Cosmos and Classical Conversations Essentials (Writing)

Previous posts in this series:

• Introduction
• Math
• Grammar

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“[S]ome artists look at the world around them and see chaos, and instead of discovering cosmos, they reproduce chaos, on canvas, in music, in words. As far as I can see, the reproduction of chaos is neither art, nor is it Christian.”

[Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water]

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The art, the cosmos, of writing—this is where language (the 2018 Classical Conversations Practicum theme), rhetoric (the third art of the trivium), and community (the third “C” of “Classical Christian Community”) all come together.

Rhetoric (speaking, writing, creating, communicating) is incarnational, an embodied idea.

“[T]o paint a picture or to write a story or to compose a song is an incarnational activity.” [Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water]

“What’s the point of ideas if those ideas are never made flesh?” [N.D. Wilson, The Rhetoric Companion]

“Rhetoric is a productive art, the principled process of making a product.” [Scott Crider]

Rhetoric is an art of the trivium.

Grammar, Dialectic, RHETORIC
Memory, Thought, SPEECH
Naming, Contemplating, CREATING
Finding, Collecting, COMMUNICATING
Knowledge, Understanding, WISDOM
What, Why, WHETHER

We participate in the Imago Dei through these human activities.

Rhetoric is an art we practice in community with others.

“Rhetoric is “the care of words and things”; that care is associative, a practice one learns—and never stops learning—in the presence of others, the ones you lead and are led by.” [Scott Crider]

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How does the art of rhetoric apply to the writing component (IEW) of Essentials? And how does it create a bridge to the Challenge program?

The Art of Rhetoric

• Invention  (What)
• Arrangement  (In What Order)
• Elocution  (How)
• Memory
• Delivery

Institute for Excellence in Writing “IEW” (Essentials)

• Source Texts/KWO  (What)
• ‘Structure’  (In What Order)
• ‘Style’  (How)
• _______
• Reading Papers Aloud

Lost Tools of Writing “LTW” (Challenge)

• 5 Common Topics  (What)
• Persuasive Essay  (In What Order)
• Schemes and Tropes  (How)
• _______
• Presenting Papers

** IEW prepares students for Challenge by introducing them to structure and style. Challenge students move on to LTW, but they will use their IEW research essay skills for their many science papers in Challenge A and B as well as the story sequence skills for their short story in Challenge B.

Essentials Writing (IEW)

Order:

PARAGRAPH

Essay/Report

Intro
Topics
Conclusion

Story

Setting, Characters
Conflict, Plot
Climax, Resolution

(Grammar concerns itself with the form of sentences, and we put those sentences together in writing to create the form of paragraphs, which then form essays and stories.)

Beauty:

Vocabulary
Dress-Ups
Decorations

Order + Beauty = COSMOS!

Writing Quotes

“In art, the Trinity is expressed in the Creative Idea, the Creative Energy, and the Creative Power—the first imagining of the work, then the making incarnate of the work, and third the meaning of the work…” [Madeleine L’Engle in the Introduction to Dorothy Sayer’s The Mind of the Maker, which compares the making of art (particularly writing) to the Trinity in metaphorical terms. The Trinity being Book-as-Thought (Father), Book-as-Written (Incarnate Son), and Book-as-Read (Holy Spirit). Dorothy Sayers is the author of the essay ‘The Lost Tools of Learning.’]

“The pen indeed is mightier than the sword, for it is in written word that we do most powerfully preserve that which is noble and expose that which is evil. And so in great part, the very future of society rests with those who can write, and write well.” [Andrew Pudewa of IEW]

“The discovered matter has to be shaped, given form. Organization gives form to the argumentative matter, providing a beginning, a middle, and an end to the small universe of the essay. The ordered substance must them be communicated through the medium of style, the words and sentences that carry the reader through that small universe.” [Scott Crider, The Office of Assertion] [Invention, Arrangement (structure), Elocution (style). Form! Order and Beauty! Universe = Cosmos]

“The study of rhetoric educates one in a particular liberty, the “liberty to handle the world, to remake it, if only a little, and to hand it to others in a shape which may influence their actions.” Through this “office of assertion,” the writer is a leader of souls… Rhetoric is “the art of soul-leading by means of words.” …Rhetoric is “the care of words and things”; that care is associative, a practice one learns—and never stops learning—in the presence of others, the ones you lead and are led by. Such soul-leading is a liberal power, one which in its finest and fullest manifestation is a form of love: the finest rhetorician not only loves wisdom, but also loves others who do so. The finest rhetor, then is a friend… The purpose… is to teach… how to live within such a community with words so full of care that they release the light of brilliance.” [Scott Crider] [Rhetoric! Words! Community! Loving thy neighbor!]

“Variety pleases. And a pleased reader is more attentive to an argument than a bored one, more likely convinced that the time spent inside the cosmos of your essay will be worth the time… A writer who fulfills his or her obligation to please the reader with variety persuades the reader that the reading is time well spend making the sun run.” [Scott Crider] [Beauty! Loving thy neighbor!]

“Play with words. Juggle them. Write them down. Roll in them. Bake them into cookies. Quote them. Remember them. And such richness in the vocabulary of discourse does accumulate.” [Wilson, The Rhetoric Companion]

Why Liberal Arts?

“All liberal arts, in both the sciences and the humanities, are animated by the fundamental human desire to know, the fulfillment of which is a good, even if it provides no economic or political benefit whatsoever. An education for economic productivity and political utility alone is an education for slaves, but an education for finding, collecting, and communicating reality is an education for free people, people free to know what is so.” [Scott Crider] [The Trivium is for people who are free to know truth!]

Cosmos and Classical Conversations Essentials (Math)

“Numbers are a map of the beautiful order of the universe, the plan by which the divine Architect transformed undifferentiated Chaos into orderly Cosmos.”

[Michael S. Schnieder, as quoted by Stratford Caldecott in Beauty for Truth’s Sake]

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Let’s continue our discussion of Cosmos by exploring the ways in which it relates to math.

Order + Beauty = Cosmos

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From Merriam-Webster, the definition of MATHEMATICS: the science of numbers and their operations, interrelations, combinations, generalizations, and abstractions and of space configurations and their structure, measurement, transformations, and generalizations. [Whew!]

Keith Devlin defines math as “the science of patterns.”

Another source defines math as the study of relationships using numbers.

The quadrivium consists of arithmetic (pure number), geometry (number in space), music (number in time), and astronomy (number in space and time) [Beauty for Truth’s Sake].

Our focus in Classical Conversations Essentials is arithmetic.

There are only are 3 (three!) basic things to learn in arithmetic. Everything else is just more complex combinations of these three categories:

Numbers (8), operations (6), and laws (4). That’s it!

This is our FORM!

Math in a nutshell: “There are digits, you do things with them, and they follow laws.” Leigh Bortins

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Math as Language

Number symbols are like nouns. They represent things. There are many ways to represent numbers.

39%  4.75  5/6  -92   IV  llll

Operation symbols are like verbs. They represent actions.

+ - x ÷

Grouping symbols make associations like punctuation.

( ) [ ] { }

Relation symbols make comparisons.

= < >

Placeholder symbols work like pronouns. They take the place of numbers.

X y a b ? __

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My Personal Focus for the Year

** Learn and use math vocabulary in class so that students are better prepared for math conversations in Challenge. [Dividend, divisor, quotient, addend, sum, subtrahend, product, etc.]

Ask students to attend to details and name what they know in math equations.

