I know I shared pictures of our “1st Day of School” but I’d be lying if I said we’d actually, you know, started school. ‘Cause I’m not ready.
I spent all day, today, up to my eyeballs in books and trash and dust and bins (and more bins) full of random junk that has been accumulated in the past decade. My house was, and is, a mess. But there’s progress, so that’s good. And, while I was distracted, Luke made cream puffs with vanilla pudding filling, and those were also good.
Our first day of Classical Conversations (and my first day of tutoring Essentials) is Monday. So next week is our first official week of the school year. Lots on the to-do list in the next two days!
Yesterday we had a fantastic start to this year’s Book Detectives club. I think there were 35 or more of us! Next week my Schole Sisters meet at my house to pick up where we left off in Hamlet.
We may attend the local Renaissance Faire tomorrow.
I still have a few summer posts to catch up on—like the rest of our beach trip and more pictures from our traditional “1st Day of School” hike. Oh, and the boys’ reading list.
And, for the sake of randomness, I am sharing this picture of Leif’s Pokemon birthday cupcakes from last month. A month late. It’s all good, right?! I remember when I used to plan elaborate birthday parties with invitations and decorations and themed food. Now, this is as good as it gets. The good news is that Leif thought the 144 mini Pokemon figures I purchase were the greatest thing ever. Who needs fancy invitations? I guess my boys couldn’t care less.
My smart phone has made me lazy. I don’t seem to carry my big, fancy camera around as often, now that I have a handy all-in-one tool at a fraction the size and weight. It’s just easier to document life “on the go” with Instagram. But for the sake of posterity and my desire to collect a generally comprehensive record of our life all in one place, let’s do a quick overview of our August and early September activities that escaped notice here on the blog:
1. A Saturday morning date at the beanery with the Schole Sisters to discuss another chapter of The Question.
2. A couple date nights with my husband while the kids were all attending a week of evening VBS (hallelujah).
3. Four summer Book Detectives meetings on blankets out in the yard.
4. Partying with my sisters and several other friends at Lindsay’s bachelorette party.
5. Traveling across the four mile long (and super-duper high) Astoria bridge.
6. Celebrating Leif’s 9th birthday at the beach.
7. Celebrating Leif’s birthday with a dance party before watching a movie on the huge outdoor screen that Russ rigged up in our yard.
8. Another outdoor movie night [The Princess Bride, of course] with friends, family, and Italian sodas.
9. Hanging out with friends at the splash pool.
10. Celebrating Ivy’s 11th birthday with a formal sit-down dinner.
11. Celebrating Ben’s 40th birthday with a press-on tattoo party.
12. Visiting the state fair.
And now? I think I have to come to terms with the fact that a new school year is about to begin.
"Amateurs are vital for the work of culture care. Amateurs turn art into art by completing it with their own experiences. They reflect wonder and joy to the experience. They let culture flourish with their resources, attention, prayers, and enthusiasm."
"The greatness of [humanity] is to accept [our] insignificance, [our] human condition, and [our] earth, and to thank God for putting in a finite body the seeds of eternity which are visible in small and daily gestures of love and forgiveness. The beauty of [humanity] is in this fidelity to the wonder of each day."
In many ways, the highlight of the course is a peculiar little test that I administer about mid-semester, when students’ heads are abuzz with the conflicting claims of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Darwin, and Gould: Is the natural order a theophany or the battleground of rabid genes? What is man, that he is mindful of nature? As we all agree afterwards, the quiz tells us something—but we’re not sure just what—about how we apprehend the world, ourselves, and (for those students so inclined) the Creator.
The quiz is simple enough. I offer a list of fifteen items (it varies from year to year): mouse, boy, sun, angel, ant, crab, Norwegian pine, corn, amoeba, hamburger, potato, Moby Dick, Taj Mahal, Rolls Royce, the idea of the good—and I ask students to rank them, using whatever scale they deem most important…
What does it mean to live a good life? What about a productive life? How about a happy life? How might I think about these ideas if the answers conflict with one another? And how do I use my time here at college to build on the answers to these tough questions?
"So fill your sons and daughters and students with music and food, images and ethics, cult and virtue which has received time and tamed it, lassoed its awful power and flown to the moon on its steam."
