For the Children’s Sake

Stacks of books tower on every flat surface (and some not-so-flat surfaces) of my house. I’ve been allowing my imagination to wander lately, and it has designed a beautiful library/meeting hall to be built in the field in front of my house. “Imagination” is the key word here, but if I don’t do something soon it will be either my family or the books—I don’t think there’s room for both. [wry grin]

One of these towering stacks is the “education and culture” stack (not to be confused with the culture and educational philosophy shelf).

Some books in this towering stack are more recent favorites: The Core, The Question, and The Conversation by Leigh Bortins; Beauty for Truth’s Sake and Beauty in the Word by Stratford Caldecott; Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler’s Guide to Unshakable Peace by Sarah Mackenzie; and Leisure, the Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper.

Some are important books that require more intelligence than I currently possess in order to finish: Norms and Nobility by David Hicks and Climbing Parnassus by Tracy Lee Simmons. [Clearly I’m delusional about when that intelligence will manifest itself because I haven’t shelved them yet.]

Some are books I’ve finished in the past few months and whose riches I’m still digesting: Awakening Wonder: A Classical Guide to Truth, Goodness & Beauty by Stephen R. Turley, PhD (a good but dense read) and The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education by Ravi Jain (an excellent must-read, even though it is over my head in parts).

[We won’t even talk about the books still on my wish list!]

After reading The Liberal Arts Tradition in particular, I had so many thoughts swirling in my brain and I began synthesizing some ideas to share in blog posts. My real hope was to somehow synthesize all of the above books into something resembling a cohesive educational philosophy complete with derivative practices.

Hahahaha!

So what does Heidi do when she is overwhelmed by a task in front of her? [Other than binge on chocolate and Netflix?] She watches multiple educational videos and series. She attends an educational retreat.

She starts another book. Or two.

Instead of buying more books, I looked at my educational philosophy shelf and grabbed two books I hadn’t read in forever.

First up: A Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levison. This one is completely manageable. Less than 100 pages. A brief introduction to Charlotte Mason. Very brief chapters covering all the subjects with practical how-to advice. A few lists and graphs (yay for lists and graphs!). In summary: brief and practical.

On a roll, I grabbed the second book: For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay.

I’d like to have a little chat with the younger me who first read the book some years ago.

Why didn’t you allow these beautiful words and ideas to change your life?!

[Okay, I know why: I was overwhelmed. There just wasn’t enough of me to go around. My main goal was to keep everyone alive. But, still.]

I was convicted with every word. Convicted that I could spend a profitable 10 years just reading and re-reading the books I already own without buying another single book. Convicted that it doesn't matter how many books I read if they don't change me. Convicted that I need to choose a few beautiful books to re-read often. Convicted that I have failed myself and my children in setting good habits that would make doing the right things so. much. easier. for all of us because we could do all the little things without thinking and without effort and save our thinking and effort for the big things.

So I had a "chat" with my kids, which was probably the wrong thing (ha!), apologizing to them for my own poor habits and apologizing for failing to make their lives easier, and explaining that we are all under authority to do the right thing.

It's really difficult to turn a large passenger ship around. Especially when the captain has shockingly poor habits. Sigh.

But good stuff, friends. Good and beautiful stuff in this one.

This is not just a homeschooling book. It is not even just a book about education.

It is a book about these beautiful humans who inhabit our homes and how we should treat them. How we can respect them as persons and work to enlarge their lives.

From the Introduction:

This book…is not a specific guide to one particular plan. Education is an adventure that has to do with central themes, not the particular packages a given generation puts them into. It’s about people, children, life, reality!

In the first chapter, What Is Education?, the author introduces the reader to Charlotte Mason and her world. 

In the lengthy second chapter, the reader learns that “Children Are Born Persons.”

At first glance, this idea does not seem revolutionary to us, but a deeper look at this idea reveals the truth.

Look well at the child on your knee. In whatever condition you find him, look with reverence. We can only love and serve him and be his friend. We cannot own him. He is not ours… Respect him. Do not see him as something to prune, form, or mold. This is an individual who thinks, acts, and feels. He is a separate human being whose strength lies in who he is, not in who he will become.

We are told to place a feast of ideas and experiences in front of a child and then get out of the way.

Allow the child to have an interior life that you don’t meddle in. Let the Holy Spirit and the child do what they will with what he has seen and heard.

Charlotte Mason highly valued a child’s time and opportunity to play. Encourage play, give a child time and materials and remove other distractions and pressures, but do not organize play.

Charlotte Mason fed children with Living Ideas from outside of those children’s world. Read beautifully written biographies, stories of other cultures, fables, stories about animals, literature. Read slowly. Have a child narrate back what he has heard. Don’t test the child. Allow her to choose the details that she remembers. Allow a child to learn as his own speed.

The third chapter covers the topic of Authority and Freedom.

This is the chapter that hit me the hardest.

Charlotte Mason exhorts us to train a child in good habits so that right behavior becomes easy and the student’s efforts and energy can be used for greater challenges.

What I truly loved about the perspective here is that it is so full of grace. It is not a rigid system of endless dos and don’ts from an authoritative perspective, but an understanding that we are all under authority to do the right thing and that we must first understand the child’s needs. We must give children “freedom within known limits, both physically and morally.” We must not be aggressive. We as parents must “exercise great self-restraint” and not place too many limits or pile on expectations.

We must show that we are mature enough to stick to the lines which are right, and that we don’t merely boss the child about for our convenience.

In this lengthy chapter, I was reminded continuously of this quote by G.K. Chesterton: “The more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.”

Chapter four introduces us to Charlotte Mason’s educational principles.

[You can read them here.]

Teach the skills for their own sake.
Introduce the child to a wide curriculum of living books.
Keep teaching time short enough so that his natural hunger for “real” life can be satisfied.

Macaulay focuses on Charlotte Mason’s motto: “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.”

Atmosphere can be cultivated at home and at school.

Students can learn the discipline of attention and concentration, truthfulness, self-control, and unselfishness. Parents and teachers can provide structure and form.

Parents and teachers can give students access to the best sources.

“Let the children at the best of life!” is Charlotte Mason’s challenge to us. Life includes not only living experiences, but also the best that mankind has produced in art, books, music, ideas, and many more areas.