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Math Quotes

“[The universe] cannot be read until we have learned the language and become familiar with the characters in which it is written. It is written in mathematical language.” [Galileo Galilei]

“The world is God’s epistle written to mankind. It was written in mathematical letters.” [Plato]

“The laws of nature are but the mathematical thoughts of God.” [Euclid]

“Math teaches you to see what other people see. It teaches you to see what another author has written down. When we read, we don’t see the words ‘a’ or ‘the.’ Math makes you stop and say, I have to see the decimal, I have to see the exponent. Math is just good practice for being a human being who sees the world. Just think how an artist can see… shapes, colors. Our kids should see a math formula better, if someone would just show them. It is the same as artistic endeavors. If you can see the numbers, if you can see the operations, if you can see the laws, it will all change your ability to see complex ideas.” [Leigh Bortins]

“When I was a boy, we had to memorize the multiplication tables in the second grade, up to 12 x 12 = 144. Let’s set aside the fact that it takes a deal of intelligence and some ingenuity to accomplish that task. Forget that you would have to learn that anything multiplied by 5 ends in 5 or 0, alternately. Forget that if you were sharp you’d see that odd times odd is odd, and everything else is even. Forget the patterns showing up among the 2s, 4s, and 8s. Forget the nice progression in the 9s, with the tens digit gaining one and the ones digit dropping it: 09, 18, 27, and so forth. What that memorization did was to free you up to become comfortable with numbers themselves, and with the structure of arithmetic. Once you had done that, you could play with numbers creatively, long before you’d ever suspected the existence of algebra or calculus, with their toboggan curves and their infinite series and their radio waves, their transcendental numbers and the mysterious i, the square root of -1, whose existence we must leave to philosophers to determine.” [Anthony Esolen, Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child]

“The study of mathematics should instill in students an ever-increasing sense of wonder and awe at the profound way in which the world displays order, pattern, and relation. Mathematics is studied not because it is first useful and then beautiful, but because it reveals the beautiful order inherent in the cosmos.” [from The Education Plan of St. Jerome Classical School, Hyattsville, MD, quoted by Thomas Teloar in The Purpose of Mathematics in a Classical Education @ The Imaginative Conservative]

Cosmos and Classical Conversations Essentials (Intro)

I was asked to lead a local Classical Conversations Essentials Academic Orientation this past month. I have spent three years in Essentials class as a parent and another three years as a tutor (and parent), but this was my first opportunity to lead Tutor Orientation at a CC Practicum.

As I was preparing to lead the orientation and then spending time in discussion with the tutors and directors during the orientation, I was reminded (again) why I love Essentials.

It is the class in which students are beginning to play with Cosmos. They are learning FORM.

I’ve written about some of these ideas before, after speaking at the math practicum and then as I was preparing to tutor Essentials the first year, but I re-organized my notes to correspond with the three elements of an Essentials class: math, English grammar, and writing. I’ll be sharing these thoughts in a 4-part series, beginning with this introduction.

“Cosmos” is the thread that ran through the three days of training and connects all three class elements together.

Let’s begin here.

A cosmos is an orderly, harmonious system or “world.” The word derives from the Greek word “kosmos,” meaning “order” or “ornament.” Cosmos is diametrically opposed to the concept of chaos. 

While we’re at it, let’s look up the definition of ornament: (Merriam-Webster)
2a. something that lends grace or beauty
3: one whose virtues or graces add luster to a place or society

Order. (Form. Structure. Truth.) Ornament. (Beauty. Harmony. Grace. Virtue.)

Order + Beauty = World

(We’re really starting at the very beginning, here.)

Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Formless. And what did God do? Created form: separated light and darkness, waters and sky, land and seas.

Empty. And once the form established, he filled the place with beauty: plants, stars, birds, sea creatures, animals, man.

Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

(Words matter!)

Array: verb (used with object):
1. to place in proper or desired order
2. to clothe with garments, especially of an ornamental kind; dress up; deck out.

And, as Leigh Bortins says, that’s how you teach everything to everybody. Figure out what the form is, and then you have all the content in the world to make it creative, beautiful.

Sentence forms
Latin ending forms
Math formulas
The structure of story

You can put in whatever content you wish once you know the form. The content is what makes it unique and interesting.

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In Classical Conversations communities, Essentials students are learning the FORM of three arts.

Math: Learning the Form of Numbers, Operations, Laws

Grammar: Learning the Form of Sentences

Writing: Learning the Form of Paragraphs (Reports, Stories, Essays, and Critiques)

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Orient and Invite

As tutor trainers, tutors, parents, and fellow students, we have the opporunity to “orient and invite.”

Orient Our Tutors, Parents, and Students to Essentials and the Arts of Math, Grammar, and Writing 

Review Past Concepts

Introduce New Grammar

Invite Our Tutors, Parents, and Students to the Conversation

Begin Dialectic Discussion in Class

Point to Available Resources

Continue Grammar and Dialectic Discussion at Home

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May I invite you along on my learning journey?

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“The reason you study math, science and art is so that your imagination will be filled with wonder and awe at the Creator of the most mind blowing project ever: the world. And whether you are learning to read music or playing an instrument, whether your hand is holding a pencil or gesturing in the theater, you are training yourself for the warfare of worship. You are teaching your body gratitude; you are teaching your soul thanksgiving. There is hardly an adequate evaluation of your progress, but the best grade you can receive is the outworking of a thankful heart. If you have truly learned Algebra, if you have mastered the story of Western Civilization, if you can tell me the names of the constellations that whirl about our heads, then you will do it with laughter in your voice, you will do it with joy in your heart and gratitude in your bones. Worship is the point of learning because worship is the point of life.” Toby Sumpter, in response to the questions ‘Why are you in school? Why are you reading this page? Why are you reading Mein Kampf?’ This is an excerpt from Veritas Press’s Omnibus III Textbook.

Classical Conversations | Challenge B | Mock Trial

I plan to share more about Luke and his Challenge B year in an upcoming post, but these are a few photos from Luke’s mock trial experience with his Classical Conversations class. The class was divided into prosecution and defense teams. Luke was assigned the role of bailiff for the defense team and prosecuting attorney with the prosecution team.

Most of the kids were able to attend and observe a high school mock trial competition early in their preparations, and a local attorney met with the kids to share his experience, answer questions, and inspire them. The teams met together outside of class for two months leading up to the mock trial competition.

Luke said this experience was his favorite class and activity of the year and he would consider joining a mock trial group in high school. That’s high praise from him. He also said he’d be interested in a career as bailiff.

Mock trial is an invaluable experience for these kids, and I am so proud of them!

Luke as bailiff:

Prosecuting Attorney questioning his witness:

Luke’s Challenge B Class with the judge:

Education for Life

This morning I re-read an old article at First Things, A Curriculum of Life. The author asserts that a child’s curriculum should enlarge his current life, not be a self-serving means to an end (diploma, employment). He proposes structuring a curriculum using the “Three L’s”: Logic, Literature, and Love.

"But we must never allow a curriculum for school to replace a curriculum of life; schooling mustn’t take over the education of living. When it does it becomes deeply mis-educative and disenchanting. It robs our children of the present gift of life they have been given by God.

"If—heaven forbid—they die young, I hope they will have lived beautiful lives even in their youth, perhaps even more so than those who survive them."

This reminded me of beautiful discussion this month with my Scholé Sisters, led my my brilliant friend Mindy Pickens. We gathered, about twenty of us, to talk about why we take time to read, take time to contemplate, take time to gather and discuss, when we are busy homeschooling moms with endless to-do lists.

What is the use of spending a year on Hamlet or a year on Flannery O’Connor or a year on Tolkien or a year on Pride and Prejudice (our upcoming year)? What do we have to show for our time? Why should this pursuit take up space in our lives that could be used for something more productive or practical?

Let’s contemplate those questions.

In our modern American culture, we tend to divide pursuits or activities into two categories: productive/useful and pleasurable/wasteful. These two categories often carry a moral designation as well: productive, good; pleasurable, bad.