"Speaking of which: almost any organic metaphor for learning will be better than a technological one. I know very little of the actual process of grafting trees and plants together, but the picture itself is a striking image of what real learning is actually like. When you really learn a poem by heart, for example, and take it into your soul, it becomes a part of you. It isn't something you have to consciously go and look for to summon forth only when you want it. The poem becomes a blossom that hangs gracefully from you. When you really learn something, it becomes a part of you; when you really memorize something (the kind of memory discussed in the aforementioned podcast) you don't have to worry that it will be lost in a flush of information or data that might very well be lost, deleted, or corrupted."
He spent considerable time outdoors, often alone, observing and absorbing his world in a healthy, visceral way. Maria Montessori asserted, “Play is the work of the child,” and indeed my son worked at play. (G. K. Chesterton noted that the reason adults don’t play more is because it requires too much effort.) So it was the combination of imaginative recreation, huge quantities of great literature, and a small but steady rigor of simple academics that got us over the hump and into the homestretch. And where are we today?…
"That word “endless”—does it describe our desire or fear? Occasionally we express the longing for something to be endless: youth, a moment of beauty, summertime, joy. But the word also voices our complaint against grading papers, planning lessons, doing laundry, disciplining children, fighting cancer, resisting temptation, confessing sin, and other toils that have no end."
"We have ignored what matters most. We have neglected to teach them that one cannot think critically without quite a lot of knowledge to think about. Thinking critically involves comparing and contrasting and synthesizing what one has learned. And a great deal of knowledge is necessary before one can begin to reflect on its meaning and look for alternative explanations.”
"In this one combination of literature and math, Fruchter has hit on many learning standards. Students are reading and interpreting literature, writing creatively, interpreting a math problem in multiple ways, showing solutions in various ways, using functions and factoring."
There are good reasons to repeat the same idea in different words. It adds emphasis. And, more importantly, it sounds nice. Some words just belong together. They are sometimes alliterative (e.g., dribs and drabs, house and home, prim and proper, vim and vigor) and always nicely rhythmic. I believe it’s this pleasing aural quality that makes these idioms so sticky.
[Left: beach reading. Right: ChocLit Guild in the garden after sunset under the twinkle lights. Via Instagram.]
The Book Challenge Continues.
I had a slow first half of the month and made up for it by the end. I’m looking at my list, however, and wondering how many more I’ll be able to read by the end of the year. It probably would have helped if I had not added 20 books plus re-reads to the original list! I think I’m up to 49 completed this year. That number is high for me, but it does include several children’s books (and two adaptations of classics). There are 30 books left to complete the list, and obviously I won’t get all those read (particularly considering many are heavy or lengthy reads) in the next 17 weeks. I’ll have to roll them over onto next year’s list (which is already quite long!).
Invitation to the Classics (culture/education/faith, read intro and the commentary for Don Quixote, Gulliver’s Travels, Pride and Prejudice, Moby Dick, and Great Expectations (Dickens))
The genius of Homer, Austen, Tolkien, Dostoyevsky, Dante, Augustine, Milton, Shakespeare, Twain, O’Connor etc. was not born into them. They were readers before they were writers. Educator Charlotte Mason said in the nineteenth century:
“Now imagination does not descend, full grown, to take possession of an empty house; like every other power of the mind, it is the merest germ of a power to begin with, and grows by what it gets; and childhood, the age of faith, is the time for its nourishing. The children should have the joy of living in far lands, in other persons, in other times—a delightful double existence; and this joy they will find, for the most part, in their story books.”
