Scholé of Intention: The connections just keep coming as the kids and I read our Ambleside books! Mr. D thought it was pretty neat that I read him the same Longfellow poem about Florence Nightingale that had been quoted in his reading from Abraham Lincoln’s World the other day. Justice and social responsibility continue to be themes in the AO Year 8 books. Sometimes the differences in opinion between books is thought-provoking. For example, Richard Maybury bemoans the lack of individualism in our culture in Whatever Happened to Justice?
I don’t know the reason for this crowd mentality. Perhaps humans are pack animals. They seem to have an insatiable desire for leaders who will tell them how to think and act. Individualism is rare. (pg. 125)
In contrast, Dr. Paul Brand states in Fearfully and Wonderfully Made:
Our culture exalts self-fulfillment, self discovery, and autonomy. But according to Christ, it is only in losing my life that I will find it. Only by committing myself as a “living sacrifice” to the larger Body through loyalty to him will I find my true reason for being. (pg. 67)
Maybury is right: people do have a strong tendency to follow the crowd. But the leaders they choose reflect their own selfish ambitions and desires. Only through union to the Body of Christ can this paradox of needing to belong and wanting to be free truly be resolved.
The process of joining Christ’s Body may at first seem like a renunciation. I no longer have full independence. Ironically, however, renouncing my old value system – in which I had to compete with other people on the basis of power, wealth, and talent – and committing myself to Christ, the Head, abruptly frees me. My sense of competition fades. No longer do I have to bristle against life, seizing ways to prove myself. In my new identity my ideal has become to live my life in such a way that people around me recognize Jesus Christ and his love, not my own set of distinctive qualities. My worth and acceptance are enveloped in him. […] (Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, pg.61)
Scholé of Method: It looks like I may need to be flexible with math plans. 😉 Miss A finished up Life of Fred Fractions and has requested the Beginning Algebra book. I’d like her to finish Teaching Textbooks Algebra I (it wasn’t cheap!) but if LoF is a better fit…?
Scholé of Outcome: Yesterday morning we woke up to several inches of snow. But it wasn’t very cold, and the snow wasn’t going to last long, so I decided to make the most of it and take the kids to a nearby park with a sledding hill. The older ones first drew something in their nature notebooks while the little guys played. Then we all enjoyed some sledding fun! 🙂
Glad you got on the sled too!