Food for Thought ~ Encouragement, Science, Imagination, and More

[Again, so much in one post. Help yourself to the buffet. Remember that you can always receive the links spread out over many courses by following my Facebook page.]

Encouragement

:: Compared to... @ Seth Godin

"Just because a thing can be noticed, or compared, or fretted over doesn't mean it's important, or even relevant. Better, I think, to decide what's important, what needs to change, what's worth accomplishing. And then ignore all comparisons that don't relate. The most important comparison, in fact, is comparing your work to what you're capable of. Sure, compare. But compare the things that matter to the journey you're on. The rest is noise."

:: I Am Not an Airplane @ Amongst Lovely Things

What if I treated my time like a budget?

What if I started our homeschool year, remembering that I’m a human person, not an airplane with the sky as the limit.

Teaching and Raising Children

:: When Success Leads to Failure: The pressure to achieve academically is a crime against learning @ The Atlantic

The truth—for this parent and so many others—is this: Her child has sacrificed her natural curiosity and love of learning at the altar of achievement, and it’s our fault. Marianna’s parents, her teachers, society at large—we are all implicated in this crime against learning. From her first day of school, we pointed her toward that altar and trained her to measure her progress by means of points, scores, and awards. We taught Marianna that her potential is tied to her intellect, and that her intellect is more important than her character. We taught her to come home proudly bearing As, championship trophies, and college acceptances, and we inadvertently taught her that we don’t really care how she obtains them. We taught her to protect her academic and extracurricular perfection at all costs and that it’s better to quit when things get challenging rather than risk marring that perfect record. Above all else, we taught her to fear failure. That fear is what has destroyed her love of learning.

:: The Difference Between Good Boys and Nice Boys in “Tom Sawyer” @ The Imaginative Conservative

"Goodness, then, demands integrity, honor, courage, and sacrifice—the manly, knightly virtues that Tom and his spirited friends practice in their boyish love of fun and adventure. The nice boys, on the other hand, do not take risks, venture beyond safe limits, or question the rules—even though some are silly and senseless. They like prizes, recognition, applause, and adulation. They do the minimum, they act their part, and they know how to curry favor. They show no life, no passion, no pluck. They act primarily on the basis of self-interest."

Science

:: 5 Reasons the Church Should Embrace Science @ Relevant

Science needs all kinds of people. The task of science is seeking truth, and truth-seeking requires we put aside some of our assumptions. Ironically, this is one of the biggest reasons some see Christians as unfit to pursue science, but in reality, people of all faiths (or no faith) all bring assumptions. We simply can’t get rid of them.

But one way to combat our assumptions is to approach problems from a variety of angles. Collaborating with others who do not share our assumptions (whether directly on a project or more generally within the field) places checks on our assumptions. In addition, having a variety of points of view approaching a problem offers additional opportunities for problem-solving and new breakthroughs.

:: A world-famous chemist tells the truth: there’s no scientist alive today who understands macroevolution @ Uncommon Descent [I spent a very long time bending my brain to the content in this article and in the comments. I understand a minute fraction more than before.]

:: The Microscopic Structures of Dried Human Tears @ Smithsonian [This is an older article, but so fascinating!]

The Brain

:: How Walking in Nature Changes the Brain @ New York Times

:: Cognitive benefits of being a musician @ Pianodao

Words

:: Harnessing the Power of Latin and Greek for Early Readers @ IMSE Journal

I love the image accompanying this article. Many of our ordinary, everyday words come from the Anglo-Saxon, but many of our intellectual, sophisticated words are Latin-based and our specialized words are often Greek-based.

“…upwards of ninety percent of our academic words in English…are derived from Latin and Greek.”

:: Ticket to Write, Part 1: A Crush on Words @ Story Warren [We are definitely going to be making word tickets!]

First, get out your scissors and sit down right in front of that stack of magazines and cut-up-able stuff. You’re going on a treasure hunt for words. Search for interesting, juicy, energetic, vivid words, cut them out, and tape or glue them to the blank side of the tickets. There are no rules about what words to include or not to include in your collection. Find words you like, words that are fun to say out loud, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, words you don’t know that you have to look up in the dictionary, and phrases that are unusual or funny or beautiful…

:: Ticket to Write, Part 2: Painting with Words @ Story Warren

Using your markers or crayons or colored pencils, write the words you’ve gathered all over your picture. Write them in colors that fit the different parts of the photo—blues for the sky, greens and browns for the trees. Write them big or little or curvy or sideways. Be as artistic as you want.

When you’ve finished writing all of the words from your pile of word tickets, use your own imagination to add more words. Your photograph has no color, but imagine what colors the things in the photo might be, and write color words in those places. Think about all five senses and write sound words, smell words, taste words, and touch words as well as words that describe the things you see. Fill every space.

Handwriting

:: Cheating Calligraphy Tutorial @ The Postman’s Knock

 

 

Wise Imagination

"Properly taught, and learned—acquired—a liberal education awakens and keeps alive the imagination. By the imagination, I don’t mean fanciful things, but I mean the capacity to see beyond the end of your nose and beyond the object in front you. That is to see its implications, its origins, its potential, its danger, its charm. All the things that enable one to navigate in this difficult and complex world with a modicum of wisdom, with calm, not be alarmed with every little thing that happens and with resources that in moments of stress, and after retirement, in illness, and loneliness keep one’s soul and body alive. ~ Jacque Barzun, cultural historian and education philosopher." [HT: Paideia Fellowship]

“I believe that children in this country need a more robust literary diet than they are getting... It does not hurt them to read about good and evil, love and hate, life and death. Nor do I think they should read only about things that they understand. '...a man’s reach should exceed his grasp.' So should a child’s. For myself, I will never talk down to, or draw down to, children." -- Barbara Cooney [HT: A Mighty Girl]

:: Story Warren On World Radio: Fireballs, Fables, and Allies in Imagination [audio]

:: Landscapes with Dragons and Angels: Finding the Wise Imagination in Children’s Literature by Stratford Caldecott [This is a great essay about wise discernment of fantasy literature with several examples.] 

:: Speaking the Truths Only the Imagination May Grasp: An Essay on Myth &“Real Life” by Stratford Caldecott @ Touchstone [Go read the whole article!]

