Sun 1 Jul 2007
For those who have expressed interest in coming to the games. Today’s game cost $10.00 for everyone over 14.
Monday:
North Cobb Christian 4:00 pm
Tuesday:
Big Shanty Park 11:30
Wednesday:
Wheeler Highschool 11:30
Thursday:
Ogelthorpe University 11:30
Tue 10 Jul 2007
All these years I have been saying I am a philosophical agrarian. This week in the east Cobb area of Atlanta I realized that everything is relative. I may not be TA (Truly Agrarian) in Podunk County, Alabama but I definitely qualify in east Cobb. 150 baseball teams from all over the country descended on the east Cobb area and their presence was barely felt. I grew up visiting Cincinnati frequently but that was in the days before urban sprawl. East Cobb is urban and sprawling and sorta fun, too. There are as many Starbuck’s as McDonald’s. Marjorie Main had nothing on me this week; I was wide-eyed all week.
It is also home to lots of homeschoolers and a few bloggers, some of whom I met,
like Meredith from Entdraughts shown here with me and two of her children:
We visited Meredith’s church on July 3rd for a patriotic concert. Meredith played the clarinet and it was a rousing concert. My favorite part was when they played the songs from the different military branches and men in the audience stood during their song. I won’t mention the rather surreal feeling of hearing a hundred Georgians singing The Battle Hymn of the Republic as if it wasn’t Sherman’s favorite song. But philosophy aside I DID love the concert.
I am not much of a picture taker. I have been surrounded by neurotic picture takers my whole life ( I’m not naming names. You know who you are.) which has taken a lot of pressure off of me but when those people aren’t around I am a little lax. Therefore, I didn’t get pictures of the lovely Elder family who had us over for a wonderful meal made with the help of their wonderful daughters. The Elders are a TA (truly athletic) family who almost make us look clumsy. They definitely make me look clumsy 
Nathaniel and I enjoyed their hospitality tremendously and Scott even came to one of the games. It was the absolute worst game and the mercy rule was applied but we appreciated his effort
But we were really in east Cobb to play baseball and that is what we did Monday through Saturday:
Who’s on 2nd?:
Batter Up:
We had 2 different jerseys: red and blue. We wore red when the other team wore red and blue when they wore blue. Call it poor communication.
You can watch Nathaniel hit and run here.
All in all it was a good week. We had some wins, some losses and a tie. Nathaniel played well with a wooden bat. He is best known for his speed which is amazing; he has never lost a race. This makes him a great center fielder. He played left field one day and had 7 put outs.
But I really missed my home and my little children. I could hardly wait to get to Kentucky to pick them up from my parent’s home. Also I got to eat my #1 all-time favorite food:
I skipped the Barq’s Red Creme Soda since a body can only stand so many carbs in one outing but I did get a 4 -way (Spaghetti noodles, Cincinnati chili, onions, cheese) and a coney because I couldn’t make up my mind which one to get. I didn’t eat ALL of it though.
And I did finish a book and thought philosophical thoughts. I finished….drum roll, please, From Dawn to Decadence
Tue 10 Jul 2007
On behalf of the CiRCE Institute, whose mission is to provide insight, information, and inspiration to classical educators, I would like to personally invite you to A Contemplation of Rest, a three-day reflection on the spiritual foundations of a successful school.
Following the purpose of the institute, this conference provides opportunities to measure the promise of classical education in the context of a Christian worldview, while offering an experience of Christian classical education in a restful atmosphere.
A Contemplation of Rest meets from July 26-28, 2007 and is located in Charlotte , North Carolina .
Thank you for reviewing the conference information below. I hope you are able to attend.
Regards,
Andrew
The CiRCE Institute invites you to our 6th annual
Retreat for Christian Classical Educators
“A Contemplation of Rest”
Join us July 26-28, 2007 in Charlotte, North Carolina for our sixth annual CiRCE Retreat for Classical Educators, a gathering of school leaders, teachers, and home educators from across the country who seek to cultivate wisdom and virtue in their students and children and in themselves.
