Dominion Family

I have added this post to the Saturday Review of Books. Check it out.

I am going to try to break down Richard Weaver’s main point and apply it in 2 areas: homeschooling and child training. I hope that you will bear with me.

It seems that Weaver’s main point simplified is that some 400 years ago philosophy separated the sacred and the secular. To that point man’s life work and purpose had one goal which encompassed all his practical and spiritual needs. At that point man’s practical needs became divorced from his spiritual needs so that now we have a situation where man’s practical needs have preeminence.

Weaver uses some big words but I think they are worth grasping. I am using some Wikipedia material with the understanding that I am not endorsing all the content.

Pragmatism: Practical considerations are vital components of meaning and truth.

Utilitarianism: Does it work? “The ethical doctrine that the moral worth of an action is solely determined by its contribution to overall utility.”

Materialism: Only matter is real. Of course we all have a grasp on materialism this time of year. It doesn’t just mean that I go out and buy a lot of toys. It means that I value those toys above their true worth.

Relativism: It’s all good. I’m ok. You’re ok.

Transcendence: believing in something beyond the ability to reason or know. Faith. Having a life purpose that goes beyond the practical, here and now, everyday needs.

Now it gets sticky because we all genuinely have practical needs. We need to eat and we need shelter. We need jobs. Because of that it is very hard to see when we are substituting poor philosophy for transcendence.

In child training:
We do this when we think that we can train our children like they are Pavlov’s dogs. We reject Biblical forms of punishment and discipline for practical considerations that we consider reasonable. When our reasonable measures fail we are forced into manipulating our children (Behaviorism:Behavior as science). We are weary with trying to stay one step ahead of those incredibly sharp little ones. We have lost the faith it takes to punish and disciple. Physically disciplining a child is not only for punishment it can also be for discipling. There is a transcendent value to Proverbial parenting that can not be simply explained. It is a leap of faith and apparently for many of you it is across a huge chasm. My heart goes out to you. You are good parents but you live with a bad philosophy.

In homeschooling:
We see this pragmatism more and more. I have said it before but the pioneer homeschooling parents definitely had transcendence. Often they were rather like a Campbell chieftain gunning for a MacDonald, not exactly fun to be around, but certainly making choices based on longterm spiritual goals. Today their efforts have paved the way for everyone to homeschool. In light of the dismal state of public education, it doesn’t take a genius to see that practically speaking homeschooling is a good choice.

Hobby horse ahead:

In Alabama it doesn’t take more than a two minute conversation to find out what college someone attended. To show the extent of the truth behind Weaver’s prophecies we only have to look at this whole phenomenon. Our degrees have lost their transcendence. We are happy to wave our papers around. We have no concept that an education should make us less satisfied not ever-so-much-more-so.

If you really want to see this in action start up a conversation about getting a liberal arts degree. The vehemence people will show towards this idea is telling. Even Christian homeschooling families reject the liberal arts for utilitarian reasons. But the beauty in the classic
liberal arts degree was its ability to illustrate that there are bigger things, better things, more permanent things. Things beyond the self, the ego.

In day to day homeschooling this means that we must have goals that transcend the job market. Sure our children have to get jobs. They would be worse than infidels if they didn’t. Still there is a sense in which God is the provider of these things. We need to be able to cast our bread upon the water. We need to teach our children that they can make transcendent choices that will reap eternal fruit.

Hebrews 11:6
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Matthew 6:33
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Ecclesiastes 11:1
“Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.”

Luke 6:38
“Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

Proverbs 19:18
“Discipline your son while there is hope, And do not desire his death.”

Proverbs 29:15
“The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.”

