Just because she makes me smile.
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
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?
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
The Question, 5 Common Topics, and a Discussion
On a Saturday morning once a month, a group of women gather over coffee and treats in order to encourage each other, to share and discuss ideas, and to learn and grow as teachers and mothers.
Last year, we worked our way through The Core: Teaching Your Child the Foundations of Classical Education one chapter at a time, spending a whole morning on each chapter/subject. This year, we are working our way through The Question: Teaching Your Child the Essentials of Classical Education, the second book in the set (eventually a trilogy corresponding to the three arts and stages of the Trivium) by Leigh Bortins.
In The Question, Bortins introduces the chief tool of the dialectic or logic stage: the question. Not only is the question the greatest tool we possess for the skill of thinking, but we are given specific questions that make a whole, integrated curriculum completely accessible. These questions foster an independence in education because they apply to any idea in any realm of endeavor, and they can be used by anyone to think deeply about a subject.
These power questions are part of Aristotle’s Five Common Topics of Invention: definition, comparison, relationship, circumstance, and testimony. This is a systematic approach to thinking, essentially structured brainstorming. The topics of invention open up discussion like nothing else I’ve ever experienced.
After we read through and discussed the chapter on the subject of reading, our fearless facilitator suggested we spend another morning practicing what we had learned by using the questions to discuss a piece of literature. What resulted was a serious conversation about a single picture book. Eight of us, and we could have talked for another hour or two or more.
Our facilitator, my lovely friend Mindy Pickens, began by reading Chanticleer and the Fox aloud.
The story is an adaptation of the “Nun’s Priest’s Tale” from Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and is illustrated by Barbara Cooney (one of my favorite author-illustrators). It won the Caldecott Medal in 1959.
::
Once we had listened to the story, we established a basic idea of the plot and characters by asking the “Who-What-How-What” questions as outlined by Courtney Sanford on page 68 of The Question.
(Who? establishes the characters. What? establishes the conflict or problem and the rising action of the plot. How? establishes resolution, or the climax and denouement of the plot. The second What? establishes the theme or moral of the story.)
Characters: poor widow, two daughters, farm animals, Chanticleer the rooster and his seven hens (including his favorite, Demoiselle Partlet), and the fox.
Conflict and Rising Action: Chanticleer has a foreboding dream, Demoiselle Partlet calls him a coward, the fox compliments his singing so that he will expose his neck, and the fox grabs him by the throat and carries him to the woods. The rooster needs to escape the fox’s hold or he will be eaten.
Resolution: Chanticleer turns the tables on the fox and suggests he give a speech to the widow and farm animals who have followed in distress. When he opens his mouth to give the speech, the rooster escapes. The fox tries to trick the rooster once more, but Chanticleer has learned his lesson.
Theme/moral: Chanticleer declares, “Never again shall you with your flattery get me to sing with my eyes closed. For he who closes his eyes when he should watch, God let him never prosper.” The fox replies, “No, but God bring misfortune to him who is so careless about his self-control as to prattle when he should hold his peace.” The widow says, “See, that is the result of trusting in flattery.”
::
It was then time to dive head-first into the Five Common Topics.
I’ll share some notes I made from that discussion. Obviously, I cannot reproduce our complete discussion, even though I wish that I could!
Definition
Our facilitator asked us to define the word flattery.
Complimenting with the intent to manipulate (something in it for the one who is doing the complimenting).
Does it have to be manipulative? Is there always a negative connotation?
(How about in the passive? I’m flattered, but… It is often used when turning down a request, so obviously the person giving praise wanted something, but not necessarily manipulative. Or the person asked felt it was excessive praise simply to be asked. Maybe the person turning down request is saying that they are not worthy of the praise by way of thanks and gently letting down the person who made a request?)
In what other contexts have we heard the word flattery? How is it used in the Bible? Always negatively?
Excessive praise.
Can play to someone’s best “features” or something they are self-conscious about.
What broad category does flattery fall under?
Lie? Not always. Can be true or not.
(What if someone praises someone for the other person’s benefit? Not flattery. Encouragement? Can that praise be true or untrue? Is untrue or excessive praise encouraging if it is given for honorable reasons? It might be more damaging in the long-run. Seems insincere. Should find true things to say in order to encourage.)
Manipulation.
How else can one manipulate? What are other divisions of that category?
Fear, guilt, pity.
What is one using against another when they flatter? Pride.
Broad category: Manipulation. Types: Fear, Guilt, Pity, Pride (Vices?)
How are they different?
Pity tells something about the person doing the manipulation. Pride tells something about the person being manipulated.
Was the flattery to the rooster and the fox the same? Were they appealing to the same kind of pride?
One appealed to vanity, one to cunning/power.
[Definition can be applied to any word, character, or idea in a story, so this discussion could continue for hours.]
Comparison
Let’s compare the widow and Demoiselle Partlet.
How are they the same?
Female, are or have been married (with children?), and are productive. The hen is “polite, discreet, and companionable,” and the widow seems to be as well. They live on the same farm.
