Truth, Goodness, & Beauty: From Principle to Practice [Part 1: Vision]

 

Today, I am practicing Lectio Devina. I am taking what I’m reading and hearing, what I’m contemplating and synthesizing, and sharing it with you.

This series has three parts, because all good thoughts have three parts, right?

We’ll begin with a look at Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. (See? Three!)

For those of you familiar with the Myers Briggs personality types, I am an ISFJ. This means that I’m concrete and sequential, but I’m very emotional about it. [grin]

This also means that I have to digest philosophical ideas in a concrete, practical way. Maybe this is the “caricature” learning, as Andrew Kern calls it. First, the broad and basic outlines, a child’s drawing. Later, the nuances. I’m still in the stick-figure stage.

I am sharing here in humility. Much of what I share with you is what I have organized from excellent thinkers, writers, and speakers. (“I’m a synthesizer, not a generator,” as one of my friends said recently.) Or we can call it curating: select, organize, and present (hey, that’s the three stages of Lectio Devina!). Consider this a peek into my commonplace journal. Or, to state it more correctly, this is my commonplace journal.

 

The above quote is beautiful, isn’t it? We can let the words wash over us, but I don’t think we can begin to apply them unless we truly contemplate the meaning of the words. When I begin to contemplate, I almost always start with definition.

We will start our series with Truth, Goodness, and Beauty (vision), then move on to Cosmos (form), and then finish with Liturgy (routine and content). This won’t be anything close to an exhaustive contemplation, but merely a jumping off place.

Truth, Goodness, & Beauty: The Vision

Sources:

:: David Hicks (PNW CiRCE Conference)

:: The Wound of Beauty by Gregory Wolfe @ Image Journal as well as my notes from Greg Wolfe’s talk at the PNW CiRCE Conference

:: Awakening Wonder by Stephen R. Turley, PhD

Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.

These are our WHY, our principles. Our vision for education.

If you are like me, you’ve heard the words truth, goodness, and beauty often, particularly in the context of defining Classical Education. But what exactly do they mean? What are they? Where did they come from? How do we know them? Why are they important? How do we pursue them?

What are they?

Truth, Goodness, and Beauty transcend our reality, which is why they are known as the transcendentals.

They point to or reflect something beyond our physical reality (God). They don’t explain themselves. They require a first cause, a reason outside of themselves for their existence.

The First Cause Argument by Peter Kreeft

If there is no first cause, then the universe is like a great chain with many links; each link is held up by the link above it, but the whole chain is held up by nothing.

The most famous of all arguments for the existence of God are the "five ways" of Saint Thomas Aquinas. One of the five ways, the fifth, is the argument from design, which we looked at in the last essay. The other four are versions of the first-cause argument, which we explore here.

The argument is basically very simple, natural, intuitive, and commonsensical. We have to become complex and clever in order to doubt or dispute it. It is based on an instinct of mind that we all share: the instinct that says everything needs an explanation. Nothing just is without a reason why it is. Everything that is has some adequate or sufficient reason why it is.

C. S. Lewis put it, "I felt in my bones that this universe does not explain itself."

Greg Wolfe gives us some helpful particulars about truth, goodness, and beauty:

They have qualities of being:

· Truth being knowable.

· Goodness being lovable.

· Beauty being admirable and desirable.

They are equal. A trinity.

· Truth without beauty is propaganda. It is moralism (rather than mystery). It is fleshless abstraction. Only beauty can incarnate truth.

· Goodness without beauty is moralism (a “better than thou” mindset).

· Beauty without truth is a lie and a mask, empty and hollow.

· Beauty without goodness is frigid, lifeless virtuosity. It is form without meaning.

David Hicks connects the transcendentals with the person of Christ:

Christ is the incarnation of the transcendentals, the transcendentals embodied in a person. They are not ideas, laws, or art.

· Christ expresses truth not in precepts but in parables.

· He expresses goodness not in laws but in love.

· He expresses beauty not in majesty but in humility, holiness, obedience.

David Hicks goes on to say that our modern culture has tried to convince us that truth is relative, goodness is situational, and beauty is subjective.

[Awakening Wonder] “We cannot teach our students that Truth is relative and expect our politicians to be honest; we can’t claim that the Good has been replaced by situational ethics and expect our bankers to ground their business decisions in anything other than profit, greed, and expediency; and we cannot relegate Beauty to personal preference and then feign shock when we encounter a urinal as part of an art exhibit.”

Where did they come from?

[Awakening Wonder by Turley, roughly quoted/paraphrased] “The concept of the transcendentals first emerged in the early Greek world, around the 5^th century BC, but we don’t find the concepts of truth, goodness, and beauty converged until the writings of Plato around 400 BC in what has been termed the ‘Socratic trinity’ or ‘Platonic triad.’ The first clear presentation of truth, goodness, and beauty comes from a 15^th century commentary on Plato’s writings by an Italian scholar. For Plato, they were divine concepts, and he believed that the individual human can mirror, reflect, or image the virtues of the transcendentals and thereby participate in divine life. It is philosophia, the love of wisdom, that seeks to recover human perception of truth, goodness, and beauty so as to restore the human soul to its participation in divine life.”

“The Christian tradition (notably expressed by Augustine and Aquinas) asserts that truth, goodness, and beauty are divine attributes by which the whole of creation is endowed with meaning and purpose, and focused particularly in microcosmic form in the distinctly human manifestation of the image of God… and that all that is true, beautiful, and good finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.”

Why are they important?

[Awakening Wonder] “By encountering Truth, the human intellect is awakened to the infinite wisdom of God revealed in Christ; by encountering Goodness, the human volition is directed to act in accordance with the divine purposefulness of creation and our own created nature renewed in Christ; and by encountering Beauty, the human soul is awakened to the inexhaustible wellspring of diving love revealed in Christ. In short, the Christian vision of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty is an invitation, a divine call, to awaken the fullness of our humanity as the entire cosmos is incorporated into the transformative life, death, and resurrection of Christ.”

How do we know them?

Greg Wolfe says that we use human faculties to know them:

· The faculty by which we perceive or apprehend truth is reason.

· The faculty by which we perceive or apprehend goodness is faith or holiness.

· The faculty by which we perceive or apprehend beauty is imagination.

A faculty is an inherent mental or physical power.

Imagination is the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses. Essentially, it is the ability to “picture to oneself.”

How do we pursue them?

So anything that helps us develop our faculties of reason, faith, and/or imagination serves us in our pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty.

We actively praise (beauty), serve (goodness), and contemplate (truth).

And, in imitation of Christ, we seek parables (truth), love (goodness), humility/holiness/obedience (beauty).

This is where our model of education begins.

Notes and Thoughts from the CiRCE Pacific Northwest Regional Conference

Much of this week has been spent decompressing from the previous few weeks. I’ve slept in, finished off a couple more books, started a few more books, worked on a writing project, and reviewed my notes from the CiRCE conference.

While I’ve been preoccupied, Lola covered herself and some of her toys/bedroom in paint. Luke learned how to breathe fire, eat fire, and light steel wool on fire [not kidding]. Oh, yeah. He baked cookies for me, too.

I’m also having technical difficulties with my blog. I apologize if you’ve had trouble with my blog redirecting. We are trying to solve the problem. And by “we” I mean my overworked husband. He was gone again last week, on a trip with one of his swimmers to a camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado. I’m so thankful to have him home again (as are the kids), but he has been burning the candle at both ends this whole week with work and coaching and consulting. Isn’t he handsome?

Enough about all that. I’m assuming some of you might be more interested in reading my notes from the CiRCE conference last weekend.

Day 1

Andrew Kern—The Radiance of His Glory: Christ as the Truth, the Good, and the Beautiful

I laughed as I reviewed my notes from Andrew Kern’s opening plenary talk/sermon. I wrote almost nothing. Andrew Kern is one of the most non-linear speakers I’ve ever listened to. I’ve found it helpful to just listen and let it soak in rather than try to take notes.