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Lessons and Carols
University of the South

Parish Pres

Sing to Jesus

Come and see, look on this mystery
The Lord of the Universe, nailed to a tree
Christ our God, spilling His Holy blood
Bowing in anguish, His sacred head

Sing to Jesus, Lord of our shame
Lord of our sinful hearts.
He is our great Redeemer.
Sing to Jesus, Honor His name.
Sing of His faithfulness, pouring His life out unto death

Come you weary and He will give you rest
Come you who mourn, lay on His breast
Christ who died, risen in Paradise
Giver of mercy, Giver of Life

Sing to Jesus His is the throne
Now and forever,
He is the King of Heaven.
Sing to Jesus, we are His own.
Now and forever sing for the love our God has shown.

Sing to Jesus, Lord of our shame
Lord of our sinful hearts.
He is our great Redeemer.
Sing to Jesus, Honor His name.

Sing to Jesus His is the throne
Now and forever,
He is the King of Heaven.
Sing to Jesus, we are His own.
Now and forever sing for the love our God has shown.

©2002 Word Music, Dejamesolo Music, Rich Nibbe Songs.
Text and Music: Fernando Ortega and Rich Nibbe, 2002

And home again:

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Kathleen is having a Winter Reading Challenge. For the most part I have quit these challenges because I never stick to the plan but I did better on my last challenge to myself.

I have already started several of these:

Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky

The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman, a book I am determined to read!
(The Pity of War I will continue reading as a supplement.)

The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman. Never read one of her books although I tried once. This is another one about one of my favorite subjects Richard III.

The Twilight of American Culture by Morris Berman. A Book I plan to blog about.

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. Dana suggested we go through this one like we are doing IHC. Sounded like a great idea since I missed almost all the economics questions on that civics quiz.

One Thing by Sam Storms. On Nathaniel’s recommendation and Kathleen’s.

A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury by Edith Pargeter otherwise known as Ellis Peters. This inches me a little past Richard II.

The Four Quartets by TS Eliot. As I make my way through this fiction list. Only 7 books left!

England for All Seasons by Susan Allen Toth. To complete the trilogy.

Finally, I hope to read The Girl in Hyacinth Blue because I trust Dana and she enjoys Susan Vreeland. It is on its way from PPS.

Ok, I just remembered one more. The Eustace Diamonds by Trollope and I really should read one Dickens this winter but already I see that I am a completely unreasonable challenge member because I haven’t mentioned any of the books I will hear about in passing that will send me on some rabbit trail of reading. I have promised before to stick to my reading guns but I have lost all faith in myself. It’s a disease.

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Ideas Have Consequences
Chapter 7
The Metaphysical Right

Kelly Also be in prayer for Kelly’s daughter. Her appendix ruptured and spread infection through her abdomen.
Dana

NOTE: If you want to get in on a discussion like this one, we are starting Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson in January. I am going to let Dana break down how we are going to do the chapters. This book is online for the poor in spirit.

Let me illustrate this chapter with a quote from Ralph Moody’s Little Britches and by all means read this book aloud to your family.

“I had never heard Mother’s voice like that, and I had never heard her call Father “Charles.” I thought my heart would pound itself to pieces while she was telling him what I had done. Hard as Father could spank, he never hurt me so much with a stick as he did when Mother stopped talking. He cleared his throat, and then he didn’t make a sound for at least two full minutes.

When he spoke, his voice was deep and dry, and I knew he must have been coughing a lot on the way home. “Son, there is no question but what the thing you have done today deserves severe punishment. You might have killed yourself or the horse, but much worse than that, you have injured your own character. A man’s character is like his house. If he tears boards off his house and burns them to keep himself warm and comfortable, his house soon becomes a ruin. A man with a ruined character is a shame on the face of the earth.”

Ralph Moody, Little Britches

Kelly begins her post with a letter to an email group describing her feelings upon reading IHC:

“I don’t know how to articulate what this book has done for me, except to say that reading it inspires me to live faithfully to my calling. It can be summed up in Weaver’s statement that “a man’s character emerges in the building and ordering of his house.”

This is precisely how I feel. The book and especially this chapter has made me more aware of how short-sighted I can be.