We don’t have to chart exactly what a child has “learned” from any of these sources to make it worthwhile using them. This is a different way of thinking about learning. Our job is to give the best nourishment regularly. The child takes what is appropriate to him at that time.

We are also encouraged to allow students to do real work, take on real responsibility, and spend time in creative pursuits.

Chapter five delves into the principle “education is a science of relationships.”

We must take steps to provide a diet which opens doors for each child to build a relationship with God, other persons, and the universe. If it sounds broad, it is broad!

Knowledge is divided into three categories: knowledge of God, knowledge of man, and knowledge of the universe.

These divisions correspond well to the three categories of philosophy outlined in The Liberal Arts Tradition: divine philosophy, moral philosophy, and natural philosophy.

In this chapter (again, lengthy), Macaulay covers the “subjects” of theology, history, literature, morals and citizenship, composition, languages, art, music, science, geography, mathematics, physical development, and handicrafts.

The Word of God is like fertile seed you drop into the soil. The child does not take in everything that is there. He thinks about some aspect of it.

“Why do you study, or do math, art, etc.?” should be swiftly answered by “Because it is part of the whole which God has created.”

Math does relate to the whole of truth; it has its place. It is like art, music, horticulture, or cooking: the “Christian-ness” of it lies in itself. We are secure in God’s truth, which is a framework into which we can fit all the parts of reality.

Having given the basis for the knowledge, plus a place for the telling of ideas or discussion, please allow each child to live his own private life. We tend to crash in where angels fear to tread. We want to push along the work that belongs to the Holy Spirit. Let the child do his own living—please!

The life of education has to include the whole of our humanness. We need to relate as persons to the God who is there, to be nourished with good ideas through books, art, music, history, literature, etc. We need to relate to other persons, to know and be known. We need the beauty of nature, and we are made to respond creatively in speech, music, through art, etc. We need to know the limits of law, and yet the freedom of our separate choices.

The book closes with a brief sixth chapter which introduces Charlotte Mason’s motto “I am, I can, I ought, I will.”

I am made in the image of God and made to have a relationship with Him. I can act with confidence. I ought to do what is right (not just what I want). I will choose what is right under all circumstances.

And God’s grace is available to me when I fail.

The motto, “I am, I can, I ought, I will” makes a circle, a perimeter, inside of which my human life may be lived with joy and fullness. There is song, lightness, spontaneity. There is the possibility of attaining height proper to one’s self.

Lovely.

Friends, I highly recommend this book, whether you are homeschooling or using other schooling methods, whether your children are still young or growing older.

 

So now I have so many beautiful ideas to synthesize that I may die trying. But stay tuned for more to come…

On Potential Energy, Constraints, and Creativity: Conversations with a Teenage boy

On Energy

My son and I just had a conversation about this the other day. He's in the "this is useless; when will I ever use this?" phase. I told him it's a little like energy. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. He has to gather energy from other sources in order to make his own spark. And he'll never know what combination of energy sources will make that spark until the moment it happens.

The more energy gathering he does, the more potential creative energy he has.

On Constraints

Another day we were driving to the swimming pool for practice. This son, who is always coming up with fantastical solutions to everyday problems, said, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could earth-bend a bridge all the way to the swimming pool?”

I countered, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could bend the earth so that wherever we wanted to be was suddenly just a step away?”

Let’s talk about the word fantastical, shall we? It means “conceived by an unrestrained imagination.” The word I want to focus on is “unrestrained.”

God is the ultimate Creator. He created staggering vastness (in its extent, proportions, quantity, and intensity). He created staggering minute-ness. He created staggering beauty in material, texture, form, color, and pattern. He created staggering diversity and variety.

Sheer excess, friends. There is nothing practical about a thousand of varieties of fruit.

Every day, by the witness of His own creation, I learn that God delights in creating.

But God also created constraints.

Physical law. Natural law. Moral law. Chronological time. Biological systems.

God is a God of cosmos (form and harmony), not a God of chaos.

The greatest creativity I’ve witnessed has not occured in unrestrained environments.

Anyone can plink random notes on a piano and call it a song. But if the musician uses his imagination within the constraints of rhythm and harmony and tempo and dynamics, he achieves a certain masterful creativity.

In fact, the greater the constraints, the greater the creativity.

That seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it?

In writing, the tighter the form (paralellism, poetry), the greater the requirement for a precision of words and ideas.

In fantasy writing, authors who are able to conceive of consistent constraints for their fantasy world and plot constraints for their characters are able to create a more masterful story.

I would not hesitate to say that creating beauty within constraints and overcoming restraints to solve problems show a higher degree of creativity.

The greater number of constraints (either within a form or as problems to overcome) or the greater the complexity that is brought into harmony, the greater the creative skill.

In many ways, we fight against this as a culture. We don’t like constraints. My teenage son doesn’t like constraints. I don’t like constraints. Constraints aren’t fair. Constraints aren’t fun. Constraints aren’t easy. Society should have solved all our problems for us by now.

But, made in the image of God, we are still hard-wired to know, deep inside, that constraints are necessary. We are still hard-wired to need constraints to grow in character, in skill, and in creativity. We are still hard-wired to value those traits when we see them in others. Do you know how I know this?

Do you want to watch a movie about a character who has nothing to overcome?  When someone is given everything they need or want without restraint, are strong character, skills, and creativity likely to follow? Are a man’s accomplishments worthy of praise if he puts no effort into them? Don’t we love an underdog story?!

Skillful creativity is not unrestrained imagination.
Skillful creativity is bringing chaos into harmony or form.
Skillful creativity is perseverance in adversity.
Skillful creativity is acknowledging restraints and solving problems in spite of them.

Why do I want my boys to read books like Wonder, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, A Long Walk to Water, and The Boys in the Boat? Because these are characters [particular (historical) and universal (fiction)] who are faced with constraints, great constraints; they work within their limitations to do incredible things, they show astounding perseverance in the face of adversity, and they grow in character as a result.

Ask kids, ask yourself: what constraints (and how many) did each of the people in the following videos face? Did working within these constraints require a higher degree of character, skills, and/or creativity for the people who solved them? Would their creativity have been better served without constraints?

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."