Why are such tales so endlessly fascinating, so universally told? Perhaps because it is just such a journey that gives meaning to our own existence. We read or listen to the storyteller in order to orient ourselves within—to learn how to behave in order to get where we are going. Each of us knows that our life is not merely a mechanical progress from cradle to grave; it is a search, a quest, even a pilgrimage. There is some elusive goal that motivates us in our work and our play.

:: The Classical Reader [What a fantastic resource!]

“When you are choosing what books your children or students will read, the stakes are especially high. That is why we have put years of research into The Classical Reader and this companion website, collecting and analyzing the K-12 reading recommendations of classical educators from around the country and seeking those readings that have been important and pleasurable to generations of students. It is an invaluable resource for every school and homeschool family for everything from book reports to reading for pleasure.”

Good Stuff

:: Boy Who Couldn’t Afford Books Asks Mailman For Junk Mail To Read; Mailman Responds Spectacularly @ Huff Post

:: Iowa barber gives haircuts to children in exchange for them reading stories to him @ Globe Gazette

:: The Secret to Love is Just Kindness @ The Atlantic

"130 newlywed couples were invited to spend the day at this retreat and watched them as they did what couples normally do on vacation: cook, clean, listen to music, eat, chat, and hang out. And Gottman made a critical discovery in this study — one that gets at the heart of why some relationships thrive while others languish."

Reading Challenge Up-Date ~ July 2015

The 2015 Book Challenge continues…

I finished only four books in July, but I greatly enjoyed all four which is a minor miracle, People.

The Awakening of Miss Prim, Go Set a Watchman, Boys in the Boat, and 84 Charing Cross Road were all winners as well as a diverse mix of subjects.

The Awakening of Miss Prim will likely be my most favorite (delightful) book of the year. I was a little scared to read Go Set a Watchman, but I ended up loving it. (Oh, how I adore Uncle Jack!) Boys in the Boat was so well-written and weaves in many different stories. I was on the edge of my seat cheering by the end. And 84 Charing Cross Road was just a simple delight. [Slightly longer reviews below.]

Success!!

My ChocLit Guild book club met on the patio of a charming vintage small-town diner to discuss Boys in the Boat. The entertaining owners served us fresh peach smoothies to go with the trays of fruit, veggies, chocolate swirl banana bread, cheese, and crackers they had set out for us. [If you’re a local, go visit The Diner at Shedd!]

I did make progress on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but I’m finding it SLOW going.

Instead of curating literature-themed articles with the others in my most recent Food for Thought post, I am sharing them here with my book list.

::  Why You Should Still Read “Go Set A Watchman” by Megan Tietz @ Sarah Bessey

This is by far my favorite thoughtful review of the book. In the comments, a woman shares about her own father. Her story is similar to how I think about Atticus in GSAW. People and experiences and culture are complex. The other important thing to remember is that Harper Lee did not intend to publish GSAW so she was free to rewrite the characters. She did not have to reconcile them and neither do we.

:: Watching Well: Intellectual Humility by Alissa Wilkinson @ Reel Spirituality/Brehm Center

Yes. I love the way she frames this idea. [And it applies to reading as well as watching.]

"And I watch them with others, and then discuss them with others, so that I can be challenged by their viewpoints. If there is one thing I have realized is essential over the past few years, it is that watching cannot, must not be done in a vacuum. Critics help us open up our view of a film, and of the world, in powerful, affirming, challenging ways. Conversation partners who are honest and thoughtful make us see a movie in a new way. Friends gently remind us that our opinions are not the final word on the subject—that art is part made by the artist, part made by us in our reactions."

:: The Future of Dystopian Literature @ The Imaginative Conservative

"At its best, dystopian literature allows us—through the faculty of imagination—to see not only inhumanity, but the motives behind inhumanity. Dystopias allow us to understand, analyze, and warn the world of nightmares, ideologies, and fundamentalisms. Through their own horrors, they might very well allow us to hold off the abyss for another generation or more."

:: Why College Kids Are Avoiding the Study of Literature @ Commentary Magazine

“Reading a novel, you experience the perceptions, values, and quandaries of a person from another epoch, society, religion, social class, culture, gender, or personality type. Those broad categories turn out to be insufficient, precisely because they are general and experienced by each person differently; and we learn not only the general but also what it is to be a different specific person. By practice, we learn what it is like to perceive, experience, and evaluate the world in various ways. This is the very opposite of measuring people in terms of our values.

… “We all live in a prison house of self. We naturally see the world from our own perspective and see our own point of view as obvious and, if we are not careful, as the only possible one. I have never heard anyone say: “Yes, you only see things from my point of view. Why don’t you consider your own for a change?” The more our culture presumes its own perspective, the more our academic disciplines presume their own rectitude, and the more professors restrict students to their own way of looking at things, the less students will be able to escape from habitual, self-centered, self-reinforcing judgments. We grow wiser, and we understand ourselves better, if we can put ourselves in the position of those who think differently.”

:: Why Do We Love Jane Eyre? @ BBC [audio]

 

The 2015 Book List Challenge

[*Added to original list]

Novels

Lila: A Novel [I had a more difficult time getting into this novel than Robinson’s previous two novels in the series, but the story was greatly rewarding in the end. What a beautiful picture of grace the author masterfully paints. Marilynne Robinson is at the top of my list. 4 1/2 stars]

Hood [Hood is the first Stephen Lawhead book I’ve read. It is a retelling of the Robin Hood myth. It was well-told and entertaining, but not excellent. I’d like to try another series by Lawhead. 3 1/2 stars]

The Sunday Philosophy Club [This is from the author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which I very much enjoyed. Interesting in places, charming in places, and boring in quiet a few places. 3 stars.]