Weaver claims that the last metaphysical right left to modern man is the right of private property. Every once in a while while reading the book I will think a thought right before Weaver discusses it. Then I feel like a happy schoolgirl winning the spelling bee. While reading this chapter I was reminded of the Bill of Rights. Sometimes we read the Bill of Rights in such a way as to almost say, “Well, Duh,” but reading history shows us that the first 10 amendments were carefully thought out not just immediately self-evident.

After the powerful and poetic first amendment some of the others seem rather anti-climatic. I mean what’s with the 3rd amendment?

No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Because we still very much value private property in this country we have no concept of a place where the government could without permission quarter soldiers in a home and yet this was a common practice in Europe and used by many countries to control citizens.

So Weaver builds his case that since, in his opinion, the last metaphysical right is the right to private property, that is where we must take our stand.

Weaver says,

“…especially do we need sanctuary against pagan statism.”

If you want to wrap your mind around what Weaver is saying about private property try to get a handle on this quote:

“It seems fair to say that the opposite of the private is the prostitute.”

Once again we find ourselves with an overabundance of fodder. I couldn’t help drawing comparisons to our national ideas on homeland security while reading this paragraph:

“In the monolithic police state which is the invention of our age, assisted as it is by technology, surveillance becomes complete. And when we add to these political fanaticism, which seems an outgrowth of our level of development, the picture grows terrifying.”

I could also use this chapter to blog about the meaning of home, the work of education, or the corruption of parental authority by manipulation not to mention economic topics which leave me feeling utterly ignorant. As a matter of fact, I am sure that over time I will use this chapter to blog about many topics.

Kelly has an abundance of quotes from the chapter in her post. I have underlined so much of the chapter that I hardly have the time to put up a commonplace entry and I haven’t even underlined the same quotes that Kelly uses. This chapter is packed like a seed in a grape. I am not sure that the Weaver is right about the right of private property being our LAST metaphysical right but that doesn’t take away the value of his conclusions.

The next chapter is the one I have been waiting for: The Power of the Word.

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They don’t call it that anymore but almost every party we are invited to this year mentions bringing a fun gift around $10.00 for exchange or playing that exchange game.

Any ideas for what make a good gift for that game?

Nathaniel brought home a box of clementines last night from the 2nd party of the season. I thought that was a jolly good gift and I commended him for selecting it. He took a coffee mug filled with chocolate truffles.

Christopher took an Alabama cap to his Chick-Fil-A party and came home with some perfectly horrid bottle of Stetson cologne which I have forbidden anyone to open. He also brought home several t-shirts and sweatshirts from his generous boss.

So I thought I would ask the Blogging Brain Trust for ideas. We have several more parties ahead.

3 Questions:
What was your best white elephant gift (given or received)?
What was the worst white elephant gift?
Any good ideas for future gifts?

I am especially looking for good ideas!!

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I don’t know how to put this but I hit pay dirt this week. I simply had the most lucrative birthday of my entire life. It was such an embarrassment of riches that I feel too ashamed not to blog about it.

First it started last Saturday when a blog reader sent me a wonderful cd which we thoroughly enjoyed on our long Sunday drive. She also sent an article on Jacques Barzun which I finally read and enjoyed yesterday with a cup of coffee amidst the Christmas lights.

Another very good friend, a bff even, sent me the ugliest birthday card I have ever seen.

See? There are scarier things than getting older.

She says she couldn’t resist. It scared me witless and brought down the house.

My mother (and Dad) sent me a gift several weeks ago, then some money and then a box that arrived 2 days ago that included chocolate just for me and for the 45th year in a row she told me my birth story which ends with the hospital not letting her see me for hours and hours after I was born (which accounts for my 5 home births) and my dad being at a baseball game
(which accounts for the family idol.)

In a purely utilitarian sense raising lots of children does pay off. This year 5 of our children have steady jobs which means I had a birthday bigger than Christmas.