How are they different?
The widow is a woman. She is simple, careful, capable. Even her name (widow) is simple. She takes care of herself and her farm (so she is master over the hen). Her husband died.
Demoiselle Partlet is a hen. She is “debonair.” She has a fancy French name. She has to be led to the grain. She is one of seven wives.
[Comparison can be made between any two things (characters, events, ideas, objects) in the story or between something in the story and something outside of it. For instance, one could compare Chanticleer with another animal character in a different story. Or compare a character’s experience to one’s own. They don’t even have to be two similar things.]
Relationship
What caused Chanticleer’s predicament?
His wife wounded his pride and called him a coward when he opened up and shared his dream and fears with her.
(Flattery or manipulation works best if person is wounded in that area first.)
He responded to his wife’s criticism by strutting like a prince and being fearless. He looked with pride upon his domain.
The fox flattered him by complimenting his voice and the rooster began to sing.
What were the effects of the predicament?
The whole farm was in great distress. They ran after him, frightened. “They ran so hard they thought their hearts would burst.” “It seemed that heaven would fall.”
The rooster had to be brave in spite of his fear. [Bravery, caution, and/or pride would make interesting comparisons.] He had to outwit the cunning fox. Both Chanticleer and the fox learned lessons.
Who bore responsibility?
The author says “Alas, that Chanticleer flew down from the rafters!” but doesn’t mention that he gave in to flattery. But the author also says “Alas, that his wife took no heed of dreams!” Does the author place blame on the wife?
[There are other relationship questions. We just talked about cause and effect of one event in the story.]
Circumstance
What was happening (and where) when Chanticleer was taken by the fox?
Small circle: hens watching rooster being carried off
Next circle: widow and daughters run outside and follow
Larger circle: all animals reacting (farm and countryside)
The farm is a microcosm of a community of people (rather than unrelated farm animals); one animal’s failure affected everyone.
Wide circle: Rural area. England. During Chaucer’s time (Medieval period).
(What was England’s relationship with the French at the time? What did they think of the French people? What does the hen’s French name say about her character?)
What was Chaucer’s world like?
It was a very moral, religious world (even if people didn’t follow the moral code). Chaucer’s characters present many universal “types.”
Testimony
[Aristotle divides this topic into six categories: authority, testimonial, statistics, maxims, laws, and precedents.]
Who is an authority within the book?
The author says that the book is about the widow and then proceeds to tell about the rooster and the hen. The story also says that the widow had patiently led a very simple life since the day her husband died. What was she like before? How did her husband die? Is the story something similar to what the widow had experienced? There was an odd halt in the action right after the rooster was taken. Was the story up to that point something the widow had experienced, but her experience had a different outcome? Was she speaking from the authority of experience when she said “That is the result of trusting in flattery”?
The widow is an authority because she is the matriarch of the farm. (Oddly, Chanticleer, the only patriarch on the farm, is carried off by pride.)
Both Chanticleer and the fox give their testimony when they tell what they’ve learned from the experience. (Might also be considered authority?)
In addition to the morals or proverbs listed above we have the idioms turnabout is fair play and pride comes before a fall.
Would numerous examples of people falling as a result of pride be considered precedents? (We briefly mentioned others such as Samson who was manipulated by someone appealing to his vanity.)
Would you allow this book to be an authority in your home? Would you allow it to say something about flattery to your children?
Why or why not?
::
I hope this gives you a little taste of what our rich discussion was like!
What I’m discovering is that these questions truly are the key to integrated learning.
Later that same day, I attended a phenomenal performance of Shakespeare’s King Lear. All the conflict in that tragedy stems from flattery!
In addition to this Saturday morning book club, we are also spending a year (one Thursday evening a month) reading through Hamlet and discussing it using the same questions. It is surprising how much the conversation for Hamlet is similar to the conversation for a picture book when using the common topics. At our first discussion meeting (after watching the movie together during two previous meetings) we spent time defining “Hamlet” (the play and the characters). At our next meeting, we defined “ghost.” Our discussion included talking about how we think of ghosts, what the play had to say about ghosts, as well as how Shakespeare’s culture in Elizabethan England defined and thought about ghosts, so we pulled in some circumstance there.
Levi and I are also using the common topics for our Lost Tools of Writing discussions. (More about that here and here.) Lost Tools of Writing guides students through the common topics.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
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!
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!
Friday, March 13, 2015
Friday Five ~ Snippets
1. In the creek without a paddle
I went to pick Lola up from my mom’s house where she spends the day while the rest of us are at CC, often playing with cousin Rilla, and we ended up basking in the sunshine in the back yard while the kids played. All of a sudden we heard a splash and immediately looked around, breathing a sigh of relief when we could see the two girls. We counted heads, and I relaxed when I knew it was Luke. He and Leif were on the tire swing together and a vigorous push-off had sent Luke sliding off into the ditch. He was a great sport, and didn’t even give us a bad time about taking pictures before he finally said, “Uh, could someone help me out, here?”