When: July 26-28, 2007
Where: Charlotte , North Carolina
Program and Events: 2007 Conference Program
To register: www.circeinstitute.org
Our speakers include:
Vigen Guroian
Dr. Vigen Guroian has published more than 150 articles in books, journals, and encyclopedias on a range of subjects including: Orthodox theology, liturgy and ethics, marriage and family, children’s literature, ecology, genocide, and medical ethics. He is also the author of nine books, including Rallying the Really Human Thing: The Moral Imagination in Politics, Literature, and Everyday Life (ISI Books, 2005) and Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child’s Moral Imagination (Oxford University Press, 1998). He teaches at Loyola University in Baltimore , Maryland . Dr. Guroian resides with his wife June Vranian in Culpepper , Virginia , where he mostly tends to his large perennial and vegetable gardens.
Ken Myers
Ken Myers founded Mars Hill Audio in 1993 as an “audio magazine” modeled after NPR’s “All Things Considered” but with a Christian twist. Four times a year, Mars Hill produces Four times a year, Mars Hill produces 90-minute cassette tapes with interviews on everything from religion in Leonard Bernstein’s music to moral problems inherent in the novel The Bridges of Madison County. Ken has been called a walking bibliography and has been one of the most popular speakers at the CiRCE conferences.
Dr. Andrew Tadie
Dr. Andrew Tadie is an associate professor of English and the founding director of the Faith and Great Ideas program at Seattle University . He is the co-editor of an anthology about Lewis, Chesterton, Dorothy L. Sayers, T. S. Eliot, and Evelyn Waugh, called Permanent Things: Toward the Recovery of a More Human Scale at the End of the Twentieth Century (Eerdmans, 1995). Dr. Tadie received his Ph.D in English from Saint Louis University in 1972. He received his M.A. from Bradley University . His A.B. degree in Classics was obtained from John Carroll University.
Laura M. Berquist
Mrs. Laura Berquist is a homeschooling mother of six, is founder and director of Mother of Divine Grace School, a home study program currently serving 2400
students. Mrs. Berquist is the author of Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum and editor of The Harp and Laurel Wreath: Poetry and Dictation for
the Classical Curriculum, both from Ignatius Press. Based on the philosophy of the classical Trivium â?” grammar, logic, and rhetoric â?” she has developed a
modern classical homeschool curriculum for grade K-12 that strengthens character and intellect, and reinforces virtue.
Bryan Smith
Mr. Bryan Smith joined St. Peter’s Classical Academy in 2005, coming from the Cambridge School of Dallas where he was Assistant Headmaster. Having been in education for twenty years, Smith serves on the board of the Society for Classical Learning and has written on educational topics for the Texas Education Review, The Classical Teacher, and other periodicals. He has a master’s degree in political philosophy from the University of Dallas.
Martin Cothran
Martin Cothran is the author of Traditional Logic, Books I and II, as well as Aristotle’s Rhetoric: A Traditional Course in Speaking and Writing, both published by Memoria Press. He is also logic and rhetoric instructor at Highlands Latin School in Louisville , Kentucky and is Master Teacher at Mars Hill, Lexington . In addition to being editor-in-chief of Classical Teacher magazine, he serves as senior policy analyst for The Family Foundation of Kentucky, where he directs legislative and media relations. He holds a B.A. in economics and philosophy from the University of California , Santa Barbara , and an M.A. degree in Christian Apologetics from the Simon Greenleaf School (Now a part of Trinity University ). He lives with his wife and four children in Danville , Kentucky.
Michael Eatmon
Michael Eatmon and his wife, Pamela, live in Orlando with their four children, Lauren, John-Michael, Luke and Sarah. After studies in comparative language at Furman University (B.A.) and theology at Reformed Theological Seminary (M.A.T.S.), Michael began work with The Geneva School, Orlando, where he currently teaches logic and philosophy and serves as Academic Dean.
Andrew Kern
Andrew Kern is president and founder of the CiRCE Institute. He graduated from Concordia University in Milwaukee , WI where he was mentored by Dr. Gene Edward Veith and was graduated with a BA in Liberal Arts. Shortly afterward, Dr. Veith and Andrew co-authored the best-selling Classical Education, The Movement Sweeping America , now in its second edition.