A Girl of The Limberlost (ChocLit Guild) [Sweet, safe, turn of the century romance novel by Gene Stratton-Porter, full of natural history. 3 1/2 stars]

The Brothers K

The Road

Dune [I tried to start it and just couldn’t get going. Maybe I’ll try again later this year.] [I found this article at The Guardian: Dune, 50 years on: how a science fiction novel changed the world. I guess it stays on the list…]

The Once and Future King

The Chosen [A fascinating look at Jewish culture in 1940s Brooklyn, New York, written by Chaim Potok. I was captivated. 4 1/2 stars]

Beloved [Toni Morrison has given us a tragic and graphic but exquisitely-written narrative that seeps the reader in the culture of slavery. Haunting. 4 1/2 stars]

The Book Thief

*Whose Body? [Lord Peter Wimsey debuts in this detective novel by Dorothy Sayers. Slightly reminiscent of P.G. Wodehouse, but not nearly so silly, Whose Body? is the first of the series. I mostly read this one so that I could work my way up to Clouds of Witness. 4 stars]

Clouds of Witness

Catch-22 [This was a tough read for me, and I wished it had been about half as long. I cannot read 400+ pages of satirical nonsense before my head explodes. It gave me more to think about, however, as I was reading Unbroken since both books are about bombardiers during WWII. It is an important modern classic, but not at all enjoyable to read. 3 stars]

Lord of the Flies [Lord of the Flies was not cheerful, by any means, but not quite as grim or at least not as explicit as I was expecting. Important modern classic, not particularly enjoyable. 3 1/2 stars.]

The Great Gatsby [Quintessential Jazz Age and a cultural imperative. 4 1/2 stars.]

Invisible Man

The Return of the Native

The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel

The Grapes of Wrath

Slaughterhouse-Five

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn [in progress]

The Signature of All Things [This is a brilliantly-told narrative, even if it took quite some time for the story to get going. (The beginning is interesting, but the first 13 chapters all seem to have the same pacing.) I have very strong feelings about this one, but it is a bit of a pendulum swing when I consider it. It disturbed me. I think I hated it. But maybe, if I read it again, I’d love it. Oddly, it reminded me in some ways of Till We Have Faces, which I didn’t hate. I don’t even know how to rate this one. 4 1/2 stars for the excellent writing. 2 stars for enjoyment.]

*Godric: A Novel [My feelings about Godric were similar to my feelings about The Signature of All Things, though I was more frustrated than disturbed and Godric wasn’t as long. I think I hated it, but maybe I’d love it if I re-read it so that I could understand it better, see more deeply. I suppose good writing is writing that makes you feel and think, in which case both books are excellent. I don’t know. But I hate hating books. It makes me feel shallow and imperceptive. Am I not intellectual enough to love books that aren’t enjoyable? I think I have to be prepared ahead of time for a tragic or graphic or dark story like I was for Beloved or Till We Have Faces. I also find it fascinating that stories can speak so differently to people. Again, it is true: no two people read the same book. 4 stars for the writing, 2 1/2 for the enjoyment.]

Merry Hall [I loved Down the Garden path by Beverly Nichols, and Merry Hall did not disappoint. It’s like P.G. Wodehouse in the garden. Quite hilarious. The little vignettes are somewhat unconnected, though, and there is no driving narrative, so I didn’t find myself needing to continue reading. 3 1/2 stars]

*Go Set a Watchman: A Novel by Harper Lee [Megan Tietz has already given a phenomenal thoughtful review on Sarah Bessey’s blog. This book is a completely different experience from To Kill a Mockingbird. It feels like a light read, somewhat rambling (though not unpleasantly) with flashbacks to Scout’s growing-up years, until at least two-thirds of the way through. And then a tornado hits for the last fifty pages. My emotions were all over the place and I was worried about how it was going to end. But the conclusion is incredible. Friends, we are all so human. Humility. Grace. Love. Hope. (P.S. I still love Atticus.) Also, this is more of an adult’s book than To Kill a Mockingbird. There is language, but it’s more about the age and transformation/conflict of Scout/Jean Louise. 4 1/2 stars.]

*Gone with the Wind (ChocLit Guild)

*The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: A Novel [This is a charming and delightful modern novel. I needed something light after a run of several difficult novels. I liked this one in a way similar to The Rosie Project. Quirky. Modern. Not depressing. Not cheesy. Not squeaky clean, but not gritty. 3 1/2 stars]

*The Little Village School [Charming story. Sort of like Mitford, but centered around a school in England. 3 1/2 stars]

*The Awakening of Miss Prim [Review here. 5 stars for enjoyment.]

Classics

Pride and Prejudice (ChocLit Guild) [For years I have adored both the BBC movie version with Colin Firth as well as the newer movie version with Matthew Macfadyen, but I had never read the book! Now I can say that I’ve read it. But, honestly? It was delightful in the same way that the movies are delightful. (grin) Both movies retain so much of the story (particularly the longer BBC movie version) and the original dialogue, that I simply replayed the movies in my mind throughout my reading of the whole book. And then I wanted to watch the movies again. I’m not sure how to separate my love for them, so I’ll rate them together: 5 stars.]

Gulliver's Travels (An abridged re-telling) [I love this retelling and the illustrations are fantastic. A must for cultural literacy. 4 stars]

Moby Dick [I knew I wouldn’t end up reading this one this year (or ever), so I grabbed an excellent graphic novel version. This month a friend shared with me an interesting essay titled Why You Should Read Moby Dick by R.C. Sproul. I still don’t know if I’ll read the unabridged version, but I appreciated having some deep ideas to think about as I read the graphic novel.]

Paradise Lost (ChocLit Guild)

The Brothers Karamazov

The Lord of the Rings

Frankenstein [in progress]

No Name (Or something else by Wilkie Collins. ChocLit Guild)

Hamlet (CC Moms Book Club) [deep reading in progress]

Ancients

The Iliad

The Odyssey

Children’s and YA Novels

The Door in the Wall (CC Challenge A) [A wonderful coming of age story set in Medieval times. 4 stars]

A Gathering of Days (CC Challenge A) [This was my least favorite of all the Challenge A literature selections. Somewhat boring and forced. I didn’t care for the journal-style writing. 2 1/2 stars]

Crispin: The Cross of Lead (CC Challenge A) [This was my favorite of the Challenge A literature selections. I ended up purchasing the other two books in the trilogy as well as several others by the author. Another great coming of age story set in Medieval times. 4 stars]

Where the Red Fern Grows (CC Challenge B)

*A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park [This was an excellent read about a boy from war-torn Sudan. Highly recommended for adults as well as children (though it may be a little much for very young or sensitive children). This will be one of my favorite books this year. 4 1/2 stars.]