Lila: A Novel [I had a more difficult time getting into this novel than Robinson’s previous two novels in the series, but the story was greatly rewarding in the end. What a beautiful picture of grace the author masterfully paints. Marilynne Robinson is at the top of my list. 4 1/2 stars]
Hood [Hood is the first Stephen Lawhead book I’ve read. It is a retelling of the Robin Hood myth. It was well-told and entertaining, but not excellent. I’d like to try another series by Lawhead. 3 1/2 stars]
A Girl of The Limberlost (ChocLit Guild) [Sweet, safe, turn of the century romance novel by Gene Stratton-Porter, full of natural history. 3 1/2 stars]
The Chosen [A fascinating look at Jewish culture in 1940s Brooklyn, New York, written by Chaim Potok. I was captivated. 4 1/2 stars]
Beloved [Toni Morrison has given us a tragic and graphic but exquisitely-written narrative that seeps the reader in the culture of slavery. Haunting. 4 1/2 stars]
The Book Thief [The narrator (death) and the writing style were very imaginative, picturesque, and poetic. I appreciated reading a book about WWII that gave a bit of insight into the daily life of average poor German citizens. Several characters were endearing. But Hans—I think I love him. Tough but beautiful ending. 4 1/2 stars]
*Whose Body? [Lord Peter Wimsey debuts in this detective novel by Dorothy Sayers. Slightly reminiscent of P.G. Wodehouse, but not nearly so silly, Whose Body? is the first of the series. I mostly read this one so that I could work my way up to Clouds of Witness. 4 stars]
Catch-22 [This was a tough read for me, and I wished it had been about half as long. I cannot read 400+ pages of satirical nonsense before my head explodes. It gave me more to think about, however, as I was reading Unbroken since both books are about bombardiers during WWII. It is an important modern classic, but not at all enjoyable to read. 3 stars]
Lord of the Flies [Lord of the Flies was not cheerful, by any means, but not quite as grim or at least not as explicit as I was expecting. Important modern classic, not particularly enjoyable. 3 1/2 stars.]
The Great Gatsby [Quintessential Jazz Age and a cultural imperative. 4 1/2 stars.]
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn [A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was s.l.o.w. reading for me without much of a plot. It was beautifully written, though, and certainly felt like an authentic childhood and coming of age in Brooklyn at the beginning of the 1900s. Much of it reflected the author’s experience. I really began connecting with the story in chapter 39 (yes, that far in) when the main character, Francie, was discussing her writing with her English teacher. Their conversation (disagreement) about beauty and truth hit the mark. The author clearly saw beauty in her childhood experiences, even in the midst of poverty and hardship, and she wanted readers to experience her life vicariously. “It doesn’t take long to write things of which you know nothing. When you write of actual things, it takes longer, because you have to live them first.” It was honest (but not gritty) and often sad (yet hopeful). I’m thankful for the chance to walk in Francie’s shoes, even if it was a long walk. A classic. 4 1/2 stars]
The Signature of All Things [This is a brilliantly-told narrative, even if it took quite some time for the story to get going. (The beginning is interesting, but the first 13 chapters all seem to have the same pacing.) I have very strong feelings about this one, but it is a bit of a pendulum swing when I consider it. It disturbed me. I think I hated it. But maybe, if I read it again, I’d love it. Oddly, it reminded me in some ways of Till We Have Faces, which I didn’t hate. I don’t even know how to rate this one. 4 1/2 stars for the excellent writing. 2 stars for enjoyment.]
*Godric: A Novel [My feelings about Godric were similar to my feelings about The Signature of All Things, though I was more frustrated than disturbed and Godric wasn’t as long. I think I hated it, but maybe I’d love it if I re-read it so that I could understand it better, see more deeply. I suppose good writing is writing that makes you feel and think, in which case both books are excellent. I don’t know. But I hate hating books. It makes me feel shallow and imperceptive. Am I not intellectual enough to love books that aren’t enjoyable? I think I have to be prepared ahead of time for a tragic or graphic or dark story like I was for Beloved or Till We Have Faces. I also find it fascinating that stories can speak so differently to people. Again, it is true: no two people read the same book. 4 stars for the writing, 2 1/2 for the enjoyment.]
Merry Hall [I loved Down the Garden path by Beverly Nichols, and Merry Hall did not disappoint. It’s like P.G. Wodehouse in the garden. Quite hilarious. The little vignettes are somewhat unconnected, though, and there is no driving narrative, so I didn’t find myself needing to continue reading. 3 1/2 stars]
*Go Set a Watchman: A Novel by Harper Lee [Megan Tietz has already given a phenomenal thoughtful review on Sarah Bessey’s blog. This book is a completely different experience from To Kill a Mockingbird. It feels like a light read, somewhat rambling (though not unpleasantly) with flashbacks to Scout’s growing-up years, until at least two-thirds of the way through. And then a tornado hits for the last fifty pages. My emotions were all over the place and I was worried about how it was going to end. But the conclusion is incredible. Friends, we are all so human. Humility. Grace. Love. Hope. (P.S. I still love Atticus.) Also, this is more of an adult’s book than To Kill a Mockingbird. There is language, but it’s more about the age and transformation/conflict of Scout/Jean Louise. 4 1/2 stars.]