Andrew has been directly involved in the establishment three classical Christian schools, has trained teachers in over 50 since 1996, has consulted with still more on institutional development and start-up, and has been directing the CiRCE Institute full time since the summer of 2000.
Andrew Kern is married to Karen. They are the parents of three boys and two girls: David, Matthew, Katerina, Larissa, and Andrew.
Dr. James Taylor
Dr. Taylor has served as assistant Professor Education, University of Tulsa , and Chairman of the Teacher Education Program at Hillsdale College , Michigan . He has taught at several private schools on both the secondary (high school) and college levels. He is a student of the renowned Integrated Humanities Program (in the liberal arts) at Kansas University and is the author of the book Poetic Knowledge: The Recovery of Education. Jim also works with the high school great books students in the Great Books Program.
Kerin S. Hughes
Kerin Smith Hughes is Founding Head of School of Palisades Episcopal School in Southwest Charlotte. PES is a school honoring Christ and committed to providing a classical education enriching the mind, body and spirit. Kerin began her career in education as a public school English teacher for seventh and eighth graders in Vermont , also serving as Theater Director and Coach. She then relocated to North Carolina where she taught Middle School English at a startup independent school, Salisbury Academy . As Salisbury Academy grew, so did Kerin’s roles there first as Lower School Director, then Middle School Director, and ultimately the Head of School.
Debbie Harris
Mrs. Debbie Harris is the mother of two boys and resides in Oakdale , Minnesota . She is a graduate of Azusa Pacific University with a degree in Liberal Studies and has eight years teaching experience, mostly in the elementary grades. She has been involved in the start-ups of three classical schools, including Foundations Academy in Boise , ID and Hope Academy in Minneapolis , MN . Debbie currently works mentoring teachers in classroom management strategies and techniques.
Leah Lutz
Leah Lutz is the founder and director of a Christian classical homeschool tutorial. Now in its seventh year, Covenant Family Tutorial is a Christ-centered classical educational support program established to enhance, augment and encourage the work of Christian homeschooling families. CFT offers high quality academic classes and learning opportunities for homeschooling families, approaches our offerings from a distinctly Christian worldview and incorporates the methodology of the Classical educational model.
Leah is also currently a member of the CiRCE apprenticeship program.
Cindy speaking now:
Just getting to hear Vigen Guroian is well worth the price of the conference, not to mention the other speakers I can personally vouch for: Andrew Kern, James Taylor, Martin Cothran and Laura Berquist. For those who love my Morning Time ideas this conference/retreat is right up that alley and completely different from anything else you will find out there. For vision, inspiration, and the cultivation of wisdom, virtue and poetic knowledge this is THE retreat. There are still some spots available. I made my decision to go at the last minute last year and for once I was not disappointed in a conference. It was a BIG deal for me to go and spend the money but it has kept me thinking and growing all year long.
Wed 11 Jul 2007
From Dawn to Decadence
subtitled: 1500 to the Present
500 Years of Western Cultural Life
Beginning with last year’s CiRCE Conference, it seemed everywhere I went someone was talking about this book. I was especially intrigued since the book promised to help me continue to try to grasp the Enlightenment and that whole Cartesian legacy thing. It always seems to me like my understanding of these things is like water, every time I try to grasp them they flow away.
I decided to read this 800 page book over the course of 8 months with the goal of finishing by this year’s CiRCE Retreat. Almost from the beginning I despaired of finishing the book. It is 800 pages of small type. I could read for an hour with only 10 pages to show for it. It is not nearly as readable as say, Paul Johnson, but on the other hand it is a great survey of western thought and dovetails almost perfectly with Gileskirk Modernity, not that I would expect a student to read it. Definitely stick with Paul Johnson in the highschool years.
The difficult thing about this book is trying to figure out the author’s bias. He is definitely negative about the effects of the Enlightenment and Descartes but very often his views on Christianity and most especially the Reformation are also negative. Perhaps it was my own state of mind but I underlined much in the beginning, hardly any thing for about 300 pages and finally ended up with almost the whole last chapter underlined. I could not disagree with his assessments of our current culture not counting his rather weak ending prophesying a rather hopeful future.
