and she was happy with the little box of goodies I supplied for her and Sophie containing some construction paper, scissors, a glue stick, stickers, and colored pencils.  It was a fairly good set-up, we were all at the table together while Gabe worked on his letter ’f’ pages so the girls were able to pick up on the sounds and stuff too.  Chloe frequently stopped what she was doing and peered over to watch Gabe work.  Yeah, don’t think she will be needing these books.  Sophie was a little more difficult, she needed help a lot with her ‘project’ of cutting slits into a piece of paper, perhaps Explode the Code books with Gabe will have to be done when she is napping.  I wasn’t going to require that he practice writing the letter, but suggested that he write five of them to see how he did.  He happily did so and was eager to show Daddy all of his hard work.  I have decided to teach the kids Italic print first instead of the standard print then cursive.  I have been doing some reading on the whole matter and Italic seems the way to go for us.  I want to practice along with them as I have always had an interest in writing calligraphy.

So far we have learned how to count to ten in Italian, to say “Hello”, “What is your name,” ”My name is_____,” and “How are you?”  I can say them easily, but the kids are still learning them, we’ll probably work on them for a good week or two before moving on.  It’s really fun.  Especially when Sophie tries, too cute.  Oh, yes, they also picked their Italian names which we use when we’re speaking Italian, it’s a big hit.  Gabe’s is Marco, Chloe’s is Cristina, and Sophie’s is Silvia.  (The kids chose Sophie’s for her, because she will always say “Topia” when asked what her name is.)  Even if you say “Oh, Sophie, you’re such a sweetheart, she says, “No, I’m Topia.”

My day must begin.

 

Mother Goose

I’m flirting with making a light CM schedule of sorts for the kids just to say that I am doing something.  I’ll post it later, but for now I just wanted to share a little something I read about Mother Goose rhymes.  I was one of the ones who have thought, “Why Mother Goose, the poems are so strange?”  I’ve read them to my children since infancy because it just seemed the thing to do, but I have often wondered what use they are.  Here is part of the article. 

Mother Goose rhymes may seem silly and senseless and we may be tempted to pass them by in favor of more ‘meaningful’ books. As Christians we may feel that our childrens’ time would be better spent on more uplifting thoughts. But the popularity of Mother Goose goes farther than nonsensical fun, it actually helps children with speech, words and later appreciation of literary works. It is an entertaining, painless way to prepare children for a living books education later.

“Children entering kindergarten would have better speech habits, and first-grade children would have a greater power with and feeling for words if more were done with Mother Goose in the homes. Knowing dozens of the verses expands the imagination, increases the vocabulary, and develops an ear for the music of words. Enjoying Mother Goose predisposes children to other books” (May Hill Arbuthnot, of Flora Stone Mather College, Western Reserve University from her book “Children and Books,” 1947)

The child who loves to hear and repeat the rhymes as he plays and even moves his body to their rhythm is doing more than having fun, he is assimilating language. Arbuthnot says, “Such spontaneous recitations and physical responses train the child to more vigorous speech, even as his ears are trained to enjoy the various sound combinations that make Mother Goose such a splendid introduction to English poetry.”

Now I know!  You can read more about it at the site below, but that was about the gist of the article.

http://www.amblesideonline.org/MotherGoose.shtml