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

Navigating the World of Teen Reading

My history with Honey for a Child's Heart goes all the way back to second grade. My teacher shared the resource with my mom, and it became my mom’s go-to book when searching for good literature selections for us girls all through our childhood. I purchased my own copy (an updated edition) eight years ago. It is still one of my favorite resources when I need to be encouraged and inspired to share good books with my children.

I purchased Honey for a Woman's Heart: Growing Your World through Reading Great Books the same year. It has a different format from Honey for a Child’s Heart. Rather than sharing her own list of recommended books and authors, Gladys Hunt asked other women to share their favorites, and the recommendations are sprinkled throughout the book as Hunt inspires us to read widely. This book reminds me why I love my ChocLit Guild book club so dearly. There is nothing like reading in community with friends who are also lovers of the written word!

Having read both the child’s and woman’s editions, I had been putting off purchasing Honey for a Teen's Heart, not knowing how much it would add to the conversation about books. But a funny thing happened this past year: I became the parent of a teen. And because my newly-minted teen has now been a voracious reader of chapter books for more than six years, he has read an insane number of the good books available and appropriate for children AND he is capable of reading challenging books.

Teen-hood is a time to start branching out a bit. Rather than sticking with “safe” books, I want Levi to start reading books with more challenging ideas and learning to think and discern and discuss. But that also doesn’t mean I want him to walk into the young adult section of the library and sit down to the buffet without any parental guidance.

As it turns out, I have no idea where to go from here and I need guidance in order to practice good parental guidance! I know some classics such as Dickens, Hugo, Austen, and Dumas. But I also know that Levi’s reading needs to be wider and more varied than classics and than my own teen reading. It certainly doesn’t help me any that Levi’s genre of choice is fantasy, which is not, by any stretch of the imagination, my forte.

So I purchased Honey for a Teen’s Heart, hoping that it would give me inspiration as well as tools to help me facilitate a rich reading experience for Levi.

It’s perfect in every way.

The author ties together all of the ideas that have been floating around in my brain this past year—about parenting teens, choosing good literature, reading stories, asking questions, and learning in the dialectic stage.

I would like to review this one in depth for those of you as curious about the contents as I was.

In the first chapter, Hunt again shares the benefits and wonders of reading and sharing life through books, but she also gives great parenting wisdom and insight into teens and the culture that surrounds us.

“Adolescents coming into their teenage years send out two conflicting messages: (1) ‘Leave me alone and I’ll make my own decisions,’ and (2) ‘Please help me; I feel very vulnerable.’ Which message will you listen to?”

In the second chapter, Hunt talks briefly about imagination and the screens and electronics that compete for our teens’ attention before moving on to what makes a good book in chapter three.

“Fiction is not untrue just because it is called fiction. Good fiction contains truth. It is not the Truth, but it serves as a signpost to the Truth, to the reality of God, and of our need for redemption.”

“The story may take us on adventures or introduce us to people not remotely related to our lives. Nevertheless, because people are the same on the inside and have to make the same kind of choices, the story teaches us truth, both about the differences in God’s created world and the commonalities of human experience. Good fiction does not always have a happy ending, but it always shows possibilities of how to act or resolve the conflict. It ends with hope, with some possible good in sight, some redeeming vision.”

“A story of despair is different from a tragedy. Some facet of human values, some meaning is always present in the great tragedies of literature…And, in contrast to the literature of despair, people in tragedies are ‘choosers,’ not hapless victims.”

And she quotes Katherine Paterson:

“Hope is a yearning, rooted in reality, that pulls us toward the radical biblical vision of a world where truth and justice and peace do prevail, a time in which the knowledge of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, a scene which finds humanity…walking together by the light of God’s glory. Now there’s a happy ending for you. The only purely happy ending I know of.”

She ties in what we’ve been talking about the past few months with The Lost Tools of Writing:

“Good fiction can’t help having an ethical dimension. Everything we do means something. Fiction should teach us on many levels. At least it should help us evaluate truth in the context of life.”

And she speaks out against poorly-written “safe” books.

“[L]iterature…should be unconsciously, rather than deliberately and defiantly, Christian…Too often the Christian worldview is packaged as propaganda, rather than a well-written story that engages the mind and asks questions rather than giving answers. Sometimes our standards are not high enough; we are content with books that don’t say anything really important but seem safe.”

Chapter four covers how to use books to talk about values and touches on the concept we cover with Deconstructing Penguins and Teaching the Classics—there is a mystery in every book, the hidden ideas that the author is trying to convey.

“The story demands a question. As more complex novels and stories are read, the reading demands a question so that it can make sense…You have the enjoyment of a good story, plus the inner delight of understanding what it is about…No one will really be a good reader without learning how to ask questions about what has been read. A young person may read the words flawlessly, but reading is getting the meaning behind the words. It is not so much learning to read as it is learning to think.”

Yes!

“A book is a story about someone else. If it is a good book it gives perspective on what life is all about, about ways to act, ways to think, choices to make. What we are looking for is the ability to ask questions about what we read to discover what is true.”

Hunt follows this with specific questions to ask of the story that fall under three categories: let the story answer questions, question the story with your theology or belief system, and question the writing style of the book.

“A story tells the truth when we understand that this is the way things may happen, when it exposes the consequences of choices. It tells a greater truth when it gives us new insights into why things happen that way and shows us what we may have believed to be vaguely true but had never put into words. Then the story qualifies as great literature and helps us clarify and interpret life.”

Censoring books is the next topic, and I think this is an important one.

“No book will hurt you if you know how to evaluate it and have developed a principled and moral life view. If teens lack the principles to protect themselves, then no rules can keep them safe, because there is too much “out there” with destructive potential. Rules like ‘Don’t read that; don’t go there; don’t do that’—are never as effective in guarding life as an inner decision to choose what is good. In the end, the only discipline that really works is self-discipline.”

A reader also needs to be willing to see layers in a story.

“Many well-intentioned people want to protect their children by giving them only books in which the message is flatly and firmly evident…In good writing, the morality of a story is not laid on top of the narrative; it is woven into the fabric of the story so that whatever is true comes out of the characters’ actions and the plot of the story. In a fallen world, people are mixtures of good and evil, not one or the other, and the plot of any story should reveal this complexity.”

Chapter five briefly covers profanity and crude speech in books.