*In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord [This is a darling book about a little girl who moves from China to New York in the year 1947. It is a well-written simple chapter book. I would have given it four stars if it hadn’t been for two short events in the book that I did not care for. First (and this is a nit-picky complaint), a bully at school gives her two black eyes while swearing at her, and the words are bleeped out in asterisks. Shirley refuses to tell her parents what happened because she knows the bully would take it out on her. Her resolve not to tattle is rewarded by the bully becoming her friend the next day. Second, Shirley’s next friend tells her that she wants to show her something and swears Shirley to secrecy. The girls sneak into the friend’s dad’s office (he’s a psychiatrist) and the friend shows her a book (presumably a medical book) with pictures of naked people. Shirley pretends enthusiasm, but has no desire to look at the book. The story takes only a couple pages, but it begins with “Only one aspect of her friendship with Emily would have displeased her mother, but she was not likely to find it out, and so Shirley did not trouble herself too much over it.” It was this second event that just didn’t sit well with me, partly because the rest of the book is wonderful for 8-11 year olds. 3 stars.]

Junk Food

*Highland Fling [So fun. So easy to read. So not edifying in any way. (grin) 3 stars]

*Paradise Fields [I enjoy this author, but this was probably my least favorite book of hers. 2 stars]

*Undetected  [Tom Clancy meets Grace Livingston Hill. Well-researched and interesting details about sonar. Squeaky-clean and positive Christian romance. Not painfully written. Probably just a tad (ha!) unrealistic and idealistic. If I were willing to be totally honest, I would tell you that this genre is smack-dab in the middle of my comfort zone and the easiest, most enjoyable thing for me to read. But I don’t want to admit that. (wry grin) 3 stars]

*Attachments [Chick lit set in 1999. 3 stars]

Non-Fiction

Biography/History

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (ChocLit Guild)

*The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (ChocLit Guild) [Outstanding. The author deftly weaves multiple stories into one cohesive whole: the Pacific Northwest, logging, mining, the building of the Hoover Dam, the Depression, the Dust Bowl, the history of rowing, the construction of rowing shells, Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the intimate life story of Joe Rantz (and details of the lives of several other men), and the 1936 U.S. Olympic rowing team from the University of Washington. 4 1/2 stars.]

*84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff [A charming collection of correspondence between a New York writer and a bookshop in London from 1949-1969. 3 1/2 stars]

The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris (ChocLit Guild)

The Hiding Place (CC Challenge B)

A Short History of Nearly Everything

Faith, Culture, and Education

The Pursuit of God (ChocLit Guild) [in progress]

Beauty Will Save the World: Recovering the Human in an Ideological Age (CiRCE Conference)

Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education (CiRCE Conference) [in progress]

Leisure: The Basis of Culture

The Soul of Science (CC Parent Practicum)

Wisdom & Wonder: Common Grace in Science & Art (CC Parent Practicum)

Honey for a Teen's Heart [Detailed review here. 4 1/2 stars]

Invitation to the Classics: A Guide to Books You've Always Wanted to Read

*Just Walk Across the Room (ChocLit Guild)

*The Conversation: Challenging Your Student with a Classical Education by Leigh A. Bortins (third in trilogy) [Excellent. 4 stars for the trilogy.]

Re-Reads

*The Bronze Bow (CC Challenge A)

*The Question (CC Moms Book Club) [deep reading in progress]

*A Tale of Two Cities (reading aloud) [in progress]

*The Catcher in the Rye [in progress]

*Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll [audio book/read aloud in progress]

*Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie (read aloud)

*Heidi by Johanna Spyri

Food for Thought ~ The Super Duper Random Edition

[Find more images, links, and videos on my Facebook page or follow me on Instagram.]

Descartes walks into a bar. The bartender asks him if he wants a drink. "I think not," Descartes says.

And then he disappears.

[ha!]

:: The Really Big One. An earthquake will destroy a sizable portion of the coastal Northwest. The question is when. @ The New Yorker

[This is a fascinating, detailed, terrifying article. We live two miles east of I-5. I’m guessing that’s not much of a buffer. The boys have been busy talking about survival gear and knowledge the past couple days. Maybe we should take a month of “school” for a disaster-preparedness unit. Ahem.]

"Kenneth Murphy, who directs FEMA’s Region X, the division responsible for Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska, says, “Our operating assumption is that everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast.”

:: Ask R.C.: What Are Some Concerns You Have With the Homeschooling Movement? @ R.C. Sproul Jr.

[If you are a homeschooler, read this one.]

:: Cultural Apologetics and the Evangelizing Power of Beauty @ The Imaginative Conservative

[This post synthesizes so well with everything I took away from the CiRCE PNW Regional Conference. Go read it. P.S. CiRCE now has my favorite talk, Gregory Wolfe: Beauty, The Cinderella of the Transcendentals, available in video on their free resource page!]

If the Good, the True and the Beautiful, as a reflection of the Trinity, are the end to which we strive they are also, through their manifestation in love, reason and creativity, the means by which the end is achieved. Love is the path to goodness; reason is the path to truth; and creativity is the path to beauty.

:: Finding Your Place by Ennobling the World @ The Imaginative Conservative

"[A]s you move ahead with your life, you should try wholeheartedly to embrace the spirit of the places where you find yourself. Do this for even the humblest places, and for even the most transient periods of your life. Be fully present to them, in body and spirit. Make yourself a part of them. Turn off your phones and computers, turn off your anxieties and vanities, set them aside, walk outside, open your eyes, and look around."

:: There is Always Hope: Wendell Berry on the Environment, the Economy, and the Imagination @ The Imaginative Conservative

'He countered such gloom with the admonition to “have as much fun as you can.” And there is always hope: “My faith is that it can’t ever get so bad that a person can’t do something to make things a little better.”

'That is a profoundly humane vision, and our terrible responsibility.’

:: Filmmaker Wants To Stop Fathers From Giving Up Their Daughters @ npr

"There is a theory that stories are based on ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances," says Khan. "I choose instead to make films about ordinary people in ordinary circumstances that make the extraordinary choice."

:: The Next Culture War by David Brooks @ The New York Times

"We live in a society plagued by formlessness and radical flux, in which bonds, social structures and commitments are strained and frayed. Millions of kids live in stressed and fluid living arrangements. Many communities have suffered a loss of social capital. Many young people grow up in a sexual and social environment rendered barbaric because there are no common norms. Many adults hunger for meaning and goodness, but lack a spiritual vocabulary to think things through."

:: THE ART OF STORYTELLING, ACCORDING TO THE FOUNDERS OF STORYCORPS AND HUMANS OF NEW YORK @ IDEAS.TED

"There is nothing people won’t tell you if you ask in a compassionate and legitimately interested way.” — Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York

:: Man Buys 10.000 Undeveloped Negatives At a Local Auction And Discovers One of the Most Important Street Photographers of the Mid 20th Century @ Upshout

Incredible. I’ve added the documentary to my to-watch list.

