I heard about Poetry Tea Time last year, but didn’t really give it a second thought. It was all part of this crazy thing called Brave Writer. Just what I needed… poetry and tea cups. I wasn’t there yet. I wasn’t ready. I didn’t “get” Brave Writer, and I didn’t even want to think about Poetry Tea Time of all things. 🙂
Time goes on, and things shift and change. I started looking more deeply at Brave Writer, and the Brave Writer lifestyle. Unlike last year, this year, I could see it was a perfect match for our homeschool… and we’d kind of already been doing it all along. <3 I mentioned Poetry Tea Time to my kiddo and she was ALL about it… much to my surprise. I thought I would have to drag her kicking and screaming into poetry. But, there’s snacks, and fancy cups… that’s about all it took for her. 🙂
We started looking on the internet to see what other people’s tea times looked like. I started getting a little worried. I saw fancy tables, with table clothes and candles. I saw sweet little tea sets, and kids sitting around a table in chairs. Now that might not concern most people, but in our house… we’re in the middle of a renovation. I don’t currently HAVE a table to sit at. We didn’t have any sweet tea cups.
Instead of getting discouraged though, we definitely loved the idea of poetry tea time, we decided we would just have to make it our own.
Our first poetry tea time we had outside, at the table by the pool. We sipped mango lassi (we were also studying India at the time… two birds, one stone and all.) We read poems, had no snacks, sipped Lassi (from plastic cups) and had a blast.
Did it look like all the other tea times on the internet?
Nope. It most certainly did not.
It did, however, meet my goals for tea time.
Our goals for tea time are to create a special time where we come together and introduce ourselves to and create a connection to poetry.
That is it. The goal is not a fancy table, or tea cups… or even tea.
It is connection and poetry.
Our tea times have continued to evolve as this year has gone on.
We’ve moved inside, it’s too darn hot and buggy out. We still don’t have a dining table, but we have a lovely end table we keep cleaned off. We sit on either side of it.
We grocery shop on Tuesday morning (poetry day), so we try to look for a special snack while we’re at the store.
We’ve picked up different kinds of tea to try, including chai, and peach. 🙂
We’ve picked up a tea pot (which we still haven’t used… no stove), and we’ve been gifted tiny tea cups.
We picked up Where the Sidewalk Ends because I remember it from my childhood, otherwise we’ve been choosing poetry books from the library, and trying different things to see what we like, and where we connect.
We recently tried our hand at BlackOut Poetry. I fell in love… Hanna not so much. She feels her connection lies in reading poetry, not so much writing it.
Poetry Tea Time Or Tuesday Tea as it’s also known around here, has quickly become one of the most treasured parts of our week. It’s one of the few things we refuse to let get pushed to the next day/week.
If you’ve been thinking about adding Poetry Tea Time or any of the other parts of the Brave Writer lifestyle to your homeschool I urge you to go for it! I also urge you to look at the internet to see how other people are doing it, and then turn what you see on its head and make it your own! No part of the Brave Writer lifestyle will work if you’re trying to conform to what you think it “should” be… make it what it needs to be for your family and you’ll be amazed at what happens!
Still not sure how to start? Grab this free Poetry Tea Time quick start guide to get you started.