Chapter six is my most favorite chapter of all, alone worth the price of the book. Hunt discusses building a Christian world/life view in the context of literature. This is what was missing in my other resources (though Center for Lit does publish a Worldview Detective curriculum that looks fantastic). We know how to plot the elements of a story and discover a theme. We know how to ask questions about a character’s actions. But I have no experience with or talent for asking the right questions about a book’s worldview, nor am I well-versed in the different worldview possibilities. Hunt covers it all in this comprehensive chapter.

On a “Christian Veneer” and the difference between indoctrination and life-building:

“[B]uilding a life is different from being indoctrinated. Indoctrination is instruction in the fundamentals of a certain point of view. It does not necessarily mean learning how to think or even how to act. Instead it may mean conforming to a standard. What happens on the outside is not necessarily what is happening on the inside…Smugness is one of the ugly fruits of indoctrination.”

“[The Pharisees] didn’t like questions; they already had all the answers. Nor were they seeking truth; they lived by their traditions. When Jesus asked questions about their beliefs, they ran him out of town.”

“Truth is strengthened, not weakened, by asking questions about it.”

The author begins in Genesis and shares ideas and questions for discussion. She also gives seven specific questions that a worldview should answer before summarizing seven popular worldviews including Deism, Existentialism, and Nihilism and listing examples of books with those worldviews. This is a meaty section of the book, and worthy reading.

Hunt spends a full chapter (seven) on the topic of fantasy, which I obviously appreciate. She quotes Susan Cooper:

“There are no longer any sacred festivals in the American calendar, religious or otherwise; there are only celebrations of commerce. We don’t have heroes; we have celebrities.”

And more…

“Imagination is one of the chief glories of being created human, in the image of God. No other created being can imagine things that can’t be seen and then make connections between what is visible and what is invisible. For Christians, whose most important investment is in the invisible, the imagination is of greatest importance.”

“Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it. A good writer writes what he believes to be true; a bad writer puts down what he believes that his readers should believe to be true. Good writers write about the eternal questions; inferior writers deny the eternal.”

Hunt doesn’t stop there. Chapter eight covers how to read the Bible with teens, beginning with helping them to see the overall structure of the Bible.

In chapter nine, she briefly introduces readers to various genres of books and shares a small handful of her favorites in each category, expanding a bit on the category of Poetry.

Chapter ten addresses the college-bound teen. Hunt includes a list of twenty important books that should be in a teen’s “reservoir” and make an ideal starting place for a “catch-up” list. Cultural literacy plays a big part in a student’s ability to understand what he or she reads.

“In urging teens to read books, it is not that books are so important that they must read them. It is rather because they are so important that they must read them, because we want to make their lives as rich as possible.”

The second half of the book contains the book lists. I am thrilled that the author has labeled each book to indicate the age for which it is intended (early teens, mid teens, late teens, and all ages). There is a huge difference between thirteen year olds and eighteen year olds, so I’m grateful that she has made those distinctions.

There are four hundred books listed with full paragraph+ descriptions and notes of recommendation (including themes, questions to ask, and worldview comments). The lists are divided into genres of adventure and suspense, contemporary, fantasy, historical, mystery, nonfiction, science fiction, sports, and “tried and true” (classics and modern classics).

Longer author reviews are sprinkled throughout the annotations. Hunt has chosen significant authors that readers are less likely to be familiar with and gives us more extensive information about their lives, books, and worldviews.

The book ends with a chapter listing a few books by theme for quick reference (romance, geographical region, racial issues, laughter, death and grief, when life isn’t perfect, and more). The back of the book contains a glossary of literary and worldview terms as well as an index for both authors and book titles for easy reference.

I don’t know what more I could have asked for. I’ve already purchased several books on her list, many of which I was not familiar with, which surprised and excited me.

Five stars.

The Best of Mt. Hope Chronicles ~ Mama Said There’d Be Days Like This

[I’m reposting this one because I need to read it again. And again. And again.]

 

Mama Said There’d Be Days Like This

Originally published March, 2009 [when the boys were 7, 4, and 2]

Q: When you have to be creative with their learning, how do you keep up the energy to do so? You are asking a lot of yourself by homeschooling (mom, teacher, cook, cleaner, artist, etc.) How do you keep going when they just absolutely beat you down (and you KNOW you have had days like that too!)

A: What?! Me, have a bad day?! Nah. I am imperviously cheerful and energetic. I get hours of quiet time, but it wouldn't matter if I didn't, because I don't need any. A disastrous house (which mine never is, of course) just fuels my tank. Oh, and my children are angels: quiet, respectful, obedient, tidy, always ready to learn. They never use words like 'poo-poo butt.' They never have dramatic, wailing meltdowns at the mere hint of the words 'piano practice.' When we are at the store, they walk calmly beside the cart with their hands behind their backs. They never escape down the driveway in the dead of winter with nothing but a saggy diaper and rubber boots. They never, ever complain about what is served for dinner.

 

Bwa-ha-ha-ha!! Did I fool anyone? REALITY CHECK: Many days, I have nothing left by bedtime. Sometimes I have nothing left by mid-morning. Make no mistake, raising kids is hard, hard work. Rewarding, amazing, wonderful, and hard, hard work.

Things I've Learned (in my short mothering career):

:: I set the tone of our day.

87% of the time life falls apart around me, it started with my own actions or attitude, not my boys'. I get distracted. I'm playing on the computer instead of following the routine. I'm talking on the phone. I don't pay attention to the boys' needs. I don't respond appropriately to misbehavior. I don't follow through with discipline or consequences. I stay up too late and am cranky the next morning. I run errands at lunch time. I don't spend adequate time training my boys in the behavior or tasks that I desire from them...

If I recognize my own shortcomings, I deal with chaos differently. I'm less likely to blow up at the children (children!) who are falling apart, when I, as an adult, can't even do what I'm supposed to do!

It stands to reason, then, that by following the routine, being present, and paying attention to our environment, I can set our days up for success. Am I great at this? No. Am I working on it? Yes.

“It behooves a father [or mother] to be blameless if he expects his [or her] child to be.” ~Homer

My mom tells me that my dad's mother gave this parenting advice:

:: If a child is misbehaving, there are three possible reasons: He is tired, he is hungry, or he has to go to the bathroom.