Later he said to me, "Mom, I'm kinda glad I fell in the water. Because it was funny, I got to ride in the back of the truck, and I got to take a hot shower."
2. Shakespeare, wandering in storms, eyes poked out, and dead bodies everywhere
We were talking about attending a Shakespeare play this weekend and I asked Leif if he would be interested in going. He asked, "Which one?" And I answered, "King Lear." "Oh," Leif replied, "he's the one who wandered in a storm." Luke, who had just read the retelling by Leon Garfield, piped up. "That's not all he does!" [Luke's one-sentence retelling was that a guy gets his eyes poked out.] I handed the book over to Leif and told him that the story was on page 29. He responded, "Oh, yeah!" And then he cuddled up on his bed reading King Lear. Sometimes I really love my life.
And thank you, Life of Fred math, for the references to Shakespeare (in Jelly Beans). Something else came up the other day (I don't even remember what it was) and Leif said, "That's just like the end of Hamlet...Dead bodies everywhere."
3. Speaking of Life of Fred
In each Life of Fred math book, the author encourages students to find editing errors. He says that if a student emails him an error, he'll send a list of other errors students have found in return. Leif, who loves Life of Fred, also loves to find errors. [grin] So I emailed the author for Leif and Stan Schmidt sent a nice little personal email in return saying "Your son has good eyes! Give him a hug for me." And now Leif is on a mission to find more...
4. Speaking of businesses doing things right
A few weeks ago I recommended the movie The Boxcar Children. It is so darling and true to the book, and the kids love it. Well, the producer emailed me afterward, said thank you, and offered to send the kids a signed DVD. They just received it in the mail with Boxcar Children cards personalized and signed by both producers. They were thrilled. Seriously? That was super kind.
5. Speaking of kind people
When we gave our family presentation for CC, Luke mentioned that he loves to collect coins. A grandmother asked me later if she thought he would like a few coins from another country. I said he would. The very next week, she gave him several French franc coins. She had no idea that we had been studying the French Revolution, and Luke’s favorite song right now is “La la liberte. Eh e-galite. Fra fra-ternite!!” [CC peeps, take a look at the date on the left coin. Guess what our history sentence was this week!]
Have you experienced something funny or kind this week?
Thursday, March 12, 2015
The 2015 Book List Challenge
Waaaaay back in December, I mentioned an upcoming book project and asked for recommendations. I meant (of course) to post the official book list at the beginning of January, but (as always) my plans went awry. I won’t bore you with the details of my slovenly self-discipline. Instead, we’ll get right to the meat of this post.
I’ve scoured book lists such as Amazon's 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime. I’ve read book list books such as Honey for a Woman's Heart and The Well-Educated Mind. I took stock of the year’s upcoming events such as CC Challenge B, Ancient history studies, CiRCE’s Pacific Northwest Regional Conference, book club meetings, and the CC Parent Practicum. I asked you for suggestions.
And this is what I came up with: a wildly ambitious reading list.
Reach for the stars, I say. [When I first typed that I accidentally typed “read” for the stars. Ha! That works, too.]
It always feels good to start a to-do list with items already crossed off, doesn’t it?
Wake up. Done.
Check Facebook. Done.
Drink an ice-cold Dr. Pepper. Shazam.
Now that it is already March [gulp!], I can post my to-read list with books already crossed off. Shall we take bets on how many more I’ll manage to read before the end of the year? 10? 20? 70? Or how many I add to the list (or read off-list) as the year goes by?
[Someday, I won’t promise when because I’ll be lying, I will post my much longer list of books I’ve already read and loved. And I’ll also post reviews of the books crossed off below.]
Without further ado…
The 2015 Book List Challenge
Novels
Classics
Gulliver's Travels (An abridged re-telling)
Paradise Lost (ChocLit Guild)
No Name (Or something else by Wilkie Collins. ChocLit Guild)
Hamlet (CC Moms Book Club)
Ancients
Children’s and YA Novels
The Door in the Wall (CC Challenge A)
A Gathering of Days (CC Challenge A)
Crispin: The Cross of Lead (CC Challenge A)
Where the Red Fern Grows (CC Challenge B)
Non-Fiction
Biography/History
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (ChocLit Guild)
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)
Beauty Will Save the World: Recovering the Human in an Ideological Age (CiRCE Conference)
Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education (CiRCE Conference)
The Soul of Science (CC Parent Practicum)
Wisdom & Wonder: Common Grace in Science & Art (CC Parent Practicum)
Invitation to the Classics: A Guide to Books You've Always Wanted to Read
That’s a good start, right? What is on your to-read list this year?
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Literature Selections and a LTW Basic Persuasive Essay [A Gathering of Days]
The ten literature selections for the Classical Conversations Challenge A program were all chosen with the theme “Ownership” in mind, and I have loved almost all of them. I appreciate the variety of fiction and historical fiction (from Ancient Rome to World War II, and two based on the lives of real people) as well as the balance of male and female protagonists (usually around the age of Challenge A students when they face their greatest conflict).