In some ancient cultures, however, different categories of thinking were used: self-focused/utilitarian and truth-focused/non-utilitarian (pursuits that were worthy in and of themselves and not as the means to an end). These weren't moral designations. Both of them were necessary for life.

The interesting thing about self-focused and truth-focused categories is that they are more fluid than our productive and wasteful categories and it often depends on a person's mindset while doing them. We talked about how monks turned the most routine labor into a means of worship.

We can clean our homes so that we can check that task off our list or we can clean our homes in service of the people we love who live there or visit there.

We can stand and eat a protein bar so that our bodies will function for all of our tasks that day, or we can use our meal time as a time to reflect or practice gratefulness. We can make an artful meal or a beautiful table. We can eat in community with others. We can use a meal to bless our families. There is nothing wrong with fueling our bodies quickly with a protein bar, but there are other ways to make meals and fuel our bodies that are less utilitarian.

One of my friends talked about how shifting her mindset to thinking of all the mundane tasks of motherhood (breaking up fights, cleaning up vomit, carpooling to activities) as truth-seeking and service was instrumental in saving her sanity as a mom to many little children. Those aren't big time-drains that take away from our ability to be productive. They have value beyond what they lead to or produce.

The word "school" itself comes from the word "scholé" which means leisure. In the past, leisure was synonymous with activities that were truth-focused and non-utilitarian. Leisure wasn't the absence of work. It wasn't vacation. It wasn't consumerism. It wasn't non-activity such as sitting in front of the television. It was work that was worthy for its own sake, not as a means to an end (a diploma, a good job, a position in society).

When we say we are pursuing truth, goodness, and beauty in education, we mean that we are learning because truth, goodness, and beauty are worthy pursuits in their own right. Cultivating virtue (self-discipline, commitment, perseverance, compassion, cooperation, patience...) is also a goal of education and an end in itself.

I like the three categories in the article: Logic, Literature, and Love. I can fit all of the Classical Conversations Challenge content into those three categories. I can fit all of it into truth-seeking and true leisure—living a beautiful life now and not as the means to an end.

The difficulty lies in thinking of the curriculum in that way, pursuing it in that way, and especially helping our 8th and 10th grade boys to see it that way, rather than as an obligation, a drudge, a check-list, and a stepping-stone to a diploma, which is a stepping-stone to a good job, which is a stepping-stone to vacations and possessions and savings, which is a stepping-stone to retirement.

I also struggle with habit-forming and teaching my boys and myself to love what we ought and not just what is pleasurable. Virtue formation is hard, and often requires doing something repeatedly until we grow to love it.

So I'm saying all this not to be preachy, but to remind myself (because I forget every minute of every day) what a beautiful education can be. It doesn't have to be CC—absolutely not—and it can (and should) be a tailored version of CC, if that’s the path you’re on, but I believe Challenge is full of logic, literature, and love (and leisure!) that can enlarge our students’ present lives. It happens to be a good fit for us at this time.

Figuring out what a beautiful life looks like for ourselves and our children and our families is always going to require constant prayer and consideration. Implementing it in reality is going to be even more difficult (especially with teen boys). There is no formula. It’s complex and messy and hard and beautiful. It also requires a magnitude of faith.

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How can we operate under a truth-seeking mindset rather than a self-focused mindset?

How can we pursue leisure and virtue and truth, goodness, and beauty rather than a utilitarian outcome?

Do our pursuits enlarge our humanity or diminish it?

What skills are we learning? My friend Mindy thinks in skills rather than subjects. Attending, listening, speaking, reading, writing, remembering, and reasoning.

How can we serve others in this pursuit?

Where is the truth, goodness, beauty, and order in what we are viewing and contemplating?

What virtues are we striving toward? Self-discipline, patience, compassion, wonder?

How can we turn this pursuit into truth-seeking or leisure?

How can we practice re-creating in this endeavor rather than consuming?

How can we delight, attend, worship, contemplate, or build relationships in this moment?

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Will it help to revisit the “a garden, a museum, a table, a church—which is to say a monastery” metaphor? I think so.

As my friend Sara Masarik said, “A monastery strives to serve with feet on earth and hearts and heads in heaven. And that, I think, is what our homes [our educations, our lives] can be as well.”

First Day of School ~ 2017

We survived our first full day back to school. I even managed to snap a picture of all four kids before we headed to our Classical Conversations community this morning. (I actually snapped a bunch of pictures, but this is the only one that kind of turned out…)

This is our EIGHTH year with Classical Conversations.

Levi is in 10th grade, Challenge 2.
Luke is in 8th grade, Challenge B.
Leif is in 6th grade, Foundations and Essentials.
Lola is in 1st grade, Foundations.

Two middle schoolers and a high schooler. That is mind-boggling.

I’m tutoring Essentials for the third year.

We’ve been homeschooling for a decade.

Luke and Levi have actually been back in class for a couple weeks, but this is the first full normal week for them.

Lola had a rough day today. She was testing boundaries. Where is that line? What happens when I cross it? I’m hoping that she feels her questions were sufficiently answered and doesn’t need to ask them again next week.

Last week was packed with activities and appointments. Levi and I attended a day-long philosophy workshop at Gutenberg College on Friday. Saturday was our annual trek to the Renaissance Faire (pictures forthcoming).

I’m completely and utterly unprepared for this week of lessons at home.

But onward.

CC Spring Protocol 2017

For the past several years I’ve been able to photograph our local Classical Conversations Spring Protocol for the high school Challenge classes. [The lighting and pictures turned out the best at the first protocol in 2014, then again in 2015. The venue changed and the lighting was very dim for the 2016 event, and I only posted one picture.]

This year I finally had a son old enough to attend the event! It was a new venue again—not as conducive for photos, but the protocol team (headed by my best friend, Char) did a lovely job decorating and plating and serving. [I tried my hand at my first ever chalk board design.]

The students enjoyed a four-course meal (soup, salad, main dish, and dessert plus bread and a palate-cleansing sorbet) and then an evening of English country dancing under twinkling lights.

Summer School Begins

Monday was our final day of Classical Conversations for the school year.

Luke (7th grade) and Levi (9th grade) had their last classes of Challenge A and Challenge 1, respectively. It was a long haul with few tangible breaks for both of them, Levi in particular, and I wouldn’t say we finished strong, but we finished. Gasping for air and crawling on bloodied knees across the finish line. Okay, it wasn’t that bad… Challenge is a stellar program, but we battle the lazies at our house in a big way. Diligent and focused we are not.

Leif (5th grade) also had his final testing for his first year of Memory Master. The first three tests (or "proofs") involved reciting from memory a 160 point timeline of historical events from ancient to modern (this alone takes a solid 10-15 minutes), 24 history sentences covering people and events from Charlemagne to the end of apartheid, 24 science facts or short lists in ecology and physics, multiplication facts from 1-15 plus squares and cubes, math formulas/conversions/laws, 24 English grammar definitions or lists, 6 Latin verb conjugation endings, plus over 100 geographical locations. Each recitation lasted around 90 minutes, and he had to have it all mastered by the final proof with his tutor. Mondy he had a shorter recitation with the director and passed. He loved every minute of it, and I'm so proud of him!

[Lola learned to read this past year, and that is her own accomplishment (no thanks to her mother). In addition to reading, she also listened to many stories and songs on CD. She did nothing else formal for her kindergarten year other than squirling around on CC community day.]

Tuesday marked our first day of “summer school.” I had planned to stay in my pajamas and watch Netflix all day, but after a morning of complete laziness, the utter disaster that was our house overwhelmed me. It was sunny for once, so we left to explore one of our favorite local spots—a wetland area with trails. I successfully avoided house-cleaning.

