I had eight birds hatcht in one nest,Four Cocks were there, and Hens the rest.I nurst them up with pain and care,No cost nor labour did I spareTill at the last they felt their wing,Mounted the Trees and learned to sing.-Anne Bradstreet
My 8x great grandmother, Anne Bradstreet, wrote poetry during the seventeenth century, and she became known as one of America’s first poets. Although she was born in Northhampton, England, in her later years, she resided in Andover, Massachusetts.
One of her poems, In Reference to her Children, the mother and poet wrote about her her love for eight children.
Her first book of poetry, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America, was published in 1650. It was the only book of her poetry printed in her lifetime.
This Christmas season did not start with joyful anticipation or holiday cheer. For this teacher, the workweek ended with another dreaded in-service day with upcoming plans for interdisciplinary units and recaps of testing scores for middle school students. While teachers chatted back and forth about this year’s upcoming combined lesson, all this teacher could think about was the stack of persuasive essays that needed to be graded and next year’s lessons that needed planning. To make matters worse, the day ended on a discouraging note with frustrated teachers who aired their differences and voiced their concerns. Everyone left, and everyone felt exhausted and overwhelmed. 
Tales of a Family 