Number the Stars and Amos Fortune, Free Man were both first-time reads for me, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed them.
It seems as if I had heard some negative comments about The Door in the Wall, but it was one of my favorites and it led to great discussions when we were working on the ANI chart.
We are discussing Crispin: The Cross of Lead this week, and I couldn’t put it down once I started reading. My book is all marked up. I hope to share some discussion notes next week. I immediately purchased the other two books in the trilogy, Crispin: At the Edge of the World and Crispin: The End of Time.
The Bronze Bow, our last literature selection, is up next. I’m looking forward to re-reading and discussing.
[I shared some thoughts about our discussion of The Secret Garden here and here and our essay outline here.]
A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32 was the book I struggled with the most. The writing felt forced or awkward, and I didn’t care for the journal-entry style writing (which contributed to the forced story-line). I also found it very difficult to come up with a large number of entries for our ANI chart without getting wildly inventive. It wasn’t awful, I just wasn’t particularly inspired to discuss the book.
Levi and I worked on the essay together, however, and it turned out better than I expected so I am sharing here. We chose to argue a different side of the issue from what we normally do. As I shared yesterday, these basic persuasive essays are intended to be precise, reduced writing with correct structure that will allow for beautiful, high-quality, productive growth in the coming years.
It’s not perfect (especially the support for proof 3), but we’re making progress.
A Gathering of Days by Joan W. Blos
Lost Tools of Writing Basic Persuasive Essay II
Is it possible to do the wrong thing with good intentions? In A Gathering of Days Catherine had good intentions, but she should not have left the blanket and food for the “phantom” for three reasons. Catherine failed to protect herself and others from danger, she failed to obey the authorities over her, and she failed to respect the property of others.
The first reason Catherine should not have left the blanket and food for the “phantom” was that she failed to protect herself and others from danger. Catherine, who was only a fourteen-year-old girl, knew that the “phantom” was a man by the size of his stride and footprints like craters in the ground. She did not know what kind of person he was or what his intentions were. Catherine also risked her friend’s life by asking her friend to accompany her on the mission.
The second reason Catherine should not have left the blanket and food for the “phantom” was that she failed to obey the authorities over her. Catherine kept her actions secret from her father who thought indentured servants ought to be returned and was likely to advise against helping a probable run-away slave. Catherine did not ask for any adult’s help or advice within her community. Catherine’s government, the United States, considered her action illegal. Toward the end of her journal Catherine wrote, “Thus it now appears to me that trust, and not submission, defines obedience.” (p. 139) She should have trusted her authorities.
The third reason Catherine should not have left the blanket and food for the “phantom” was that she failed to respect the property of others. The “phantom” legally belonged to someone else. He disrespected her property by stealing her book and writing in it. The quilt and food were not Catherine’s property to give away.
Catherine should not have left the blanket and food for the “phantom” because she failed to protect herself and others, she failed to obey authority, and she failed to respect the property of others. Catherine’s actions mattered most to her father because his daughter was in danger, she was under his authority, and the property given was his.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Thoughts on The Lost Tools of Writing
Have you read The Lost Tools of Learning by Dorothy Sayers? The essay is available online, and it is short enough that reading it yearly is a reasonable, not to mention profitable and inspiring, exercise if one is interested in the field of education, particularly classical education.
I recently re-read the essay and discovered a few nuggets that I had previously missed or perhaps forgotten. It could be that we’ve entered a new stage in our homeschool that comes with new challenges. For instance, the following quote has a painful accuracy that I did not feel so acutely a few years ago:
“It will, doubtless, be objected that to encourage young persons at the Pert age to browbeat, correct, and argue with their elders will render them perfectly intolerable. My answer is that children of that age are intolerable anyhow; and that their natural argumentativeness may just as well be canalized to good purpose as allowed to run away into the sands.”
Truly, I could not say it more eloquently.
I also experienced many “aha!” moments when I compared Sayers’s essay to the Classical Conversations syllabus.
The Lost Tools of Writing, however, was prominently on my mind at the time, and I highlighted the following passage:
Our Reading will proceed from narrative and lyric to essays, argument and criticism, and the pupil will learn to try his own hand at writing this kind of thing…
Wherever the matter for Dialectic is found, it is, of course, highly important that attention should be focused upon the beauty and economy of a fine demonstration or a well-turned argument, lest veneration should wholly die. Criticism must not be merely destructive; though at the same time both teacher and pupils must be ready to detect fallacy, slipshod reasoning, ambiguity, irrelevance, and redundancy, and to pounce upon them like rats. This is the moment when precise-writing may be usefully undertaken; together with such exercises as the writing of an essay, and the reduction of it, when written, by 25 or 50 percent.
What struck me in this passage was the idea of precise, reduced writing, or pruning, one might say.
My late grammar-stage students are allowed some haphazard “flowering” and growth while using the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) program. They liberally douse, and occasionally drown, their writing with strong verbs, quality adjectives, “ly” adverbs, vocabulary words, who/which clauses, and decorations such as alliteration. They are playing with language in order to become familiar with it. I’ve had the opportunity to listen to many IEW papers written by students in 4th-6th grades, and it is not only my boys who are not precise with their language play. This is reasonable in the grammar stage of learning.