*The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: A Novel [This is a charming and delightful modern novel. I needed something light after a run of several difficult novels. I liked this one in a way similar to The Rosie Project. Quirky. Modern. Not depressing. Not cheesy. Not squeaky clean, but not gritty. 3 1/2 stars]
*The Little Village School [Charming story. Sort of like Mitford, but centered around a school in England. 3 1/2 stars]
Pride and Prejudice (ChocLit Guild) [For years I have adored both the BBC movie version with Colin Firth as well as the newer movie version with Matthew Macfadyen, but I had never read the book! Now I can say that I’ve read it. But, honestly? It was delightful in the same way that the movies are delightful. (grin) Both movies retain so much of the story (particularly the longer BBC movie version) and the original dialogue, that I simply replayed the movies in my mind throughout my reading of the whole book. And then I wanted to watch the movies again. I’m not sure how to separate my love for them, so I’ll rate them together: 5 stars.]
Gulliver's Travels (An abridged re-telling) [I love this retelling and the illustrations are fantastic. A must for cultural literacy. 4 stars]
Moby Dick [I knew I wouldn’t end up reading this one this year (or ever), so I grabbed an excellent graphic novel version. This month a friend shared with me an interesting essay titled Why You Should Read Moby Dick by R.C. Sproul. I still don’t know if I’ll read the unabridged version, but I appreciated having some deep ideas to think about as I read the graphic novel.]
The Law and the Lady (Or any book by Wilkie Collins. ChocLit Guild) [Gripping Gothic mystery by the author of The Woman in White and The Moonstone. Wilkie Collins was a contemporary of Dickens and he creates quite the Dickensian character, Miserrimus Dexter, for this novel. My attention was captured from the first chapter and I couldn’t put it down. Entertaining and satisfying. 4 1/2 stars]
Hamlet (CC Moms Book Club) [deep reading in progress]
The Door in the Wall (CC Challenge A) [A wonderful coming of age story set in Medieval times. 4 stars]
A Gathering of Days (CC Challenge A) [This was my least favorite of all the Challenge A literature selections. Somewhat boring and forced. I didn’t care for the journal-style writing. 2 1/2 stars]
Crispin: The Cross of Lead (CC Challenge A) [This was my favorite of the Challenge A literature selections. I ended up purchasing the other two books in the trilogy as well as several others by the author. Another great coming of age story set in Medieval times. 4 stars]
*A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park [This was an excellent read about a boy from war-torn Sudan. Highly recommended for adults as well as children (though it may be a little much for very young or sensitive children). This will be one of my favorite books this year. 4 1/2 stars.]
*In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord [This is a darling book about a little girl who moves from China to New York in the year 1947. It is a well-written simple chapter book. I would have given it four stars if it hadn’t been for two short events in the book that I did not care for. First (and this is a nit-picky complaint), a bully at school gives her two black eyes while swearing at her, and the words are bleeped out in asterisks. Shirley refuses to tell her parents what happened because she knows the bully would take it out on her. Her resolve not to tattle is rewarded by the bully becoming her friend the next day. Second, Shirley’s next friend tells her that she wants to show her something and swears Shirley to secrecy. The girls sneak into the friend’s dad’s office (he’s a psychiatrist) and the friend shows her a book (presumably a medical book) with pictures of naked people. Shirley pretends enthusiasm, but has no desire to look at the book. The story takes only a couple pages, but it begins with “Only one aspect of her friendship with Emily would have displeased her mother, but she was not likely to find it out, and so Shirley did not trouble herself too much over it.” It was this second event that just didn’t sit well with me, partly because the rest of the book is wonderful for 8-11 year olds. 3 stars.]
*Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library [Put Charlie and the Chocolate Factory together with Chasing Vermeer and Hunger Games (without the grit), add the Dewey Decimal System, board games and puzzles, trivia, and a gazillion book and author references and you get the middle grade adventure Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library. I thought it was great fun, and my boys loved it. The prose is very simple and modern, but the novel definitely sends the message that learning and reading can be quite exciting. 3 1/2 stars]
*Dominic[Dominic has to be one of my favorite children's chapter books ever. Philosophical, adventurous, charming, and hilarious for children and adults alike. The high level of vocabulary makes this book a fantastic read-aloud. If I had to use as few words as possible to describe this book, 'joie de vivre' sums it up nicely. "The boar began crying again. Not out of sorrow this time, but out of excruciating joy. 'How can I ever, ever in this world, not to mention the next, and disregardless of unforeseen contingencies, adequately thank you!' he said. 'I can't even begin, let alone work up a proper preamble to a beginning, to tell you how unendurably happy you've made me. But I'll try...'" 5 stars.]
Junk Food
*Highland Fling [So fun. So easy to read. So not edifying in any way. (grin) 3 stars]
*Paradise Fields [I enjoy this author, but this was probably my least favorite book of hers. 2 stars]
*Undetected [Tom Clancy meets Grace Livingston Hill. Well-researched and interesting details about sonar. Squeaky-clean and positive Christian romance. Not painfully written. Probably just a tad (ha!) unrealistic and idealistic. If I were willing to be totally honest, I would tell you that this genre is smack-dab in the middle of my comfort zone and the easiest, most enjoyable thing for me to read. But I don’t want to admit that. (wry grin) 3 stars]
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (ChocLit Guild) [Excellent story. I loved reading about Zamperini’s life and all the non-fiction facts and stories that are woven together to create Unbroken. It is a heartbreaking narrative in (many) places, but ends with such redemption and grace. I felt like the writing was a bit forced in places, as if the author was trying too hard, but otherwise it was fantastic. 4 stars]
*The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (ChocLit Guild) [Outstanding. The author deftly weaves multiple stories into one cohesive whole: the Pacific Northwest, logging, mining, the building of the Hoover Dam, the Depression, the Dust Bowl, the history of rowing, the construction of rowing shells, Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the intimate life story of Joe Rantz (and details of the lives of several other men), and the 1936 U.S. Olympic rowing team from the University of Washington. 4 1/2 stars.]
*84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff [A charming collection of correspondence between a New York writer and a bookshop in London from 1949-1969. 3 1/2 stars]
Invitation to the Classics: A Guide to Books You've Always Wanted to Read [Excellent companion to the classics. I’ve read the introduction and will read the entries for each classic as I finish the classic itself. The entries include information about the author and the historical context as well as issues to explore within each book. Written from a Christian worldview.]
I think the reason we (a general we) love Septembers and Januaries so well is that we crave fresh starts. That's why the changing of the seasons, the first day of a new month, and even morning can be so inviting.
I am celebrating today—September 1st: the symbolic beginning of a new year, a new season, a new month, a new day—because I am always grateful for a grace-filled fresh start.
And yet, I crave the familiar. The traditional bouquet of freshly-sharpened pencils.
My 9th year of homeschooling, our 6th year with Classical Conversations, my 42nd autumn, a mountain of months, and seemingly countless days. They are all a gift.
“[H]umans live in time, and experience reality successively. To experience much of it, therefore, they must experience many different things; in other words, they must experience change. And since they need change, [God] has made change pleasurable to them, just as He has made eating pleasurable. But since He does not wish them to make change, any more than eating, an end in itself, He has balanced the love of change in them by a love of permanence. He has contrived to gratify both tastes together in the very world He has made, by that union of change and permanence which we call Rhythm. He gives them the seasons, each season different yet every year the same, so that spring is always felt as a novelty yet always as the recurrence of an immemorial theme. He gives them in His Church a spiritual year; they change from a fast to a feast, but it is the same feast as before.”
My wish for you for on this first day of September, wherever you find yourself in life, is that you are able to find your rhythm and to celebrate the glorious union of change and permanence.