He began with Hebrews 1:1-3.

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

I think that will be our next passage for Bible memory.

The only Andrew Kern quote I wrote is this:

“What is true is true and your soul needs it.”

 

Sarah Mackenzie—The Art of Schole: Restful Teaching, Restful Learning

This was a breakout session. Sarah had beautiful handouts for us at this talk, so I didn’t need to take as many notes in her session. I was able to relax and just listen. The session talk was based on her book, Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler’s Guide to Unshakeable Peace. Sarah is so real and delightful and encouraging. It was a pleasure to get to know her a little better over the two days.

:: Sarah blogs at Amongst Lovely Things. She leads the Read-Aloud Revival (have you listened to the podcast or joined the membership site?). And she models restful learning with the Schole Sisters.

 

Gregory Wolfe—Beauty: The Cinderella of the Transcendentals

I read Gregory Wolfe’s book Beauty Will Save the World: Recovering the Human in an Ideological Age in anticipation of hearing him speak at the CiRCE conference. I’m glad that I did, but now I want to reread the book in light of his talk. I enjoyed seeing a bit of his (humorous) personality manifest in his live presentation. If you ever get a chance to hear him speak in person, take advantage of the opportunity! I appreciated his linear style and visual presentation. [grin]

Greg shared the following quote, and it sums up his talk beautifully [see what I did there?]. I thought it sounded familiar, and I guessed that I had previously encountered the quote in one of Stratford Caldecott’s books. [I was right; it’s in Beauty for Truth's Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education.]

“We no longer dare to believe in beauty and we make of it a mere appearance in order the more easily to dispose of it. Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated and banned from her two sisters without taking them along with herself in an act of mysterious vengeance. We can be sure that whoever sneers at her name as if she were the ornament of a bourgeois past -- whether he admits it or not -- can no longer pray and soon will no longer be able to love.” ― Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics: Seeing the Form

Notes:

We need a restoration of balance in the transcendentals of truth, goodness, and beauty.

We place emphasis on truth and goodness. Beauty needs to be defended.

Transcendentals: infinitely valuable and ends in themselves. They transcend our reality.

They have qualities of being:

Truth being knowable.
Goodness being lovable.
Beauty being admirable and desirable.

They are equal. A trinity.

In our modern culture there is a scandal of pleasure. Beauty is thought of negatively as either seductive or anesthetizing.

But pure beauty has no agenda. It is disinterested.

Beauty creates desire, a certain restlessness that moves us forward.

“The beautiful is essentially delightful. This is why, of its very nature and precisely as beautiful, it stirs desire and produces love, whereas the true as such only illumines… It is for its beauty that Wisdom is loved. And it is for itself that every beauty is first loved, even if afterwards the too weak flesh is caught in the trap. Love in its turn produces ecstasy, that is to say, it puts the lover outside of himself; ecstasy, of which the soul experiences a diminished form when it is seized by the beauty of the work of art, and the fullness when it is absorbed, like the dew, by the beauty of God.” ~Jacques Maritain (read more here)

The faculty by which we perceive or apprehend truth is reason.
The faculty by which we perceive or apprehend goodness is faith or holiness.
The faculty by which we perceive or apprehend beauty is imagination.

Beauty can be defined as “that which being seen, pleases.”

Beauty penetrates reality and perceives the world intuitively. It is an apprehension of form and pattern that penetrates and reveals reality.

It has elements of both surprise and inevitability. We first have a jolt of amazement, but it leads to “yes, of course.”

Art fails when it merely tells us what we already know in the ways that we already know it.

Beauty strikes with a sense of newness. Beauty is not merely prettiness. It is not only harmony, proportion, and symmetry.

Beauty lives in tension between ideal and real. It is prophetic. It is a challenge to complacency.

Beauty brings us to the threshold of mystery with opaque but shining truth. We understand in part—with a certain tenuousness.

Truth without beauty is propaganda. It is moralism (rather than mystery). It is fleshless abstraction.

Only beauty can incarnate truth. Real beauty asks us to think for ourselves. It brings us back to the ordinary and invites us to cherish it.

Beauty makes us care about the world and want to protect it, defend it. It gives us a sense of empathy, helps us to see through the eyes of the other. It infuses goodness with mercy.

Beauty sets us on the path, so that we are dynamically striving for goodness.

Goodness without beauty is moralism (a “better than thou” mindset).

But we must put the same constraints on beauty if we are striving for balance.

Beauty without truth is a lie and a mask, empty and hollow.

Beauty without goodness is frigid, lifeless virtuosity. It is form without meaning.

Interested in reading more?

:: The Wound of Beauty by Gregory Wolfe @ Image Journal [This article is generally the same content as his talk, so it is a more fluid and complete version of my notes above.]

:: Read more about Image Journal here.

“Understandably, religion and art also need each other. When we lack the kind of stimulus which only the imagination can provide, we make it more difficult to live the life of faith. And art, when it sees no creation to celebrate, and no soul in need of nurturing, loses its respect for truth.”

:: Check out Gregory Wolfe’s book here: Beauty Will Save the World: Recovering the Human in an Ideological Age. [I just finished it a week or two ago and highly recommend it!]

 

Day 2

Tim McIntosh—Becoming Whole: An Education That Knits Together Heart and Head

Tim has a strong presence, personality, and humor as a speaker. He tells great stories.

Notes:

We learn with both our head and our heart. Our head processes text, objective fact, and logic. Our heart asks, “What does it mean? How does it feel?” It applies and understands.

We are constantly creating internal models of the world. These internal models often involve our perception of our value in the world. We experience negative emotions when reality does not line up with the internal model we’ve created. [Our homeschooling schedule, for instance?] We experience positive emotions when our internal models are accurate.

Learning is model building, world discerning. Curiosity bridges the gap between our present model and our future model.

You can’t have curiosity without a willingness to explore something unknown. This is a risk. It takes courage.

The thing we care most deeply about is the hardest thing to say. More risk.

A teacher must have presence in a classroom. Be passionate. See your students. Create an environment of respect and safety for students.

Don’t shut a student down during times of emotion. Ask ‘the tender question.’

“Why are you so angry?” is a statement that interprets the situation for a student. Instead, observe details and invite the student to interpret. “Bobby, your voice has gotten loud and you pounded your fist on the table. What’s going on for you?”

[During the Q&A, someone asked what age this technique is appropriate for. Andrew Kern observed that younger children are very honest but not always perceptive. Older students are more perceptive but it is much more difficult for them to be honest. Starting to ask this question early trains the student to ask it of himself when he is faced with emotions as he gets older.]

:: My notes on this talk are fearfully inadequate. I highly recommend reading the article Fear and Education by Tim McIntosh @ Gutenberg College.

 

Sarah Mackenzie—Beauty in the Chaotic, Ordinary Homeschool

This was another breakout session. Again, Sarah shared beautiful handouts for the talk. She shared many ways in which we can find and embrace beauty in our ordinary, chaotic homeschool.

One of the highlights of the whole weekend for me was when she invited us to stand together with our hands raised and sing the Doxology. The experience was exquisitely beautiful. I plan to add this to the liturgy of our homeschooling days!

I also loved all the quotes she shared, but this one by C.S. Lewis (from The Weight of Glory) was my favorite and summed up so much of the conference:

“The books or music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing.

These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers.

For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”

 

David Hicks—Quo Vadis: An Amplification

David Hicks has a brilliant mind (even if he claims an average intellect). I’m still working my way slowly through his book Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education. I have to stop and re-read several times, and I still don’t understand everything. A couple of us were (laughingly) wondering if we were at the right conference since we needed to pull out a dictionary for his breakout session title, “A Colloquy on the Previous Plenary Session,” as well as for the instructions in the conference program [under “10 Ways to Optimize Your Conference Experience” we were instructed to “be profligate in the exchange of contact information”].

