Education and Virtue

"Education is properly understood as the care and perfection of the soul. Excellence (arete) is not primarily excellence of skill but excellence of virtue." ~ Richard Gamble on Plato's view of education, The Great Tradition

Poetic Education and Boys

This is a subject near and dear to my heart!  Cindy at Dominion Family has a thoughtful post on this.  Here's a quote:

But it is the regular boys, the sports-loving boys, the farmer boys, the active boys who will benefit most from a poetic education: the Spurgeons and the George MacDonalds and the Eric Liddells and the Almanzo Wilders.

I'm trying to spend some time on this Christmas break reflecting and checking my home education course, so I appreciate this food for thought. 

Why Teach Latin? continued

"Four years of high-school Latin would dramatically arrest the decline in American education... Nothing so enriches the vocabulary, so instructs about English grammar and syntax, so creates a discipline of the mind, an elegance of expression, and serves as a gateway to the thinking and values of Western civilization as mastery of a page of Virgil or Livy (except perhaps Sophocles’s Antigone in Greek or Thucydides’ dialogue at Melos)."

~Victor Davis Hanson

Read the full article here

HT:  Justin Taylor

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks

Or Learning Website Design As I Approach Middle Age

I did it, and I am so proud of myself. Never mind that it has taken practically every spare moment for the past 6 months. It is a nice feeling to see it up there and running. And it stays done, unlike laundry, meals, and cleaning. :)

Take a look and see what you think.

And now maybe I can resume posting once in a while.

O For a Closer Walk With God

In today's bible reading, this lovely and haunting hymn by William Cowper was juxtaposed in the Book of Life with Jesus' high priestly prayer for his disciples (and all believers!). I thought it was interesting that the authors would make this connection...which seems so appropriate to me, as it is so often my own experience. I especially like the verse that begins with "The dearest idol I have known"...

O for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heavenly frame,
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!

Where is the blessedness I knew,
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul refreshing view
Of Jesus and His Word?

What peaceful hours I once enjoyed!
How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill.

Return, O holy Dove, return,
Sweet messenger of rest!
I hate the sins that made Thee mourn
And drove Thee from my breast.

The dearest idol I have known,
Whate’er that idol be
Help me to tear it from Thy throne,
And worship only Thee.

So shall my walk be close with God,
Calm and serene my frame;
So purer light shall mark the road
That leads me to the Lamb.

Homeschooling Encouragement

Go here for an encouraging article as a dad reflects on what he's learned by homeschooling.

ht Drew Campbell

Humbled By the War I Cannot Win

Paul Tripp has an excellent personal paraphrase of Romans 7 and Psalm 51 on his website today. Just what I needed today as I have been beset and given in all day to impatience and frustration. Thanks be to God!

Here's an excerpt, go here for the entire thing.

I am thankful for God’s grace, but there is daily evidence that I'm still in need of help.
That battle inside me cannot be solved by
Theology
Strategies
Principles
Techniques
Plans
Preparation
Helpful hints
Outlines
I have been humbled by the war I cannot win.
I have been grieved by desires I cannot conquer.
I have been confronted by actions I cannot excuse.
And I have come to confess that what I really need is rescue.
So, have mercy on me, O God,
According to your unfailing love
According to your great compassion
Blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
And cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions
And my sin is always before me.
I embrace the rescue that could only be found in you.
Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Scots Wha Hae

To go along with our reading of The Scottish Chiefs, we're memorizing Robert Burn's "Battle of Bannockburn". Robert Bruce's speech in that poem is the Scottish National Anthem. You can listen to it here, bagpipes and all. You should see E & D recite and act this out on the tramp!

Homeschool or Classical School?

Cindy at Dominion Family has some interesting thoughts on this issue.

I posted this comment on her blog the day before in response to a related post:

It’s my 2 graduated scholars, both godly and intelligent young men whom I respect and enjoy, that keep me going…wouldn’t trade my relationship with them for anything…and I find it hard to believe it could have been built any other way…

And…how would I ever find the time to read aloud for 2 hours a day to my younger crew if they were in school?

Nope…not worth it. Too much I’m not willing to sacrifice for the “potential” academic benefits…which I’m not even sure exist.

This is on my heart b/c I’ve had several conversations about this from younger moms fearing their lack of ability to do high school with their boys.

Why Children Should Memorize Poetry...

...from a beautiful out of print volume on my shelf called "The Children's Library: Poems", Doubleday & Sons, 1904:

"There are people who believe that in the matter of poetry there is no "ought", but this is a false belief. There is a duty, even there; for every American citizen ought to know the great national songs that keep alive the spirit of patriotism. Children should build for their future -- and get, while they are children, what only the fresh imagination of the child can assimilate.

