Poetry Monday

How Far is it to Bethlehem?
By Frances Chesterton

How far is it to Bethlehem?
Not very far.
Shall we find the stable-room
Lit by a star?

Can we see the little Child?
Is He within?
If we lift the wooden latch,
May we go in?

May we stroke the creatures there--
Ox, ass, or sheep?
May we peep like them and see
Jesus asleep?

If we touch His tiny hand,
Will He awake?
Will He know we've come so far
Just for His sake?

Great Kings have precious gifts,
And we have naught;
Little smiles and little tears
Are all we brought.

For all weary children
Mary must weep;
Here, on His bed of straw,
Sleep, children, sleep.

God, in His mother's arms,
Babes in the byre,
Sleep, as they sleep who find
Their heart's desire.

Tale of a Monarch

We found a Monarch caterpillar early in October quietly munching milkweed on the edge of our church parking lot. This was pretty late in the season but we took him in and fed him fresh milkweed and waited for the amazing transformation from pretty caterpillar to stunning chrysalis. And waited and waited. And finally he morphed. But still he didn't hatch for weeks not the usual 10 or so days. We really gave up on him. But low and behold one day he split his chrysalis and emerged. It was snowing! So we brought in a potted mum and resigned ourselves to letting him live out his short life in the house. But luck was with our little friend and we had a span of absolutely lovely November weather and we released our Monarch into the wild.

No new name

One of the larger hobbits opined thatit was time to change the name of our school. After all they are BIG now. And two of them are vey big--5'10" and still stretching. However, I pointed out that the name came from the frequency of the meals not the size of the students. Are you ready to give up secong breakfast? Elevenses? Tea?? No. It was more like,"EGAD! NO!!" So, the name stays.

Ocular Athletics

A Dog
by Ken

Dogs are very useful.They help you hunt because they will fetch birds that you shoot. They are very good house pets. Good friends. They cheer you up when you're sad. Our family has a Golden Retriever.


Trees by Adam

Beautiful, spectacular, wondrous trees are the subject of this paper which regrettably is made out of a tree. Did you know that lots of trees are cut down just for paper? But never mind, I'm beginning to sound like an environmentalist. (Whew, long word.) Anyway, I did not start this paper to complain. (overly) Whenever I look around I see at least one tree. The tree I'm looking at right now is a small birch. Not tiny mind, it actually is rather big. It's a good forty feet high and a foot's width. It's branches extend about thirteen feet from the trunk. These are rough estimates so if the imagined tree is out of shape don't blame me. Matters press, so I will end this paper with: I like maple trees. How about you?


A Helmet
by Joe

A helmet is a protective coveringfor the head. The army still uses helmets but not as much as they did back in 1200 A.D. Some helmets have a bowl for your head and a nose guard. Others are like a box for your head with eye slits ans breathing holes and others look like you are wearing a pot on your hed. Some helmets can stop a sword without a dent, while others cannot stop a rock thrown by a young boy. Helmets can be made out of just aobut anything from cardboard to steel. But I gotta read my Civics so goodbye. See you next Thursday.

Poetry Monday

Ryhme of November Stars
by Sara Teasdale

The noiseless marching of the stars
Sweeps above me all night long;
Up the skies, over the skies,
Passes the uncounted throng,
Without haste, without rest,
From the east to the west:
Vega, Deneb, white Altair
Shine like crystals in the air,
And the lonely Fomalhaut
In the dark south, paces low.
Now the timid Pleiades
Leave the shelter of the trees,
While toward the north, mounting high,
Gold Capella, like a queen,
Watches over her demesne
Stretching toward the kingly one,
Dusky, dark Aldebaran.
Betelguese and Rigel burn
In their wide wheel, slow to turn,
And in the sharp November frost
Bright Sirius, with his blue light
Completes the loveliness of night.

Fabulous Weather = No Blogging

We have been enjoying a run of absolutely wonderful weather here and have been enjoying every minute of it after a winter of unprecedented snowfall and a summer of record rain! We've been washing windows and raking leaves and knocking down cobwebs and playing at the lake.....

Update

We are doing better here. The boys are pretty much over the flu with just a slight cough left. I have what appears to be a common, garden variety cold that has me sneezing and coughing but otherwise okay. We did manage to do school a couple of days this week but, alas, no Ocular Athletics...