October's Title Swap

Secrets of a Buccaneer - Scholar by James Marcus Back
Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson
Sense and Sensibly - DVD with Emma Thompson
Hatfields and McCoys on the History Channel
How Children Learn by John Holt
Raising Up a Family to the Lord by Gene R. Cook
Girls on the Edge by Leonard Sax
Courageous, the Movie

If Juliet Had a Mentor

Marianne: “Can the soul really be satisfied with such polite affections? To love is to burn like Juliet or Guinevere, or Eloise!”

Mrs. Dashwood: “They came to rather pathetic ends, dearest.”

Marianne: “To die for love? What could be more glorious!”

-Emma Thompson, film adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility”

 

 

Marianne envied Juliet! She wanted so badly to feel a mutual passionate love for someone. Willoughby was her Romeo. Yet her end was so different. What was it that changed her mindset? She had a level-headed mentor, her sister Eleanor. Eleanor taught her sense and selflessness and forgiveness. What did Juliet have? A none-too-bright, rather crass and selfish nurse. Whilst Juliet dies for “love”, Marianne settles in with her “polite affections” and poignant love for Colonel Brandon. Had Juliet been a more sensible girl, with a decent mentor, perhaps she too could have found another love... one that would last?

Posted by Genevieve Kopping

Strageties For Learning

Approaching a classic can be overwhelming and intimidating, to say the least  -especially if you were educated in a traditional school.  There are so many different ways to learn about a new classic that can ease this process and make it more meaningful and enjoyable.  The following is a list of recommend strategies to approach learning:

Read a book.
Find a children's version or cliff notes of the story.
Use different forms of media - movie, audio CD, soundtracks...
Take notes about your thoughts as you study.
Look up vocabulary that you come across that you don't understand.
Research about the time period that the classic is set in. (Cultural Literacy)
Research at the library.
Discuss the classic with a group that meets regularly.
Do a project.
Seek help from a mentor.
Seek out a quiet, private place to think.
Take a class.
Give a presentation.
Build a model.
Memorization.

The most important  part of studying a classic is being patient and consistent.  To absorb a classic is a lost art.  It is difficult - but truly worth the process.  When you come face to face with the greatness that is found in these works, you can not help but become GREAT yourself.  Happy Studying!

How to Destroy the Mole of Crime

"The times has come to open other depths, the depths of horror. 
"There is beneath society, we must insist upon it, and until the day when ignorance shall be no more, there will be, the great cavern of evil.
"This cave is beneath all, and is the enemy of all. It is hate universal.  It does not undermine, in its hideous crawl, merely the social order of the time; it undermines philosophy, it undermines science, it undermines law, it undermines human thought, it undermines civilization, it undermines revolution, it undermines progress.  It goes by the naked names of theft, prostitution, murder, and assassination.  It is darkness, and it desires chaos.  It is vaulted in the with ignorance.  Destroy the cave Ignorance, and you destroy the mole of Crime."

Victor Hugo
Les Miserables 1862
Abridged Edition from Border Classics
page 289

September's Title Swap

THRIVE Cook Book
The Price We Paid by Andrew D. Olsen
A Special Kind of Hero by Chris Burke
What Happened to Justice?  by Richard Mayberry
The Other Eminent Men of Wilford Woodruff by Vickie Jo Anderson
RighStart Math Games Kit
Spell to Write and Reach Core Kit
For the Love of Learning - Amy Edwards sdliberalarsacademy@gmail.com

July's Title Swap

Little Britches (series) by Ralph Moody
Original Intent by David Barton
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy by Richard Maybury
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Then Kingdom Come Prodigal Journey by Linda Paulson Adams
A Patriot's Handbook (Cd's) by Caroline Kennedy
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

When Is It Time To Fight?

For book group this month, we read and discussed Patrick Henry's famous, "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech.  One member of our group asked, when is it time to fight?  I believe that we do everyday with the choices we make - big or small. 

For me, I am fighting for my children's right to fail in their education.  I know this sounds a little off, (OK it sounds a lot off) but with the "No Child Left Behind" legislation, we no longer have the freedom to fail when we choose to place our children into the public arena.  This is a major reason why we have chosen to home school.  Thank goodness we live in a state where home educating your children is still very simple.  I want to have the freedom to let my kids progress at a speed that is comfortable for them, not at the speed that the national average determines. 

I am fighting for my family.  To me, this is a strong marriage between a man and wife.  Everyday, my husband and I make the choices that enable us to live on only his income, so that I might be able to stay home with my children.  This means canning, gardening, and budgeting.  This also means honoring each other and raising our children unto the Lord.

There are so many choices we each make everyday that reflect our fundamental values.  Do you accept free lunches at a park regularly?  If so, is it because your children would not eat without the food?  Is it because it is a social event, and all your friends are there with you?  Or is it just an easy lunch, for you in your busy life?  Whatever the reason for eating this "free lunch," consider this:  Is it really free?  What message are you teaching your children?  Are you help or hurting the debt crisis in our nation by accepting this service that you might not actually need?  Please don't get me wrong.  I know that there are some children who would not eat without this generous program.  But I believe that many children who are enjoying these lunches, would not starve if the program stopped.

Please consider the implications of each choice we make, big or small.  It is time to fight.  Stand up for strong families.  We need them to keep what freedoms we still have.

Realizing Our Personal Legends

"The boy didn't know what a person's "Personal Legend" was. 

"It's what you have always wanted to accomplish.  Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is.

"At that point in their lives, everything is clear and every thing is possible.  They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives.  But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend."

pg 21 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

This book reminded of my favorite quote from by Marianne Williamson entitled, Our Deepest Fear

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

June's Title Swap

Spell, Write, Read http://www.bhibooks.net/swr.html
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
The Overton Window by Glen Beck
Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell

Dynamic Discussion Questions

As book group members, we are going to start writing questions as we read.  The Socratic method of asking thought provoking questions helps us to dig deeper and find more meaning in our studying.  Please create a list of questions that you are willing to ask our group at our meetings.  The following is a list of ideas to help us with this process:

1.  Knowledge - What is going on?
2.  Understanding - Why did this happen?
3.  Principles - look at outcomes.  What behaviors lead to the consequences?
4.  Application - How did the characters live or break these principles?
5.  Interdisciplinary - Compare two characters from different sources?  example: compare Mr. Bennett (from Pride and Prejudice) with Mr. Stratton (from Laddie).

Keep in mind that the main purpose of continuing our education is to seek out WISDOM and VIRTUE through reading the classics.