My commonplace is filled with quotes from Tracy Lee Simmons'Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin
so I expect they'll continue to show up here over the next few Wednesdays.
I love this, not only because it's true, but because it speaks to my main purpose as a homeschooler.
I'm not just trying to inculcate Math facts and random dates of History: I am helping to form healthy souls. And healthy souls make for healthy societies.
It's no wonder some days are hard: this is spiritual labor. (WHY am I so prone to forget that?!)
Anyway, I highly recommend this book. I finished the other day and my husband asked me how I liked it.
"I liked it. It made me feel like an idiot." This is just a joke we have together.
I love it when I finish a book and know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that I could not have written it myself. Because I love to be challenged. And I definitely love to find out what I don't know.
Finishing a book like this helps lessen the "unknown unknowns" as my husband says (with apologies to Donald Rumsfeld. We listened to his book Known and Unknown: A Memoir
on audio several years ago on a long car trip).
In other words: you can't fix your points of ignorance if you don't realize you're ignorant.
Climbing Parnassus helped me recognize several important points of ignorance in my own thinking.
Currently Reading:
The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles WilliamsI am thoroughly enjoying this one. (It's quite readable, even if it is also fitting that "make Karen realize all the stuff she doesn't know" genre.)
How to Love Your Neighbor Without Being WeirdI'm not loving this one, but it has some good points.
Recently Finished:
The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin WallThis is fascinating and well written.
This is "history" that I'm old enough to remember and yet I knew less about it (and the actual how and why) than I would have liked. Highly recommend this one to you. (I practically made my husband read it after I finished.)
The Secret of Chimneys (Superintendent Battle Book 1)An early Christie. Mostly frivolous but fun if you can overlook the dated sensibilities (especially regarding race).
Superfluous Women: A Daisy Dalrymple MysteryI've read every book in this series (22 and counting) and I have to say that Dunn has actually improved as a writer. There are fewer POV errors and her characters have been allowed to grow and mature while still retaining their charm.
The Best Yes: Making Wise Decisions in the Midst of Endless DemandsProbably my favorite book by Terkeurst (and, at any rate, there were fewer scriptures taken out of context or misapplied which is usually my main complaint with her books). This one figures prominently in my new commonplace book too.
The Living Page: Keeping Notebooks with Charlotte MasonCharlotte Mason fans will probably love this. Non Mason-ites will find some points of interest. (I'm the latter.)
Current Read Aloud:
We've started All of a Kind Family Uptown
but we know we won't be able to finish for a while because of traveling and visiting family.
Current Book to Review:
Through a Man's Eyes: Helping Women Understand the Visual Nature of Menby Shaunti Feldhahn just came in the mail but I haven't had a chance to start it yet.
Current Kindle Deals:
Busman's Honeymoon (The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries)by Dorothy Sayers is only $1.99 right now. This is one of my all-time favorite series. If you're looking for smart, witty mysteries, look no further.
A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain, and God's Sovereignty is $0.99 today. I haven't read this one but Tada's life and writing are always compelling.
What books or thoughts have inspired you lately?
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