I was thrilled (and somewhat amazed) that I could process the words in his plenary talk title. “Quo Vadis” is a Latin phrase that essentially means “Where are you going?” [I know this in part because I once read a book titled Quo Vadis, which my very intelligent grandmother said that all young people should read.] I now know, from learning the form of persuasive essays this past year, that an amplification basically states who cares and why?

But I still wondered what he was going to say about where to go from here and why we should care.

It turns out, David Hicks can lead two breakout sessions and give a plenary talk without preparing any formal notes. He is able simply to use all the copiousness going on in his head and to synthesize all the talks and information and ideas presented and swirling about in order to lucidly connect all the dots for us in a linear, efficient, radiant speech. (Do you think I’m using hyperbole?)

The man exudes grace and clarity. He also is hilarious in an understated sort of way. I loved that he said he thought Andrew Kern was eccentric. And I loved that he made faces (laughing, rolling eyes, shaking his head) at things Andrew Kern said during the Q&A panel (particularly when Andrew Kern kept saying that all one needs to know about education is on pages 72 and 73 of Norms and Nobility—I don’t think I have anything underlined on those pages, probably because I didn’t understand anything enough to underline it). I love that he finished his talk by saying that he hoped we disagreed with something he said because the disagreements are where things get interesting. I also think that only David Hicks could get away with saying something about our “parents getting horny.” Twice.

A few specific notes:

Truth, goodness and beauty are called the transcendentals because they transcend a naturalistic, materialistic world.

Our modern culture says that truth is relative, goodness is situational, and beauty is subjective.

These modern qualities of being negate the terms. They are gutted of meaning, become non-existent.

The transcendentals are derivative. They must trace back to something outside our material world. A Son.

Christ is the incarnation of the transcendentals, the transcendentals embodied in a person. They are not ideas, laws, or art. They are embodied in a complex person who is in a profound relationship of love. It is a subordinate father-son relationship, and yet Christ is given all glory and power. He is heir of all things.

Christ expresses truth not in precepts but in parables. He expresses goodness not in laws but in love. He expresses beauty not in majesty but in humility, holiness, obedience.

[Thanks, Tonya, for filling the hole in my notes!!]

(These were bizarre ideas in the classical world.)

[Hicks shared more about truth, goodness, and beauty in the ancient pagan world, but I am not proficient enough to turn my notes into something clear enough to understand!]

[He also shared some beautiful thoughts on the story of the prodigal son, and the grace and absolute freedom the story embodies.]

What kind of story are you telling your children? Is it big enough for them to fit their world in it? Can new experiences fit into the story?

 

Q & A Panel

The conference ended with a Q&A panel. David Hicks, Andrew Kern, Sarah Mackenzie, and Tim McIntosh answered questions. I don’t have many notes. It was mostly fun to see them joking around and having fun together.

Kern’s answers were always “Homer” or “Pages 72 and 73 of Norms and Nobility.” Specifically, one of his answers (in reference to a visual during Gregory Wolfe’s presentation) was, “You can have Thomas Kinkade. Or you can have Homer.”

 

“We spend our time polishing the chariot and neglecting the horses [moral imagination].” ~Andrew Kern

___________________________________________________________

I think that about wraps it up!

Education for Life

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s contemplate those questions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

.

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

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

Do our pursuits enlarge our humanity or diminish it?

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

How can we serve others in this pursuit?

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

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

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

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

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

.

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

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

40 Days of SPS ~ Day 4

 

Hangnails

I wasn’t feeling well when I headed to bed last night and only managed a few minutes of reading. I woke up around midnight with a headache, sinus pressure, and a quite sore throat. I grabbed some Ibuprofen and a cough drop and went back to sleep. Lola woke up crying and croaky around 3ish, asking for a drink of water. I lay down next to her after getting her some water, until she fell back asleep.

I didn’t even hear my alarm when it first went off this morning, and my body did not want to move. I allowed myself to lie there a few minutes and half listen to the sermon on the radio, finally shoving myself out of bed at 6:30.

I spent a minute or two snuggling with each kid this morning soon after I woke them up.

I began reading Watership Down aloud to Levi and Luke. They didn’t want me to stop. I read it several years ago, and I’m already getting shivers just a few chapters in this time around. Hazel is, hands-down, my favorite animal protagonist, ever. I had no idea I could respect a rabbit so much. I am intentionally discussing this book as we go along, using what they boys already know about the elements of story from our Book Detectives meetings and adding in many of the Socratic dialogue questions from the Teaching the Classics syllabus. I’m marking up the book with underlines and notes as we go along.

(I think I’ll read Ender's Game next and we’ll spend some time comparing the leadership qualities of the two “boys.”)

I’m struggling (as always) with what to do with Lola while the older boys and I are working on lessons (Leif’s time is a bit of an issue, as well). If I do well focusing on lessons with Levi and Luke, I’m not happy with how Lola and Leif spend their time. Essentially, if Lola is anywhere near the boys, they are incapable of concentrating, and she is NOT an independent player. She and Leif don’t play well together well independently, either. The main school work happens (at this point) in the kitchen or living room, so Lola has to be sequestered alone in her room (under duress) (or in the bath or watching a screen, sigh) if any progress is to be made. Yes, ideally she should be trained not to be a distraction and my boys should be trained to ignore her and I should be graceful in my parenting while they are in the learning process and not yet capable of the skills, but… we aren’t there.

Cosmic Order

“Cosmic Order.” It is rather hilarious and apropos that I would come across the above quote today considering the fact that yesterday I specifically wrote down notes about “cosmos” (from my CC practicum theme) on the back of the paper listing my roles and vision statements.

The idea of “cosmos” is one that speaks to my soul. I am a person who loves order and beauty, and those elements encompass my ideas about creativity and art. And, now, even my ideas about my vision for my life roles. My notes about “cosmos” also remind me that often the very act of putting pen to paper when one must is when inspiration is given, not before.

Just for fun, I’ll share them again:

A cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. The word derives from the Greek term κόÏ?μος (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. (Form. Structure. Truth.) Ornament. (Beauty. Harmony. Grace. Virtue.)

Order + Beauty (literally) = World (metaphorically)

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

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

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

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

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

(Words matter!)

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

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

Sentence forms
Latin ending forms
Math formulas
The structure of story

And to tie in the quote from yesterday, the idea of that scripture is a song we sing to become a part of the story, and the Psalms being the heart, I’ll share this quote again:

“But more than that, we would desire to bring children into the garden of created being, and thought, and expression. Caldecott reminds us that for the medieval schoolmen, as for Plato, education was essentially musical, an education in the cosmos or lovely order that surrounds us and bears us up. Thus when we teach our youngest children by means of rhymes and songs, we do so not merely because rhymes and songs are actually effective mnemonic devices. We do so because we wish to form their souls by memory: we wish to bring them up as rememberers, as persons, born, as Caldecott points out, in certain localities, among certain people, who bear a certain history, and who claim our love and loyalty.” (Anthony Esolen, author of Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child, in the Foreword from Beauty in the Word: Rethinking the Foundations of Education by Stratford Caldecott)

We can draw our children into our own narratives and show them that there is a better way to live a good story.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The life theme I wrote on day 1 read “Learn more about God and His world, create, nurture family, encourage others.” I shortened that to “learn, create, nurture, encourage.”

When I listed my life roles, I found that each role fit under one of the categories of Nurturer, Encourager, Learner, or Artist (Creator). A few roles fit under more than one category.

The vision statements are much more difficult. I seem to come up with a list of words I want associated with that role rather than a phrase or sentence.

