Intellectual...ness....

At the beginning of March, I joined my family in attending the Mid-South Home School Conference in Memphis, TN.  I mostly ended up in sessions dealing with Christian Classical Education (CCE), and I must admit I was...enthralled.  This is the education I wish I'd had growing up!  This is the education I want my kids to have!  The Great Books!  Latin and logic!  Greek and grammar!  Rhetoric!  Virtue!  The Christian Intellectual!



"But I didn't have that education, so is it too late?"  That was the question I posed to several speakers, and they all agreed that no, it's not too late.  (Yey!)

The first speaker suggested that I look up the Encyclopedia Britannica's Great Books of the Western World and start reading through them.  Great idea, until I realized how expansive and expensive (almost $1000!) that set actually is!  And while I can't say any of the works are necessarily obscure, many of them--especially the earlier ones--are dense and overwhelming.  I could totally see myself getting discouraged early on and quitting the project without looking back.

A second presenter told me to brush up on my Latin skills, more or less.  I took Latin for a year(ish) in high school, but laid it aside in favor of French in college.  I don't regret taking French, but I do regret ceasing my Latin studies.  So I'm picking it up again!  I bought Wheelock's Latin:  The Classic Introductory Latin Course yesterday at Books-A-Million and spent a while this afternoon downloading other resources from the website.  I'm starting from the ground up--it's been nine years since I've touched it!

Another speaker gave me a more reasonable--though still large--goal than Great Books.  This speaker was Susan Wise Bauer, and after the first lecture I texted this to Trevvor:  "I think I've found a new academic hero."  (She actually reminded me in a softened, Christian way of one of the professors I admired from my liberal arts program in college.)  She has written two books about educating classically in a Christian home.  The first is directed at parents teaching their children (The Well-Trained Mind) and the second is directed at adults who, like me, wish they'd had a classical education but haven't.  It's called The Well-Educated Mind, and I'm kind of in love with it.



The first part deals with how to read--whether you need to work on mechanics and/or vocabulary (I'm ordering Vocabulary from Classical Roots just for fun), how to keep a reading journal, and what questions you need to ask yourself as you go along.  It suggests approaching a book in three stages that mirror the stages of the trivium (grammar, logic, & rhetoric):  first you try to understand a book's basic structure and argument, then you evaluate the book's assertions, and last you form an opinion about the book's ideas (p. 41).



The second part is five lists of selected books that have a lot of overlap with Great Books of the Western World.  The five categories are the novel, autobiography/memoir, history, drama, and poetry.  Each list is meant to be read in chronologically so that you can build upon ideas in the same order as the people who wrote them.  (In case you're wondering, the first book on the novel list is Don Quixote.)





So that's my plan!  I don't intend on becoming the next Augustine or anything, but I do feel I could improve and develop my God-given ability to think--to taste, swallow, and either digest or reject ideas as I cross paths with them according to whether or not they are in accordance with God's Truth.

Intellectual...ness....

At the beginning of March, I joined my family in attending the Mid-South Home School Conference in Memphis, TN.  I mostly ended up in sessions dealing with Christian Classical Education (CCE), and I must admit I was...enthralled.  This is the education I wish I'd had growing up!  This is the education I want my kids to have!  The Great Books!  Latin and logic!  Greek and grammar!  Rhetoric!  Virtue!  The Christian Intellectual!



"But I didn't have that education, so is it too late?"  That was the question I posed to several speakers, and they all agreed that no, it's not too late.  (Yey!)

The first speaker suggested that I look up the Encyclopedia Britannica's Great Books of the Western World and start reading through them.  Great idea, until I realized how expansive and expensive (almost $1000!) that set actually is!  And while I can't say any of the works are necessarily obscure, many of them--especially the earlier ones--are dense and overwhelming.  I could totally see myself getting discouraged early on and quitting the project without looking back.

A second presenter told me to brush up on my Latin skills, more or less.  I took Latin for a year(ish) in high school, but laid it aside in favor of French in college.  I don't regret taking French, but I do regret ceasing my Latin studies.  So I'm picking it up again!  I bought Wheelock's Latin:  The Classic Introductory Latin Course yesterday at Books-A-Million and spent a while this afternoon downloading other resources from the website.  I'm starting from the ground up--it's been nine years since I've touched it!

Another speaker gave me a more reasonable--though still large--goal than Great Books.  This speaker was Susan Wise Bauer, and after the first lecture I texted this to Trevvor:  "I think I've found a new academic hero."  (She actually reminded me in a softened, Christian way of one of the professors I admired from my liberal arts program in college.)  She has written two books about educating classically in a Christian home.  The first is directed at parents teaching their children (The Well-Trained Mind) and the second is directed at adults who, like me, wish they'd had a classical education but haven't.  It's called The Well-Educated Mind, and I'm kind of in love with it.



The first part deals with how to read--whether you need to work on mechanics and/or vocabulary (I'm ordering Vocabulary from Classical Roots just for fun), how to keep a reading journal, and what questions you need to ask yourself as you go along.  It suggests approaching a book in three stages that mirror the stages of the trivium (grammar, logic, & rhetoric):  first you try to understand a book's basic structure and argument, then you evaluate the book's assertions, and last you form an opinion about the book's ideas (p. 41).