I have to tell you that I've found great truth in this advice over and over again. The other day, Leif had a complete meltdown at my mom's house when we sat down to lunch. I thought it over and realized that he was likely very hungry and tired. I dealt with him very softly and coaxed him to eat. Once he calmed down, he devoured a bowl of soup and declared it (through teary eyes) to be 'licious.' Directly after lunch he had some quiet time in the playroom. And filled his diaper. The poor kid was hungry, tired, and had to go to the bathroom.

I need to pay more attention to the childrens' eating habits, making sure they get healthy snacks throughout the day. At least one of my sons needs some regularly scheduled time in the bathroom. I also need to get the boys to bed at a decent hour and have a back-up plan for quiet time when stamina is low (theirs or mine).

“In spite of the seven thousand books of expert advice, the right way to discipline a child is still a mystery to most fathers and... mothers. Only your grandmother and Ghengis Khan know how to do it.” ~Billy Cosby

:: I need to have various coping strategies up my sleeve when all else fails.

1. Get back on track with renewed focus.

Sometimes I have to slap myself and pull myself up by my bootstraps. Be confident. Be kind, calm, and firm. Take the bull by the horns. You know what I'm talking about. Wipe the slate clean and turn the day around with sheer will-power.

2. Make a drastic change in the environment.

If we're inside, go out. If we're outside, go in. If we're out and about, go home. And my personal favorite, if we're home, go out for a drive. If everyone is going in opposite directions, snuggle on the couch with a good picture book. If we're getting on each other's nerves, put everyone in separate rooms to play (including me). If we've been battling over lessons, put on loud music and dance. If the house is about to cave in from the noise and activity level, send everyone to their bed with a book. If it's cold in the house, crank up the heat....

3. Hand the children over to their father.

This isn't always an option, obviously, but I am beyond thankful that Russ has an office separate from the house where each boy has his own computer station. Sometimes Russ will take one look at me and immediately take the boys out of my hair for a while. Even 30 minutes makes a huge difference. Sometimes I go crazy and pickup the mess, clean house, or cook dinner. Sometimes I stare like a zombie at the computer screen.

4. Similar to #3, send the two-year-old to grandma's house.

I really, really like this strategy. Again, not always an option, but greatly appreciated on occasion.

5. Drink copious amounts of Dr. Pepper.

This one works well in conjunction with any other coping strategy.

6. (Directly in opposition to #5) make sure I'm taking good care of myself by eating right and getting enough sleep.

(Hence the pot of tea every afternoon to replace the Dr. Pepper habit.)

7. Have a personal mantra.

It depends on your personality. For many people, this could be a Bible verse which they can repeat to themselves. Lately, I've had the chorus 'I get knocked down, but I get up again, You're never going to keep me down...' running through my head. I find that being silly helps me recover more quickly.

8. Find something to be thankful for.

It can be a little thing, like appreciating the fact that we don't have a carpeted dining room after one of the boys spills a bowl of spaghetti. It can be the absence of something, like being thankful that we aren't all in bed with the stomach flu. It can be a big picture something, like reminding myself that I am living my dream life and there isn't any place I'd rather be.

9. Laugh.

It's better than hiding in the bathroom crying.

“When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they're finished, I climb out.” ~Erma Bombeck

 

This is when I think my readers could help out with combined wisdom. Tell me (please!):

How do YOU keep going when the going gets tough?

Vulnerability and Part 1 of “The Menagerie” by Levi

I’m going to be vulnerable with you for a few minutes:

It’s been a rough year with my oldest.

Personality clashes, hormone flares, emotional meltdowns, character issues. Probably pretty equally on both our parts.

Have I mentioned that raising adolescents can be tough?

I asked him if I could share that, and he said I could.

And I say this to let you know that we’re human, with human struggles.

The decisions are endless, and seem to have no easy answers. I hinted about the quandary in this post. How much do we expect our “square peg” children to fit in a round hole? When is it a character or training issue and when should we change our expectations?

I don’t know.

I’m reminded of this article about the best-selling teenage author Christopher Paolini. In the article, his mother talks about his education saying, “Little did I know that when Christopher was daydreaming out the window—and not finishing his math problems—he was dreaming of battling evil sorcerers and flying on dragons, dreams that would form the basis of his first book, Eragon.”

Well, exactly.

I’m not saying I have the next Christopher Paolini on my hands, not at all, but what do you do when your child would rather be thinking or writing about dragons than finishing his math? What do you do when it is a great struggle for him to bend his brain to focus on math? Even if he has the reward of free time at the end of it?

She does say in the very next paragraph: “Sometimes our children balked at lessons and we had a clash of wills. At those crucial points, Kenneth and I gave our children a choice: we told them that by law they had to attend school, but it was their decision where they would do this. They could do the assigned homeschool lessons or Dad would drive them to the local school, where they would do the work those teachers assigned. Ultimately, they always chose to homeschool, but not without a grumble here and there.”

And so we press on, but not without a grumble here and there. [wry grin] And I try to remember that learning to read was a painful process to go through with Levi, but now he can read 1,000 pages a day. So there’s that.

Maybe it is that I fear the regrets of hindsight, and I don’t want to destroy our relationship.

But I can’t live in fear. At some point I have to walk in faith here.

Levi has asked that I share with you all the very rough draft of the beginning of the story he is writing, and I told him that I would be glad to. So this is in part a preface.

Keep in mind that writing assignments are painfully completed (or not, as the case may be) by this son. Painful execution. Painful style. IEW was a battle. Even the creative assignments.

But when he is supposed to be completing a math assignment?

Magic.

Following is the first installment. I’ve edited his random capitalization and punctuation and reformatted the paragraphs. All other content is his spontaneous creativity.

Copyright 2015 by Levi Scovel

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The Menagerie

A Chronicle of the Apprenticeship and Adulthood of a Young Ranger

Chapter One

Selection

It was a dark and stormy night, a night to stay indoors, a night of fear and woe, yet there was a young man out in the blackness, struggling against the wind and snow. His name was Canth; he was the new apprentice in the Menagerie, the place where Her Majesty's royal trackers and scouts were trained.