Attentive. Grace. Sincere. Listen. Passionate. Curious. Perseverance. Truth. Goodness. Beauty. Welcome. Enjoy. Explore. Productive. Story. Inspire. Affection. Playful. Cheerful.

I took the time today to also write out at least one or two “Actionable Steps” for each of my life roles, according to the process for Day 4.

 

What categories do your life roles fit into?

Innovator? Caretaker? Protector? Performer? Explorer? Thinker? Provider? Worshipper?

Language Love, Part I ~ Cosmos

[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 κόÏ?μος (kosmos), meaning literally "order" or "ornament" and metaphorically "world,” and is diametrically opposed to the concept of chaos.

[Explore cosmos in depth here.]

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

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

Order + Beauty (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.

Mt. Hope Academy @ The Live and Learn Studio ~ November 2011

I wish that I had more time (and more brain space and ability) to be able to express my thoughts more completely and more eloquently. This may be a long and disjointed post. (Char, if you’re working tonight, this one’s for you. Grin.)

I’ve been thinking so much this past month on how God’s creation speaks to His nature. How man is made in His image. How He pursues us. And how our purpose is to reflect and glorify Him.

Classical Conversations states that our purpose is ‘To know God and to make Him Known.’

The Circe Institute states that ‘Christian education is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue by nourishing the soul on truth, goodness, and beauty by means of the seven liberal arts and the four sciences so that, in Christ, the student is enabled to better know, glorify, and enjoy God.’ And then, ‘St. Irenaeus said, “The glory of God is the man fully alive.”’

In so many ways, I have discovered that the fullest education (and life) reflects both ORDER and ARTISTRY. That there is beauty in truth. And that when there is a balance and harmony to these two seemingly opposite sides, it can result in great joy and delight.

Charlotte Mason speaks of ‘living books.’ SimplyCharlotteMason.com defines living books in this way: ‘Living books are usually written by one person who has a passion for the subject and writes in conversational or narrative style. The books pull you into the subject and involve your emotions, so it’s easy to remember the events and facts. Living books make the subject “come alive.”’

Passion, Pleasure and Delight, and Profound Skill, Knowledge and Wisdom

These are qualities that create amazing learning experiences. The perfect synthesis of order and artistry is manifest in such areas as classical music, but previously I have expected it less in areas such as grammar or math. And then—along came Michael Clay Thompson:

"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.......

Another way to think about why grammar is fun is to ask, what is not fun? The feeling of confusion...is not fun. The off-center feeling of struggling with one’s own ignorance to accomplish just an ordinary thing is not fun. The private knowledge that you don’t even know which pronoun to use in your own language, this is not fun. The low self-esteem of guessing your way through commas, and spattering words around like a wordy Jackson Pollack, not really controlling where they will land or why, this is not fun. It is not fun to have a peer correct your usage, make your verb plural, shift your wrong pronoun to the object case where it belongs, or gently remind you that your sentence is a fragment."

I don’t know when I’ve read anything with such a passion for both perfect order and astounding artistry as Michael Clay Thompson’s rigorous language arts series for elementary students. His writing screams ‘delight!’

Just when I thought life couldn’t get any better, along came Stanley F. Schmidt, Ph.D.:  Passion, profound skill and knowledge, CREATIVITY, and sheer joy in a math book. From 5+2 to calculus, statistics, and linear algebra—in narrative form. Yeah, baby. If given a chance, all three boys would read Life of Fred for hours.

I cozied up on the couch to read Life of Fred with the boys (incidentally, both Michael Clay Thompson language arts books and Life of Fred math books are ‘snuggle up on the couch to read and discuss’ sort of books) and opened up the first book. On the dedication page (of each book) Stan writes ‘for Goodness’ sake, or as J.S. Bach—who was never noted for his plain English—often expressed it: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (to the greater glory of God).’ Delightful math, glorifying God, Bach, Latin. Perfect synchronicity. (Not to mention the boys just watched a wonderful movie about Bach…)

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
(to the greater glory of God)

Wait, there’s more. After all of this, I read another article by Tucker Teague. (This guy is on a roll.) 
‘Incarnational’ Homeschooling @ Classical Conversations:

We live in a world created by God. We are creatures of God’s imagination. Our rationality comes from God. The longings of our hearts are put there by God. Both our desires and our capabilities to teach and to be taught originate from God. And yet, God is a mystery. We cannot know God unless He reveals Himself to us, and even then, we will always remain incapable of knowing God in His essence. He is wonderful and good, He is faithful and sovereign, but He is also transcendent and we are not. Still, God has made us to know Him and to enjoy Him. Praise be to God that in poignant and substantial ways He has made Himself known to us. To know and enjoy God is, or should be, our foundation as educators.

And then I came across this TED video:

And this quote:

"He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed."
~Albert Einstein

With all the thoughts of God’s creation, order and artistry, swirling around in my head, Fibonacci numbers fit right in. The boys read Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D’Agnese.

My book club, ChocLit Guild, read Perelandra by C.S. Lewis this past month. We had an amazing conversation about the fact that we can’t separate knowledge (and education) from God, because all truth is His and all knowledge, and He is reflected in all of creation.

After our Book Detectives meeting was over, the moms had a fabulous discussion about using the story chart with the Bible to see the ‘big picture’ of God’s story, where we stand in time, and our purpose as God’s creation.

Then we started The Handel’s Messiah Family Advent Reader. Order, artistry, passion, goodness, truth, beauty.

I’m telling you, it has been a month of big thoughts. But I need to get back to parenting, so, without further ado, here is our basic educational outline for the month of November:

Classical Conversations
Weeks 9-12 (now halfway through and on a long Christmas break!!): Memory work in science, history, history timeline, geography, math, English grammar, and Latin. Weekly presentations (public speaking), science experiments/projects, fine arts unit studies, and gym/social time.

Faith:
Bible Memory: 
A New Commandment (CD)
Independent Bible reading:
Levi: The Day by Day Bible
Luke: The Action Bible
Leif: The Jesus Storybook Bible
Telling God's Story
Hymns For a Kid's Heart (Vol. 1, 2)
(Luke and Levi: weekly hymns on piano)
(weekly patriotic hymns/songs)

Math:
Teaching Textbooks daily (Leif:3, Luke: 3/4, Levi: 4)
The Critical Thinking Co. math workbooks
Life of Fred elementary series
Singapore
CC weekly memory work (skip counting)

Science:
DK First Human Body Encyclopedia
The Visual Dictionary of the Human Body (Eyewitness)
My Body (human body project @ CC)
What’s Science All About? (biology, chemistry, physics by Usborne) (The boys LOVED this book!!)
CC weekly science memory work (human body)

P.E.:
Swim Team (Levi), Swim Lessons (Luke)
(mini trampoline and outdoor play)

Fine Arts:
CC tin whistle/music theory
Monthly Fine Arts Study (Robert Louis Stevenson, N. C. Wyeth, Edvard Grieg)
Beethoven’s Wig 2
Piano lessons (Luke)
Bach’s Fight for Freedom (DVD)

Language Arts:
IEW Writing (Luke: Primary Arts of Language Writing, Levi: Fables, Myths, and Fairy Tales Writing Lessons)
IEW Poetry Memorization
MCT Grammar and Vocabulary (Town level)
Writing With Ease
Sentence diagramming
CC English grammar memory work
All About Spelling Level 2 (Steps 11-14)
Handwriting Without Tears workbooks
Copy work using custom handwriting worksheets
(I shared more details about our Language Arts line-up at this link.)

I’ve been trying to diagram our history sentences. It is a great challenge for me, and I always learn something new. I got the appositive wrong on this one. The ‘the’ should have be on a slanted line under ‘(Fugitive Slave Act)’ I think.

