Part of the Problem: We Have Never Been Woke

We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite

by Musa Al-Gharbi

Musa Al-Gharbi persuasively argues that elites (those that already have access to wealth and high status) use cultural means to maintain their own status while claiming to speak for and protect those who are disadvantaged, while not actually doing anything meaningful to better the lives of those they claim to defend. In fact, many elites take actions that actively maintain the status quo or live in such a way to cause additional suffering to those more disadvantaged.

The reading level is a little challenging. (It is written for college graduates, and even more those with terminal degrees.) I decided not to actually assign it in any of the high school courses for my kids, but I am encouraging all my kids to read it while they are in college.

It's a fascinating book that challenged me in many ways. Highly recommended to anyone who has a college degree and works in a job that doesn't require manual labor.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliates links. I checked this book out from the library.

June 2024 Book Reports

Watership Down by Richard Adams - I was surprised to learn the author created this story for his daughters. Not only are female rabbits missing entirely until after the wandering rabbits establish a new warren (how did they think that would work?), but when the female rabbits appear, they generally aren't worth talking about or emulating. Mostly I found this book slow going. I listened on audiobook and eventually sped up the recording to finish it more quickly. (Audible audiobook)

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro - I could read Ishiguro all day long. His ability to write so beautifully and yet with such dramatically different voices in all his novels amazes me. First Daughter bought this one for an honors level history course she took at a local university. They discussed it within their conversations about how not only to resolve violent conflicts in communities, but to live together peacefully after the conflict. What does forgiveness look like? How do people find a way forward without rewriting or erasing the past? (First Daughter's copy)

Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson - A lonely woman writes to a prominent person at a museum. He has passed away, but a current employee responds. They soon begin a more intimate correspondence. I enjoyed it, but was disappointed in the portrayal of marriage. (purchased used)

Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi - This novel weaves together the stories of three generations of inter-related families in Oman. I really enjoyed an introduction to the history and culture of country previously unknown to me. (purchased used)

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard - I read this with my book club. I enjoyed it much more than I did just two years ago. You can read my original review here. (received from a fellow member of PaperBackSwap.com)

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links.

January 2024 Book Reports

The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas - I picked up this book at a library book sale and kept it to read because it's set in Kansas. If you love quilting or books set in the 1930s, you'll probably enjoy this book. There's a murder mystery, too, but it's not written like a detective novel. It's a fine book, good for some light reading. (purchased used)

Melal: A Novel of the Pacific by Robert Barclay - I picked up this book at a library sale and thought it might be a good option for a high school geography book. Shortly into the book, I began to feel quite anxious for the characters; a dread filled the pages. So many many terrible things happen in the book or there are references to the past, to colonialism and nuclear testing. The author lived on an island in the Pacific, so he knows more about myths of the area than I do. I can't say for certain that he got them all right, but it was interesting to read this novel about a convergence of myth and the modern world. I decided not to recommend it for high school geography reading because there are many upsetting incidents. It was certainly discomfiting for me to read as a privileged and safe American, but I think I'm glad I did. (PaperBackSwap.com)

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim - On the recommendation of a friend, I listened to the audiobook version of this book when I needed something light. I desperately want to spend April in Italy now, though. (Audible)

Flight into Spring by Bianca Bradbury - Sally Day lives in Maryland during the Civil War, a state split it its loyalties between North and South, though her family supports the Union. She falls in love with a Yankee soldier and marries him after the war. The book tells of her struggles as a young wife relocated at a time when a move from Maryland to Connecticut meant culture shock. This would be a good book for an older teen who struggled with reading, as the reading level is more like middle grade but the content is light and innocent romance. (purchased copy)

Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot - I read this poem with my book club. I read each quartet, then listened to Eliot reading it. (There are recordings on YouTube.) This is a difficult work. The vocabulary is so extensive, I allowed myself to write in the book, jotting down definitions of all the words I had to look up. earning about his life and references to other works helped, too. I can see how you could return to this poem many times and find something new each time. (purchased copy)

Five Bushel Farm by Elizabeth Coatsworth - I read this when I needed something light and easy. It's the second book in the Sally series, set in colonial Maine. It's a sweet little story, full of happy coincidences. It also has its share of 1930s ideas about Native Americans The illustrations are by Helen Sewell, and perfectly delightful. (purchased copy)

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt - I read this as a child, but decided to read it again before Second Son read it for school. I'm glad I did, because apparently I had it confused in my mind with a complete different book! Jethro lives most of him life in the shadow of the Civil War, with loved ones in both armies. It's an excellent book of historical fiction, bringing the war to life without overwhelming a young reader with too many horrors. (purchased copy)

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon, Bookshop, and PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

Making Money off the Poor: Poverty, By America

Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond

Matthew Desmond argues America has a higher level of poverty compared to most other rich nations of the world because people and companies in America make money by providing services to the poor and by requiring them to pay more for many things simply because they are poor.