He had been told it was a honor for him, a castle ward, to be selected for such a prestigious apprenticeship. The selection had taken place on a fair morning. He had been roused from sleep and instructed to change into a brown and green tunic and elegant but sturdy brown pants, and to venture to the Apprenticeship Hall. He had stood in line, shortest to tallest; being the tallest ward he was the last. Then he listened to all the wards receive their apprenticeships.

The first was a young girl who was very lively and fast. "Rhuinnion Green?" questioned the Chancellor.

"Yes, my lord?"

"Have you a wish to be apprenticed to a certain master or mistress?" the Chancellor asked Rhuinnion.

"My lord, I wish to be apprenticed in the courtier class," she announced with a curtsey.

"That is a fine choice," the Chancellor cried! "What say you Ariana?"

"I have seen all I would wish in a Courtier! She is polite and could outpace a centaur!" Ariana replied courteously.

"Ah, Young Tucker is next, do I speak rightly young sir?" The Chancellor requested that Tucker step forward.

"My lord, I am Tucker Nightengale."

"Ah, so I spoke rightly. Well young man, have you a request as to your apprenticeship?"

"Why, yes I do, my lord," Tucker proclaimed somewhat quietly. "My request is to be in the Mage Archen!" he happily announced.

"Well, my boy, may you be delighted to learn that Cobalion of the Mages Archen accepts you!" announced the Mage. "Tis such a rare thing when a boy shows so much talent for Ice that we will accept them if they but ask!" Cobalion pronounced. Tucker blushed. "I have seen him summon an eagle of flawless pure turquoise Ice that can mentally communicate and fly better than a natural bird! This boy will learn many secrets and may succeed me as the Master of the Mages Archen!

“I now will announce a grand thing! I am decided to adopt Tucker as my son and heir! Chancellor, do I have your acceptance of this?"

The Chancellor replied wisely, "You have my Acceptance for this is a thing of wonder, but I must warn you that Tucker must accept your offer as well, or his magical power may be lessened by shock!"

"Tucker?" queried Cobalion.

"Yes, I will accept your offers. I accept both of them!" Tucker cried, and he walked from the room with Cobalion following.

Cobalion returned presently with Tucker beside him in his new Apprentice of the Archen robes. More apprenticeships were confirmed. Some were what the teens had hoped for, others were not, but equally accepted by the teen who had been given a different apprenticeship.

After the last of the ten young wards had received their apprenticeships, it was Canth's turn. He asked if he could become a swordsman. He was turned down; Baron Egan was not accepting apprenticeships now, for he had already received three this morn. Horse school was close to sword school, but they had filled their ranks with new apprentices previously and would not take another. Everywhere he turned there was only despair. Finally he asked if he might join the Rangers. This was the place. He was received! He could not believe his fortune. The only discomfort was that he knew that he would not be training nearby. Sadly he must venture north to the Hold of Gorain, where there was a magical gate that would send him to his training place. He had spent the last thirteen years in the royal castle of the newly crowned Queen Simylene, and rued that he had had to leave the beauteous palace.

Canth’s recent memory faded and he returned to the present. Smurph, smurph in the snow went his boots as he stumbled into the hold from which he would depart to his place of training.

[To be continued…]

I’m Not Going to Lie ~ Some Days are Rough

I was waiting for something eloquent and profound to come to me, words of wisdom to share with the masses. But honestly? I don’t have it in me today.

Because some days are simply hard.

Like when you’ve been sick for more than two weeks with a nasty lingering cough, and you should be on the mend, and instead you spend 10 hours in the fetal position on the couch, your very hair follicles hurting, until you slowly shuffle to bed at 8 pm. That day, after 15 pretty good days of eating Paleo, you eat nothing but a couple Ritz crackers and a slice of marionberry pie. And the house painters finally return to your house to begin finishing up after months of a half-painted house, just when you had decided you didn’t care [twitch] about the caulk marks on the paint right by your front door, and the boys start fighting next to that fresh paint, get it on their hands and coat, and now you have gray paint smudges on your white bathroom door instead of white smudges on the gray paint by your front door.

Or the next day, when you are able to stand up long enough to take a shower, you think “today’s going to be better.” Until your son tells you he has swept the kitchen floor and it still looks like it hasn’t been swept for weeks. Or another son tells you he has cleaned his room, and what that really means is that he took a couple weeks of clean laundry that never got put away and put it back in the dirty laundry basket which is overflowing because you haven’t done it for two days. Or you think to yourself, “Hallelujah, Lola is actually playing quietly and independently for a few minutes,” even though you know, you KNOW this is never EVER a good thing. No matter how awful it is when she won’t play independently, it is infinitely worse when she does. Because that means she shaves off her eyebrows, completely. Or cuts her tongue and wipes the blood all over her shirt and your towels. Or chops off her hair. Or dumps cups full of water in her room. Or bottles full of soap. Or, this day, covers many, many surfaces with bright pink nail polish—herself, her bed, her clothes, her beloved kitty, and her carpet.

I’m going back to bed.

Contemplation, Conversation, and the ANI Chart ~ Part 2

Or “Lost Tools of Writing, the ‘How to Talk with Your Teenager’ Program, Continued”

[Read Part 1 here.]

I had to ask Levi not to give me immediate answers (usually “I don’t know!”)—I wasn’t expecting immediate “right” answers. I wanted him to think about each question or idea for a little bit. There would be no “points” detracted for not knowing, and we’d talk it through if he really couldn’t come up with something; we’d ask more questions until we did think of something!

[Keep in mind, the affirmative or negative reasons don’t need to be “good” reasons. We all have reasons for doing something that turn out to be bad reasons, but they are still compelling reasons for us at the time! We’re exploring all reasons in the ANI chart phase. The judgment comes later.]

:: The first topic of invention is definition.

We’ll start with the basics. What is Colin’s father?

He’s a man.

What is a man? Wait. Do you know what objective and subjective mean?

I think so, but I can’t remember which is which.

Well, think of objective like an object. You can give facts about an object, such as its weight or substance or color, that most people wouldn’t argue about. You can touch it; it’s concrete. Think of subjective as an idea that is subject to someone’s opinion or interpretation.

So what are some objective definitions of a man?

A man is a male human who has gone through the biological changes of puberty. In our culture, every 18 year old male can vote, be drafted for military service, get married, or go to jail; every 21 year old (and older) male can purchase alcohol and is considered a fully legal adult. In some cultures, boys become men when they go through initiation ceremonies. Those are all facts.