Food for Thought ~ A Little Bit of Everything

 

If you want to keep up with me between blog posts, I’m now on Instagram as mthopeheidi. As always, you can also follow me on Facebook, where I share links and more in “real time.” (I am also on Pinterest, but not as often.)

 

Parenting, Money, and Good Habits

:: 15 Poverty Habits Parents Teach Their Children @ Rich Habits. This post could generate some interesting conversation. His statistics are fascinating. I think we have to remember that correlation does not imply causation, though, and I think that some of the statistics may be effect rather than cause. It’s important to note that this post does not address systemic concerns surrounding poverty nor should we consider monetary wealth as the single indicator of a rich life. His “success habits,” however, aren’t all directly related to money and could help lead a person to a rich life, regardless of income. Most of them involve taking care of what you do have: physical health, time, relationships, character, and mind.

“Wealthy people do certain things every single day that sets them apart from everyone else in life. Wealthy people have good daily success habits that they learned from their parents.”

Parenting and Nature

:: Let Kids Run Wild in the Woods @ Slate

“Taking home small souvenirs of the woods is just the beginning of things kids can’t do in nature. In many parks and other public lands, kids are told by rangers, parents, or teachers not to leave the trail, not to climb rocks or trees, not to whack trees with sticks, not to build forts or lean-tos, not to dig holes, not to move rocks from one place to another within the park, not to yell or even talk too loudly. Are we having fun yet?”

 

Movies

:: It's All In Your Head: Director Pete Docter Gets Emotional In 'Inside Out' @ npr. I’m looking forward to seeing this movie!

On trying to recruit Mindy Kaling, who wound up voicing Disgust:

"I turned around, because I was pitching kind of some visuals on the computer, and she's crying ... she really responded emotionally, and she said, 'Sorry, I just think it's really beautiful that you guys are making a story that tells kids that it's difficult to grow up and it's OK to be sad about it.' We were like, 'Quick! Write that down.' Because that was really what we were trying to say."

 

Around the World and Close to Home

:: #BringBackOurGirls: Meet Some of the Survivors From the Boko Haram Chibok Kidnapping @ Cosmopolitan [I can’t believe I’m linking to a Cosmo article.] These girls are finishing their high school education at the Christian boarding school in a little town in Oregon that my great grandfather founded. My grandmother taught there for years and years. My Dad (and siblings) attended the school. A couple uncles have taught there, and my Aunt Judi and Uncle Phil are there now. You can see my grandmother’s house behind the girls in the last picture. I spent some beautiful days of my childhood wandering the town and the grounds of the school. I am so happy for these girls that they are able to be there.

 

The Internet

The Bad

:: The Comedian vs. The Smart Phone @ The Imaginative Conservative

“Kids are by nature mean. Smart phones make them meaner. Why? They can’t see the faces and experience the reactions of those they diss. Their “humor” is more cruelly fun than it might otherwise be, because it’s unchastened by empathy. Smart phones work against the emotion that evolutionary psychologists say we need to moderate our selfish struggle for status.

“…And an insightful comedian today reminds us that nobody with eyes to see really believes that kids or the rest of us are getting less mean. These might be the toughest times ever not to be smart and pretty.”

:: Internet Outrage, Public Shaming and Modern-Day Pharisees @ Relevant Magazine

“There are many forms of online shaming: The angry blog, the critical tweet, the vicious comment on Facebook. Whatever the method—people try to hurt people. Sometimes the shaming escalates into a mob, a faux-community that latches on to the negative verdict and piles on. Under the pretense of righteous indignation, the mob licks its chops as it goes about demonizing, diminishing and destroying its target.”

:: The Shaming of Izzy Laxamana @ Slate

"The Internet has enabled the schoolyard bully to crash a family dinner, the parental tyrant to stalk his child through the school halls, and the school administrator to punish a girl for the things she does when she leaves the campus... Digital villagers are no longer relegated to the sidelines; online, everybody gets a gavel."

The Good

:: Washington Valedictorian's Secret Instagram Reveals Tear-Jerking Thoughts on Classmates @ Yahoo News

 

A friend asked if I ever just wanted to quit the internet.

I feel like quitting the internet as often as I feel like quitting everything else involving humanity, including parenting. [wink] But I've come to the conclusion that I need to be the best human I can be wherever I am, and that includes the internet. I've seen so much encouragement, intelligence, and kindness on the internet (FB in particular) as well, and I want to contribute to that if I can (even though I am far from perfect).

You have the power to make the world a better, kinder place, friends. Wherever you are--work, school, community, internet--be the best human you can be.

Like the kid in the article above.

And like this guy:

:: Australian blood donor's 'golden arm' has saved lives of 2 million babies @ KPTV

 

Math

:: 12 Useful Math Hacks That They Didn’t Teach You In School @ Today Christian. There are some interesting ones here!

 

Literature and Stories

[You didn’t think I’d skip this topic, did you?]

:: What Etgar Keret Learned From His Father About Storytelling And Survival @ npr. I love, LOVE this article. Go read it all!

"My father was very charismatic and a very good storyteller but he couldn't invent anything so he would tell me stories about things that had just happened. And these stories would be amazing and there was sometimes violence in them, many extreme things, but at the same time, they were full of love for mankind and even the people who would do those extreme things, you would still understand them and like them. The protagonist in those stories, they would always be prostitutes and mafia guys and drunk people.

“…Those stories, for me, were always the model for the function of stories and storytelling in our lives — the idea is that you kind of look reality straight in the face, it doesn't matter how ugly it is, and you try to find humanity in it, you try to find beauty in it, you try to find hope in it. So you can't beautify it, but at the same time, you should find these tiny things that you know that would make sometimes very violent and unhappy occasions still human and emotional.”

:: A Decadent Hell Hole: The Dystopia of “A Handmaid’s Tale” @ The Imaginative Conservative. I read this book a year or two ago. It was fascinating and chilling!