They should store up an untold wealth of heroic sentiment; they should acquire the habit of carrying a literary quality in their conversation; they should carry a heart full of the fresh and delightful associations and memories connected with poetry hours to brighten mature years. They should develop their memories while they have memories to develop." ~Mary E. Burt, editor

Fall Term 2006 at Libertas Academy

I was inspired by Cindy at Dominion Family to post our family's plans for this fall. So...here you go...

ARTIST: Pieter Breugel the Elder
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (c.1554-55)
Children's Games (1560) Details and info.
Tower of Babel (1563)
Landscape with the Parable of the Sower (1557) also here.
Hunters in the Snow (1565)
Peasant Wedding (c. 1568)

COMPOSER: Ludwig von Beethoven ~ music files downloaded from eclassical.
Symphony 5 or 6
Piano Sonata 14 (Moonlight, Opus 27) OR 8 (Pathetique, Opus 13)
Razumovsky String Quartets Opus 59, no 1-3 OR Septet in E-flat Opus 20
Piano Concerto 5 (Emperor, Opus 73)
Symphony 7 OR 9 (Opus 125)
Fidelio

BIBLE:
The Book of Life Volume 8 “Paul, Life &Letters”
Psalms & Proverbs

SCRIPTURE MEMORY
Hebrews 11
Nicene Creed

SCRIPTURE REVIEW:
Psalm 91
Books of the Bible
Ten Commandments, The Shema (Deut. 6:4-5),
Jesus’ Summary of the Law (Matthew 22:36-40),
Apostle’s Creed, Gloria Patri, Doxology

HYMNS
Come Thou Fount
Immortal, Invisible
Lift High the Cross

HYMNS REVIEW:
All Glory, Laud & Honor
I Sing the Mighty Power
The King of Love
I Sing a Song of the Saints of God

POETRY READING:
Book of 1000 Poems

POETRY MEMORY:
The Builders by Longfellow
Crossing the Bar by Tennyson

POETRY REVIEW:
I Never Saw a Moor, A Book, Autumn by Dickinson
Pirate Story, The Moon by Robert Louis Stevenson
October’s Party by George Cooper
November by Margaret Rose
First Thanksgiving by Nancy Byrd Turner

READING ALOUD:
The Story of the Middle Ages (H.A. Guerber, edited by Christine Miller)
Famous Men of the Middle Ages (Memoria Press Edition)
Trial and Triumph by Richard Hannula
King Arthur and His Knights by Sir James Knowles
Twelve Bright Trumpets by Margaret Leighten
Burgess Animal Book for Children
Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower Bells by Opal Wheeler
Fifty Famous Stories by James Baldwin
Beatrix Potter Treasury

Why Latin? Indeed...

Excellent post from Cindy at Dominion Family about the reasons for teaching Latin to our kids.

The Reason for Rote

This is a little scrap of conversation from The Daisy Chain, by Charlotte Yonge, a truly delightful book, full of gems and thoughts on church tradition and classical education.

Shocked and saddened by the “Ladies’ Committee” decision to “leave off reading the Prayer-book prayers morning and evening!” at the neighborhood school, Ethel, the awkward but deep-thinking heroine, laments:

“And it is much to be expected that next they will attack all learning by heart…If they don’t learn them (the Psalms – the Gospels – these ties—these links to the church) by rote when they have strong memories…they will not know them well enough to understand them when they are old enough!…memory and association come before comprehension, so that one ought to know all good things…with familiarity before one can understand, because understanding does not make one love. Oh! One does that before, and when the first little gleam, little bit of a sparklet of the meaning does come, then it is so valuable and so delightful.”

Her wise and theologically astute older brother, Richard, agrees with her,

“…these lessons and holy words were to be impressed on us here from infancy on earth, that we might be always unraveling their meaning, and learn it fully at last…”

I can only say…Amen!

We Will Tell the Next Generation ~ Catechism

As I mentioned in my last post, we believe strongly in the value of catechizing our children. Dr. Kim Riddlebarger had a great article on the practice of catechism on yesterday's blog. I'd like to share a few highlights, and my own observations.

Catechism (from the Greek word catechesis) is simply instruction in the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. Instead of replacing or supplanting the role of the Bible in Christian education, catechism ideally serves as the basis for it. For the practice of catechism, as properly understood, is the Christian equivalent of looking at the box top of a jig-saw puzzle before one starts to put all of those hundreds of little pieces together.