Luke and Leif continue piano lessons for a few more weeks. Levi continues an online Tolkien class for a few more weeks. We have a few swim meets coming up for all three boys.

My grand plans for morning Summer Symposium time are not yet solidified, but I do plan to do a great deal of hiking and exploring all spring and summer. Our first official foray happened earlier today despite bad attitudes from one child and his mother. Pictures are forthcoming. 

Levi’s High School Course Descriptions ~ 9th Grade [and a complete high school plan]

I’ve been working on mapping out Levi’s high school courses and schedule. (Though we are not bound by credit requirements for our homeschool transcripts, I’ve used these Oregon requirements as well as the requirements from our local public high school as general guides.) Levi has no specific post high school plans at this time. We will consider a gap year before any college plans.

[You’ll notice that his courses are reading-heavy. Levi is a strong reader and enjoys discussion and content-based learning, but his struggles in other areas balance out his hefty reading list. I promise.]

Levi is participating in the Classical Conversations Challenge program, in addition to a few other courses. I’ve tried to indicate what courses are CC specific, and I’ve put any additions I’ve made to the CC course specifics in parentheses.

Shakespeare/Drama [CC]
1/2 credit (Language Arts - Elective)
Dramatic radio reading and discussion of play; Oral presentation on topic relating to Shakespeare
Shakespeare presentation (memorization of three monologues--comedy, tragedy, history)
(Attend plays [The Comedy of Errors, Hamlet])

• The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare
• (Leon Garfield’s Shakespeare Stories)
  

Music Theory [CC]
1/2 credit (Fine Arts - Elective)
Introduction to music theory, including reading and analyzing a musical score
Math in Motion
Score Analysis Project

Latin [CC]
1 credit (Language - Required)
Includes basic parts of speech, verb tenses, translations, and Roman history
Henle I
National Latin Exam (Intro)

American Literature and Composition [CC]
1 credit (Honors Language Arts - Required)
Read texts, discuss and analyze literature, writing assignments (persuasive and comparison essays)
The Lost Tools of Writing [persuasive essays]
CC Literature, Poetry, Speeches, Essays, Autobiographies, and Sermons [unabridged texts]:

• The Sign of the Beaver (Elizabeth Speare)
• The Call of the Wild (Jack London)
• Johnny Tremain (Esther Forbes)
• The Red Badge of Courage (Stephen Crane)
• The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
• Gold-Bug and Other Tales (Edgar Allan Poe)
• Billy Budd, Sailor (Herman Melville)
• Through Gates of Splendor (Elisabeth Elliot)
• Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain)
• Harvey (Mary Chase)
• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Barbara Robinson)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
• Born Again (Charles Colson)
• Up From Slavery (Booker T. Washington)
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Douglass)
• The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway)
• Self-Reliance (Ralph W. Emerson)
• Walden: Or, Life in the Woods (Henry David Thoreau)
• Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein)
• An Old-Fashioned Girl (Louisa May Alcott)
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Elizabeth Speare)
• Short Stories, Poetry, Sermons, Documents, and Speeches

Additional Novels:

• Pudd’nhead Wilson (Mark Twain)
• Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (Twain)
• The Prince and the Pauper (Twain)
• The Chosen (Chaim Potok)
• Peace Like a River (Leif Enger)
• The Lonesome Gods (Louis L’Amour)
• Little Britches (series, Ralph Moody)
• Fahrenheit 451
• Ender’s Game
• The Giver Quartet
• The Hunger Games Trilogy
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• Cheaper by the Dozen
• Louisa May Alcott
• Moby Dick (retelling or abridged)
• Education of a Wandering Man (Louis L’Amour)
• The Wild Muir
• Various American drama selections

[The above is an abreviated list. See this link for the full list in chronological order with brief descriptions and links.]

Good Books II: Tolkien [Roman Roads]
1/2 credit (Language Arts - Elective)
Weekly online live class discussion
Weekly online written discussion
Memorization
Essays

• The Lord of the Rings trilogy
• (Bilbo’s Journey by Joseph Pierce)
• (Frodo’s Journey by Joseph Pierce)
• (The Philosophy of Tolkien by Peter Kreeft)

Algebra I [CC]
1 credit (Math - Required)
[He participates in math discussions and presentations in his CC class but uses Khan Academy at home rather than the CC recommended Saxon.]
Khan Academy Algebra I
(Life of Fred)

American Government [CC]
1/2 credit (Social Studies - Required)
Read, annotate, and summarize original government documents, essays, and speeches; discuss historical significance; oral presentations
American Documents
Memorization [U.S. Presidents, Preamble to the Constitution, Outline of Bill of Rights]
Speech memorization/recitation [Individual Event] (“Spirit of Liberty” by Judge Learned Hand)
Timeline notebook
(Crash Course U.S. Government and Politics video series)
(U.S. Citizenship Civics Exam)

Economics [CC]
1/2 credit (Social Studies - Required)
Read texts, discuss current economic policy, oral presentations
Cost of Living Project
Stock Market Project

• Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? A Fast, Clear, and Fun Explanation of the Economics You Need For Success in Your Career, Business, and Investments
• A Bluestocking Guide: Economics
• The Money Mystery: The Hidden Force Affecting Your Career, Business, and Investments

(Life of Fred: Financial Choices)
(Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra with Economics)
(Crash Course Economics Videos)

Policy Debate [CC]
1/2 credit (Language Arts - Elective)
Study basic elements of policy debate; Conduct research for resolutions and participate in live debates
An Introduction to Policy Debate by Christy L. Shipe
Two formal debates [Death Penalty—affirmative team, Immigration Policy—negative team]

Physical Science [CC]
1 credit (Lab Science - Required)
Read text, discussion, demonstration/experimentation labs, text assignments, unit tests, lab journal, formal lab reports
Exploring Creation with Physical Science by Apologia
(Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra with Physics)
[research paper for health credit]
Additional reading (not scheduled through CC)

• The Martian: Classroom Edition
• What Einstein Told His Cook

Teen Pact Leadership [TeenPact]
1/2 credit (Leadership - Elective)

• Real Citizenship by Tim Echols

4-day leadership camp at state capitol
Homework: send letters to state senator and representative, memorize bible verses, vocabulary, write a one-page bill, state political fact sheet, read or listen to governor’s most recent State of the State Address and take notes, complete a bill analysis worksheet, constitutional analysis
(Leadership TED Talks)

Swim Team [High School Team/YMCA]
1 credit (Physical Education - Required)
(+hiking)

Health [Various]
1/2 credit (Health - Required)
Lifeguarding Certification Class (CPR, First Aid)
Khan Academy videos: Drugs, Infectious Diseases 
Crash Course Anatomy and Physiology videos
Research Paper (Exercise and the Brain):

• Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain;
• The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer;
• The Teenage Brain;
• Brain Training (DK);
• Brain Agility; 2 Weeks to a Younger Brain;
• The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, MD;
• Various scholarly articles

Food and Nutrition:

• Omnivore’s Dilemma
• It Starts With Food
• Grain Brain by David Perlmutter, MD
• Various documentaries, articles, and videos
• Gary Taubes, ‘The Case Against Sugar’, (rebuttal and response to rebuttals)
  

Total: 9 Credits

Extras:

Formal Protocol Event (with the local Classical Conversations Challenge students)

Driver’s Education

Additional Reading List:

• In Defense of Sanity: Essays by G.K. Chesterton
• The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief by Francis Collins
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
• The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel
• What’s So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey
• Sophie’s World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaarder

Lifeguarding (summer job)

Volunteering at student camp(s) during CC Parent Practicum(s) and vacation bible school

 