What are some subjective definitions of a man?

A man is brave. A man is adventurous. A man respects women. A man honors his country and family. A man faces his duties. A man provides for his family.

Do any of those definitions tell you whether Colin’s father should have stayed away?

He shouldn’t have stayed away, because he needed to be brave, and he needed to face his duties to his family. He should have stayed away, because his duties were business and traveling.

What else is Colin’s father?

He’s a father.

What are some objective definitions of a father?

A man who has a biological child or a man who has legally adopted a child.

What are some subjective definitions of a father?

A man who considers the needs of his children and provides for them and loves them.

What are some objective needs of a child?

Water, sleep, food, shelter, protection.

What are some subjective needs of a child?

Books!

Do all children need books? Did they need books in 400 BC? Do they need books in remote tribes in Africa? How about education? Does a mother polar bear educate her cub? Is this necessary for survival?

Maybe some education is an objective need. [A universal definition of education might be the knowledge and skills a human needs to survive independently. Our own cultural definition of objective education might be the ability to read, write, and understand basic math.]

How about attention, nurturing, and love? Are those objective or subjective? How about entertainment and possessions? Is pizza food or entertainment? How about birthday cake?…

Colin’s father should have stayed away because he made sure he had provided for Colin’s objective needs and hired someone to take care of him, but he should not have stayed away because Colin needed his father’s love and attention.

[What else is Colin’s father? An uncle. A widower. A rich man. A physically weak man. An Englishman… He should have stayed away because he was grieving and sick... Really, simply discussing the definition of one “term” of the issue could take hours.]

What is Colin?

A boy. A sickly, spoiled, lonely, confined boy who can’t walk but doesn’t have a hunchback and whose mother has died.

We talked about the basic needs of a child, but what were some of his needs specifically?

Colin’s father should not have stayed away because Colin needed a father’s discipline, a parent’s love and attention, and someone to model how one should face difficulties and embrace life. Colin’s father should have stayed away because Colin was unpleasant and reminded him of his dead wife.

:: The second topic of invention is comparison.

How is Colin’s father similar to Mary’s father? How are they different?

[Going back to the text to re-read how Mary’s father was described…]

They were both sickly and busy men and fathers. They were both rich and hired someone else to take care of their children. His father was a widower, but her father was not.

How is Colin’s father similar to Dickon? How are they different?

They are both male. Their homes are in the same part of England. Colin’s father is a man, but Dickon is only a boy. Colin’s father is rich and absent, Dickon is poor and nurturing.

Oh, rich and poor! Are there different cultural expectations for a rich father and a poor father?…

[How is Colin’s father similar to or different from Mrs. Medlock? A horse? A rock? Grief? How is Colin similar to or different from Mary? Dickon? You?]

:: The third topic of invention is circumstance.

When and where did the issue take place?

Misselthwaite Manor, Yorkshire, England around 1900. Colin’s father traveled all over Europe instead of being at home.

[Oh, what were the cultural expectations of a rich father in England in 1900?]

What was happening in the place with which the question is concerned?

Colin’s father left the manor and traveled all over Europe. He was grief-stricken and miserable. Colin became sickly and spoiled. Mary came to live at the Manor. The garden was revived and Colin learned to walk. (Colin’s father should not have stayed away so that he could care for his niece, experience the revival of the garden, and find that happiness was to be found at home.)

What was happening elsewhere?

Great Britain was ruling India. (He should have stayed away because Englishmen were supposed to be adventurous.)

[Teddy Roosevelt, the Wright Brothers, and the Ford Motor Company were happing in the U.S. around 1900.]

[This is probably the moment Levi looked at the clock and said, “Mom, our time’s up.” I told him there is no scheduled time limit. We’re going to talk as long as we are enjoying the conversation and we have something to talk about or we come to a natural stopping place.]

:: The fourth topic of invention is relationship.

What happened immediately before the time of the issue?

Colin’s mother died. (He should have stayed away because he was grieving. He should have stayed away because Colin reminded him of his dead wife.) The garden was shut. (He should have stayed away because the garden held bad memories for him.)

What happened immediately afterward?

When he returned home to the garden, everyone was happy. (He should not have stayed away because his home, family, and garden are what would bring him true happiness.)

[What are the objective and subjective definitions of home?]

[This is where questions about cause and effect fit in, as well.]

:: The fifth topic of invention is authority.

What is the difference between a witness and an expert?

Who is a witness to the issue within the story? What did they have to say about the issue? How reliable is their testimony? Are there additional witnesses?

Who is an expert about the issue within the story? What is his opinion? What is the source of his opinion? Is he reliable?

[This led to an interesting conversation about Dr. Craven. Was he Archibald Craven’s brother? Is he considered an expert when he didn’t seem to do Colin much good and he let his own interests interfere with his responsibility to treat Colin?]

______________________________________________________________________________________________

I didn’t share our whole conversation, just a small sample. If we had been diligent about doing Lost Tools together the past couple weeks we would have had more time to delve into each topic (a whole week to discuss the 5 common topics rather than a single day). So much more could have been discussed! It was my own fault. Obviously, definition alone could take hours if we wanted it to, starting with just one issue and two terms to define!

We worked through the topics orally and only made notes on our ANI chart.

As we compared our A column with our N column, we noticed that the majority of our column A had to do with immediate comfort or convenience and the majority of our column N had to do with facing a difficult task and reaping delayed rewards.

We can say that the answer to this issue is obvious.

But do we make bad decisions for the wrong reasons, convincing ourselves that our actions are justified? Yep.

Do we make poor decisions even when we know we should have done the opposite? Yep.

People,

I had a leisurely conversation with my 13 year old son about what it is to be a man, to be a father. The objective and subjective needs of children. The definition of education. How cultural expectations change the way we see our roles in life. That it is better to make decisions based on long term rewards rather than immediate comfort.

He would search for information in the text and read aloud interesting passages. Or I would read a passage to him.

This, THIS is what my 13 year old needed.

Contemplation: big ideas and disciplined, structured, deep thinking.

Conversation: big ideas and disciplined, structured, deep thinking—together.

Relationship: relaxed, one-on-one, verbal, no “right answers,” no “hurry up, we’re behind,” no lecturing, no frustrated interaction with another human being.