On top of the chest made by my grandfather, you will see some absolutely gorgeous Christmas flowers. I love flowers. You can never fail buying me flowers. My idea of agrarianism is: plant flowers, buy vegetables. I never, ever consider flowers frivolous. Never. I don’t guess it is any surprise that having a birthday on St Nicholas’ Day I named my 2nd son Nicholas. Nicholas and Hannah sent the flowers and I had a nice long talk with Hannah on the phone yesterday which is always a joy.

The first present I opened was a tea ball from Emily which made me laugh because last week she got frustrated with me in the store when I was looking all over for a tea ball. I had said, “What do you care if I look for a tea ball, Emily?” And that wasn’t the only tea ball of the night. I got a bigger one later in the evening.

I collect blue willow. It started with my grandmother’s old set but by following the old adage to use your china which didn’t actually pertain to homes with more than, say, 1 boy, I had lost all my mugs. Yesterday, I was pretty happy when I opened the gift from my husband of a blue willow blanket but I was beside myself with joy when I opened the big blue willow mugs. There were 4 in the bag and then I opened 4 thin blue willow mugs from a dollar store blue willow gift bag which was lovely in itself and warrants a trip to the dollar store today to clean their shelves of these bags. But I was completely humbled to learn they had bought me 12 of each set. And to think that I had pouted in the store a few weeks ago when Tim seemed oblivious to the fact that I wanted those mugs!

I suppose I have totally lost my agrarian credentials with this list of materialistic joy but the evening wasn’t over yet.

While opening the big tea ball from Timothy and Natalia I found 2 tickets to…….The Alabama Symphony’s presentation of:

Handel’s Messiah.

Joy, Joy, Joy.

If there is anything that makes a person feel loved it is a spot-on gift. Not only was I completely surprised by all my gifts but I was incredibly touched that my family knew me so well, right down to the New York style cheesecake with strawberry sauce.

PS: Mom I wore one of the shirts yesterday and I have the shawl on right now. Sadly, the chocolate is gone and I didn’t share.

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This review just in from my friend Lynne in Arizona:

“We just returned from Noëlle and we absolutely loved it!!! What a
joy to finally see the Christian community make something besides
preachy propaganda! The script was well-structured, the characters
well-developed, the thematic elements and visuals well-woven into the
story, the sub-text powerful, and the humour delightful!”

(NOTE: Not only will you be voting for a Christian-themed movie, but this is a big weekend to attend a movie other than The Golden Compass.)

In an interview with a Washington Post reporter in 2001, writer Philip Pullman ( author of the book The Golden Compass is based on) candidly remarked, “I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief.”

NOELLE

Ambleside mom, actress and dancer Kerry Wall and her family have given us a movie for the holidays. You can see it this weekend of Dec 7. These opening weekends are very important for the filmmakers and will help them make future productions.

Review

It will be at the Carmike in Huntsville.

Check out this list to see if it is in your area.

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My digital camera battery was messed up again. These were taken from my phone.

Man in blue running his first marathon. He’s almost there with his brother in brown running beside him the last 15 miles.

A loving wife and helpful brother made it possible. Benjamin was supposed to help Timothy run the last couple of miles. Instead, he logged in 15 miles, a personal record.

Congrats, Timothy!!

Saturday afternoon from our porch with friends and family gathered round.

One savvy politician. I wasn’t expecting this one.

Christmas in Dixie

Take your hats off. For home and family. No white hoods marching in our parade.

If there is one thing we have around here it is horses. There were more horses in our parade than floats.

Alex loved these miniature donkeys and also he is scavenging for candy.

Have I ever mentioned that I love my town?

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Willa linked to these Homeschool Weekly Reports and I am impressed with the idea.
I am tempted to start a weekly feature describing our homeschool week. I am probably tempted to do that because this has been a good school week.

The Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is up at Freedom Academy and I have updated my sidebar to reflect that. It is very nicely done!

If you are interested in Carnivals, Mama Squirrel at the Rodent…I mean Dewey’s Treehouse keeps me up to date.