Tentative Plan for the Remainder of High School:

10th Grade [CC Challenge II]

Henle Latin 2 [CC]
1 credit (Language - Required)

British Literature and Composition [CC]
1 credit (Honors Language Arts - Required)
Socratic dialogue, persuasive essay writing
CC Novels:

• Beowulf
• Selected Canterbury Tales (Chaucer)
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Retold by J.L. Weston)
• Paradise Lost (Milton)
• The Pilgrim’s Progress (Bunyan)
• Gulliver’s Travels (Swift)
• Pride and Prejudice (Austen)
• A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
• Jane Eyre (Bronte)
• Animal Farm (Orwell)
• A Passage to India (Forster)
• Something Beautiful for God (Muggeridge)
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll)
• Robinson Crusoe (DeFoe)
• Favorite Father Brown Stories (Chesterton)
• Out of the Silent Planet (C.S. Lewis)
• The Hobbit (Tolkien)
• The Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis)
• Short Stories

Additional British Literature:

• Far From the Madding Crowd (Thomas Hardy)
• Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
• Lorna Doone (Blackmore)
• Ivanhoe (Sir Walter Scott)
• North and South (Elizabeth Gaskell)
• The Woman in White (Wilkie Collins)
• Lord of the Flies (Golding)
• Three Men in a Boat (Jerome)
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Robert Lewis Stevenson)
• And Then There Were None (Agatha Christie)
• The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windermere’s Fan, An Ideal Husband (Oscar Wilde)
• As You Like It, Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear (Shakespeare)
• All Creatures Great and Small (James Herriot)
• The Time Machine (H.G. Wells)
• The War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells)
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Adams)
• Watership Down (Richard Adams)
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (Arthur Clarke)
• Kim and others (Rudyard Kipling)
• The Once and Future King (T.H. White)
• Pygmalion (George Bernard Shaw)
• Jeeves (Wodehouse)
• The Hound of the Baskervilles (Arthur Conan Doyle)
• Short Stories and Poetry

European Literature:

• Don Quixote (abridged) (Cervantes)
• The Count of Monte Cristo (Hugo)
• Les Miserables (Dumas)
• The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
• Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne)
• Pinoccio (Collodi)
• Swiss Family Robinson (Johann Wyss)
• Russian novel selection

[I will be posting a final master list in chronological order with links at the beginning of the school year.]

Western Cultural History [CC]
1 credit (Social Studies - Required)
Artists and Composers
Philosophy
Historical Timeline
Debate
Research, exposition, and logic
Books:

• The Annotated Mona Lisa
• The Gift of Music
• Classical Music for Dummies
• How Should We Then Live (Francis Schaeffer)
• Saving Leonardo (Nancy Pearcey)
• State of the Arts (Gene Edward Veith, Jr.)

Biology [CC]
1 credit (Lab Science - Required)
Exploring Creation with Biology by Apologia
[I’ll be adding to his reading list and possibly adjusting his work load with the text book.]
[Additional reading:

• The Story of Western Science: From the Writings of Aristotle to the Big Bang Theory by Susan Wise Bauer

Geometry
1 credit (Math - Required)
Khan Academy Geometry

• Euclid’s Elements
• The Works of Archimedes
• Life of Fred: Geometry

Logic I [CC]
1/2 credit (Elective)
Traditional Logic I by Memoria Press

Socratic Dialogue [CC]
1/2 credit (Elective)

• Gorgias by Plato

Health
1/2 credit (Required)
(Social and mental Health)

• Please Understand Me;
• How to Win Friends and Influence People;
• Peacemaker;
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens

Swim Team/YMCA
1 credit (Physical Education - Required)

Total: 7 1/2 Credits

 

11th Grade [CC Challenge III - tentatively]

Latin 3 (Caesar and Cicero) [CC] and/or Spanish
1 credit (Language)

• Henle 3

Poetry and Shakespeare and Composition [CC]
1 credit (Language Arts - Required)

• Much Ado About Nothing
• Julius Caesar
• Macbeth
• Henry V
• Hamlet
• Brightest Heaven of Invention by Peter Leithart
• The Roar on the Other Side by Suzanne Rhodes

American History [CC]
1 credit (Social Studies - Required)

Chemistry [CC]
1 credit (Lab Science - Required)
Exploring Creation with Chemistry by Apologia
[We may cut way back on what is required with Apologia Chemistry through CC and supplement with the following living books and additional documentaries.]
[Additional Reading List:

• Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History
• The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
• Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World
• The Chemical History of a Candle by Michael Faraday (with supplemental lectures and teaching guide)
• Michael Faraday: Father of Electronics
• Exploring the World of Chemistry: From Ancient Metals to High-Speed Computers by John Hudson Tiner
• The Mystery of the Periodic Table (Living History Library)
• Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe [spectacularly gorgeous book!]
• Molecules: The Elements and the Architecture of Everything
• The Joy of Chemistry
• That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles: 62 All-New Commentaries on the Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life
• Life of Fred: Chemistry

Algebra II
1 credit (Math - Required)
Khan Academy Algebra II

Advanced Philosophy [CC]
1/2 credit (Elective)

• The Consequences of Ideas by R.C. Sproul
• Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl by N.D. Wilson

Traditional Logic II and Socratic Dialogue [CC]
1/2 credit (Elective)

• Plato’s Meno
• Traditional Logic II by Memoria Press

Swim Team/YMCA
1 credit (Physical Education/Elective)

Total: 7 Credits

 

12th Grade [CC Challenge IV - doubtfully]

He will have all his required credits so this will be a flexible year depending on his needs and desires. I’d love to have him go through Challenge 4, but he will likely choose something else. He may need to complete or retake a math or science class scheduled in previous years.

Latin Literature [CC] and/or Spanish
1 credit (Language)

• The Aeneid by Virgil
• Henle 4

Ancient Literature and Composition) [CC]
1 credit (Language Arts)

• The Iliad by Homer
• The Odyssey by Homer
• (The Aeneid by Virgil)
• Oedipus Rex
• Heroes of the City of Man by Peter Leithart
• Theogony by Hesiod

World History [CC]
1 credit (Social Studies)

• The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin

Theology [CC]
1 credit (Elective)

• What the Old Testament Authors Really Cared About by Jason S. DeRouchie
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
• Jesus Among Other Gods by Ravi Zacharias

Swim Team

[Physics and Pre-Calculus are on the CC schedule, but he would likely opt out or complete/re-take a math or science course schedule in previous years.]

Additional Reading List:

• For the Love of Physics: From the End of the Rainbow to the Edge of Time - A Journey Through the Wonders of Physics
• How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog
• The Forces of Matter by Michael Faraday
• Exploring the World of Physics: From Simple Machines to Nuclear Energy by John Hudson Tiner

American History and Literature Selections [Levi ~ 9th Grade]

Levi is reading American literature for his 9th grade year through Classical Conversations. The CC Challenge 1 Am. Lit. book list is hefty (full texts, not excerpts), but Levi is a strong and willing reader. Because his CC year ends in April, I decided to round out his book list with additional American literature selections to read May through July before he begins British literature in August for Challenge 2. It is my desire to present him with a robust variety of genres, complexity, and topics, even though I can’t fit everything on the list (obviously I tried, but so many books didn’t make the cut!). When compiling the master list, I chose to include a few relevant books he has read in the past couple years (particularly including CC Challenge A and B literature selections).

Levi has discussed the CC Challenge literature in class and has written essays on many of the novels.

[I have a post coming up with Levi’s full course descriptions for 9th grade and the upcoming high school plan.]

I’ve noted Challenge literature selections with asterisks.