:: Preparing Students to Think about Modern Literature @ Center for Lit

“Joyce’s novel offers a great opportunity to talk about the purpose and nature of literature, as well as the project of the early 20^th century modernists. At CenterForLit we believe that all great literature is worth reading, even when we disagree with the worldview of the author. It is through reading opposing viewpoints that we come to have compassion for other worldviews, while being strengthened in our own. And there is always the slightest chance that the author we don’t agree with has noticed something true about the world, which can then be magnified and deepened with real Truth.”

Food for Thought ~ As Summer Begins

Art is how we decorate space; music is how we decorate time. [HT: Squilt Music]

Stories

:: On Reading Fairy Tales @ Theopolis Institute [Go read it.]

C.S. Lewis “raises . . . the problem of imaginative impoverishment. The educational system has misread the need of the moment: fearing that young people will be swept away by emotional propaganda, educators have decided the best thing they can do for children is to fortify their minds against imagination and emotion by teaching them to dissect all things by rigorous intellectual analysis.”

:: Why Broken Stories Matter @ CiRCE

"The broken stories of human existence matter because they can lead us to the whole story of the Gospel, and as a teacher I am called to help my students understand the road from broken story to whole story. What a privilege it is."

:: How Fiction Makes Our Brains Better

 

Education

:: Teach Like a Five Star Chef @ CiRCE

On the one hand we have the perhaps pretentious but certainly conscientious approach of an artist who cares deeply about the nature of his ingredients, their relationships, and what they taste like in and of themselves. On the other hand we have the consumerist approach, driven more by the eater than the nature of the food.

:: Out of the Classroom and into the Woods @ npr

Every Monday morning, the kids suit up for a day outdoors. Rain or shine — even in the bitter cold — they go out. They head to the woods next to their school where they've built a home site with forts and a fire pit.

First thing, the kids go to their "sit spots." These are designated places — under a tree, on a log — where each kid sits quietly, alone, for 10 minutes. Their task is to notice what's changed in nature since last week.

Parenting

:: An open letter to the village @ Sharp Paynes

[I]f ever there was a village that could help raise a child, this would be the one I’d choose.

Food for Thought

 

I’m catching up on more than six weeks worth of interesting links! Feel free to pace yourself!

Stories

:: To Live As If I Believed: The Thin Spaces of Children's Literature @ On Being

"Art is created in kairos — an indeterminate time, unbound by the clock, where God is ever present. When art is shared and experienced, that thin place erupts open again for the mind and heart of the believer."

:: Why Fairy Tales Are Dangerous @ The Imaginative Conservative

Dear Mr. Dawkins, you’ve said lately that fairy tales are quite harmful. Your reason for thinking this is simple, and true: you told attendees at the Cheltenham Science Festival, “I think it’s rather pernicious to inculcate into a child a view of the world which includes supernaturalism…"

Education

:: How Memory, Focus and Good Teaching Can Work Together to Help Kids Learn @ Mind/Shift

[I seriously love everything about this article. Go read it!]

"Without memorizing some information, it’s harder for the brain to acquire new knowledge and skills. It takes longer for the brain to process new information, and students are less likely and slower to ask informed and perceptive questions.

“The more you know, the more you can make conclusions, even be creative,” Klemm said. “All of these things have to be done by thinking, and thinking has to be done from what’s in your working memory.”

:: 100 Things For Kids to Memorize @ Ed Snapshots

:: Why the Liberal Arts Belong in Elementary School @ U.S. News and World Report

Willingham described one study in which 11th graders were given a reading test and various other tests of "cultural literacy" - knowledge of artists, entertainers, military leaders, musicians, philosophers and scientists - as well as separate tests of factual knowledge of science, history and literature. "The researchers found robust correlations between scores on the reading tests and the various cultural literacy tests," Willingham wrote. Dozens of other studies have found similar results; for comprehension, knowledge is even more important than overall reading ability or IQ. In short, to be a good general reader, you need broad general knowledge.

:: Why Liberal Arts is Super Dumb @ The Mugdown [wink]

:: Sir Ken Robinson: Creativity Is In Everything, Especially Teaching @ Mind/Shift

"Creativity draws from many powers that we all have by virtue of being human. Creativity is possible in all areas of human life, in science, the arts, mathematics, technology, cuisine, teaching, politics, business, you name it. And like many human capacities, our creative powers can be cultivated and refined. Doing that involves an increasing mastery of skills, knowledge, and ideas."

:: Can Mathew Crawford Deliver Us from Distraction? At The Chronicle of Higher Education

His earlier book, 'Shop Class,' contrasted skill-based, craft-oriented knowledge and the satisfaction it brings with the kind of understanding he acquired studying physics ... or philosophy at Chicago. The certainties of physics might establish an intellectual foundation, and philosophical ambiguities may delight, but not much compares to the roar of a bike.

 

Parenting and Relationships

:: Is having a loving family an unfair advantage? @ The Philosopher’s Zone [The article that should have been published by The Onion, but wasn’t. The good news, though: ]

'"The evidence shows that the difference between those who get bedtime stories and those who don’t—the difference in their life chances—is bigger than the difference between those who get elite private schooling and those that don’t," he says.'

:: Have You Ever Felt Like Being a Mother Has Ruined You? @ Carrots for Michaelmas

Each night’s sleep lost for love of a child, each puddle of vomit to be cleaned up, each nursing session with cracked and bleeding nipples, each bottle scrubbed, each tray washed, each onesie laundered, each diaper changed chips away at our former selves. But what’s underneath is something better and more beautiful. That painful love washed away every facade I clinged to and revealed a truer me. But the process is brutal.  

:: If you want to win your child’s heart, don’t go by the rules @ Sally Clarkson

However, in all relationships, (parenting, friendship, marriage, work), people are designed by God to respond from their heart. If their hearts are attached and served by the people relating to them, and their felt needs are met, people will tend to respond to the one who shows them the most love.

:: Personality Matters: Understanding MBTI Typing @ Simply Convivial [Because I love personality typing!]

:: Did God Make a Mistake or Create a New Melody? @ Sally Clarkson

Life

:: The Illusions of Money, Power, and Fame: Why Fitting in Is Overrated @ Goins, Writer

"And as you move towards to your calling, that special thing you were born to do, you will find yourself accessing all the skills you once thought were weaknesses, those embarrassing quirks and personality traits you used to hate, and you will find a use for them all."

:: What You Learn in Your 40s @ The New York Times

"There are no grown-ups"

"Among my peers there’s a now-or-never mood: We still have time for a second act, but we’d better get moving on it."

