11.01.07
from Iraq to China
Mayada Daughter of Iraq
One Woman’s Survival in Saddam Hussein’s Torture Jail
by Jean Sasson
A Mother’s Ordeal: One Woman’s Fight Against China’s One-Child Policy
by Steven W. Mosher
Spot the similarities?
both are harrowing, yet compelling, reading
both present a fight against injustice
in both, *one woman* makes a difference
It’s been a couple of years since I read the China book – but there are still scenes from it firmly implanted in my memory. Nothing will ever erase them.
I finished Mayada today. Likewise, I will not forget.
The question for me becomes *what can I do about it?*
It is not enough to know.
It is not even enough to remember.
But I don’t know what to do.
Certainly I will share these books with my children when they are older.
But this is not sufficient.
What solutions will we find?
09.30.07
A Thomas Jefferson Education Planner
I’ve now read through the three additional booklets that go with The Book, as well as the Official Planner Packet. Next step for me is to make up my own Personal Planner - I’m going to do it right here on the blog. Then I can take it with me no matter where we go. To be honest, the thought of starting this education was a wee bit daunting, but I’m underway and even looking forward to the “hard work” of it. I am, however, wondering how on earth it’s going to be possible when we are on the road – but I truly believe God is leading me to do this and that going away is also a valid and integral part of our family experience, and so I am confident somehow it’s going to work out.
The next few posts will be devoted to setting up my online planner. They will all be linked to the page in the sidebar ~ I’m not really sure how else I could do it here!
09.12.07
Little Britches
Step One of the educate-yourself-before-you-can-mentor-your-kids-in-this-manner is done. Little Britches is read and within the time frame given. It was a rollicking good yarn and full of wonderful lessons, all without being preachy.
I’m supposed to read it again in a few weeks when I get the first of my children to read it themselves before a *formal discussion* (which, in reality, is more likely to take place over potato peelings than at a boardroom table). When I first read that I’d be supposed to read it twice in such a short space of time I immediately wondered if I could skip the second read and progress a bit quicker with my own books (it’s not like I have a few free hours ever day, y’know). I know, I know, I really shouldn’t shortcut. And I won’t. You see, now I actually WANT to read it again. And take notes. I’ll be jotting down a *what would you have done in this situation?* list and a ”Life Lesson List”.
Looking forward to it, but for now I’m on to Anne of Green Gables.
(plus a challenging – but thankfully short – read: Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince, Just Because. And I was given An Enjoyable Read yesterday too – thanks Sharon. When she visited a wee while back I grabbed her copy of “animal, vegetable, miracle” while she went out for the day – with permission of course – but I didn’t manage to finish it in one sitting. Now I can take my time.)
09.10.07
only one book
Education, for us, is not about becoming knowledgeable or employable or happy or powerful….it is about learning to serve God and mankind using the gifts He has graciously given us. We actively ask God to lead us in our educational journey….and today He answered a prayer we had not even consciously uttered.
We were in the car zipping about doing the week’s errands listening to talkback radio. This is not always the children’s favourite, but today they were more gripped than I was by the question posed: what did the Russian people resort to eating during the seige of Leningrad? Not potatoes, not rats, not horses, not bark (although that was close), not wallpaper paste, not plaster….it was sawdust! This, of course, resulted in a paper shortage and for the year of 1942 only one book was permitted to be published. It wasn’t the Bible, the Koran, War and Peace, the Communist Manifesto, Cooking With Sawdust or any of dozens of answers which came in while we were in another shop! It turned out to be (we discovered, sitting in the carpark at Pak-n-Save, with bated breath, waiting for the answer, wondering wondering wondering, stomachs grumbling, but minds more eager to know than stomachs were to get food)…an anthology of Hans Christian Andersen’s tales. Just what we’ve been reading.
I wondered what Mr Radio Presenter had been reading to discover such an interesting wee tidbit of information – and he told us. Such was my introduction to Arts and Letters Daily, and in particular to the Andersen article. What a treasure-trove of ideas. I’ll certainly be going back there – in between reading Anne of Green Gables and Niccolo Machiavelli’s “The Prince” this week.
So I thanked God for showing me another step to take.
And later I’m going to ask the children *if you could only choose one book to read in any given year, what would it be*??????
09.05.07
a little success goes a long way
I’ve done it!
Summarised “A Thomas Jefferson Education“
Some chapters didn’t get any notes – but that’s OK. This is *my* education. Right now I’m not involved in Public Schools and I’m not into the nitty-gritty of teaching Euclid just yet, so I made a note of where to find them for future reference.
Now I feel ready to start reading.
Anne of Green Gables or Little Britches? They’re the two I have at my fingertips.
08.31.07
Straightening the shelves!
Some days you wake up and you have no idea something special is going to happen THAT day. Yesterday was such a day.
Our last consignment of books for the year arrived in a brown cardboard box.
Inside was “A Thomas Jefferson Education”. I had been meaning to buy this book for a couple of years, but we always got to the end of the year and I’d run out of “education money”. This year I made it a priority.
And when it arrived I peeped inside. Just one page. And another. And a quick look at the contents. And a paragraph from the middle just to get a feel for his style. And the back cover. And the page that tells you what to do first (oh, that was a good one, it said to change nothing yet!).
As soon as the children were in the land of nod, I picked it up and settled into my favourite rocking chair. I read and read and read. Surprising, really. It’s been an age since I’ve read an education book. I was *over* them. I had heard enough of how everyone else organised their days and what they did with their children – I just needed to get on with living *our* life, without feeling slightly guilty that I wasn’t doing enough of this or any of that. So I learnt to knit and that occupied my hours instead of reading;-) For almost two years.
But this book was different. For a start, he suggested doing with young children exactly what we have been doing with our kids. Now THAT was refreshing! (In case you’re wondering, basically it consists of work them hard at chores round the house, read to them lots and let them use the rest of their waking hours to play and discover who they are – and his definition of young….up to about 12…..is more closely aligned to mine than the rest of the population’s seems to be – I don’t come across many people who are happy with the notion that a ten year old spend his days working round the house and playing for hours on end. “Ten-year-olds should be at school!” What’s more, he then suggests children become “young adults” and not “teenagers”. I am totally with him on that one, and had even been composing a blog post in my head to be used next month when our eldest turns 13!).
I digress.
I had always thought “when they get older they’ll get more formal in their studies”. The odd person (like their Dadda) had enquired, “What if they don’t want to?” and I’d enthusiastically exhorted him to believe that if they loved to learn they *would* be self-motivated. Others suggested we wouldn’t be able to teach them everything they need to know. I clutched another tenet of faith that we’d be able to help them find someone to guide them when the time came.
And here was an author singing my song. I was so excited I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat and willing my eyes to sprint across the pages as rapidly as they could to meet the next idea. I only got halfway, but I knew I was in possession of a precious gem.
Some days you wake up and you have no idea something special is going to happen THAT day. Today was such a day.
Instead of picking up the book again and racing to the finish line, when the littlies went for their afternoon naps and the biggies entered the solitude of their own favourite tomes, I headed for the computer. An idea that had been germinating for a long time burst forth.
I was about to get an education.
Yes, I know I have a bachelor’s degree and a post-graduate diploma (complete with distinction) and the Certificate In The Teaching Of English As A Foreign Language To Adults At Pass A Standard from the University of Cambridge….but I don’t have an education.
I have, however, taken the first step.
This blog is now ready to record *my learning adventure*
While I dream of it one day hosting reviews and articles and ideas and inspiration (that’s the bit I’ve been imagining forever), for now, it will be the place I can jot down ideas as I read and think and learn.
