If Men Were Angels

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary.  If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary."  (The Federalist Papers, No. 51, p.322.)

July's Title Swap

Animal Farm by George Orwell
The Giver by Lois Lowery
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
Great Courses (video/audio):
    The Great Debate: Advocates & Opponents of the American Constitution
    The World Was Never the Same: Events that Changed History
    Natural Law and Human Nature
    American Ideals: Founding a Republic of Virtue

Little Previews of Heaven

"At last either Betsie or I would open the Bible.  Because only the Hollanders could understand the Dutch text we would translate aloud in German.  And then we would hear the life-giving words passed back along the aisles in French, Polish, Russian, Czech, back into Dutch.  They were little previews of heaven, these evenings beneath the light bulb.  I would think of Haarlem, each substantial church set behind its wrought-iron fence and its barrier of doctrine. And I would know again that in darkness God's truth shines most clear."

"The Hiding Place"  The Triumphant True Story of Corrie ten Boom
Bantam Books 1974
pg. 201

June's Title Swap

Darkness Over Denmark: The Danish Resistance and the Rescue of the Jews - by Ellen Levine
Number of Stars - by Lois Lowry
Forgiving Dr Mengele - Documentary
Whatever Happened to Justice? (An Uncle Eric Book) - Richard J. Maybury

Marmee's Ambitions

"My dear girls, I am ambitious for you, but not to have you make a dash in the world - marry rich men merely because they are rich, or have splendid houses, which are not homes because love is wanting.  Money is a needful and precious thing - when well used, a noble thing - but I never want you to think it is the first or only prize to strive for.  I'd rather see you poor men's wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace."

April's Title Swap

1913 by Oliver DeMille
Leader Shift  by Woodward and DeMille
www.icivics.org  web page started by Sandra Day O'Connor
The Number Devil:  A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Enzensberger
The Communist Manifest by Karl Marx
Understanding the Times by David Noebel
Real Food Fermentation by Alex Lewin

Favorite Tempest Quotes

The Tempest is considered to be one of Shakespeare's final plays.  It is a wonderful masterpiece that combines many of his greatest stories all into one.   Here a few of my favorite quotes:

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on,
and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”  

“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”  

“What's past is prologue.”  

"You are three men of sin, whom Destiny,

That hath to instrument this lower world

And what is in ’t, the never-surfeited sea

Hath caused to belch up you—and on this island

Where man doth not inhabit, you ’mongst men

Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad,

And even with suchlike valor men hang and drown

Their proper selves. " 

 

Why We Chose the TJEd Model for our Family's Education

As a high school senior I became disillusioned about the fidelity of the school system I was graduating from.   I distinctly remember feeling that I had become GOOD at a lot of things, but I was not truly GREAT at anything.  I started college feeling lost and unsure.  What I needed was a mentor; someone who could guide me through the world personally by introducing me to the classics.  Someone who could help me to become GREAT!

Oliver DeMille started a movement in education almost two decades ago.  He named his philosophy the Leadership Education Model or Thomas Jefferson Education.  Five years ago, he spoke at a seminar I attended.  He challenged us as we left, to go home and read classics books, find like-minded people, and get together regularly to discuss our thoughts.  Plunging into the unknown, I started a book group called “Mothers Who Know” that meets once a month. 

Studying the classics regularly brings you face-to-face with the greatest minds in history.  This process will change and inspire you to become better.  If I am going to mentor my children in the classics, I need to know them intimately myself.  For instance, when I studied Les Miserables this last fall I read the book, watched the movie, listened to the CD of the musical driving around town, attended a live performance of the musical, and discussed it with my book group.  My children now have a great love of Les Mis, because I exemplified a real love of this story.

Studying great classic works can be hard work.  If the home is filled with distracting media, it may be difficult or impossible to study.  Thus, my family has opted to not have a television or any video games in our home for the last four years.  Our children are allowed to be “bored” on purpose.  They have to find their own fun.  Without distracting media in our home, I am able to fill that space with great things.  Memorizing and reciting poetry, studying the Suzuki method for violin,  Spelling to Write and Read, Latin, The Life of Fred math series, gardening, swimming, reading and listening to classical stories for children, canning, raising pet chickens, and serving others in our community keeps us plenty busy.

The Thomas Jefferson Education model does not offer a specific curriculum. It is a philosophy and a way of life.  DeMille identifies different phases that children go through as they develop.  Each of the phases has specific goals that help our children to become the best individuals they can be.  Young children need to learn a set of core values.  Older children should establish a wonderful love of learning with different strategies of how to approach studying classics. Teen and young adults dig deep into great works and learn to keep commitments as scholars.  Through succumbing to a mentor and exposure to the classics, children can’t help but become not only GOOD, but GREAT!

December's Title Swap

North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell
Cranford - Elizabeth Gaskell
The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Hiding Place - Corrie Ten Boom
Boys Adrift - Dr. Leonard Sax
Girls on the Edge - Dr. Leonard Sax

What Daisy and Mrs. Weightman Have in Common

I found Daisy's quote from the Great Gatsby... it's not as eloquent as I remember.

 

(This is Daisy's recollection of the birth of her baby. She has also just explained to Nick that she knows that her husband has been unfaithful for years. )

"I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling, and asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. "All right," I said, "I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool- that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool."

 

This is what came to mind when we discussed Mrs. Weightman being her husband's greatest masterpiece.

 

Genevieve