It's a tight knot of social maladies. It is connected to every social problem we care about--crime, health, education, housing--and its persistence in American life means that millions of families are denied safety and security and dignity in one of the richest nations in the history of the world. (p. 23)

He explores how our society, laws, and communities exploit the poor by:

• driving down wages
• increasing costs of housing (higher mortgage rates, rents higher than mortgage payments)
• forcing the poor to pay more for credit or to use payday loans
• creating tax cuts for property owners rather than programs for the poor
• excluding the poor from areas that provide the best education and job opportunities

It's easy to blame these problems on huge corporations and billionaires, but they benefit all stockholders, and many of us (myself included) invest in retirement accounts, accounts that purchase and hold stocks. We are also complicit when we oppose higher density housing or integrated economic housing near our neighborhoods.

Poverty isn't simply the condition of not having enough money. It's the condition of not having enough choice and being taken advantage of because of that. (p. 78)

For example, providing more money for housing without providing more affordable housing means rents will increase. The money benefits the landlords, rather than the poor.

The author makes bold claims and doesn't shirk to note what it might take to address poverty in dramatic ways.

Sharing opportunities previously hoarded doesn't mean everyone wins. It means that those who have benefitted from the nation's excesses will have to take less so that others may share in the bounty. (p. 118) 

The author provides some possible ways to address poverty in meaningful ways, most of which I think would be interesting to discuss in our public policy debates. 

We can't just spend our way out of this. Over the past fifty years, we've tried that--doubling antipoverty aid per capita--and the poverty line hasn't meaningfully budged. A big reason why is that we insist on supporting policies that accommodate poverty, not ones that disrupt it. (p. 137) 

I am including this book in a Modern Government class organized around Catholic Social Teaching. It's a year-long course, but most of my students will spread it over two years in Level 6 (eleventh and twelfth). 

I first checked this book out of the library, but only skimmed it before deciding to buy our own copy.

I have received nothing for this post. I purchased the book. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links.

November 2022 Book Reports

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte - I had read this book a few years before we had kids, so it had been almost twenty years when I read it again with my book club. It seemed a little more trite to me this time around, though generally I think the main protagonist is a much more virtuous person than I would have been in her situation. (read free Kindle copy)

Out of Many, One: Portraits of America's Immigrants by George W. Bush - link to my post (borrowed copy from my dad) 

A Mercy by Toni Morrison - I read this as I was deciding on an African American literature selection for senior year. This book presents the stories of a single 1680s household from the differing perspectives of the master, mistress, and slaves. It is often difficult to read, both because the text can be challenging and because the events are harsh and tragic. Few people of privilege, wealth, or power are portrayed positively. But it is beautifully written. I think a high school senior could read it, though some will struggle in understanding some of the voices. There are also some pointed criticisms of Catholics that, while I think they are valid, would need context for a teenage Catholic reader. That is all in addition, of course, to all the content considerations you might imagine: rape, violence, slavery, witchcraft, intimacy outside of marriage and with people of the same gender, etc. (library copy)

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis - This was my second time through this audiobook and I loved it just as much as the first time. I picked up on many more of the jokes this time through because I had recently listened to Jerome K. Jerome's original travelogue, Three Men in a Boat. Back in 2020, I wrote:

This may be my favorite audiobook of all time. I enjoyed every single minute of it, invented chores so I could listen to it, and was both delighted with the ending and sorry it was over. It's a quirky tale of time-travel, Victorian England, the Blitz, and romance, "to say nothing of the dog" (and cat). (purchased from Audible during a sale)

 I'm sure the book is good, but the audiobook is an absolute delight.

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie - I've never been much of a mystery reader; I can never guess the murderer! But so many people rave about Agatha Christie, I thought I'd give a few of her books a try. I enjoyed this one, though of course I didn't figure out the solution until it was revealed. (library copy)

Leona by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino - I was looking on PaperBackSwap for books by this author because I love her book My Heart Lies South. This little out of print book about a brave but often over-looked woman in Mexico's history was available. It's written at about a middle school level, though the romance means it might be more interesting to older children. I enjoyed it, but I don't know that you have to seek it out. (received from another member of PaperBackSwap.com)

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston - link to my post (library copy)

Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival by Velma Wallis - I read this with my book club. The story tells of the perseverance of two women left alone in the Alaskan wilderness, the revival of their skills to survive, and the flourishing of their friendship. It's also a story of the healing of family relationships. I added this book to my Geography of the Americas shelf in case any high schoolers want to select it as a free-read (Level 5 or Level 6). (purchased used)

The Yellow Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang - I have read fairy tales aloud to all my kids regularly since the very beginning of our homeschooling journey, but we don't read one every day, or even every week, so it can take a long time to get through a book. Fairy tales seem to be enjoying something of a moment, especially in the homeschooling crowd, but nothing can teach you about the wonderful and the weird as much as reading through a collection from beginning to end. I picked something different to read aloud after this one, but I'm considering returning to the Blue Fairy Book after that because my younger kids don't remember it. (purchased used)

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links.