Latin:
Prima Latina (review: DVD lessons ?-16)
CC Latin memory work 

Geography:
CC U.S. geography (states, capitals, and more)
Drawing the U.S. (outline) free-hand
Place the State online game

History/Literature:
The Story of the World: Early Modern Times (ch. 17-21)
CC weekly history memory work (American history)
DK Eyewitness: Russia
Peter the Great by Diane Stanley
Ten Kings and the Worlds They Ruled by Milton Meltzer (Louis XIV and Peter the Great)
Baboushka and the Three Kings by Ruth Robbins
I-Know-Not-What, I-Know-Not-Where: A Russian Tale adapted by Eric A. Kimmel
The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship: A Russian Tale retold by Arthur Ransome
Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave as told by Marianna Mayer
The Pearl by Nan Richardson (a true Cinderella story, set in 18th-century Russia) (gorgeous picture book!)
The Spider’s Gift: A Ukrainian Christmas Story retold by Eric A. Kimmel
The Sea King’s Daughter: A Russian Legend by Aaron Shepard
The Language of Birds by Rafe Martin
The Khan’s Daughter: A Mongolian Folktale by Laurence Yep
All the Way to Lhasa: A Tale From Tibet by Barbara Helen Berger
Tikki Tikki Tembo and more stories to celebrate Asian heritage (6 stories, Storybook Treasures DVD)
Cowboy on the Steppes by Song Nan Zhang
Duel in the Wilderness by Karin Clafford Farley (George Washington during French and Indian War, Levi-IR)
Struggle for a Continent: The French and Indian Wars, 1689-1763 by Betsy Maestro
Mystery History of a Pirate Galleon by Fred Finney
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare (Levi and Luke-IR)
The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History (Luke)
The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia (Levi)
DK Children's Encyclopedia of American History
CC Veritas History Timeline Cards (memorizing)
Liberty’s Kids (Netflix streaming), Schoolhouse Rock America, and This is America, Charlie Brown (DVDs)

Literature Study:
Book Detectives
Once Upon a Time: A Story of the Brothers Grimm by Robert Quackenbush
Ever After (DVD)
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling (Levi and Luke-IR)
The War of the Worlds (Classic Starts, retold from the H.G. Wells original, Luke-IR
The Time Machine (Classic Starts, retold from the H.G. Wells original, Luke-IR

Other Reading:
Miscellaneous library books
Thanksgiving book collection

Luke’s Free Reading:
Encyclopedia Brown Finds the Clues (and others?) by Donald J. Sobol
Magic By the Lake (and others?) by Edward Eager
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Classic Starts: Greek Myths (retold from the classic originals)
A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time by Mary Pope Osborne
Pilgrims (Magic Tree House Research Guide) by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s Magic, and Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
and others

Levi’s Free Reading:
Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson
The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall
Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt! by Jean Fritz
Blue Willow by Doris Gatesz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Lots of library books about dragons (bleh) and lots of re-reading of books at home

Notes, Quotes, Links, and More ~ Part 6

Part 1 (Basic Overview: Classical Education and Mathematics)
Part 2 (Day 1 Notes: Cosmos! Memory. Numbers.)
Part 3 (Fibonacci)
Part 4 (Day 2 Notes: Playing With Cosmos (Poetry). Operations.)
Part 5 (Day 3 Notes: Worship. Attention. Rhetoric. Laws.)

(I’ve been sharing my speaking notes from the local Classical Conversations parent practicum, and I think this about wraps it up!)

Resources

 

Math-related books and curricula

I have previously shared a long list of math resources and curricula that we have used in our home. You can find it at this link. (My final post in my curricula series, with links to all the posts, can be found here.)

Math-related books not on that list:

The History of Counting is an excellent picture book introduction to the history of counting across many cultures. I learned a great deal from this simple resource!

Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci (another delightful picture book)

The Phantom Tollbooth is a fantastically witty and hilarious romp through an imaginative world filled with words and numbers. This chapter book is worth reading whether you are 8 or 80.

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch is a deeply inspirational work of historical fiction based on the life of a self-educated, eighteenth-century nautical and mathematical wonder.

Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers is the first book in an autobiographical series by Ralph Moody. While not a book about mathematics, Moody’s childhood is filled with the practical application of a strong education. Excellent.

General Resources

Classical Educator.com (Videos, forums, blog, groups, and more)

Society for Classical Learning (Check out the rich library of free conference recordings!)

CiRCE (Be sure to check out the blog and also free audio library)

The Well-Trained Mind Community Forums

Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood (An impressive resource for anyone involved in Classical Conversations, a plethora of links, lists, planners, ideas, and more—all free.)

Khan Academy (One of the best free resources on the internet. Do. Not. Miss. Math, Science and Economics, and Humanities for all ages.)

The Beauty of Algebra: Why the abstraction of mathematics is so fundamental

 

Quotes

 

A little more math:

::  It’s All About Value! by Kate Deddens @ Classical Conversations (phenomenal, lengthy article—go read it!):

"Mysterious though it may be, and precisely because mathematics does seem to delve down into the bare essences of things, whatever is inessential is removed. Lovely as they can be, all the distractions and bunny trails of other forms of expression (such as rhetorical devices in writing or flourishes in art and music) that seek to enhance reality are eliminated. Indeed, the best mathematical proofs are the ones which come to the concluding point in the fewest steps, using the most appropriate laws and principles; the same is true for proofs in Formal Logic. This could even be argued to be true in many practical areas, such as in cooking; the best cakes are those in which the ingredients come together well in perfect accord, with no extraneous, distracting flavors or textures. Anything that does not speak precisely to the end-goal—even if it may have intrinsic value and even, in fact, add value—is unnecessary to the unadulterated task at hand."

General Quotes on Classical Education:

 

What is education?

Beauty for Truth's Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education by Stratford Caldecott:

“As we have seen, the “Liberal” Arts are precisely not “Servile” Arts that can be justified in terms of their immediate practical purpose. “The ‘liberality’ or ‘freedom’ of the Liberal Arts consist in their not being disposable for purposes, that they do not need to be legitimated by a social function, by being ‘work.’” …At the heart of any culture worthy of the name is not work but leisure, schole in Greek, a word that lies at the root of the English word “school.” At its highest, leisure is contemplation. It is an activity that is its own justification, the pure expression of what it is to be human. It is what we do. The “purpose” of the quadrivium was to prepare us to contemplate God in an ordered fashion, to take delight in the source of all truth, beauty, and goodness…"

"Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another." G.K. Chesterton

The Core: Teaching Your Child the Foundations of Classical Education, page 40:

“Classical education encourages us that we are capable of becoming an Oxford don who builds bicycles, or a plumber who reads Milton, or a business owner who spouts theology. The classically educated are not defined by their occupation so much as by their breadth of knowledge and understanding.”

And page 61:

“We need to offer children a broad, freeing education that allows them to think well and to be lifelong learners. Children need to be prepared for any challenge, even for job opportunities that may not exist until well into the future.”

“The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavourable. Favourable conditions never come.” ~C.S. Lewis quoted in The Core, p 6

What is a student?

“To make the content of the curriculum relevant to the everyday life of the pupil, it is essential not to shrink the content to match the pupil’s present experience, but to expand the life of the pupil to match the proposed curriculum.” Beauty in the Word: Rethinking the Foundations of Education by Stratford Caldecott, page 35

“We do not know what or how to teach children, because we do not know what a child is, and we do not know what a child is, because we do not know what man is—and Him from whom and for whom man is. How decisive for…any educator of good will, is the revelation that man is made in the image and likeness of the three-Personed God? That is like asking what difference it will make to us if we keep in mind that a human being is made not for the processing of data, but for wisdom; not for the utilitarian satisfaction of appetite, but for love; not for the domination of nature, but for participation in it; not for the autonomy of an isolated self, but for communion.” Anthony Esolen in the foreword to Beauty in the Word (Stratford Caldecott)

Subjects tell us more about God and are connected with one another.