In our family, catechism has been a wonderful tool to get our children thinking deeply and biblically about the real questions of life. I have a precious memory of a certain sleepy little three year old, having learned his newest catechism question, telling his older brother who was carrying him from the car to bed, "Caleb, God is a spirit, and he has no body like we do." (just in case big brother Caleb, age 16, didn’t know!) That deep and unfathomable truth was filling his mind, even as he was drifting off to sleep.

...Protestants have always argued that creeds, confessions and catechisms are authoritative only in so far as they faithfully reflect the teaching of Holy Scripture. This means that the use of catechisms, which correctly summarize biblical teaching, does not negate or remove the role of Holy Scripture. Instead, these same creeds, confessions and catechisms, as summary statements of what the Holy Scriptures themselves teach about a particular doctrine, should serve as a kind of spring-board to more effective Bible study.

Amen...the catechism and creeds you choose must be completely biblical. We like the Westminster Shorter Catechism for kids 10 and up, and the First Catechism, Biblical Truth for God's Children. Whatever catechism you choose, be sure to read it all the way through and make sure it lines up with Scripture!

The practice of catechism also serves as an important safeguard against heresy and helps to mitigate some of the problems associated with the private interpretation of Scripture. How many times have you been forced to sit through a Bible study in which the goal was not to discover what the text actually says, but instead to discover what a particular verse means to each of the studies' participants? When we remember that virtually every cult in America began with an open Bible and a charismatic leader who could ensure his or her followers that they alone have discovered what everyone else, especially the creeds, confessions and catechisms, have missed, we see perhaps the greatest value of catechism. These guides protect us from such errors and self-deluded teachers. As American evangelicals have moved away from the practice of catechism for subjective and experiential modes of meaning, it is no accident that biblical illiteracy has risen to embarrassing levels and that false doctrines have rushed in like a flood.

This is sobering and convicting. Cults tend to target "churched" kids, because they are attracted to spiritual things, but tend to be so ignorant of Scripture, that they make easy marks for conversion. Protecting our children from error is a fundamental responsibility of Christian parents. A solid program of Scripture memory, catechism, and creeds is a first-line defense against this kind of error. Random memorization of Scripture verses will not give children this kind of theological protection. I know this will make many evangelical Christians nervous, but please understand what I am saying here. I am arguing for a thoroughly biblical systematic theology course for our children, from the earliest possible age...and the best practical way we have found to implement this is the use training program consisting of catechism, Scripture memory, and creeds to teach our kids the fundamentals of the faith.

Making sure our children can recite catechism and creeds will not regenerate them...only God's work in their hearts can do that...but it will give them a solid foundation and understanding for the faith that I am confident He will work out in their hearts. And it is their hearts we are after. My wise friend, Mary Ellen, now at home with the Lord, once said, "You can teach a parrot to recite the sinner's prayer (catechism and creeds), but we want their hearts!" (italics mine). In addition to the need for a systematic training program in Scriptural truth, children need to see their parents earnestly seeking God, and loving and serving Him with their whole hearts. Children must be encouraged to take the truths they are learning, and apply them to their daily lives. If the catechism, Scripture memory, and creeds are rote, and unaccompanied by any requirement in daily life to live out true faith, they will produce little or no fruit in a child's life and heart.

Even in the absence of the parent's example and discipline, however, God can use memorized truth as a "handle" for the Holy Spirit's work in drawing a person to Christ. I can use myself as an example here. Even though my parents did not actively teach or live out Scripture in our home, they did make sure I attended church every Sunday. It was an Episcopal church, not particularly "alive", but in the liturgy each week, I heard deep truths of Scripture, and theological teaching from the Book of Common Prayer and great hymns of the faith. All of that made a deep impression on my spirit, and God used it as He drew me to Himself in my early twenties. I am so grateful for my heritage.

One of the best by-products of parents taking an active role in catechizing their kids, is that they also catechize themselves in the process! ...There are surprising practical ramifications that result from the practice of catechism as well. ...Too often people assume that the place to start learning theology is through tackling technical theological writing, when in fact the creeds and catechisms of the Reformation were designed to instruct novices in the faith. Starting with the catechism and confessions is really a better way to go.

This is unspeakably true! I heartily agree that has been true in our home. I am convinced being a parent (particularly a homeschooling parent) is truly God's discipleship of ME! And I think we as individuals and churches would do well to take Dr. Riddlebarger's advice to heart in the discipleship of new believers as well as the training of our children.

