Now for the boys...

Having now spent a little over a month teaching section 1 and 2 of the IEW program, which consists of something called key-word outlining, then giving speeches from said outlines, culminating in the re-writing of that which you outlined (with some dressing up), we have progressed to the vastly more interesting world of section three. Here, as I noted in the last post, we use our outlining technique to break fables into their most basic pieces and then re-create them, either close to the original or completely different, or something in-between. I am particularly enjoying seeing the way the very different personalities of my two boys come out in their re-writing.

The Fox and the Crow, being the first fable they tried this with, will be our first publication. I don't really feel like putting the original here, but, if you're unfamiliar with the tale, I'm sure a simple google search would suffice. Jacob, being the eldest, gets to go first:

The Cheese Heist by Jacob McKinnis

One fine morning, Mrs. Crow was reclining on a mighty oak branch. She was a plain, black crow, who had a slice of cheese. Suddenly, a voice called, "Good morning, Mrs. Crow." When Mrs. Crow looked down, she saw Jake the fox, who was taking his mid-morning stroll. Because she had cheese in her mouth, Mrs. Crow didn't reply.

"You look lovely today," commented the fox, who was hungry for cheese. Because she had cheese in her mouth, and as she wasn't dull enough to let the cheese fall, Mrs. Crow didn't answer, but felt flattered.

"Your feathers are beautiful," purred the fox while he slyly waited for the cheese to fall. Because Mrs. Crow swelled with pride, and as the cheese didn't fall, the fox continued, "I've heard that you have a beautiful voice. May I hear it please?" This was too much for Mrs. Crow, who let out a great "Caw!" And with that, the cheese fell into the fox's mouth and Jake walked off, congratulating himself for another cheese heist well done.


Joshua goes next, with a rather different take on the tale:


The Real Story of the Fox and the Crow by Joshua McKinnis

Deep beneath the ground, in a small den, there lay a mother fox with her kits. One, two, three, they snuggled close to her belly, drinking warm, white milk. On this cold winter morning, the loving father had gone to their cheese stash, to get more food for the starving vixen. Because he had been gone an hour, she was beginning to get worried, since foxes travel quickly. Just then, he noiselessly appeared at the entrance to the den.

"What took you so long?" she asked as he gave her some cheese.

"This is what happened, beloved wife. I hurried down to the cheese stash and looked inside. What I saw was that someone had robbed us of our biggest, roundest cheese! I ran out and searched for the thief. I was about to give up when I caught a distinctive smell; cheese! Because of my terrific snout, I was able to quickly pinpoint the exact location. There I found a plain black crow with our cheese in her mouth! Since she was high up in a branch, I decided to try to get her to let go. 'Good morning fine crow,' I said. 'What shiny, beautiful feathers you have.' She looked overflowing with pride, but she didn't open her mouth and drop the cheese, so I continued. 'Surely you must sing as beautifully as you look. Please sing just a few notes for me.' At this, the foolish crow opened her beak and gave a loud, wretched caw, while the cheese fell to the ground, which I picked up. As I turned to leave, I spoke over my shoulder, 'Don't believe in everything you hear. And, also, remember this: do to others as you would have them do to you.' Then I came here with the cheese." Then the mother and father fox snuggled up together and enjoyed a nice meal of worked-for cheese.

That is the real story of the fox and the crow.