Life of Pride
Thursday, February 09, 2006
I did a lot of reading last night. Wednesday is a study night, so I camped out in the Borders cafe for three hours with a backpack full of books and my laptop. I love my research. Really, I do. In searching for the roots of the homeschool movement, I am looking for my own roots as well. I'm exploring for a river, but not just any river. I'm locating the fountain that gave me life. In the process, I have to go deeper and deeper yet. I'm diving into the clear, age-old streams that birthed the entire United States of America. I catch glimpses into the very heart of God. Homeschooling in the 70s and 80s was an act desperately reckless, and at the same time it was a return to something far older and deeper than its opponents' method of schooling. It was old, but it was also new and laughing.
Here in the homeschooling movement, we find the heart of America. Our country as a whole has forgotten how to be young and a bit reckless in its pursuit of truth, but the homeschoolers remember. Our parents were colonists. Pioneers. They lived on the frontier. Makes me wonder what my own generation will become. Will we settle, or will be push the frontier further? There's so much yet to accomplish. My college, PHC, offers very difficult academics. But it occurs to me that earlier generations learned by the time they were 15 much of the Latin, philosophy, and history that our core classes offer. Homeschooling right now is academically better than the public schools, but it is not all it should be. Few of us alive in the world today will ever be truly educated.
I do thank God that I have the opportunity to learn all I choose. Generations ago, I would never have been able to exercise my mind. I don't think I would have been happy, not being able to learn what others have discovered about the world. But of course, God knew that, which is why I am here and now. What an awesome fact to think about!
All right, philosophical notions aside, I mostly just wanted to share some interesting quotes from A Mother's Book of Traditional Household Skills, written by an L.G. Abell in 1852. I was checking this book for home-teaching advice, but apparently schools were already pretty much in vogue by 1852. Anyway, it had advice on just about everything else under the sun, so I skimmed the whole thing. Here are some snippets:
On time:
“God, who is liberal in all other gifts, shows us, by his own wise economy, how circumspect we should be in the management of our time, for he never gives us two moments together. He only gives us the second when he takes away the first, and keeps the third in his own hands, leaving us in absolute uncertainty whether it shall ever become ours or not!” (14)
On clothes:
“[T]he slave of fashion is perhaps one of the most pitiable objects in creation; and nothing can be more absurd than the adoption of every new style of dress the moment it makes its appearance” (34).
In case of hydrophobia (rabies):
“Wash and cleanse the wound, and apply to every part of it the nitrate of silver, commonly called lunar caustic. This destroys the poison, and the surface of the wound, which will come away. If the wound be deep, the caustic should be pointed to reach every part. If faithfully applied, a celebrated physician declares the patient perfectly safe” (44).
How to make white spruce beer:
“Three pounds of loaf sugar, five gallons of water, with enough of essence of spruce to give it a flavor, a cup of good yeast, a little lemon-peel if you choose, and, when fermented, bottle it up close. It is a delightful beverage in warm weather” (116).
As you can see, when I say that this book talks about everything, I mean it! :) Pretty interesting.
Probably the best part of last night is that I started reading Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul, by John and Stasi Eldredge. They had to order it for me at Borders, because it is one of their "most-stolen books." Hm. But it came in yesterday, so I picked it up after my study session, and I began reading it as soon as I arrived home. I was entranced. When next I looked at my watch, it was 1:00am. In all those hours, I had only read 88 pages, because I kept bursting into tears and praying. At one point, I stopped and sobbed for five minutes. Literally, I sobbed, from my heart. I haven't let myself cry that hard for, well, a long time. Let's just say that this book has a lot of truth in it. It helps me answer the question that I've begged God to know: "Lord, why am I a woman?" Femininity is not just submitting or obeying. It is the heart of love and adoration from which these things arise. It is being loved, allowing others to love us. It is being beautiful, as beautiful as we can be, both inside and out, because beauty is a wonderful thing, and the world needs more of it. I am very, very thankful to Carrie B. for posting about this book on her blog and thereby inspiring me to read it. :) I have many more thoughts, and I may post them later, unless the Muse strikes me with something else in the meanwhile. I'm sure I'll be thinking about all of this for some time, however.
Here in the homeschooling movement, we find the heart of America. Our country as a whole has forgotten how to be young and a bit reckless in its pursuit of truth, but the homeschoolers remember. Our parents were colonists. Pioneers. They lived on the frontier. Makes me wonder what my own generation will become. Will we settle, or will be push the frontier further? There's so much yet to accomplish. My college, PHC, offers very difficult academics. But it occurs to me that earlier generations learned by the time they were 15 much of the Latin, philosophy, and history that our core classes offer. Homeschooling right now is academically better than the public schools, but it is not all it should be. Few of us alive in the world today will ever be truly educated.
I do thank God that I have the opportunity to learn all I choose. Generations ago, I would never have been able to exercise my mind. I don't think I would have been happy, not being able to learn what others have discovered about the world. But of course, God knew that, which is why I am here and now. What an awesome fact to think about!
All right, philosophical notions aside, I mostly just wanted to share some interesting quotes from A Mother's Book of Traditional Household Skills, written by an L.G. Abell in 1852. I was checking this book for home-teaching advice, but apparently schools were already pretty much in vogue by 1852. Anyway, it had advice on just about everything else under the sun, so I skimmed the whole thing. Here are some snippets:
On time:
“God, who is liberal in all other gifts, shows us, by his own wise economy, how circumspect we should be in the management of our time, for he never gives us two moments together. He only gives us the second when he takes away the first, and keeps the third in his own hands, leaving us in absolute uncertainty whether it shall ever become ours or not!” (14)
On clothes:
“[T]he slave of fashion is perhaps one of the most pitiable objects in creation; and nothing can be more absurd than the adoption of every new style of dress the moment it makes its appearance” (34).
In case of hydrophobia (rabies):
“Wash and cleanse the wound, and apply to every part of it the nitrate of silver, commonly called lunar caustic. This destroys the poison, and the surface of the wound, which will come away. If the wound be deep, the caustic should be pointed to reach every part. If faithfully applied, a celebrated physician declares the patient perfectly safe” (44).
How to make white spruce beer:
“Three pounds of loaf sugar, five gallons of water, with enough of essence of spruce to give it a flavor, a cup of good yeast, a little lemon-peel if you choose, and, when fermented, bottle it up close. It is a delightful beverage in warm weather” (116).
As you can see, when I say that this book talks about everything, I mean it! :) Pretty interesting.
Probably the best part of last night is that I started reading Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul, by John and Stasi Eldredge. They had to order it for me at Borders, because it is one of their "most-stolen books." Hm. But it came in yesterday, so I picked it up after my study session, and I began reading it as soon as I arrived home. I was entranced. When next I looked at my watch, it was 1:00am. In all those hours, I had only read 88 pages, because I kept bursting into tears and praying. At one point, I stopped and sobbed for five minutes. Literally, I sobbed, from my heart. I haven't let myself cry that hard for, well, a long time. Let's just say that this book has a lot of truth in it. It helps me answer the question that I've begged God to know: "Lord, why am I a woman?" Femininity is not just submitting or obeying. It is the heart of love and adoration from which these things arise. It is being loved, allowing others to love us. It is being beautiful, as beautiful as we can be, both inside and out, because beauty is a wonderful thing, and the world needs more of it. I am very, very thankful to Carrie B. for posting about this book on her blog and thereby inspiring me to read it. :) I have many more thoughts, and I may post them later, unless the Muse strikes me with something else in the meanwhile. I'm sure I'll be thinking about all of this for some time, however.
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