But what of the dialectic? Dialectic is a pruning stage, and pruning is rarely beautiful.
Have you pruned a rose bush? The pruning process is orderly and precise, and the sight of the spare, harsh branches is a bit shock after the leggy late-season growth. But the benefits of judicious pruning of plants include balanced shaping and directed growth, improved air flow, improved plant health, targeted removal of non-productive or structurally unsound material, and increased yield or quality of flowers and fruits.
The rudimentary, introductory, and basic persuasive essays that students write when they begin The Lost Tools of Writing are not intended to look like the untidy sprawling of the grammar stage or the flowering masterpieces of the rhetoric stage. They are intended to be precise, reduced writing with correct structure that will allow for beautiful, high-quality, productive growth in the coming years.
The students begin playing with ideas rather than words, and they focus their attention and efforts on the systematic gathering and processing of ideas (the “invention” stage of the art of rhetoric) as they pertain to a well-turned argument. The beauty comes slowly, allowing the students to be attentive, judicious, and artful, one scheme or trope at a time.
The strength of a piece of writing is rooted in its ideas and basic structure, and the strength of The Lost Tools of Writing is the way it guides a student through the thinking (invention) and structure (arrangement) processes before moving on to style (elocution). I shared more thoughts on The Lost Tools of Writing as a thinking and conversing program here and here.
But let’s talk for a moment about the “should question.” The Lost Tools of Writing process begins with this important foundation. Students consider a character in a story (or in history), choose an action the character performed, and ask, “Should he have done that?”
Andrew Kern says that wisdom is judgment, and late-dialectic-stage students are just beginning to practice wisdom as they make judgments about a character’s actions.
Who cares if Jane runs? I sure don’t. But everybody wants to know whether the ants should have fed the grasshopper, whether Caesar should have crossed the Rubicon, and whether Odysseus should have slaughtered the suitors. These things matter because they arouse the right questions. They help students clarify their thoughts about what is just and fair, what is wise and prudent, and what is noble and honorable. [From The Greatest of All Things by Andrew Kern @ CiRCE]
In the preface of Norms and Nobility, David Hicks says this:
Although in my curriculum proposal I use history as the paradigm for contextual learning, the ethical question “What should one do?” might provide an even richer context for acquiring general knowledge. This question elicits not only knowledge, but wisdom, and it draws the interest of the student into any subject, no matter how obscure or far removed from his day-to-day concerns. It challenges the imagination and makes life the laboratory it ought to be for testing the hypotheses and lessons of the classroom. As this implies, the end of education is not thinking; it is acting.
Have we spent enough time thinking about the end of education? Is knowledge the goal? Is flowery writing the goal? Or is wisdom and right action the goal? Knowledge such as a robust vocabulary is a necessary building block, but it is nothing if the student does not move on to judicious use of words and then on to wisdom and right action.
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A few related thoughts and articles for your perusal:
:: The Holy Grail of Classical Education by Andrew Kern @ CiRCE. [Read the full article to find out why the “why?” matters. I love the concept that this question is the key to an integrated curriculum.]
If I want to see into the meaning of this event, learning the content is necessary. But it is not enough. You have to ask why he did it, what were the outcomes, what he overcame, whether he was wise to do so, what his courage purchased for us, and other big picture questions.
:: Wisdom in the Age of Information and the Importance of Storytelling in Making Sense of the World: An Animated Essay by Maria Popova [You can read the transcript at Brain Pickings, linked in title, or watch the animated video below.]
“At the top is wisdom, which has a moral component — it is the application of information worth remembering and knowledge that matters to understanding not only how the world works, but also how it should work. And that requires a moral framework of what should and shouldn’t matter, as well as an ideal of the world at its highest potentiality.”
The Lost Tools of Writing introduced me to the five Topics of Invention, which are tools (questions) for structured thinking. I have been amazed over and over again while playing with the first tool, definition. It astounds me that such fruit can come of something so simple as naming and defining. This first topic of invention is a fantastic way to introduce younger children to dialectic conversation. The next article and the following video show just how rich this single tool can be for a person of any age.
:: Into the Essence of Things by Danny Breed @ CiRCE.
Once you see into a thing’s heart, you can appreciate its beauty, its relationship to things around it, and how it can bless others. Yet, how does one learn to see into the essence of things? It starts with naming, which was one of the first tasks the Lord set before the first man.
:: Matt Bianco Teaches Socratic Circles
Jennifer Dow compares IEW and The Lost Tools of Writing:
:: Comparing IEW and The Lost Tools of Writing @ Expanding Wisdom
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Working in the Quiet Room
It astounds me how quickly the boys’ room becomes an unmanageable pit. It’s not like I hadn’t cleaned it from top to bottom just a couple months ago. But it somehow had gotten so bad that no one was even sleeping in his own space anymore.