Reading this book made my recent trip to see the Louvre exhibits at the High Museum tremendously enriched. Although it is not the kind of book to read at a baseball game, I did take it. I am afraid the front cover was disconcerting to those around me.
When the author speaks though of the Liberal Arts or the Belles Lettres I felt him a kindred spirit. I read the last chapter Demotic Life and Times on the way from Atlanta to Kentucky. Nathaniel drove and I frequently read portions out loud interrupting his choice of Willie Nelson in the CD player. Now isn’t that bizarre, reading about decadence and listening to a Willie Nelson CD bought at Starbucks? And, no I do not like Willie Nelson but this CD is not the worst I have heard. As a matter of fact, if my own children’s choice of music is any indication of the success of my homeschooling methods I suggest you not take any more advice from me. The best I can say is that between Waylon and Willie and the boys they do sometimes listen to classical music.
This last chapter would make a great stand alone essay. If you aren’t up to wading through the whole 800 pages you would still benefit by reading the final chapter. I am most definitely now in the market for Barzun’s The Culture We Deserve
Instead of bogging this post down with quotes I will take time today and write a commonplace-type entry with quotes and my comments. I would love to collect everything I underlined in this book in one place. Perhaps the quotes will help you decide if it is something you want to read.
Wed 11 Jul 2007
Pg 758:
Here are a few samples of the absurd in practice. Western nations spend billions on public schooling for all, urged along by the public cry for Excellence. At the same time the society pounces on any show of superiority as elitism.
Democratic civilization is the first in history to blame itself because another power is trying to destroy it. Jean-Francois Revel (1970)
Pg 769:
To live amid lax words and dim thoughts more or less translatable into concreteness depletes energy and deadens the joy of life. The man in the street who says “precipitation probability is twenty percent” is less alive than if he said and felt “small chance of rain.”
Pg 770:
“….And half-baked knowledge acquired by reading beyond one’s intelligence.”
Ouch
Pg 775:
Scholars wrote monographs on sovereignty, asking themselves and the public “What Makes a Nation?” A large part of the answer to that question is: common historical memories. When the nation’s history is poorly taught in schools, ignored by the young, and proudly rejected by quailified elders, awareness of tradition consists only in wanting to destroy it.
Pg 777
It was the eutopian imagination at work making corrective rules as the path to the good life. The welfare ideal did not merely see to it that the poor should be able to survive, but that everybody should be save and at ease in a hundred ways. Besides providing health care, pensions (”social security”), and workmen’s compensation for accidents, it undertook to protect every employee by workplace regulations and every consumer by laws against harm from all foods, subject to design control and inspection. The citizen mus moreover be protected from actions of others that are not visibly hostile or inherently criminal, those, for example, that can be committed by the imaginative in trade, investment and banking.
At the same time, it was also held that the state had the duty of supporting art and science, medical research, and the integrity of the environment, while it must also make sure that all children were not simply literate but educated up to and through college- rules, rules definitions, classifications and exceptions=indignation- and litigation. The welfare state cannot avoid becoming a judiciary state.
Pg 778:
Only buying by everybody all the time kept the great machine running.
The standard of living was the official agent of oppression.
Is that not a dead on observation?
Pg 779:
The point at which good intentions exceeded the power to fulfill them marked for the culture the onset of decadence.
Pg 784 & 785 On Education:
The conglomerate that best fulfilled the ideal of the time was the course offering of the large colleges and universities. It had ceased to be a curriculum, of which the dictionary definition is: “a fixed series of courses required for graduation.” Qualified judges called the catalogue listings a smörgåsbord and not a balanced meal. And large parts of it were hardly nourishing. The number of subjects had kept increasing, in the belief that any human occupation, interest, hobby, or predicament could furnish the substance of an academic course. It must therefore be available to young and old in higher learning. From photography to playing the trombone and from marriage counseling to hotel management, a multitude of respectable vocations had a program that led to a degree. On many a campus one might meet a student who disliked reading and had “gone visual,” or be introduced to an assistant professor of family living.
The liberal arts were subdivided by SPECIALISM into bits and pieces of scholarly interest, but of little benefit to young minds that lacked previous knowledge of the larger field.
Finding oneself was a misnomer: a self is not found but made…
Pg 786
Self-contempt was redoubled by knowing that performance was of slight value compared to Image.