Well, once I get going, I can't stop. I guess this is why I post so infrequently! I highly recommend reading Dr. Riddlebarger's article linked above. He also gives some great practical tips for teaching your children the catechism. In my previous post, I also listed some good resources for this training.

We Will Tell the Next Generation ~ Family Devotions

...We will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
Psalm 78:4b

Barbara over at Mommy Life has a wonderful post today about Family Devotions in her home. I commented there and told about some of the things we do in this regard, and I got so excited I decided to start a little mini-series on this subject of passing on our faith to our kids. In our homeschool, and in our everyday life, we try to be very intentional about teaching our children deep doctrinal truths. We want them to have a bedrock foundation so that the Holy Spirit has lots of "handles" with which to grab our children's hearts in His good timing.

I am grateful and blessed to have a husband who has a very short commute and so has time to lead our family in devotions every morning before he leaves. There have been seasons when that wasn't the case, and family devotions were in the evening, or whenever we could manage to get everyone together. I know everyone doesn't have this ability, and I think it's just important to set a regular routine and stick to it. If Rick couldn't do it in the mornings, I made sure I did something during the day, even if it was just a short Bible story and prayer before naps. And we have had plenty of times when our family devotions are disrupted by crying or uncooperative children, but as they have grown, they have learned that this is what we do together daily as a family. Daily perseverance is truly the key.

Since both Rick and I were raised in the Episcopal Church (see the last post), we both have a deep respect and love for the Book of Common Prayer. We begin our daily devotional time with Morning Prayer. It's amazing how quickly our kids have learned the prayers, the Apostle's Creeds, and the Scriptures that are part of the service. Each child has a prayer book, and even the non-readers like to follow along.

After that, Rick usually uses a daily devotional called "Training Hearts, Teaching Minds" which goes through the questions of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, one question each week, with five days of teaching and application on each one.

I have a list of Scripture that the kids memorize individually from age 3 up as well. And we memorize things together as a family.

All of our kids are also memorizing catechism questions. The younger kids use First Catechism from Great Commission Publications, and then they graduate to the Westminster Shorter by the time they are about 10 or so. I start my little guys at age 3 with the First Catechism, and it is just so cool to hear them...and then to see them start making connections with every area of their lives...

Who made you? God...
What else did God make? God made all things...
Why did God make you and all things? For his own glory...
How can you glorify God? By loving Him and doing what He commands...
Why are you to glorify God? Because He made me and takes care of me...

Talk about TRUE self-worth! :) I highly recommend catechizing your kids. I am amazed at the doctrine I have learned, even from the First Catechism. And it sure helps in answering those unanswerable questions kids love to ask.

Great Commission also has a neat little thing called Memory Work Notebook by Paul Settle. It divides the catechism questions into a grouping for each year from age 3 to 12th grade, with suggested Scripture and hymns and creeds to memorize as well. I have found that to be a great track to run on. There's also a CD of songs that reinforce these catechism questions by Judy Rogers called "Why Can't I See God?" It is excellent!

We also sing hymns, and do other things with Scripture during the day. I will post some more of the things we do in future posts.

Livy, today's historian

I am copying this from my other blog over at xanga.

I've been reading Livy's Early History of Rome (very, very slowly...not from lack of interest, but lack of time...the story of my life!), and I just LOVE this quote. This is WHY I love history, and WHY we as Christians should love history, and ultimately, WHY we have chosen to home educate our children (which is resulting in MY education, better late than never!)

"I invite the reader's attention to the much more serious consideration of the kind of lives our ancestors lived, of who were the men, and what the means both in politics and war by which Rome's power was first acquired and subsequently expanded; I would then have him trace the process of our moral decline, to watch, first, the sinking of the foundations of morality as the old teaching was allowed to lapse, then the rapidly increasing disintegration, then the final collapse of the whole edifice, and the dark dawning of our modern day when we can neither endure our vices nor face the remedies needed to cure them. The study of history is the best medicine for a sick (or discouraged, according to Mr. Callihan) mind; for in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see; and in that record you can find for yourself and your country both examples and warnings; fine things to take as models, base things, rotten through and through, to avoid." (The Early History of Rome, Book I, Lattimore translation, emphasis mine)

Seems like there is nothing new under the sun, huh??

I am also really struck again by God's common grace...revealing truth to this ancient pagan. A pagan, yes, but a very observant and astute pagan. We would do well to heed his warning here in our country and in our own study of history. Reminds me of another excellent quote from the most excellent Author of the ages...

This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, 'We will not walk in it.' (Jeremiah 6:6)

Lord, have mercy on us.

pax,
k