He is firmly in the dialectic/logic stage of development and of his education, and these questions are my tools to meet him where he is as a student and a human being.

It’s what I needed.

A reminder that education is not about a check list or a product or a schedule. That slowing down to think and connect is education. That playing with ideas is education.

A chance to connect with my son in a joyful, fascinating discussion, without frustration and unmet expectations.

If that’s all we do in a day, it is a day well-spent.

If I dropped every subject but one, we’d keep literature and The Lost Tools of Writing—even if we never got past the ANI chart and the 5 topics of invention. (We’d probably continue to do an hour of math each day, as well. But we’d ask questions about numbers!)

This is the dialectic stage of education, and I need to remember that my main teaching tool is a good question, and conversation is a relational activity. The goal of this stage is to begin thinking well. The papers the students write now (in Challenge A, at the beginning of Lost Tools), after the deep thinking, are very simply the pruned, organized thoughts. I don’t want Levi (and myself) to become distracted by an expectation of eloquent writing. The elocution will come slowly, one carefully implemented trope or scheme at a time, as Levi moves into the expressive rhetoric stage in the following years.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

If you are interested in exploring the dialectic stage of development and education as well as the 5 common topics of invention, I highly recommend The Question by Leigh Bortins. She explains each topic and shows how to use the questions across all subjects.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

[Next up: Our Basic Persuasive Essay Outline with Exordium and Amplification]

Contemplation, Conversation, and the ANI Chart ~ Part 1

Or “Lost Tools of Writing, the ‘How to Talk with Your Teenager’ Program”

After Levi expressed his frustration over his Lost Tools of Writing assignments, I promised him that we’ll do that subject together, every day, first thing in the morning.

We had our community day for Challenge A on Monday, but Tuesday morning he remembered. “Mom, you said you would do Lost Tools with me, first thing.”

I told him to bring his papers to the kitchen table and we’d sit down together while I ate my breakfast and drank my tea, leisurely*. (I often eat standing up because, you know, hurry, hurry, hurry. And hello, Whole30, because I didn’t have enough on my plate—ha!—and I’m modeling doing hard things.)

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Christian education is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue by nourishing the soul on truth, goodness, and beauty by means of the seven liberal arts and the four sciences so that, in Christ, the student is enabled to better know, glorify, and enjoy God.” [CiRCE]

A liberal education is not for the purpose of productivity but for the purpose of making minds free.

I can believe that with every cell of my body. But I am also human. And a mother who has a lot on her plate. And I’m lazy. And impatient.

I like either having nothing to do, or doing something quickly and having something to show for the work.

 

But this educating our children and ourselves, it is not easy, and it is not a sprint. It is a marathon, a life-long labor of love.

In our rush for output, we skip the difficult, nonquantifiable but essential step of contemplation and hurry along the quantifiable products of filled-in blanks on a worksheet or, count them, 30 items in each column of the ANI chart. We succumb to the pressures of schedule- and productivity-based educational goals.

I had been using the Lost Tools of Writing as a worksheet and writing program, but I was wrong.

The Lost Tools of Writing is a program that teaches students how to think.

I KNEW this. But I had forgotten.

The problem with thinking, or contemplation, is that it takes time and a willingness to set aside time-limits, to set aside the to-do list, to set aside the expectation of a product, to set aside all the trivial distractions in our physical space and in our minds. And, for those of us (me) not accustomed to focused, structured contemplation, it is difficult.

If it is difficult for us as adults, how much more difficult must it be for a thirteen-year-old boy?! And if we cannot spare the time and energy to model the process and value of contemplation, how will our children and students learn; will they believe us when we say it is important?

The Lost Tools of Writing is also the opportunity to talk about big, formational ideas with an adolescent—indirectly (not about their own decisions), without lecturing or moralizing. It is the opportunity to educate relationally.

It’s the “How to Talk with Your Teenager” program. And it’s GOLD.

This is what I discovered yesterday morning, during a two-hour un-rushed conversation, while we enjoyed each other’s company and ideas. True leisure.

*“At the heart of any culture worthy of the name is not work but leisure, schole in Greek, a word that lies at the root of the English word ‘school.’ At its highest, leisure is contemplation. It is an activity that is its own justification, the pure expression of what it is to be human…” ~ Stratford Caldecott, Beauty for Truth's Sake

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I began by sharing with Levi the benefit of creating an issue and an ANI chart (more about those in a minute for those of you not familiar with Lost Tools).

We contribute ideas to an ANI chart using the five common topics of invention in order to:

1. Think about and understand a story more deeply, and return to the text to remember more details.

2. Think about and know a character more deeply.

3. Think about and understand human nature more deeply, which should make us more empathetic.

4. Think about and understand ourselves, our nature, and our own decisions more deeply.

5. Practice making better decisions, and learn to use an ANI chart when faced with big decisions.

6. Learn to study the other side of arguments for clearer (unbiased) thinking, reasoning, and debating (which will be particularly helpful for policy debate in Challenge I).

 

With Lost Tools of Writing, the student chooses a “should question,” which he then turns into an issue on which he writes a persuasive essay.

In Classical Conversations Challenge A, students have assigned books to read (10 books in 30 weeks) from which they pull their issue. This month (the first weeks of the second semester), students read The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Levi asked the question “Should Colin’s father have stayed away from him purposely?” This question becomes the issue “whether Colin’s father should have stayed away from him purposely.”

Students then create an ANI chart—one column for A (affirmative reasons), N (negative reasons), and I (interesting statements or questions about the story that do not seem to fit in column A or N).

This is often when the instinctive, impulsive “of course he shouldn’t have” or “I don’t know” statements begin. Or the tedious torture of wringing blood from a rock and finding 30 reasons to place in each column.

But, BUT, the student is given TOOLS, and those tools are called the 5 Topics of Invention, which is the first cannon of Rhetoric. Essentially, they are five categories of questions to ask (about anything!) to help a person think—structured brainstorming, really.

These tools can help eliminate the spontaneous reactions (of course he shouldn’t have done it) and the empty head (I don’t know, I have no idea, where do I even start). They are tools of inquiry to gather an inventory of facts and ideas. They promote focused, organized, interactive thinking. They are conversational.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Next post: Our Conversation]