Pg 787:
It is rarely noticed that when nothing is revered, irreverence ceases to indicate critical thought.
Pg 788:
In both places it became the people’s chief object in life, because for millions work had lost its power to satisfy.
Pg 789:
Children, who are easily bored and restless, stared for hours at the television screen for the parallel reason that school denied them the sense of progress toward knowledge.
I want to add here that this equally applies to homeschooling. I firmly believe children desire to get wisdom and knowledge in spite of themselves and that many a homeschooled child is bitter that he has been inadequately educated. We must give our children rigorous educations. Ultimately, they desire this.
Pg 795:
Through both news and stories and advertising, everyone was sooner or later made aware of the needs of health and the dangers of life, together with the norms set by the average in behavior. The Stat Life was an abstract police force working from within.
I believe this is something we all need to clearly evaluate. Women are especially vulnerable to using STATISTICS as a weapon in the arsenal of control.
And finally on page 797 Barzun addresses the Internet:
The remaining advantage of the real world was that its contents were scattered over a wide territory and one need not be aware of more than one’s mind had room for.
I hope someone has been able to wade through all of these quotes. I have tried to only offer the very best and not waste anyone’s time. I would love to discuss any of them.
Thu 12 Jul 2007
I know other people have posted their summer reading goals months ago but for me the summer started yesterday. I woke up yesterday morning read my Bible, blogged and began reading. I started and finished Julie Kaewert’s Unsolicited
I really can’t say enough about Paperback Swap. I am able to get almost any book I desire from the Swap, even many textbooks.
On my bedside table waiting for my time and attention are:
England As You Like It
Next up in the mystery/thriller department is the Helen MacInnes book Neither Five Nor Three
I am also hoping to continue my Anglophilia by reading The Dark Rose
On the educational front I hope to read Elizabeth Foss’s Real Learning
I am also HOPING to reread Norms and Nobility as I begin (again) planning for our next school year one that hopefully doesn’t include weddings, but I am afraid that just as once upon a time the babies came fast and furious, the weddings will now follow suit. To tell the truth we raised our boys to marry far more than we raised them for careers. That should make for a few disagreements
I was using Daily Lit to read Boswell’s Johnson but I got discouraged at how abridged the book was. I am not sure if all their books are so abridged but I have a hard time reading abridgments. Once again that book is sitting on my bedside table. I guess I will have to stick with poetry on Daily Lit.
You will notice this list of summer reading doesn’t include any books from my 2007 Reading Challenge sidebar. I have read quite a few of those books and hope to finish that list in the autumn. I am also hoping to read 2 books that I don’t know the titles to yet. One is on Wendell Berry and the other is a moral philosophy book exploring the Cartesian legacy 
There you have it. I only wish the summer was longer.
Sat 14 Jul 2007
Mon 16 Jul 2007
One of the things that I don’t like about blogging is that it is hard to communicate one thing without people thinking things you don’t intend. For instance, if I say,” Boys will be boys,” I don’t mean that boys will be rude and nasty and ugly and we will all just smile because they are, after all, boys. Certainly boys will be boys and that means that they will not always think of taking a shower until they are 16 when they will make up for all their lost opportunities by taking several showers a day and taxing the septic system, but if you have a 12 year old who has never on his own thought of taking a shower, by all means suggest that he take one, perhaps in a voice that communicates your disgust but not forgetting the twinkling eye.
If your son is a regular nuisance getting into scraps every time he goes any where then get control of him. I suggest you make sure he is reading the ‘right sort of books’ lest he turn out like our good friend Eustace Scrubb. This is where the role of literature in the home becomes a real tool. If you don’t allow any fiction in your home or fairytales then it is my OPINION you are making a theological error and promoting rationalism and a lack of faith in your children. That’s what I really think.
Mothers need to watch out for the BIG error of being over-controlling but this doesn’t mean a mother isn’t TOUGH. A mother of boys must be tough. She shouldn’t have to wait for her husband to return home in the evening in order to gain control over her sons. Her arms should be strong for the task.
Are your boys growing in grace while they grow to manliness or are they becoming unbearable prigs and bullies? You may want to ask your true friends how your boys are doing in this area.