I ended up spending hours and hours again this past week, cleaning it out so it could function again. The next morning, Luke didn’t want to leave the room. He’s my nice and neat kid. He asked if he could set up a space in the corner so that he could do his school work in his room. [Yes, those are roller skates on his feet. Ivy donated her too-small roller skates to Lola, but Luke and Leif figured out that they could shove their feet into the several-sizes-too-small skates and have been wearing them around the house constantly since then.]
Levi decided to join him a little bit later.
We may as well enjoy the couple days it stays relatively straightened.
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Food For Thought ~ Music and Art
Music
"Music, being identical with heaven, isn't a thing of momentary thrills, or even hourly ones. It's a condition of eternity."
~Gustav Holst [HT: Squilt Music]
"You can study orchestration, you can study harmony and theory and everything else, but melodies come straight from God. There's really no technique for melodies."
~ Quincy Jones, producer/arranger [HT: Jim Weiss]
:: Science Just Discovered Something Amazing About What Childhood Piano Lessons Did to You @ Mic.com
"What we found was the more a child trained on an instrument," Hudziak told the Washington Post, "it accelerated cortical organization in attention skill, anxiety management and emotional control."
:: 7 Days to Beethoven: A totally free mini-course from Professor Carol
:: Music Makes You a Better Reader, Says Neuroscience @ GOOD Magazine
“We’ve added a critical new chapter to the story about music and education,” says Kraus. “Due to the overlap between neural circuits dedicated to speech and music, and the distributed network of cognitive, sensorimotor, and reward circuits engaged during music making, it would appear that music training is a particularly potent driver of experience-dependent plasticity in the brain that influences processing of sound related to academics.”
Art
:: An Honest, Human, Amateur Art Critic @ Story Warren
In The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning said, “Quite simply, our deep gratitude to Jesus Christ is manifested…in our deep and delicate respect for one another.” Artistry cannot be objectified as something entirely separate from the person, not if it’s good and thoughtful work. Scribbles are scribbles, after all, but the pouring out of a person’s heart should not be taken lightly. The gift reflects and reveals the giver. And the giver reflects the Giver, in both image and art.
:: How Art Can Help You Analyze by Amy E. Herman [Ted-Ed]
The benefits of art study are numerous and complex, but this entertaining and short video highlights a practical benefit not often considered.
:: The Art of Cleanup: Ursus Wehrli Playfully Deconstructs and Reorders the Chaos of Life @ Brain Pickings.
This is oh, so fun. I need this book to look at on those rough days when nothing is in its place.
:: 12 fascinating optical illusions show how color can trick the eye @ The Washington Post.
“The Dress” brouhaha that made its rounds on social media disturbed me. How can it be possible that people see colors that differently? This article is fascinating.
If you prefer to have your “Food for Thought” reading spread out over time rather than in one huge buffet of links, follow me on Facebook where I share quotes and articles as I discover them!
Friday, March 6, 2015
Friday Five ~ What I’m Reading
1. Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
Here’s the deal: in order to discuss literature with Levi, I have to have read it. Crispin is up for discussion next week.
2. Lila: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson
I started this one a while ago then my mom and sister borrowed it before I had finished. Now it’s my turn again!
3. Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education by David Hicks
Norms and Nobility has been on my to-read list for a long time now. Since the author is speaking at the upcoming CiRCE Pacific Northwest Regional Conference, I figured I should have at least a few chapters read by then.
4. The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough
This non-fiction narrative of the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, and others who set off for Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900 was our ChocLit Guild book club selection for last month. Oops.
5. Honey for a Teen's Heart by Gladys Hunt
I have some serious things to share about this one in a post of its own. For now: two thumbs up.
What are you reading this week?
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Reading Round-Up ~ February
I’ve spent the past two months sick, which means life has been chaos and unproductive around here for the whole of 2015 (because nothing gets done if I’m not standing over someone enforcing it, argh!!). Reading, however, is what does happen. And it’s times like these that I am more grateful than ever that my boys love to read.
Luke and Leif have tackled the book stack with characteristic enthusiasm.
A few of the books they have enjoyed in the past month:
Science
:: What's Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew? (Wells of Knowledge Science Series) is a simple picture book that does a great job of introducing molecules and atoms. I now know what a quark is. Well, I know more about quarks now than I did before reading this book (which was nothing).
United States
:: Government (Chester the Crab's Comix with Content). I was delighted to discover this educational comic series, and the boys have been devouring each one I purchase for them. Nothing like a comic book to make economics, government, civil rights, and the reconstruction of the South accessible to elementary-aged boys.
:: The Skippack School by Marguerite de Angeli, published in 1939, is a sweet, easy chapter book set in a Mennonite community in Colonial America
:: Eli Whitney, Master Craftsman by Miriam Gilbert, published in 1956, is another sweet and simple chapter book.
:: The Story of Eli Whitney by Jean Lee Latham. This is a slightly longer biography of Eli Whitney, written in 1953.
:: Robert Fulton Boy Craftsman by Marguerite Henry, published in 1945, is a simple chapter book about another key player in the Industrial Revolution.