*Challenge A (roughly 7th grade)
**Challenge B (roughly 8th grade)
***Challenge 1 (roughly 9th grade)

Children’s Historical Fiction

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Set in Colonial Connecticut in 1687) ***

Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates (Biographical story; c. 1710-1801) *

Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison by Lois Lenski (Biographical story set in 1755)

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (Set in Boston before and during the American Revolution, 1776)  ***

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (Biographical story of Nat Bowditch; 1773-1838) *

A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32 by Joan W. Blos (not a favorite of mine, but I’m including it here because it is a CC Challenge A novel) *

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare (Set in the Maine wilderness) ***

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls (Set in the hills of the Ozarks) **

Little Britches (and series) by Ralph Moody (also listed under memoirs, but a must read for every human—perfect for a family read-aloud) **

[I’ll list many more children’s American historical fiction selections this coming year as Leif studies American history in 6th grade.]

Literature

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Tales by Washington Irving (published in 1820)

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper (published in 1826; set in 1757 during the French and Indian War)

Gold-Bug and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe (published in 1843) ***

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn (1850) ***

Moby Dick by Herman Melville [*graphic novel* not unabridged novel] (1851)

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852)

Little Women, Little Men, and Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)

Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville (published posthumously in 1924, but he began writing it in 1888; Levi did not care for this one, but I’m including it here since it is a CC Challenge 2 literature selection) ***

Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, The Prince and the Pauper, and Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain (published in the late 1800s; Pudd’nhead Wilson is my personal favorite, especially for late middle school or high school students; only Tom Sawyer on CC Ch 1 list) ***

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (published in 1895; a war novel taking place during the American Civil War) ***

The Call of the Wild by Jack London (published in 1903; set in Yukon, Canada, during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush) ***

Freckles (and others) by Gene Stratton-Porter (published in 1904)

The Short Novels of John Steinbeck (1902-1968) (The Pearl, for sure; not certain about the others)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (1943; set in early 1900s in Brooklyn, NY; coming of age story of a young Irish-American girl)

The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemingway (published 1952) ***

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (published in 1960; a masterful novel and absolutely essential for cultural literacy) ***

The Chosen by Chaim Potok (published in1967; set in 1940s Brooklyn, NY; a coming of age story about a Jewish boy—excellent)

The Lonesome Gods (and others) by Louis L’Amour (published in 1983; set on the California frontier (Mojave and Colorado Deserts) 1800s?)

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (published in 2001; set in small-town Minnesota in the early 1960s with an endearing child narrator with a precocious sister and wise father reminiscent of Scout and Atticus Finch—one of my favorite novels of all time)

Short Stories

“The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry ***

[Many other classic short stories were read last year in Challenge B] **

That Distant Land: The Collected Stories (Port William) by Wendell Berry

Poetry

“The Song of Hiawatha” by H.W. Longfellow (1807-1882) ***
“Paul Revere’s Ride” by H.W. Longfellow ***
“The Courtship of Miles Standish” (one of my favorites from high school) by H.W. Longfellow

Selections from American Poets:

• Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
• Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
• Robert Frost (1874-1963)
• Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)
• Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)
• E. E. Cummings (1894-1962)
• Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
• Maya Angelou (1928-2014)
• Wendell Berry (1934- )
• Mary Oliver (1935- )

Drama

[We’ll also be watching film versions where available.]

Harvey by Mary Chase ***

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

The Glass Menagerie by Tennesse Williams

Autobiographies/Memoirs/Essays

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1771-1790)

Self-Reliance and Other Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1840s) ***

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) ***

Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau (1854) ***

The Wild Muir (John Muir 1838 - 1914; Scottish-American naturalist)

Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington (1901) ***

Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes by Gilbreth (1948)

Little Britches by Ralph Moody (series published in 1950-1968; the first book begins when his family moves to Colorado in 1906—excellent) **

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson (Des Moines, Iowa; 1950s. I am NOT recommending this book to other students without serious parental guidance, but it is the funniest book I have ever read in my life and it contains so much fascinating information about life in mid-century America.)

Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot (1957; Elisabeth’s husband was killed in 1956 while attempting to make missionary contact with the Auca of eastern Ecuador. She later returned as a missionary to the tribe members who killed her husband.) ***

Born Again by Charles Colson (1976) (Chuck Colson served as Special Counsel to Richard Nixon in 1969-1973; he became a Christian in 1973, just before his prison sentence, and later founded Prison Fellowship.) ***

Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L’Amour (1990)

Biography/Non-Fiction

April 1865 (Civil War) by Jay Winik

Mornings on Horseback (Teddy Roosevelt; 1858-1919) by McCullough

The Man Who Talks with the Flowers-The Intimate Life Story of Dr. George Washington Carver (1864-1943) by Glenn Clark

The Orphan: A Story of the Life of Austin Monroe Shaffer (1884-1961) by Helen Shaffer Dunbar (A biography of Levi’s great-great-grandfather (whose father was named Levi), written by Levi’s great-grandmother)

The Boys in the Boat (1936 Olympics) by Daniel James Brown

I'm Proud of You: My Friendship with Fred Rogers (1928-2003) by Tim Madigan

Elon Musk and the Quest for a Fantastic Future Young Readers' Edition (1971- ) by Ashlee Vance

Speeches

“The Spirit of Liberty” by Judge Learned Hand (1944) [Levi memorized and presented this speech in his Challenge class.]

“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963) ***

[Many More American Documents, Essays, and Speeches for American Government] ***

Sermons

“A Model of Christian Charity” by Winthrop (1630) ***

“Essays to Do Good” by Mather (1710) ***

“The Method of Grace” by Whitefield (1700s) ***

Sci-Fi/Futuristic/Fantasy/Dystopian

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (published in 1953; a relevant dystopian novel that everyone should read for cultural literacy)

The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov (published in 1953; a futuristic science-fiction detective novel, recommended by a friend)

Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein (published in 1959; a military science fiction novel exploring military and societal ethics) ***

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank (another novel published in 1959; a realistic apocalyptic novel from the nuclear age, set in the U.S.)

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (published in 1985; another futuristic military science fiction novel—one of my favorite explorations of the nature of leadership)

The Giver by Lois Lowry (published in 1993; a YA utopian/dystopian novel followed by 3 more books in the series)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (the trilogy published 2008-10; YA futuristic dystopian/apocalyptic novels set in the U.S.—excellent for discussing government and qualities of leadership)

 

[I’m choosing to wait on The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, The Jungle by Sinclair, and The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger.]

 

Did I miss any of your favorite selections for American literature (appropriate for a 9th grade student)?

Let me know in the comments!

Honesty, Sanity, and Self-Restraint

Levi is studying American Documents this year through the Classical Conversations Challenge program. This essay, The Man with the Muck Rake, written in 1906 by Theodore Roosevelt was assigned for this week. I ditched the school schedule and the teen and I had a deep and invigorating 2.5 hour discussion on politics, social media, and virtue. Today I dropped off our ballots with a sense of peace.

Just a few quotes, though much more of the essay is quote-worthy:

"At the risk of repetition let me say again that my plea is not for immunity to, but for the most unsparing exposure of, the politician who betrays his trust, of the big business man who makes or spends his fortune in illegitimate or corrupt ways. There should be a resolute effort to hunt every such man out of the position he has disgraced. Expose the crime, and hunt down the criminal; but remember that even in the case of crime, if it is attacked in sensational, lurid, and untruthful fashion, the attack may do more damage to the public mind than the crime itself."

"It is a prime necessity that if the present unrest is to result in permanent good the emotion shall be translated into action, and that the action shall be marked by honesty, sanity, and self-restraint."

"The first requisite in the public servants who are to deal in this shape with corporations, whether as legislators or as executives, is honesty. This honesty can be no respecter of persons. There can be no such thing as unilateral honesty."