“To all of us who hold the Christian belief that God is truth, anything that is true is a fact about God, and mathematics is a branch of theology.” Hilda Phoebe Hudson, English mathematician in the early 1900s Integration of subjects.

“Do you often come across people for whom, all their lives, a ‘subject’ remains a ‘subject,’ divided by watertight bulkheads from all other ‘subjects,’ so that they experience very great difficulty in making an immediate mental connection between let us say, algebra and detective fiction, sewage disposal and the price of salmon--or, more generally, between such spheres of knowledge as philosophy and economics, or chemistry and art?” Dorothy Sayers, from “The Lost Tools of Learning,” an essay presented at Oxford in 1947

“I am only pointing out that every education teaches a philosophy; if not by dogma then by suggestion, by implication, by atmosphere. Every part of that education has a connection with every other part. If it does not all combine to convey some general view of life, it is not an education at all." -G.K. Chesterton

“Music, architecture, astronomy, and physics—the physical arts and their applications—demonstrate the fundamental intuition behind the Liberal Arts tradition of education, which is that the world is an ordered whole, a “cosmos,” whose beauty becomes more apparent the more carefully and deeply we study it. By preparing ourselves in this way to contemplate the higher mysteries of philosophy and theology, we become more alive, more fully human. This beautiful order can be studied at every level and in every context, from the patterns made by cloud formation or river erosion to that of the leaves around the stem of the most obnoxious weed, from the shape of the human face as it catches the light, or the way keys are ordered in a concerto by Bach, to the collision of stellar nebulae and particles in an atomic furnace.” (Beauty in the Word, pages 116-117)

Susan Wise Bauer writes: “[T]o the classical mind, all knowledge is interrelated. Astronomy, for example, isn’t studied in isolation; it’s learned along with the history of scientific discovery, which leads into the church’s relationship to science and from there to the intricacies of medieval church history. The reading of the Odyssey allows the student to consider Greek history, the nature of heroism, the development of the epic, and humankind’s understanding of the divine.”

Marva Collins states in Marva Collins' Way: “I taught my students how to add and subtract, but I also taught them that arithmetic is a Greek word meaning to count and that numbers were called digits after the Latin word digitus, meaning finger, because people used to count on their fingers. I taught them about Pythagoras, who believed that mathematics made a pupil perfect and ready to meet the gods. I told them what Socrates said about straight thinking leading to straight living.”

And Parker J. Palmer on teaching well (HT: Mental multivitamin): “Good teachers possess a capacity for connectedness. They are able to weave a complex web of connections among themselves, their subjects, and their students so that students can learn to weave a world for themselves. The methods used by these weavers vary widely: Socratic dialogues, laboratory experiments, collaborative problem solving, creative chaos. The connections made by good teachers are not in their methods but in their hearts -- meaning heart in its ancient sense, as the place where intellect and emotion and spirit and will converge in the human self.”

From Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs To Know by E. D. Hirsch, Jr.: “In the technological age, Washington and the cherry tree, Scrooge and Christmas, the fights historical, the oceans geographical, the "beings animalculus," and all the other shared materials of literate culture have become more, not less, important. The more computers we have, the more we need shared fairy tales, Greek myths, historical images, and so on. That is not really the paradox it seems to be. The more specialized and technical our civilization becomes, the harder it is for nonspecialists to participate in the decisions that deeply affect their lives. If we do not achieve a literate society, the technicians, with their arcane specialties, will not be able to communicate with us nor we with them. That would contradict the basic principles of democracy and must not be allowed to happen.”

“An education worthy of the name would develop an awareness of the totality through art and literature, music, mathematics, physics, biology, and history. Each subject has its own autonomy, but at its heart it connects with every other.” Beauty for Truth’s Sake, page 31

Tools or Arts of Learning

Dorothy Sayers: “For the tools of learning are the same, in any and every subject; and the person who knows how to use them will, at any age, get the mastery of a new subject in half the time and with a quarter of the effort expended by the person who has not the tools at his command. To learn six subjects without remembering how they were learnt does nothing to ease the approach to a seventh; to have learnt and remembered the art of learning makes the approach to every subject an open door. “

“The key for me was to discover that the three elements of the Trivium link us directly with three basic dimensions of our humanity. No wonder they are so fundamental in classical education! ...To become fully human we need to discover who ...we are (Memory), to engage in a continual search for truth (Thought), and to communicate with others (Speech)." ~Stratford Caldecott, about Beauty in the Word

‘According to Hugh of Saint Victor [during the Middle Ages], “Grammar is the knowledge of how to speak without error; dialectic is clear-sighted argument which separates the true from the false; rhetoric is the discipline of persuading to every suitable thing.” Quoted in Beauty in the Word

Verses

Ephesians 3:17b-19 “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

(Roots! Math! Abundance!)

Col 1:19 “We…desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.”

Prov 24:3-4 By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.

(Form! Beauty!)

Hebrews 1:3a The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

(Photosynthesis. Learning environment.)

Hello? Anyone out there?

Just checking. [grin]

Hangnails

Here is a quick update since I didn’t post yesterday.

SPS: I’ve been up before 6:30 am every weekday morning for the past two and a half weeks. To most of you, that doesn’t sound like a big deal. Believe me when I say it is. And immediate shower then quiet time/Bible study (before checking email!) almost every morning. Yes. It has been difficult to get in much reading time, now that I’m trying to get to bed earlier each night.

Good food: I am still staying strong. It’s only day 10, but I have a good feeling about this.

Geography: I spent some time drawing and coloring a larger map today with a little more detail. Still not from memory, and I have a long way to go!

 

Encouragement

::  Blessings of a Life Interrupted by Angelina Stanford @ CiRCE (The opening quote by C.S. Lewis is one of my favorites. Go read it.)

“And then it hit me. I wasn’t managing to teach my kids in spite of life’s interruptions; I was teaching them something far more valuable. I was teaching them how to live life. Real life. The life that is messy and is filled with unexpected difficulties. Not the “real life” that only exists on paper and in my imagination. The real life that I never experienced as a child and was completely unprepared to encounter as an adult.”

::  Where all New Year’s resolutions go to die @ The Art of Simple

“You have a choice. You can make this your excuse or you can make this your story.”

Rabbit Trails

::  Why I Want to Be George R.R. Martin’s Neighbor @ The Rabbit Room

"In my life of reading, moviegoing, listening to music, and studying visual art, I have encountered truth, beauty, and mystery as much in the work of non-Christians as I have in the work of Christians. I’d even go so far ...as to say that the truth and beauty I have found in the work of unbelievers has strengthened my faith even more than what I’ve found in “Christian art.” And that’s to be expected. I believe that we are all made in the image of God, and that eternity is written in our hearts . . . in all of our hearts. Thus, when anybody achieves any kind of beauty or truth in their work, that goodness is from God, whether the artist likes it or not."

::  The Dark-Tinted, Truth-Filled Reading List We Owe Our Kids by N.D. Wilson @ Christianity Today

"Shelter your children. Yes. Absolutely. But use a picnic shelter, not a lightless bomb bunker, and not virtual reality goggles looping bubblegum clouds. Feast with them on fiction in safety, laugh with them through terrible adventures seething with real weather. They should feel the wind and fear the lightning and witness the fools and heroes—and yet stay protected. In your picnic shelter, pack stories that bless the meek and shatter the proud. Stories that use hardship to burn away the dross in characters. Stories that honor the honorable and damn the damnable."

::  The Beginnings of a Dark-Tinted, Truth-Filled Reading List @ Story Warren (Good comments, as well.)

::  Books for Boys - A Show and Tell @ Story Warren (Great list.)

Creativity

::  The Art of Andres Amador (Spectatular!)