The second part is five lists of selected books that have a lot of overlap with Great Books of the Western World.  The five categories are the novel, autobiography/memoir, history, drama, and poetry.  Each list is meant to be read in chronologically so that you can build upon ideas in the same order as the people who wrote them.  (In case you're wondering, the first book on the novel list is Don Quixote.)





So that's my plan!  I don't intend on becoming the next Augustine or anything, but I do feel I could improve and develop my God-given ability to think--to taste, swallow, and either digest or reject ideas as I cross paths with them according to whether or not they are in accordance with God's Truth.

"So... now what are you going to do?"

I've gotten this question a lot since we announced our plans to move from Huntsville, where I was home-schooling my brother, to Birmingham.  People seem to think that now that I'm not teaching Chris anymore I won't have anything to "do" in my new home.  Sometimes the question has even been framed as, "So, will you get a job now?" in that assuming sort of tone that really thinks the answer will (or should) be "yes."  Individually these questions were innocent enough, asked out of curiosity in most cases and concern in others.



But they added up.  And they revealed a subtle (and usually unintentional) cultural mind-set about what exactly the worth is deemed to be of a stay-at-home-wife... with no kids:  not very high.



I'll be the first to admit that there are hours that aren't filled to the brim with productivity.  In fact, last Wednesday I didn't do much at all.  I needed to rest... so I did.  Isn't that wonderful?  Because my husband allows me to stay at home, I don't have to be moving 90 miles a minute.  I don't have to be the do-it-all Super-Woman of feminists' dreams.  I can just sit down and rest!



The idea that visible, tangible results are the only measure of the worth of someone's day is false.  I am not a machine.  Spending time with God, improving my mind through learning and self-education... these are two things that don't produce such results, yet I would argue that they are two of the most important habits that can be developed in my life.



Now--as I wait for children--is the ideal time to develop skills and grow in my knowledge in areas like cooking, decorating, gardening, sewing and other handicrafts, using herbs, financial management, music, foreign language, and reading.  (Not to mention basic organization skills... sheesh.  I need a LOT of work in that area.)  Some days I am overwhelmed by all the things I want to learn about that I despair over not having enough time.

And I haven't even mentioned house-work yet.  Or meal planning and preparation.  Much less volunteering my time in the community, if the opportunity and occasion arises.



So what am I going to do now?  Well, besides all the projects we're doing in the new house, I am going to...

• spend more time in prayer and worship.


• learn to order my day so that I can serve my God and my husband.  


• develop weekly meal plans and actually start cooking real dinners again.  


• tackle the stuff-monster and the dirt-dragon that like to hang around.  


• take violin lessons again as well as continue my visits to Curves.


• begin a Great Books reading course and pick up my Latin studies from high school.  


• continue my attempts at sewing and crocheting.


• start a kitchen garden and learn how to use herbs.


• kick my blog back into action. 

That's what I'm going to do, and I don't need a paycheck to make it worth my while.

"So... now what are you going to do?"

I've gotten this question a lot since we announced our plans to move from Huntsville, where I was home-schooling my brother, to Birmingham.  People seem to think that now that I'm not teaching Chris anymore I won't have anything to "do" in my new home.  Sometimes the question has even been framed as, "So, will you get a job now?" in that assuming sort of tone that really thinks the answer will (or should) be "yes."  Individually these questions were innocent enough, asked out of curiosity in most cases and concern in others.



But they added up.  And they revealed a subtle (and usually unintentional) cultural mind-set about what exactly the worth is deemed to be of a stay-at-home-wife... with no kids:  not very high.



I'll be the first to admit that there are hours that aren't filled to the brim with productivity.  In fact, last Wednesday I didn't do much at all.  I needed to rest... so I did.  Isn't that wonderful?  Because my husband allows me to stay at home, I don't have to be moving 90 miles a minute.  I don't have to be the do-it-all Super-Woman of feminists' dreams.  I can just sit down and rest!



The idea that visible, tangible results are the only measure of the worth of someone's day is false.  I am not a machine.  Spending time with God, improving my mind through learning and self-education... these are two things that don't produce such results, yet I would argue that they are two of the most important habits that can be developed in my life.



Now--as I wait for children--is the ideal time to develop skills and grow in my knowledge in areas like cooking, decorating, gardening, sewing and other handicrafts, using herbs, financial management, music, foreign language, and reading.  (Not to mention basic organization skills... sheesh.  I need a LOT of work in that area.)  Some days I am overwhelmed by all the things I want to learn about that I despair over not having enough time.

And I haven't even mentioned house-work yet.  Or meal planning and preparation.  Much less volunteering my time in the community, if the opportunity and occasion arises.



So what am I going to do now?  Well, besides all the projects we're doing in the new house, I am going to...

• spend more time in prayer and worship.


• learn to order my day so that I can serve my God and my husband.  


• develop weekly meal plans and actually start cooking real dinners again.  


• tackle the stuff-monster and the dirt-dragon that like to hang around.  


• take violin lessons again as well as continue my visits to Curves.


• begin a Great Books reading course and pick up my Latin studies from high school.  


• continue my attempts at sewing and crocheting.


• start a kitchen garden and learn how to use herbs.


• kick my blog back into action. 

That's what I'm going to do, and I don't need a paycheck to make it worth my while.