Russia
:: Favorite Fairy Tales Told in Russia retold by Virginia Haviland. We own many books in this series, and Luke in particular loves them.
:: Classic Tales and Fables for Children by Leo Tolstoy
:: The Language of Birds by Rafe Martin. A picture book Russian folktale.
:: Hidden Tales from Eastern Europe by Antonia Barber. Another picture book with several tales from Eastern Europe.
England and France
:: Perrault's Fairy Tales. Fairy tales written by the French author Charles Perrault in the late 1600s.
:: Charles Dickens: The Man Who Had Great Expectations by Diane Stanley. I love Diane Stanley’s meaty picture book biographies.
:: Charles Dickens and Friends: Five Lively Retellings by Marcia Williams is written in comic-strip form.
:: Oliver Twist (Eyewitness Classics) by Charles Dickens. We own several of the DK Classics. These illustrated retellings include many factual details and historical content that correspond to the story.
:: We are still reading aloud A Tale of Two Cities, and will be working on that for some time. It fits in beautifully with our current history studies (England and France around the time of the French Revolution). I read slowly, and we stop often to discuss or clarify.
:: We also watched Les Misérables (the movie) together one afternoon. (I fast-forwarded during a couple scenes.) I spend so much time feeling unsure of myself and a great deal of time feeling guilt for the things I know I do poorly, but occasionally I have a moment in which I think I must be doing something right. That afternoon was one of those moments. My boys love Les Miserables, and they love the music, which they sing at the top of their lungs. At one point Luke said, “This is my idea of fun.” See, I’m doing something right.
Short Fiction Chapter Books
:: The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson. This darling book, published in 1958, is set in Paris, France.
:: All Alone by Claire Huchet Bishop. A ten-year-old boy on the French Alps faces a challenge.
:: The Last Little Cat by Meindert DeJong. This is a short chapter book written by the author of The House of Sixty Fathers and The Wheel on the School.
:: A Tree for Peter by Kate Seredy. We have read Kate Seredy’s The Good Master, The Singing Tree, and The White Stag, so I was excited to see that A Tree for Peter had been republished. Philomena and The Chestry Oak are next on the to-read list.
Challenging Fiction [Fantasy]
:: Here, There Be Dragons (The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica). Luke re-read all seven books in this series.
[I’ll share Levi’s and my reading in separate posts.]
Friday, February 27, 2015
The Menagerie [part 2]
I thought you all might enjoy the next installment of Levi’s story while I’m working on the next book list project (and waiting for these antibiotics to kick in after almost seven weeks of illness).
He got braces last week and a haircut yesterday. It’s like I have a full-fledged teenager on my hands! He is almost as tall as me, and his feet passed up mine some time ago. I’m not sure I’m coping. The quotes above express his personality so well.
Into the Menagerie
Canth strode into the receiving hall he had been directed to by a hassled-looking servant, who had told him that he might wait there till the lord of the keep came to that place as was required and commanded the servants to notify the resident Asura Krewe that the gate must be opened for a young man who was to be trained as a Ranger.
Canth was told that he might rest his feet on a stool which another tired-out servant procured from a nearby room. After a while of wait Canth was directed to meet the Lord of the Hold.
"Young man, you are the first new Trainee in five years!" boomed the Lord. "And we were not prepared for such a speedy arrival at this time of year!" Canth decided that he liked this man, for he had been hospitable even though his servants were exhausted.
"Thank you for receiving me so pleasantly," Canth replied. "But my new teacher must be waiting for me inside......."
"Oh, your teacher can wait, young man. I would like to make your acquaintance first."
"I am sorry, and I do not mean to be rude, but if your resident Asura Krewe have finished their task then I should be going," he notified the affronted Lord of the Hold.
"I understand young man. I will allow you to be on your way, but please do not mention that I detained your arrival to the Master Trainer. He would make me wish I had a different hold to care for than this castle on the border. It would weaken me to have to fight him off and still have the minotaurs to bother me in my harried state. I would'st prefer if thou think'est of me not as a pompous lord but as a friend." With those words the lord of the hold beckoned to Canth and strode through the halls to the room with the gate.
When they arrived in the room a surprise awaited Canth. He thought that he would be going through a normal-seeming castle gate that had a teleport spell cast upon it, but instead it was a circular frame of metal with a purple swirling energy inside.
The portal, since that was the proper name for the Asura Gate, glowed softly in the twilight, a thing of another world. The Asura in charge told him to step through. He did and felt a pull, like a strong tug, then he walked out of the other gate. This time he was inside the Menagerie.
Inside at last
Inside the Menagerie, birds twittered, deer and stags stalked through the forest, and Canth was in the midst of it all, on a journey into the heart of the forest. A journey to find the person who would teach him how to survive in the wild, find food. He had an apprenticeship to fulfill. An apprenticeship that was his and not another's.