Mt. Hope Academy @ The Live & Learn Studio ~ Summer 2012 Edition

July and August came and went. Whoooooosh. Leif turned six. SIX. Whooooooosh. We find ourselves staring down a new school year. Whooooooooosh. Lola is on the brink of her second birthday. Whoooooooosh. Levi is teetering on the edge of the logic stage; we have to up our game. Whooooooooosh.

We are just wrapping up our 2011-2012 studies so that we can start fresh next week. It will be strange going from modern history back to the ancients!

Today is house-cleaning and organizing, grocery shopping, and errands. Tomorrow is the run-through of our routine—the fun first day of school without all the work. Saturday and Sunday will be full with the Renaissance Faire, a BBQ/birthday party for my brother-in-law, church, and my niece’s birthday party. On Monday our school year officially begins with Classical Conversations—week one. Tuesday is homeschool day at the Oregon Gardens. Wednesday is the day to buckle down and get to work!!

But let’s tie up loose summer ends, shall we?

First up: the links.

On Classical Education and the Trivium

::  Themes of Beauty in the Word (1) by Stratford Caldecott @ The Imaginative Conservative (Beauty in the Word is the sequel to Beauty for Truth’s Sake, and I have it calling to me from the to-read tower (as opposed to the stack)):

"The key for me was to discover that the three elements of the Trivium link us directly with three basic dimensions of our humanity. No wonder they are so fundamental in classical education! ...To become fully human we need to discover who ...we are (Memory), to engage in a continual search for truth (Thought), and to communicate with others (Speech)."

::  Themes of the book: 2 @ Beauty in Education:

"The aim of the Law is goodness, the aim of Language is Truth, and the aim of Religion is (spiritual) Beauty -- that is, holiness. Culture is the result of all three; of Law, Language, and Religion acting in concert (body, soul, and spirit, as it were)."

 

On Grammar

::  It’s Not Just Rules; It’s Clear Thinking @ The New York Times:

“But without grammar, we lose the agreed-upon standards about what means what. We lose the ability to communicate when respondents are not actually in the same room speaking to one another. Without grammar, we lose the precision required to be effective and purposeful in writing.”

::  I Won’t Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here’s Why. @ Harvard Business Review

"Good grammar is credibility, especially on the internet. In blog posts, on Facebook statuses, in e-mails, and on company websites, your words are all you have. They are a projection of you in your physical absence."

On Reading, Writing, Boys, and the Nature of Heroism

::  College Bound Reading List by Lee Binz @ The HomeScholar

::  100 Best Children’s Chapter Books of All Time @ Children’s Books Guide.com

::  Imago Dei and the Redemptive Power of Fantasy - Part 1 by Angelina Stanford @ The Circe Institute:

“When a carpenter creates, there is a sense in which he destroys the original in order to create something new. When he makes a table, he has to first destroy the tree. The author, on the other hand, does not destroy Hamlet in order to create Falstaff. This is the closest we experience creation out of nothing. Sayers is echoing the teachings of the church fathers who taught that in creating something orderly and beautiful that did not previously exist, the artist is paralleling what God did in the act of creation.”

::  The Dangerous Article for Boys by Martin Cothran @ Memoria Press (and another book list):

“But in the modern era, we are not supposed to admire great men, largely because we are uncomfortable with the whole idea of greatness. So today we must relegate our heroes to the realm of the fantastic. They are now figures who could never really be, doing things that can never really be done.”

And…

“Most boys are born cynics and are rightly suspicious of moralistic platitudes. They respect words only to the extent that they see them followed by actions. Tell them (in mere words) what the right thing to do is, and they will look at you suspiciously and walk away. Do the right thing—preferably at the risk of your own person or reputation, and they will follow you in zealous allegiance.”

::  How to Write Great @ The New York Times:

“To live above the merely personal does not require plying oars against colossal currents, either. “Harold and the Purple Crayon” is a great little book and deals with its own verities — the world is not in your control; courage begins at free fall; the best path is not the straight path. The lessons of the “Odyssey,” minus the sex. Harold draws his dream in crayon and then wants to go home, to his window, which has been there all along. The key to his destiny is that window, which is something to look out of, away from himself. At no time is Harold self-­conscious, self-pitying or self-congratulatory. He knows how to draw a life, and how to live.”

::  Honor Code by David Brooks @ The New York Times:

“Henry V is one of Shakespeare’s most appealing characters. He was rambunctious when young and courageous when older. But suppose Henry went to an American school.”

And…

"The basic problem is that schools praise diversity but have become culturally homogeneous. The education world has become a distinct subculture, with a distinct ethos and attracting a distinct sort of employee. Students who don’t fit the ethos get left out."

Speaking of schools and praise…

::  School and Self-Esteem, or: ‘Thank you for making those socks!’ @ The Huffington Post

“Authentic gratitude is enough of an acknowledgment to foster self-esteem without leading to the kind of dependency on others that "good job" seems to do. In saying "thank you," a teacher says to a child "I see you. I see that you are doing something positive." In an ideal world, that kind of acknowledgment is all that is needed for the seeds of self-esteem and self-confidence to take root and grow in a healthy, non-narcissistic direction. Children cultivated toward dependence on external praise through constant positive stroking are at risk for growing into poorly-adjusted adults who must always look to others for approval. They never have a chance to develop their own internal resources.”

 

The Summer (Mostly Books) List

Faith:
Buck Denver Asks…What’s in the Bible? Words to Make Us Wise! Psalms, Proverbs, and the Writings (DVD)

Math:
Not much. Sigh.
Life of Fred (independent reading)

Science:
Marconi’s Battle for Radio by Beverly Birch (1901)
Marie Curie’s Search for Radium by Beverly Birch
Marie Curie: More Than Meets the Eye (The Inventors’ Specials) DVD (historical fiction--WWI)
Who Was Albert Einstein? by Jess Brallier
Albert Einstein: Genius of the Twentieth Century by Patricia Lakin
Einstein: Light to the Power of 2 (The Inventors’ Specials) DVD (historical fiction—love these DVDs!)
(I.Q. (movie) just for fun {ha!})
Bill Nye and Popular Mechanics for Kids DVDs
Mythbusters and other science-related shows
Exploring the World of Physics by John Hudson Tiner (Levi)
Physics: Why Matter Matters! by Dan Green
Mechanical Harry by Bob Kerr (fun physics picture book)
Eureka Physics videos (free online)
Reader’s Digest How Things Work by Neil Ardley
The Way Things Work by David Macaulay

Fine Arts:
Duke Ellington by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Rap a Tap Tap: Here’s Bojangles—Think of That! by Leo and Diane Dillon
Song and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman

History/Historical Fiction/Literature:
The Story of the World: Modern Times (ch 22-42…finished!)
Remember the Ladies: 100 Great American Women by Cheryl Harness
Journeys in Time: A New Atlas of American History by Elspeth Leacock and Susan Buckley
A Farm Through Time: The History of a Farm From Medieval Times to the Present Day by Angela Wilkes
Teddy Roosevelt: The People’s President by Sharon Gayle
The Long Way to a New Land by Joan Sandin (historical fiction, 1868, Sweden to America)
The Long Way Westward by Joan Sandin (historical fiction, New York to Minnesota)
Alice Ramsey’s Grand Adventure by Don Brown (New York to San Francisco, 1909)
The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel With Louis Bleriot by Alice and Martin Provensen
The Mystery at Kill Devil Hills by Carole Marsh (historical fiction, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Levi-IR)
My Brothers’ Flying Machine: Wilbur, Orville, and Me by Jane Yolen
If You Lived at the Time of the Great San Francisco Earthquake by Ellen Levine
World War I by Carole Marsh
Marie Curie: More Than Meets the Eye (The Inventors’ Specials) DVD (historical fiction)
Cracked Corn and Snow Ice Cream: A Family Almanac by Nancy Willard (Midwest-1920ish)
Gandhi: Peaceful Warrior by Rae Bains
Homesick: My Own Story by Jean Fritz (autobiography, China-1925, 159 pp, Levi-IR)
Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis (historical fiction, China-1920s, 279 pp, Levi-IR)
These Are My People by Mildred T. Howard (biography of missionary to China during war with Japan-1930s, 141 pp, Levi-IR)
The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong (historical fiction, Japanese occupation of China, 189 pp, Luke-IR (Levi read last year))
Christmas After All: The Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift (historical fiction, Indiana-1932, Levi-IR)
Dust for Dinner by Ann Turner (historical fiction, Dust Bowl to California)
Survival in the Storm: The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards (historical fiction, Texas-1935, Levi-IR)
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (historical fiction, Michigan-1936, 243 pp, Levi-IR)
The Education of Little Tree: A True Story by Forrest Carter (Cherokee boyhood of 1930s, 216 pp, Levi-IR)
The Day of Ahmed’s Secret by Heide & Gilliland (Cairo)
Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner (fiction set in Germany, 160 pp, Levi-IR)
If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island by Ellen Levine
The Memory Coat by Elvira Woodruff (Russian immigration)
Watch the Stars Come Out by Riki Levinson
When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest
Journey of Hope: The Story of Irish Immigration to America by Miller
Passage to Liberty and the Rebirth of America: The Story of Italian Immigration by Ciongoli and Parini
A Picnic in October by Eve Bunting
The Impossible Journey by Gloria Whelan (historical fiction, Russia-1934, 248 pp, Levi-IR)
26 Fairmount Avenue (series) by Tomie de Paola (autobiographical, childhood during WWII era in America)
October 45: Childhood Memories of the War by Jean-Louis Besson (autobiographical, 1989-1945 France, love the illustrations!)
The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark by Camen Agra Deedy
The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey by Louise Borden
Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot: A True Story of the Berlin Airlift and the Candy That Dropped From the Sky by M. Theis Raven
World War II (DK Eyewitness)
World War II for Kids by Richard Panchyk
Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop (WWII)
D-Day Landings: The Story of the Allied Invasion by Richard Platt
The Good Fight: How World War II Was Won by Stephen E. Ambrose
The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen (historical fiction-Holocaust, 170 pp, Levi-IR)
The Big Lie: A True Story by Isabella Leitner (WWII)
The Little Riders by Margaretha Shemin
Pearl Harbor by Stephen Krensky
Winston Churchill: Soldier and Politician by Tristan Boyer Binns
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr (Hiroshima)
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord (historical fiction, Chinese immigrant in NY-1947, Levi-IR)
Hill of Fire by Thomas P. Lewis
Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride by Pam Munoz Ryan (illustrated by Brian Selznick)
Eleanor by Barbara Cooney (Eleanor Roosevelt) 
Cowboy on the Steppes by Song Nan Zhang (Mao’s Cultural Revolution-1968)
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia (historical fiction, Black Panthers-1968, 215 pp, Levi-IR)
The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles (Black Segregation)
Mary McLeod Bethune: Voice of Black Hope by Milton Meltzer
If You Lived At the Time of Martin Luther King by Ellen Levine
Roll of Thunder, Hear My cry by Mildred D. Taylor (historical fiction, civil rights, 276 pp, Levi-IR)
The Road to Memphis by Mildred D. Taylor
A Picture Book of Thurgood Marshall (Civil Rights)
Leaving Vietnam: The True Story of Tuan Ngo by Sarah S. Kilborne
The Wall by Eve Bunting (Vietnam Memorial)
Spacebusters: The Race to the Moon by Philip Wilkinson
Neil Armstrong: Young Flyer (Childhood of Famous Americans series) by Montrew Dunham (187 pp, Levi-IR)
Space Station: Accident on Mir by Angela Royston
Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey by Maira Kalman (September 11, 2001)
LIFE: Our Century in Pictures for Young People
(Levi read many chapter books (Escape From Warsaw by Ian Serraillier, The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig, I Am David by Anne Holm, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr, etc.) from this time period when we covered it with CC last year, so we sped more quickly this time around.)

Levi’s Free Reading List:
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (WWI historical fantasy)
Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld (485 pp)
Goliath by Scott Westerfeld (543 pp)
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull
Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague by Brandon Mull
Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary (526 pp)
Fablehaven: Keys to the Demon Prison (606 pp) 
Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
Mary Poppins Comes Back by P.L. Travers
Mary Poppins Opens the Door by P.L. Travers
Solomon Snow and the Silver Spoon by Kaye Umansky
Solomon Snow and the Stolen Jewel by Kaye Umansky
In the Hall of the Dragon King by Stephen Lawhead
The Sword and the Flame by Stephen Lawhead
The Warlords of Nin by Stephen Lawhead
Taliesin (Book 1 of the Pendragon Cycle) by Stephen Lawhead (539pp)
Merlin (Book 2) by Stephen Lawhead (445 pp)
Arthur (Book 3) by Stephen Lawhead (446 pp)
Pendragon (Book 4) by Stephen Lawhead (436 pp)
Grail (Book 5) by Stephen Lawhead (452 pp)
43 Old Cemetery Road: Dying to Meet You by Kate Klise
43 Old Cemetery Road: Till Death Do Us Bark by Kate Klise
43 Old Cemetery Road: The Phantom of the Post Office by Kate Klise
Ghost Kight by Cornelia Funke
The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck
A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald
More Adventures of the Great Brain by Fitzgerald
Me and My Little Brain by Fitzgerald
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (351 pp)
Swallowdale by Arthur Ransome (448 pp)
The Secret School by Avi
Man of the Family by Ralph Moody
The Home Ranch by Ralph Moody
And a bunch of re-reads off of the bedroom shelf
(He was a reading machine this summer!! At least 16 of the history/historical fiction books he read were chapter books, also!)

Luke’s Reading List:
The Land I Lost: Adventures of a Boy in Vietnam by Huynh Quang Nhuong (not for the faint of heart, but Luke loved it and Levi gives it a thumbs up)
Water Buffalo Days: Growing Up in Vietnam by Huynh Quang Nhuong
(The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong (China))
The Most Beautiful Place in the World by Ann Cameron (Guatemala)
The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck (Japan)
The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson (Paris)
All Alone by Claire Huchet Bishop (French Alps)
Time Warp Trio, Geronimo Stilton, Magic Tree House, Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures (many books in the series)
43 Old Cemetery Road: Dying to Meet You by Kate Klise
43 Old Cemetery Road: Till Death Do Us Bark by Kate Klise
43 Old Cemetery Road: The Phantom of the Post Office by Kate Klise
The Six Crowns: Fair Wind to Widdershins by Allan Jones
The Wonderful O by James Thurber

Leif’s Free Reading List:
Jenny and the Cat Club by Esther Averill
Jenny’s Moonlight Adventure by Esther Averill
The School for Cats by Esther Averill
26 Fairmount Avenue by Tomie de Paola
Geronimo Stilton (many)
Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures
Magic School Bus (science chapter books—several)
Life of Fred (Ice Cream, Jelly Beans, Decimals and Percents, Fractions)
Magic Tree House (many)

Miscellaneous Picture Books: 
Fiction:
Lady Hahn and her Seven Friends by Yumi Heo (Korean)
The High Street by Alice Melvin (darling fold-out illustrations of the inside of shops on “High Street”)
House Held Up By Trees by Ted Kooser

Misc.
A trip to California
VBS: Sky High & Sonlight Express
Family reunion
Boys’ Camp
3-day Science Camp (Levi and Luke)
Swim Meet/Camping weekend in Bend
Bard in the Quad (live performance of Taming of the Shrew for Levi and me)
The King’s Bean Soup (a play put on with friends)
Art and Air Festival (balloon and airplane rides and Styx concert)