Two weeks ago we were enjoying a much-needed family vacation at Rockaway Beach on the northern Oregon coast. Friends of ours own a beautiful vacation rental townhouse there, and we were fortunate to have four glorious nights to relax (as much as one can with four children and a husband who loves projects) and explore the area. The wife is an interior designer and she obviously had fun adding gorgeous details to this home.
The townhouse is three stories high. The main living area is on the second floor. It contains the kitchen, dining, and living room as well as a half bath (through the open door in the picture above). I was a tiny bit in love with the kitchen.
And the living room.
I loved the soft blankets and the cupboard full of board and card games.
A sliding glass door opened to the deck.
And the deck had a great view of the beach.
This is a view of the townhouse from the beach.
But, really, my favorite spot was upstairs.
Because this.
There was a little reading nook in the master suite.
Another small balcony allowed more ocean viewing. The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad Steam Train went by on the tracks a few times each day. The kids loved watching the historic steam engine and waving to the passengers.
Also upstairs, a guest room and guest bath. [Luke begged for this quiet spot of his own. He is my orderly son who shares a small room with his two disorderly brothers.]
The entry to the house was on the first floor along with the garage. Behind the garage was a fantastic bunk room [which is where we sequestered the disorderly children].
The beach was just a short walk away.
We spent some time on the beach as well as exploring the areas north and south of Rockaway Beach. I’ll share more about our adventures in an upcoming post.
There is no limit to the places and times one can use the 5 Common Topics to contemplate ideas or to have discussions with anyone about anything! If you’re new to the 5 Common Topics, it might be easiest to start with a single, concrete noun. We were at the beach last week, so let’s start there.
:: Definition
What is an ocean?
A large body of salt water.
To what broad category does ocean belong?
Body of water. Biome. Geographical feature.
:: Comparison
What is another body of water? (Or biome. Or geographical feature. Or something else. Compare any number of things.)
River
How are an ocean and a river similar?
They are bodies of water. They have currents. They are geographical features on earth. Plants and animals live in them. They are part of the water cycle, and smaller bodies of water feed into them. They are used for transportation. Civilizations have grown up near them. They are often used as recreational areas.
How are they different?
Oceans are made of salt water. Rivers are fresh water. Rivers can irrigate crops and water livestock.
Oceans are much larger than rivers. Different plants and animals live in them.
Oceans have tides and are affected by the moon. Rivers flow continuously in one direction.
:: Relationship
How are a river and an ocean related? (Or any other two things. Antecedent/consequence and cause/effect.)
Rivers flow into oceans (oceans do not flow into rivers). Water cycle.
:: Circumstance
(When and where questions work well here--geographical and historical context, specific or general.)
Where are the oceans? How many are there? What are they named?
What has happened on the oceans and when? Who has used them for what?
Exploration. Transportation. Wars. Commerce. Scientific research and discovery.
Magellan’s crew circumnavigated the world via oceans in the 1500s…
When were they discovered/identified/defined/mapped?
When were they created and how?
:: Testimony
Who or what has something to say about oceans?
Science? The Bible? Literature? Explorers? Quotes or Proverbs? Poets? Deep-sea divers or treasure hunters? Laws of nature?
[Clearly, the further you move down the list of topics, the more in-depth (and endless) the conversation can become. I shared a few specific questions and even fewer answers just as examples. You may want to argue with some of my examples. Feel free. That’s part of the discussion! Or come up with your own questions and answers.]
If you are interested in reading more posts about the 5 Common Topics, give these a try:
If you want to learn more about the history of the 5 Common Topics and how to integrate them across subjects within the curriculum, I highly recommend reading The Question by Leigh Bortins.
In my first post in this language series, I explored the idea that language is a cosmos, an orderly and beautiful form with which we think and communicate.
Today, I would like to contemplate the word logos.
Logosis defined as “reason, thought of as constituting the controlling principle of the universe and as being manifested by speech. In Christian theology it is the eternal thought or word of God, made incarnate in Jesus Christ.”
Merriam-Webster defineslogos as the divine wisdom manifest in the creation, government, and redemption of the world.
Logos comes from an original Greek word meaning “a word, saying, speech, discourse, thought, proportion, ratio, reckoning.”