"By your 40s, you don’t want to be with the cool people; you want to be with your people."

:: “You have to tell people what you’re interested in.” @ Modern Mrs. Darcy

[I had the amazing experience of being a "middle-man" this past week. An acquaintance and I were chatting for the first time. Through her willingness to be open, a series of unexpected "God" events occurred and we landed her nephew a job in five days!]

Fascinating 

:: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II @ Smithsonian

:: Spineless: Susan Middleton’s Mesmerizing Photographs of Marine Invertebrates @ Brain Pickings

:: 20+ Photos of Geometrical Plants @ Bored Panda

:: Free Adult Coloring Pages @ The Mad House

:: What I learned from watching every TED-Ed Lesson @ TED Blog

Food for Thought ~ On Science

:: On the Strange Squid Near at Hand @ Dappled Things

[Love, LOVE this one on education. GO READ IT.]

"So it can hardly be denied that the squid is an interesting animal. What then? What is the value of considering this animal, if any, beyond satisfying the particular interests of the biologist? Perhaps the first thing to note is that whether or not we see the point, as non-specialists, of studying the squid, we are inevitably drawn, upon observing it, to ask questions. “What is it? How does it live?” we wonder. “Why is it?” we may even be tempted to ask. But such questioning, inevitable as it is, is a complicated matter. We bring all sorts of assumptions into the asking, and even more into the act of investigating. When we attempt to understand a thing we are assuming much about its nature, our own, and that of the entire cosmos. Good questioners that we are, we must not leave our questioning itself unconsidered."

:: Why America’s obsession with STEM education is dangerous @ The Washington Post

[This post is fantastic!]

The United States has led the world in economic dynamism, innovation and entrepreneurship thanks to exactly the kind of teaching we are now told to defenestrate. A broad general education helps foster critical thinking and creativity. Exposure to a variety of fields produces synergy and cross fertilization. Yes, science and technology are crucial components of this education, but so are English and philosophy. When unveiling a new edition of the iPad, Steve Jobs explained that “it’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough — that it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing.”

:: What is Science? @ The Imaginative Conservative

One disastrous consequence of this reductionist view of science is the separation of cleverness from wisdom. Once physics is divorced from metaphysics it is no longer able to make moral or ethical judgments. Liberated from theology and philosophy, which are no longer considered sciences, the new truncated “science,” more properly called scientism, can be put to the service of damnable endeavours. The list of such endeavours, clever but lacking in wisdom, includes the guillotine, the gas chamber, the atomic bomb, nerve gas, biological weapons, and abortion technology.

:: Why I’m a Man of Science—and Faith @ National Geographic

"At the most fundamental level, it’s a miracle that there’s a universe at all. It’s a miracle that it has order, fine-tuning that allows the possibility of complexity, and laws that follow precise mathematical formulas. Contemplating this, an open-minded observer is almost forced to conclude that there must be a “mind” behind all this. To me, that qualifies as a miracle, a profound truth that lies outside of scientific explanation." -Francis Collins, interviewed in National Geographic Magazine.

:: Science Narrows in on Imagination @ The Imaginative Conservative

"This new scientific wisdom points the way forward, to imagination and creativity now, and eternity later. Our creativity, now, mimics that of God, in the past and future beyond the limits of Time, for that is His plan and is how we are made. Since all this is beyond mere measurement, it is beyond the limits of science and the comfort zone of most scientists—and best we do not tell them, for it would confuse and upset the poor dears. Instead, let us be grateful."

:: Believing in Science by David Hicks @ CiRCE

[go read this one!]

:: Watch Corals [and other slow life] Move in Timelapse Video @ Mental Floss.

The video at this link is gorgeous!

:: Simplifying science and embarking on nature journaling @ Nicole V. Bennett

[I love their journals! I’ll be posting more journaling resources and inspiration in a separate book post.]

:: Curiosity: It Helps Us Learn, But Why? @ nprEd

[On asking questions and seeking answers]

The researchers were surprised to learn that curious brains are better at learning not only about the subject at hand but also other stuff — even incidental, boring information.

:: Ready for Take-Off: Teens Pilot Airplanes in New York City @ Science Friday

[Well, this is one incredible way to increase curiosity!]

Food for Thought ~ Education, Math, Literature, and Culture

[I apologize for the long list of links. I missed last week and only posted two the week before. I had to catch up! Remember, you can always follow me on Facebook—link in the sidebar—if you are interested in reading the links in “real time” as I discover them.]

“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” ~Goethe (HT: Homegrown Learners)

:: Chesterton and the Meaning of Education @ The Imaginative Conservative [Go read this one. The Chesterton quotes are priceless.]

“The truth is that the modern world has committed itself to two totally different and inconsistent conceptions about education. It is always trying to expand the scope of education; and always trying to exclude from it all religion and philosophy. But this is sheer nonsense. You can have an education that teaches atheism because atheism is true, and it can be, from its own point of view, a complete education. But you cannot have an education claiming to teach all truth, and then refusing to discuss whether atheism is true.” ~Chesterton

:: The Teacher Who Believes Math Equals Love @ nprEd

:: The Secret to Understanding “Alice in Wonderland” is Math @ From Quarks to Quasars [Alice in Wonderland is next our our read-aloud list, so I’m looking forward to watching this video again after we’re finished.]

:: The Value of Literature in the Classroom: An Internal View @ Education Week

Literature and the arts in general create pathways to discovering personal vision—to imagine a world that values one’s creativity. Imagination informs innovation.

:: Why Are the Humanities Deteriorating? @ First Things

“In this course, you are going to encounter words and images and ideas that are going to change your life. We’ve got Hamlet and Lear, Achilles and David, Frederick Douglass and Elizabeth Bennett, Augustine’s pears and Van Gogh’s stars—beauty and sublimity and truth. If you miss them, you will not be the person you could be.”

:: Morality, Myth, and the Imagination @ AfterThoughts [This is an old blog post, but it’s excellent. Go read it!]

Here is the important point: what the mind is full of is what the mind can imagine for its own character.

:: Podcast: How to "Illicit" Good Questions from Reluctant Learners with Matt Bianco @ CiRCE

:: Podcast: David Hicks Q&A @ CiRCE [I’m currently working my way through Norms and Nobility by Hicks in anticipation of hearing him speak at the upcoming CiRCE Pacific Northwest Regional Conference.)

