The LAST of Seven Quick Takes

:: 1 ::

I finished Rallying the Really Human Things a couple weeks ago. I’ll be honest and say that I found the first half of it more compelling than the second. Or maybe the word is interesting? I read it all, of course, but I felt like the book lacked focus at the end — it was a bit scattered or something. With that said, it’s a collection of essays, so it’s not like one thing is necessarily supposed to follow another. It is also possible that the flaws were in me rather than the book!

Guroian’s essay on gay marriage and how some of the philosophical mistakes are prevented by the Orthodox Church’s theology of marriage was interesting to me, mainly because I failed to see much difference between how he explained the Orthodox theology marriage and my understanding of the Protestant theology of marriage — I did, however, notice a marked difference between the Protestant theology of marriage I hold to and how he described it. Ahem. I think the problem is that there isn’t one Protestant theology — I mean, there is a reason why a Baptist church isn’t a Presbyterian church isn’t a Pentecostal church, you know? With that said, I still thought it was an interesting angle on the whole thing, and it’s also noteworthy that he was thinking about this in this way back in 2005.

Do I recommend the book? Yes. But only if you like essays. Guroian’s essays on the relationship between literature and the moral imagination were well worth the cost of the book.

:: 2 ::

I’m still going to do Friday posts, but I’m renaming this feature “Thoughtworthy.” That’s right: no more Seven Quick Takes. It’ll just be my thoughts on the books and things that were worth thinking about during the week. For some reason, I was tired of saying seven all the time — what if I only have five? What if I have eight? Using a more generic name gives me more flexibility, I think. Plus, it was an excuse to design a new graphic.

:: 3 ::

This week’s links collection:

• Is Classical Education Revitalizing Christian Culture? from The Imaginative Conservative
  • An interesting question, asked and answered by Dr. Turley.
• The Weeds and the Wheat in Children’s Literature from Crisis Magazine
  • “Whatever gets them reading” isn’t the best of guiding philosophies.
• U.S. Education Secretary Says He Is Concerned About Homeschooled Kids from Caffeinated Thoughts
  • My guess is he’s concerned that they won’t vote for the establishment. Also: is “rapid instructional experience” code for “lectures so fast I can’t write fast enough?” Just asking. {HT: Lani}

:: 4 ::

This month in 2011:

Charlotte Mason ruined my son for all sorts of things.

:: 5 ::

One of the things I’ve been thinking and reading about this week is the use of nutritional lithium. I don’t struggle with depression, but I was interested in it as a treatment for irritability. {There is a chance I am occasionally irritable.} I found it fascinating, some of the studies I looked at correlated high drinking water levels of lithium with lower rates of things like suicide.

Correlation doesn’t mean causation, of course, but it’s still interesting.

And then there were the possibilities for lithium to have a calming affect on children with autism, ADHD, and more! I totally got sucked in. That is, until I realized I was really supposed to be doing something else. Ahem.

But still. If you’re looking for a rabbit hole to go down, I recommend googling “nutritional lithium” and seeing what comes up.

:: 6 ::

I’ve been moving some things around and updating others. Most of this is behind the scenes, but one thing I did was update the contact form. You can now find it under the “About” menu. It’s a new form that goes directly to my email. I think it’s easier to use, and also easier for me to find things. I also added a “speaking” page that you can find at the top. This will continue to be updated with where I’ll be speaking, which is to say, where you can come say hello.

:: 7 ::

Answering Your Questions:

• Question:  Do you know of any resource that takes Ambleside and combines years (like Y1 & Y2, etc) so you can do certain subjects together as a family?
  • Answer: You can always ask on the AO Forum, of course, because each family doing it has their own take on it. But I’m particularly partial to Virginia Lee’s post, which you can find here. Make sure you scroll down and go through the comments; she answers a lot of questions there.

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