5-7-5

when a family writes haikus together

Pssst! Hello, dear reader. I will slowly be adding to Wondering Together, a new series where I document some of the moments I wish to hold dear about life and learning alongside our children. Our family supports whichever education choice and style fits your family and is cheering you on. I hope you find a spark of wonder here that you may take into your day!

Wondering Together, Part 1

My nine-year-old Evelyn and I are squashed side-by-side on our blue living room sofa. We peer down at my phone, illuminated with Kwame Time, a short exploratory video presentation by renowned poet Kwame Alexander. He is explaining the format of a haiku. 

I’ve been working on the concept with Evelyn for a few weeks during language arts time, but I realize that Kwame might be able to drive the details home.

He does. 

I set the video aside and we race around to find our notepads. He tells us to write what we know, and she immediately turns to the topic of our family. We brainstorm buzzwords to use, and soon we clap out syllables with our hands. We arrange. Re-arrange, our minds on fire, creating something new. I listen as she gives me her final version. It reads:

Together, We four

Our love is forever more

Playful, unique us

I grin and squeeze her into me. “This is great!” I exclaim. Her eyebrows knit together. “Can we do more?” I wonder why she still needs to ask me this. If it's more math lessons, I might shrink away. But more making? “Always,” I wink. 

We turn our attention to the Nintendo Switch and soon we have an Ode to Mario Kart on our hands:

Racing up the track

Zooming up and down, oh no!

Blue shell, now I'm slow

We giggle and I can see from across the room that Ryan and Hunter are listening now. Hunter is swinging his four-year-old legs from his place on Ryan’s lap. They have been watching videos about Ryan’s Tank game. Ryan sets his headphones aside and gives us the first 5 & 7 to think about:

“Gun elevation, Zero in on the target…” He trails off and everyone pauses to think.

“Well, there are usually two endings to your game,” I say. “Game lag, curse, and die,” I count the syllables on my fingers and Evelyn shrieks with laughter. 

Ryan smiles and retorts, “I prefer: Kaboom! Victory!”

“We can give you that Dad,” Evelyn says and helps me add new lines to the poem. She draws some pictures so that the poems are also illustrated, and soon we’re focused on the next part of the day. 

In the quiet of the evening, I pull the poem sheet back out and wonder how we got here, penning poems together as a family. It isn’t what I originally imagined. I thought maybe I might be a soccer mom, dance mom, travel mom, or a really organized-and-together mom. Okay, that last one was a bit of a stretch, even for me.

But instead of what I thought I would be, I’m a creative, like I have always been. We’ve kept our hands and hearts open to the process of figuring out homeschooling, and I love it. 

As E.B. White once said, “Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder,” I am becoming a wonder collector, pausing to notice all the small moments that build our simple but significant life. It is the wonder that draws us closer together. Whether that be a spontaneous hike, a day that’s going awry and is saved by a living room dance party, or the chance to pause and make a haiku together, I’m here for it. 

Did you know this story was the inspiration for the creativity email I compose each month for the Legacy Magazine creative community? We also explored Haiku in the October 2024 edition. If this sparks your interest, I’d love for you to join us, the creativity email runs in tandem with our Work of Words Workshop waitlist. 

• Photo by NATHAN MULLET on Unsplash