 

My boys have enjoyed N.D. Wilson’s children’s books, and I loved his Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl: Wide-Eyed Wonder in God's Spoken World in which he expresses many of the same ideas as he does in this video. I’ll have to disagree with his assessment of Harry Potter, though. And that sends me on a new tangent:

:: The End @ Story Warren [Check out the video about Harry Potter in the comments.]

Stunned by his insight, I returned to cleaning the kitchen and wondered how my life would be different if I walked confidently in my knowledge of The Ending.

:: Harry Potter, Jesus, and Me by Andrew Peterson @ The Rabbit Room [Andrew Peterson is the author of The Wingfeather Saga. This is an old blog post, but I love it.]

But listen: we’re free to enjoy the good and the beautiful, even from the most unlikely places. We’re free—and this is huge—to look for the light in people (and things!), to give them the benefit of the doubt, to laud their beauty, to outlove unloveliness—in short, to love as Christ loves us. That includes billionaire authors like J.K. Rowling. She didn’t grow up in the Bible Belt of America; she grew up in England. And yet, in defiance of a culture that tends to snub its nose at Christianity, she wrote a story that contains powerful redemptive themes, stirs a longing for life after death, piques the staunchest atheist’s suspicion that there just might be something beyond the veil, and plainly shows evil for what it is—and not just evil, but love’s triumph over it.

:: 10 Reasons Why Kids Need to Read Non-Disney Fairy Tales @ Read Brightly

Many fairy tales offer hope — hope of redemption, hope that good can conquer evil, hope that our enemies will be vanquished. G.K. Chesterton said it best, “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

:: Asking the Insufficient Questions; In some ways, 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and 'God's Not Dead' aren't all that different by Alissa Wilkinson @ Christianity Today [Might be stepping on some toes, here, but Wilkinson always has interesting things to say about movies and culture. This article reminds me of my impressions while reading Twilight. I was going to share an excerpt of the article, but I don’t want to ruin it. Just go read it.]

:: Fr. Barron on ‘Cinderella’ @ Word on Fire [I haven’t seen this one yet, but I’m looking forward to it!]

Food for Thought ~ On Thinking Independently and Educating Ourselves

I am sharing only two links this weekend. Not because that’s all I have, but because both of these are so important that I don’t want them to be missed. Go read them. [Yes, I’m bossy like that.] I have shared quotes to whet your appetite, but they are no substitute for the full articles.

 

:: What I Learned from Teaching English in North Korea @ Ideas.TED

As you might have noticed, I’ve spent a great deal of time contemplating discussing ideas, learning dialectically (as opposed to didactically), and writing persuasive essays this year (with more posts to come). This article has haunted my thoughts for the past two days because it shows the consequences of not doing these things. We must let our children (and ourselves!) learn how to wrestle with ideas! It reminds me of a quote by Leigh Bortins in The Question: “One of the hardest things about being a parent or teacher is believing (to the point of acting on your belief) that truth will stand up to scrutiny.”

“Their entire system was designed not to be questioned, and to squash critical thinking. So the form of an essay, in which a thesis had to be proven, was antithetical to their entire system.”

 

:: Stop Cleaning the Kitchen and Read a Book by Susan Wise Bauer @ Memoria Press

Tsh posted this article in her Cuppa Reads at The Art of Simple this weekend, and I needed to read it after a rough time with a book last night.

I have a confession to make. Reading is difficult for me. Does that come as a surprise to you? I have a hard time shutting out distractions and not going for easy entertainment like television. I struggle with important books that I don't understand or feel like I'm not intelligent/receptive/emotionally sensitive enough to get. I get impatient when I can't get into a book quickly. I get impatient for the ending of a book when I do get into it. I feel guilty if I'm reading strictly for pleasure (and books I truly simply enjoy are super rare). But if the book isn't pleasurable, it is work to read it.

But still, I make time to read because it is important to me.

“In order to get educated, we do not have to go to graduate school. We have to read, take notes on what we read, and discuss ideas with our friends.

“…But remember this, as you resolve to embark on a program of self-education: Reading is very difficult. Many of us become frustrated in our first attempts to read the classics.

“…Often, this is the point at which the battle for self-education is lost. We decide: Ah, I just don't have enough education to understand this. And we give up.”

Food for Thought ~ Memory, Liberal Arts, Science, and More

 

:: How Memorization Feeds Your Imagination @ The Gospel Coalition

This is a fantastic series. Go read it!

But the craft of memorization is not just for our internal uses; like most crafts it has practical application. “As an art, memory was most importantly associated in the Middles Ages with composition, not simply with retention,” say Carruthers. “Those who practiced the crafts of memory used them—as all crafts are used—to make new things: prayers, meditations, sermons, pictures, hymns, stories, and poems.”

:: What are the liberal arts? @ Simply Convivial

Need a concise introduction to the liberal arts? Here it is!

:: We don’t need more STEM majors. We need more STEM majors with liberal arts training. @ The Washington Post

To innovate is to introduce change. While STEM workers can certainly drive innovation through science alone, imagine how much more innovative students and employees could be if the pool of knowledge from which they draw is wider and deeper. That occurs as the result of a liberal arts education.

:: How Geography is History’s Secret Weapon @ AfterThoughts

It is so easy to read history as a child and never grasp the significance of geography — all these faceless people and characterless settings we read about. And I tend to be drawn to the ideas of history, it’s true. But at the end of the day, one of the primary ways God has directed history is through creation’s topography.

:: The unexpected math behind Van Gogh's "Starry Night" - Natalya St. Clair @ TED-Ed

(For some art, math, and astronomy. Thanks for the share, Kristin Grear!)

 

:: Why Charlotte Mason Families Should Study Astronomy @ AfterThoughts

In my opinion, observation is the true heart of all education. Indeed, education is most effective when it arises from a natural curiosity, an innate desire on the part of the student to know and understand. This is especially true of science education, which is, after all, nothing more than the close, methodical observation of God’s natural world.

:: The above article leads so nicely into the Classical Conversations Parent Practicum topic for this season: The Art of Inquiry.

We’re excited to announce that the 2015 Parent Practicum theme will be science, emphasizing the building nature of science explorations: they lead to understanding and AWE. We begin with the grammar stage of curiosity and wonder, through the dialectic, and end with the rhetoric stage of awe in the face of dawning understanding. Wonder to wonder!