Recitation and Tea

This year, we're taking part in a wonderful co-op based on Charlotte Mason's principles of teaching. We meet twice per month, and each time one of the mothers presents a lesson on their chosen topic in a child-friendly way. It's been a lot of fun.

Today, we had our Recitation and Tea presentation. First, each child presented a piece of their choice, and then we had a lovely tea party with all kinds of treats brought in by some of the moms.

The girls each chose to recite one of the Psalms we've been memorizing for school. Emma did Psalm 1, and Abbie did Psalm 134. I'm going to try to post the videos of them. They both did an excellent job. Neither one seemed nervous when we talked about what they were going to do, so we just practiced a lot and I thought everyone was ready to go.

When it came time for Emma to recite, however, she looked at me with huge, terrified eyes and told me she wasn't going to do it! We had a brief, intense, whispered discussion, ending in the compromise that I would stand up with her. I thought she was going to faint, or cry, or throw up; possibly all three of those things. However, in true Emma fashion, she came through with flying colors. She clung to my hand for all she was worth, but once she started speaking, she said her piece perfectly. She didn't even falter when someone's cell phone started ringing. I am so proud of her!



Abbie went up by herself to recite, but you can probably tell from the video that she was quite nervous, too. Her face was very pale. She did a fabulous job too, though. I am proud as can be! Abbie is an amazing kid. First of all, when I told her she needed to select something to recite, we'd just started working on Psalm 134. She looked at it, told me that's what she was going to do, and then proceeded to have it memorized in less than 5 minutes. Also, she's my introvert, and she gets *really* nervous about anything involving being in front of other people. She never complains, though, and somehow knows how to get through it and do what she needs to do to get the job done.