In the Gospel of John, Jesus is the incarnate Logos, the Living Word, through which all things are made.
We’re starting at the very beginning again.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
John 1:14 The Word (Logos) became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
1 John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word (Logos) of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.
“In Greek philosophy and theology, [Logos is] the divine reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and meaning.”
Consider the Cosmos (order and ornament) of creation, which God spoke into being in Genesis 1.
Psalm 33:6 By the word (Logos) of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
Psalm 33:9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
Hebrews 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word (Logos) of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
One of the greatest realities with which we have to deal is the Voice of God in His world. The briefest and only satisfying cosmogony is this: ‘He spake and it was done.’ The why of natural law is the living Voice of God immanent in His creation. And this word of God which brought all worlds into being cannot be understood to mean the Bible, for it is not a written or printed word at all, but the expression of the will of God spoken into the structure of all things.”
Language is a universal human structure, given to us by God, in whose image we are created.
Exodus 3:13-14 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
The name God gives Himself in Exodus 3, “I am,” is structured. It is a predicated noun, name and being.
The structure, the very fabric, of human language is the subject and predicate.
Grammar is where God, man, the soul, thinking, knowledge, and the cosmos all come together.
Grammar is based on the link between something that exists and something that applies to something that exists. God "exists." He called Himself, "I Am." He made us, putting us in the garden to steward it. As stewards, we need to know what we are stewarding, so he made us able to know the world we live in. The world around us exists as things that act or are acted on and have properties or qualities. In other words, the world is full of subjects with predicates. To know the world around us we must think it. When we think something, we always think something about it. In other words, the mind thinks subjects and predicates. Predicate comes from the Latin and means "to say about." All thought and all existence revolve around the relation between subjects and predicates (substances and properties if you like).
On the brilliant simplicity of subjects and predicates, Michael Clay Thompson writes:
Why is grammar fun and valuable? Grammar reveals to us the beauty and power of our own minds. With only eight kinds of words and two sides (subject and predicate) of each idea, we can make the plays of Shakespeare, or the novels of Toni Morrison, or the poems of Elizabeth Bishop. No system, so gorgeously elegant, could be expected to make such a language. Through grammar we see the simple form of our binary minds; in all of our sentences, however elaborate, we are making a predicate about a subject, and this reveals the meaning of clarity. For each sentence or idea, I must know both of these two things: what you are talking about, and what you are saying about it. For each paragraph of sentences, I must know what the paragraph is about, and what you are saying about it. For each essay of paragraphs, I must know what the essay is about, and what you are saying about it. A sentence, with its two sides, is a model of the mind.
We’ll be spending more time with sentences later in this series.
[I’ll be exploring the concept of language in this five-part series as I am preparing to tutor an Essentials class (English grammar and writing) with our Classical Conversations community this coming year (year six!).]
We use language to think about and communicate ideas.
We use grammar to think about and communicate ideas about language.
Grammar is a form or cosmos.
Let’s start our exploration of language with the word cosmos.
A cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. The word derives from the Greek term κόσμος (kosmos), meaning literally "order" or "ornament" and metaphorically "world,” and is diametrically opposed to the concept of chaos.
While we’re at it, let’s look up the definition of ornament: (Merriam-Webster) 2a. something that lends grace or beauty 3: one whose virtues or graces add luster to a place or society
Order + Beauty (literally) = World (metaphorically)
Let’s go to the very beginning.
Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Formless. And what did God do? Created form: separated light and darkness, waters and sky, land and seas.
Empty. Once the form was established, God filled the place with beauty: plants, stars, birds, sea creatures, animals, man.
Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
(Words matter!)
Array: verb (used with object): 1. to place in proper or desired order 2. to clothe with garments, especially of an ornamental kind; dress up; deck out.
And, as Leigh Bortins says, that’s how you teach everything to everybody. Figure out what the form is, and then you have all the content in the world to make it creative, beautiful!
Sentence forms Latin ending forms Math formulas The structure of a story Poetry forms
You can put in whatever content you wish once you know the form. The content is what makes it unique and interesting.
When we learn the grammar of language, we are learning form so that we have the tools to communicate truth, goodness, and beauty.