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Ideas Have Consequences
Chapter 8
The Power of the Word

Dana has a wonderful post on this chapter.
Kelly’s daughter is recovering nicely.
Carmon hasn’t checked in on this one but I am hoping she will.

My first thoughts while reading Weaver say that, “All metaphysical community depends on the ability of men to understand one another,” were “And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”

This chapter is a wonderful synthesis of philosophy and theology.

In a nutshell:

The community of language gives one access to significances at which he cannot otherwise arrive. To find a word is to find a meaning; to create a word is to find a single term for a meaning partially distributed in other words. Whoever may doubt that language has this power to evoke should try the experiment of thinking without words.”

I am going to step away from Weaver’s metaphysical and take on the rest of the chapter’s practicalities. As Francis Schaeffer says, “How shall we then live?”

This chapter is the intersection of my own worldview: Christianity, classical education, Charlotte Mason, poetry, homeschooling, worship, Shakespeare, blogging etc. It all comes together in the power of the word and as we have already said it is with good reason we make language central. The Bible says that Christ is the logos.

My dad was a college baseball coach who put much emphasis on academic achievement. I don’t know how many times I have heard him say the same words Weaver says here:

American universities have found that with few exceptions students who display the greatest mastery of words, as evidenced by vocabulary tests and exercises in writing, make the best scholastic records regardless of the department of study they enter.”

This should send us a strong message about what our focus should be in our homeschools. No matter what you want your child to do in life he is going to need to be able to articulate meaning in some way.

“Facility with words bespeaks a capacity to learn relations and grasp concepts; it is a means of access to the complex reality.”

And now for the Piece de resistance. What is the highest facilitator of language? My dear, dear friends it is poetry. You scoff. I hear it. You think that roses are red and violets are blue is not that great a facilitator. Poetry is our human ability to marry meaning to language. It is not the ultimate marriage of meaning to word, that is found in Christ, but it is the best we have apart from The Word.

“Evidently it is the poet’s unique command of language which gives him his ability to see the potencies in circumstances.”

YES!

The discourse of poetry is winged.

Poetry works to keep us from drifting into irrationality. Is it any wonder it is a forgotten thing?

“The truth is, as we have already seen, that our surrender to irrationality has been in progress for a long time, and w witness today a breakdown of communication not only between nations and groups within nations but also between successive generations. Sir Richard Livingstone has pointed out that people of the Western world ” do not know the meaning of certain words, which had been assumed to belong to the permanent vocabulary of mankind, certain ideals which, if ignored in practice under pressure, were accepted in theory. The least important of these words is Freedom. The most important are Justice, Mercy, and Truth.”

“The great majority will be schooled in the two vices of sentimentality and brutality. Now great poetry, rightly interpreted, is the surest antidote to both of these.”

There is much in this chapter of practical use to the homeschooling mom but let us continue beating the drum of our choosing:

“In brief, the discipline of poetry may be expected first to teach the evocative power of words, to introduce the student, if we may so put it, to the mighty power of symbolism, and then to show him that there are ways of feeling about things which are not provincial either in space or time. Poetry offers the fairest hope of restoring our lost unity of mind.”

And this my friends is how to raise boys, not by sentiment, not by computer games that stir up all the worst in their natures, not by Victorian moralism. I am no expert. I don’t mean to speak with authority but I want to see homeschooled boys who can quote Shakespeare and hit home runs, boys who can plow the field while reciting Frost, boys who can face terrorists and cross the bar. We ask a lot of our young men these days. We ask them to be men and demand that they behave like women. This may sound like some trite twist on words but it is almost entirely the state in which our young men find themselves.
Poetry is a way to build meaning and chivalry into their souls while letting them maintain their masculinity. Poetry is not about daisy chains but rather about the depths and the heights of meaning.

Pick a poem. Read it out loud everyday this week. Try a little Homer, Shakespeare, Yeats. You sons will need it for the days ahead.

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