"But in addition to honesty, we need sanity. No honesty will make a public man useful if that man is timid or foolish, if he is a hot-headed zealot or an impracticable visionary."

"More important than aught else is the development of the broadest sympathy of man for man."

"The foundation stone of national life is, and ever must be, the high individual character of the average citizen."

 

Honesty, sanity, self-restraint. High individual character.

I could vote for that.

Rememberers

In the past, I’ve shared some of my favorite quotes, articles, and videos about memorization, which I think of as potential creative energy. I’d like to add a few more to the collection as we begin our 7th year with Classical Conversations.

:: The Sacred Relics of Memory by Joshua Gibbs @ CiRCE [Yes!]

"Everything they remembered had this in common: it was memorized in a community. What they had crammed for on their own was lost. What they had worked at together stood a far greater likelihood of clinging to the mind."

:: Taking the Time for Connections :: Memory Work by Ashley Woleben @ Between the Linens

Ashley quotes David Hicks:

“The scholar derives his excitement and motivation at first from snapping discrete pieces together and, in time, from seeing the image of the whole puzzle begin to emerge. His excitement, as well as his chances for completing the puzzle, however, depend on his being given a sufficient number of pieces from the same puzzle”

:: Quiddity #54: Jenny Rallens on Why (and How) Memory Cultivates Virtue @ CiRCE [podcast]

State of the Academy Address ~ 2016 [Looking Forward]

Last month I shared a bit about where we’ve been and what we’ve been doing this past year in our home academy. In essence, it’s been a year of rest for us all.

In the past few months I’ve been contemplating the idea of Christian classical education as I’ve read Awakening Wonder and The Liberal Arts Tradition and reviewed Beauty for Truth’s Sake and Beauty in the Word. As I move forward with our upcoming plans, I will be considering a more holistic and robust approach to classical education and integrating the ideas of piety (“properly ordering one’s loves”), gymnastics (physical training, coordination, and fine and gross motor skills), and musical or poetic education (music, singing, poetry, acting/imitating, drawing, fine art, and stories—fiction and non-fiction) with the arts of the quadrivium (arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy) in addition to the arts of the trivium (grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric). I’ll share about this in upcoming in-depth posts.

For now, this post will serve as a quick overview of our upcoming studies.

As long as I’m being completely honest, I’ll just say it: I’m terrified of our next school year. [wry grin]

I will have four distractible children with completely different needs and studies—who need me at all times. I’m trying to sort out the logistics of it all. Where will they each work so that they have enough space, without the distraction of siblings, with their mother on hand to help with questions and discussion? How can I clone myself to be in 4 places at once? I’m still not exactly sure how this is going to work. Even if I think I get it figured out, we’ll probably still have to adjust several times throughout the year (or maybe the first month or two).

Lola [5/6 Years Old—Kindergarten]

Lola will be in Classical Conversations Foundations. This will be her second year (and our family’s 7th!). She will attend play camp and music class/choir during the afternoon on our CC day. She will continue learning to read (All About Reading), write (Handwriting Without Tears), and count (math picture books and games). She’ll continue to focus on memorizing poetry (Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization) and Bible verses (Sing the Word), and she’ll listen to more audio CDs during independent play time. We’ll also be reading many wonderful books together. [I have long lists of music and story CDs and favorite books coming up here on the blog.] We’ll be working together on physical coordination and games, particularly biking and swimming over the summer.

In the best possible world, Lola would spend about an hour a day (in small chunks of time) on formal lessons (that are rarely formal—more of a snuggle-on-the-couch and learn together sort of thing). I want her to spend most of her time in play. Ideally. The problem here is that Lola does. not. play. independently. She is either messing with her brothers and distracting them, doing one-on-one work with me, or sneaking screen time. It does not matter what fun little activity she is given (bubbles, play dough, rice or beans in bins, coloring, whatever)—it is 5 minutes of play time for her, 45 minutes of distraction for her brothers, and an hour of clean-up for me. The only other option is heavily enforced isolated play time. So I’m trying to do some figuring in this department. She really needs a twin sister to play with. Ha!!

At a glance:

• Classical Conversations Foundations [One morning a week for 24 weeks: fine arts, science projects, public speaking, geography drawing, and memory work in history (+timeline), science, Latin, geography, English grammar, and math.]
• Choir/Music Class
• All About Reading
• Handwriting Without Tears
• DK My First Number Book and other living math picture books and games and manipulatives
• Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization (and other poetry)
• Sing the Word
• Music and story CDs [lists in upcoming posts]
• Many wonderful picture and chapter books—fiction and non-fiction [lists in upcoming posts]
• Bike riding, swimming, hiking, cordination exercises and physical games

Leif [10 Years old—5th Grade]

Leif will be in Classical Conversations Foundations and Essentials. This will be his 7th year in Foundations and 2nd in Essentials (and I am tutoring his Essentials class). I am considering choir for him, and he will be starting piano lessons in the fall. During the week he will work on CC memory work, math (Khan Academy), Latin (Song School Latin 2), spelling (All About Spelling), CC Essentials grammar and writing (IEW Medieval History-Themed Writing), geography drawing, and independing reading in all subjects plus literature. He will also continue swim team practice four days a week.

At a glance:

• Classical Conversations Foundations and Essentials [One day a week for 24 weeks. Fine arts, science projects, public speaking, geography drawing, and memory work in history (+timeline), science, Latin, geography, English grammar, and math plus grammar, writing, and math games in the afternoon.]
• Piano lessons
• Khan Academy Math [5th-6th grade]
• Song School Latin 2
• All About Spelling
• IEW Medieval-Themed History Writing
• Story of the World, Volume 2 (and Medieval-themed fiction and non-fiction)
• Astronomy and Physics
• Map drawing and online geography games
• Swim team

Luke [12 Years Old—7th Grade]

Luke will be in Classical Conversations Challenge A. This will be his first year in the Challenge program (with one of my favorite people, Heather Timmons, as his tutor). The Challenge program will dictate the bulk of his studies during the week, but he will also begin piano lessons in September and continue swimming on the swim team four days a week.

At a glance:

• Classical Conversations Challenge A (One day a week in class for discussion and presentation.)
• Piano lessons
• Latin Alive! [We are subsituting this program for the CC recommendation of Henle.]
• Khan Academy Math [Pre-algebra. We are substituting this program for the CC recommendation of Saxon.]
• Science research and drawing body systems
• Literature (10 book selections) and The Lost Tools of Writing
• Drawing the whole world (including capitals and land forms, all by memory)
• The Fallacy Detective and It Couldn’t Just Happen (science catechism questions, note taking, class discussion, and apologetics paper)
• Swim team

Levi [14/15 Years Old—9th Grade]

Levi will be in Classical Conversations Challenge I. This is a first for us (the oldest is always the guinea pig), and the first year I’ve had a high schooler in the house! His tutor is another one of my favorite people, Cheryl Halsey. He will again be in class with my best friend’s son, McKinnon, and they will probably continue to do some work together during the week. The Challenge program will dictate the bulk of his studies during the week and he will continue swimming on the swim team daily.

At a glance:

• Classical Conversations Challenge I (One day a week in class for discussion and presentation.)
• Henle Latin [He’ll take the National Latin Exam in the spring.]
• Khan Academy Math [Algebra. We are substituting this program for the CC recommendation of Saxon.]
• Exploring Creation with Physical Science
• American Literature (20 novels!) and The Lost Tools of Writing
• American Documents
• Economics
• Policy Debate
• Shakespeare (The Taming of the Shrew, individual Shakespeare projects)
• Music Theory
• Swim team

 

I think that about covers the basics.

I’ll be sharing more details in up-coming posts. Do you have any questions you would like me to attempt to answer?