Tue 17 Jul 2007
I have been cooking. Thanks to a few online friends who steered me towards cooking blogs my life in the kitchen has been revolutionized.
I have made these and they were so good I will be making them again tonight, and this another keeper for special occasions, and even this although I only got to take a small bite myself.
I am so jazzed about cooking again I plan to look through all my Paula Deen and Southern Living magazines today looking for ideas. I also have a couple years worth of Quick Cooking and Taste of Home but I have decided to look through all the magazines this summer, cut out any recipes I want and throw the rest away. I have too many choices right now.
You know you are dysfunctional about food when every bite you take of corn-on-the-cob makes you feel guilty. If you are eating low carb the only way to make it work is to put so much butter on it that the fat to carb ratio is skewed. I can just see my ample grandmother, and yours, apron on, wooden spoon in hand warning us to stay away from starchy foods. Still I don’t think you should have to agonize over Silver Queen, my grandfather didn’t. Like strawberry shortcake it might be a sin not to eat it.
Wed 18 Jul 2007
In the comments to the Boys Will Be Boys post there is some discussion on what are good books for boys.
Carmon warned against too much fantasy and science fiction. We do read both genres but carefully. Lloyd Alexander is a favorite around here although I must admit I have shied away from Madeleine L’Engle, I forget why.
The Deputy Headmistress and others suggested the new Dangerous Book for Boys along with Ernest Thomas Seton books most especially Two Little Savages.
Linda mentioned good biographies. When Timothy was 5 I began reading out loud “The Story Of” books. We had a blast reading about Dan Beard, Winston Churchill and others. These are not generally recommended for young boys and I suppose they are probably written with a 4-6th grader in mind but we both have good memories of those days.
Instead of listing all the wonderful books for boys we have found over the years, and I am sure I have written about this before, today I will just list a few of the authors or series we have enjoyed.
The Sugar Creek Gang, older edition. I highly recommend these books. They are quite compelling and enjoyable and their simple values are often a jolt to the modern reader. PLEASE avoid the updates. They lose all the charm of the originals.
Albert Terhune Payson
Walt Morey
Jim Kjelgaard
Jack O’Brien’s Silver Chief books are among the best.
Walter Farley
The Great Brain series although I say this with some caution. The Great Brain in the hands of a middle school boy can create a monster.
The Ambleside Online lists are full of great books for boys. Most classics mentioned for this age group are there for a reason.
Howard Pyle, a not-to-be-missed author including Men of Iron.
I don’t really own very many Christian fiction books for boys. I just can’t get excited about those books where they have a famous missionary as part of some exciting plot. I may be wrong about that. We have enjoyed a few Robert Elmer books over the years and I mean that we really have enjoyed them. Maybe others can suggest recent Christian publishing successes. On the other hand almost anything from Inheritance Publications is great, especially their Scout series or their Meindert DeJong books.
We like GA Henty, not in large doses or the plots begin to muddle but he really is a great author for boys.
Years ago BJU Press put out several wonderful books that have become family favorites:
A Place for Peter and any books by Elizabeth Yates.
The Stolen Years by Gloria Repp
Zoli’s Legacy and sequels,
In Search of Honor…to name a few.
I commend BJU Press on their great selection of repubs.
James Daughtery
Robert Lawson
Rosemary Sutcliff
Joseph Altsheler
Allen French….do not miss Allen French.
Stephen Meader..don’t miss him either.
Black Fox of Lorne and many others by Marguerite de Angeli.
Christian Liberty Press is also a great place to look for manly books including Iron Scouts of the Conferderacy by Lee McGiffen. My boys have gone on to read more about John Singleton Mosby after reading Iron Scouts.
Reading aloud Childhood of Famous Americans
And finally one more great publisher of books for boys: Bethlehem Books.
The problem with recommending books is the same now as it was in Solomon’s time. Of the making of books there is no end. This is a sadly incomplete list which basically covers 3rd -7th grades. I am sure I haven’t even scratched the surface but for those of you just hitting these years for the first time this should get you started.
I can already feel myself thumping my forehead because I forgot to mention a wonderful book.