He arrived in the heart of the forest and found a little house built into a hill, in a sixty foot wide clearing, with a round door, and beautifully kept plants in front. The house had a stump outside that had been perfectly shaped into a sort of chair, and there sat a man of about twenty-eight. Canth advanced and presented himself in front of the man, saluting and coming to attention.
"First lesson: don't salute or come to attention for me. If you were in sword school then you would have to do that, but here the rules are a little bit less formal. No officials allowed in here; they would want to disturb the peace by bringing heralds with trumpets, and many horses. That would frighten many of the animals on the Island. We use our proper names, not titles and surnames. And, unless we need to show rank in the corps, no saying ‘sir.’ My name is Peter Wolfwynd. Yours is Canth, correct?"
"Yes, it is.”
“Well, today we should start lessons with archery and a preview of Earth Magik."
Peter and Canth began lessons. Canth was a natural at Earth Magik, but archery would have to be worked on. When Peter saw that Canth was such a good student and that he could perform some of the more complex Magik and had some expertise in simple wilderness survival, he switched Canth's schedule to include more of this because these were what he himself was proficient in, and were what would be more time-consuming to learn.
[To be continued…]
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Book Love [A Favorites List]
Choosing a top 10 list of fiction favorites is an exercise in crazy-making. But I adore lists. I adore book lists. And I adore top favorites lists. So you see, it is inevitable. I’ll just have to weather the crazy.
It is also inevitable that my choices shift over the years. Isn’t it interesting how one can read a book at various stages of life and feel differently about it each time?
And, oh, how personal is the experience of reading a book! Everyone comes to a story with his or her own set of ideas and experiences as well as personality, emotions, and associations. This means that not everyone will love my top ten as well as I do.
I’ve grouped this list by similarities rather than rating them from one to ten.
The Art of Grace
Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson
Marilynne Robinson writes art. Her command of words and phrases is exquisite, but it is the human-ness and grace in her books that bring me to tears. I’ve read Housekeeping (my least favorite) and Home (so painfully beautiful), but Gilead is my favorite. I love the narrator, John Ames. I love the moments of humor (oh, I laughed out loud) mixed with the quiet memories, the intellectual and theological musings, the community life, and the unexpected plot revealed toward the end of the book. I have dipped my toes into Lila and look forward to finishing it soon.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
What can I say about Mockingbird that has not been said before? Beautifully written. Strong characters (who doesn’t love Atticus Finch and Scout?!). Compelling plot. Relevant social issues. I am eagerly anticipating Harper Lee's newly discovered manuscript, Go Set a Watchman, on my to-read list this year.
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
I just re-read this one this past week. It occurred to me that it is the best of Gilead and To Kill a Mockingbird all rolled into one. Exquisite and entertaining writing, grace-filled theology, a strong father-figure (Jeremiah Land rounds out my top three literary fathers), an interesting plot, moral dilemmas, and a compelling child narrator (with a precocious sister).
Epics (Redemption and Revenge)
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The history, the powerful metaphors and imagery, the first and last lines, and the tale of redemption propel A Tale of Two Cities to favorite status above David Copperfield.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The intricate plot of The Count astounded me the first time I read it. Revenge has never been so complete. I first read this one in high school and have re-read all 1,200 pages a few times since.
I will confess that I read this first (and only) at the age of thirteen. It was a formative experience, however, and one that sparked my love of literature. My love of the story has since been kept alive by the Broadway musical. It stirs my soul. I’ve attended two live performances and often watch the 10th Anniversary Concert on DVD (on YouTube below). Most recently, the movie version with Hugh Jackman has moved me yet again. What a masterpiece. Victor Hugo has given us a timeless and gripping picture of grace and redemption.
New Worlds
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Adams convincingly constructs a world in which rabbits have their own language, history, culture, and mythology, and it is shockingly captivating. This is not a sweet children’s story. It is a story about exceptional leadership in the face of danger and upheaval.
Everyone is familiar with The Chronicles of Narnia, which every child should read, and Lewis’s non-fiction book of Christian apologetics, Mere Christianity, which every adult should read, but Perelandra is a brilliant mix of both fantasy and theology. Lewis imagines a garden of Eden story set on the planet Venus. It is the second book in Lewis’s Space Trilogy, and another must-read from Lewis.
About a Girl (Obscure Favorites)
The Little French Girl by Anne Douglas Sedgwick
This is my most obscure favorite, but at least two people with exceptional taste in books love it almost as much as I do (my mom and my friend Susan Keller) so I know I’m not completely crazy. It is not a children’s book due to slightly mature themes. The story explores the differences between the French and English cultures in the early 1900s (it was published in 1924) through the experiences of a young woman who leaves France to live with an English family, the move due in part to her mother’s lifestyle. The writing and mood of the story are simply iridescent.
Maggie Rose, Her Birthday Christmas by Ruth Sawyer
Maggie Rose is the only children’s book on my top ten list. It was a family favorite during my childhood and it still delights and moves me. The simple illustrations by Maurice Sendak have so much life and personality.
Your turn to play along! Share your top ten list of favorite fiction novels! I look forward to the conversation in the comments.
[Next up: more book lists!]
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