The End of our CC Year

We have just completed our sixth year of Classical Conversations!

This past year was my first year tutoring Essentials (the afternoon class of English grammar, IEW history-themed writing, and math games for students ages 9-12). It was Lola’s first year in Foundations (the morning class of memory work in 6 subjects, science and fine arts projects, and public speaking for students ages 4-12), Leif’s first year in Essentials, Luke’s last year in Foundations and Essentials, and a break year for Levi. [I’ll soon be sharing details about this past year and plans for next year, so be watching for those posts! It’s going to be a bit crazy next year.]

Luke was a Memory Master again this year. This means that he recited (several times) all of this year’s memory work in one sitting—161 events and people in a chronological timeline; 44 U.S. presidents; 24 history “sentences”; 120 locations and geographical features in Africa, Europe, and the Americas; 24 science lists and facts; 5 Latin noun endings and their singular and plural declensions; English grammar facts (including 3 definitions, 53 prepositions, 23 helping verbs, and 12 linking verbs); and multiplication tables up to 15x15, common squares and cubes, and basic geometry formulas and unit conversions.

Leif had all of the above memory work solid other than geography, which we’ll master during during break.

I again took pictures at the protocol event for the upper Challenge levels this past Friday evening. [pictured above]

Saturday I spent 11 hours in CC Parent Practicum speaker training (we chatted over lunch and dinner, so it was a full day of stimulating conversation!). I’m not positive if, when, and where I’ll be speaking, but I’ll be sure to mention it when I know for sure.

Last night (Monday) we had our end of the year celebration.

This morning I slept in. [Who am I kidding? I never get up early. Grin.]

My Pet Verbal

It all started as a class joke. The word “verbal” is such a funny word, and it reminded us all of a gerbil. I told the students in my CC Essentials class that if I were ever to have a pet, it would be a verbal (because I’m not a pet person, but I sure do enjoy grammar).

On the last day of class, two of the girls came up to me with a gift. A box. With air holes. I got a little nervous. What sort of tutor gift did they get me?! Inside the first box was another box with air holes—a box labeled “verbal.” Yes, this is my kind of pet.

What is a verbal, you might ask? How does one care for a verbal? Luckily, my new pet verbal came with an informative—and downright hilarious—booklet. 

This is one gift I’ll treasure forever.

On Rhetoric ~ Socratic Dialogue 2 [Paul Harvey]

In my last post on the subject of formal rhetoric, I introduced you to the canons of rhetoric, the basic arrangement of a persuasive essay or speech, and the modes of persuasion. I’d like to focus on the modes of persuasion and a new topic (elocution) in this post.

Elocution pertains to the style in which you state your ideas. This includes word choice, sentence structure, and figures of speech.

“Parallelism is actually a “figure of speech,” a sentence pattern that varies the ordinary or conventional use of language. Figures come in two types, those which vary standard word order and those which vary standard word usage: a figure is either a scheme or a trope. If parallelism is the most important scheme, metaphor is the most important trope. Metaphor is like similie since both compare two items; a metaphor is an identity, however, where a similie is an analogy.” [Scott F. Crider, The Office of Assertion]

 

There are two main categories of figures of speech: schemes and tropes.

 

Schemes appeal to the senses.

These figures of speech have a pleasing or attention-grabbing sound to the ear. Many schemes use repetition of sounds or structure, rhyme or rhythm.

Alliteration is one of the most familiar schemes. It is the repetition of consonant sounds in close proximity, usually at the beginning of words. For example, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is loaded with alliteration in every line.

This king lay at Camelot at Christmas-tide
with many a lovely lord, lieges most noble,
indeed of the Table Round all those tried brethren,
amid merriment unmatched and mirth without care.
There tourneyed many a time the trusty knights,
and jousted full joyously these gentle lords;
then to the court they came at carols to play.

Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds rather than consonant sounds.

Parallelism (about which I’ve written at length here and here) is the repetition of structure (words, phrases, or clauses), and many other schemes of repetition rely on parallelism.

For example:

Chiasmus is reverse repetition of a group of words, clauses, or sentences.

The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n. [Milton, Paradise Lost]

Antithesis uses parallel structure to contrast opposing ideas.

Eloquent speakers give pleasure, wise ones salvation. [Augustine] (Eloquent vs wise and pleasure vs salvation)

Anaphora is the repetition of a word or a phrase at the beginning of clauses, lines, or sentences.

Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric, out of the quarrel with ourselves, poetry. [W. B. Yeats]

Epistrophe is the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of clauses, lines, or sentences.

Justice is the grammar of things. Mercy is the poetry of things. [Frederick Buechner]

 

Tropes appeal to the imagination.

These figures of speech twist the usual meaning of words and show resemblance. The two most common tropes are similie and metaphor.

A similie shows explicit resemblance and uses the words like or as.

A metaphor shows implicit resemblance by asserting that one thing is another thing.

 

We could continue on with symbolism, personification, onomatopeia, and more, but this is only a brief introduction. American Rhetoric is an excellent resource for definitions and examples of figures of speech if you want to learn more.

 

Elocution is related to the modes of persuasion, because the writer or speaker must keep his audience in mind when considering what style will be most appealing or persuasive.

Let’s quickly review the modes of persuasion before moving on to the practicum.

Ethos is an appeal based on the speaker’s credibility.

Logos is an appeal based on reason and logic.

Pathos is an appeal to the audience’s emotions.

 

Now it’s time for us to practice what we’ve learned using the following video:

 

 

 

Here’s an imperfect transcript to make discussion easier: 

And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker." So God made a farmer.

God said, "I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board." So God made a farmer.

"I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait lunch until his wife's done feeding visiting ladies and tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon -- and mean it." So God made a farmer.

God said, "I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say, 'Maybe next year.' I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pain'n from 'tractor back,' put in another seventy-two hours." So God made a farmer.

God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor's place. So God made a farmer.

God said, "I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bails, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark. It had to be somebody who'd plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week's work with a five-mile drive to church.

“Somebody who'd bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life 'doing what dad does.'” So God made a farmer.

 

And now a few questions for you. (I’d love for you all to play along in the comments.)

Is this an example of a persuasive argument?

What is this particular video’s purpose?

In the end, who is trying to persuade an audience?

Of what?

Who is the intended audience?

Whose credibility do we consider? Does the video make an appeal based on credibility? How? By association?

Does this video make an appeal based on reason or logic? In what way?

Does this video appeal to the audience’s emotions? How?

Which mode of persuasion is the strongest? Why?

How is elocution—or style—used in this video?  What is the overall style of the presentation? Do you notice any figures of speech?

Do you think this video is persuasive? Why? What is most effective about it?

Any other thoughts?

 

[Spoiler alert. Grin.]

 

 

 

 

 

The recording is a speech originally delivered by Paul Harvey in 1978. This particular video is a Ram commercial from the 2013 Super Bowl. (Paul Harvey passed away in 2009.)

I indentified some of the figures of speech as examples.

Rhyme/rhythm: seed, weed, feed, breed

Assonance: “sigh, reply…smiling eyes”

Alliteration: “planned paradise,” “plow and plant,” “ride, ruts, race”

Parallelism (so many examples!) “clear trees, heave bails, tame lambs, wean pigs…” “tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week’s work,” “shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, make harness out of haywire…”

Anaphora: “God said, I need somebody”

Epistrophe: “So God made a farmer.”

Antitheses: “strong enough/gentle enough” and “heave bails/tame lambs”

Metaphor?: “bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing” “plow deep and straight and not cut corners” (Is he just talking about plowing here?)

Foreshadowing: Images of Ram Trucks in film before identifying item being advertised

Did you notice any others?