October 2022 Book Reports

Deuteronomy and Joshua, both from the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible series - This series gives the text of the Bible using the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition along with an introduction for each book, annotations on the text, word studies, topical essays, and study questions. I think it's a decent series. I prefer the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, but that's not available for the Old Testament. I read these because I had planned for my older daughter to use them in her Scripture study. Mater Amabilis schedules readings from the Bible so that a student will read the entire Bible over the course of the four high school years, with some books read more than once. My daughter always has lots of questions when reading the Bible, and I thought these books would give her more context. We ended up dropping Scripture as a school subject because she reads her Bible every night, so she hasn't read these yet. (purchased copies)

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather - This is one of my favorite books. This was my second or third read-through. It's a gentle story of quiet strength and courageous faith, surrounded by exquisite descriptions of the American southwest. Highly recommended. (copy from a fellow member of PaperBackSwap.com)

Australian Legendary Tales collected by Mrs. K. Langloh Parker - link to my post (purchased copy from Living Book Press)

Paul for Everyone: 2 Corinthians by N. T. Wright - I think the new edition of this is now called 2 Corinthians for Everyone. N. T. Wright is Anglican, not Catholic, but he's a leading authority on Paul. I like how he translates the letters himself, which makes them seem fresh and new to me. He breaks the letter down into little chunks. Following the Scripture excerpt, he provides connections to our own modern lives with personal stories and in-depth explanations of his translations, including connections to other verses of Scripture. (purchased used)

Knights of Art: Stories of the Italian Painters by Amy Steedman - I bought this book from Connecting with History to give us a break from picture study in First Son's last year or so at home. Once a week or so, I would read the story of one of the Italian painters. They were mostly enjoyable stories, though the kids were always excited when there would be one with a happy life; there were lots of illnesses and early deaths in those days. (purchased from Connecting with History; link is not an affiliate link)

Chatter: The Voice in our Head, Why it Matters, and How to Harness It by Ethan Kross - link to my post (library copy)

Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri - link to my post (library copy)

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links.

May 2022 Book Reports

Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck - The author modified a truck into a camper and took off across America with his dog, Charley. My experiences with Steinbeck in the past were mixed, but this was a delightful book. His descriptions of the Badlands, the Redwoods, San Francisco, and many other places were a joy to read. Though confirmed in most of his opinions, he relished conversations with people from all backgrounds and walks of life, listening carefully to their stories. The book is as rambling as his journey, including a protest of school integration in New Orleans along with the magnificent vistas of the west. (purchased used)

A Priest in the Family: A Guide for Parents Whose Sons are Considering Priesthood by Fr. Brett A. Brannen - link to my post (gift from our diocese)

The Conscience of Israel: Pre-exilic Prophets and Prophecy by Bruce Vawter, C.M. - I thoroughly enjoyed Vawter's A Path through Genesis, which I assign to my ninth graders, so I went hunting for a few of his other books. This one examines the role of the prophet in Israel and then specifically explores the lives (such as we know them), the contexts, and writings of  Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, and Jeremiah. Vawter reveals enduring messages from these men of God beyond predicting the coming of the Messiah. I appreciated this book for myself and may offer it to my high schoolers when these books of the Bible show up in our high school plans. Unlike A Path through Genesis, this book does not contain the prophetic books discussed, so you would need a Bible for the texts. (purchased used)

The Chosen by Chaim Potok - This is one of the suggested supplemental books for Mater Amabilis's Level 4 history plans (eighth grade, twentieth century). This is the story of two young Jewish boys in 1940s New York City who become friends despite being from different (and often opposed) schools of thought. Over the years, their friendship is shaped by and shapes their families and each other in profound ways. This is a good option for the Level 4 student because it's provides insight into life in America during World War II and the creation of the state of Israel without reveling in the violence of warfare and the concentration camps. (requested from a member of PaperBackSwap.com)

Door to the North: A Saga of 14th Century America by Elizabeth Coatsworth - This is one of the many quality historical fiction books brought back into print by Bethlehem Books. In this book, Coatsworth imagines the journey of a young Scandinavian to Greenland and a grand new world. First Son read this as a complement to his early American history study this year (sixth grade). (purchased new)

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon, Bookshop, and PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

Dreams Deferred: A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun

by Lorraine Hansberry

This title of this play comes from the Langston Hughes poem, "Harlem," in which he asks

What happens to a dream deferred / Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun?

Three generations of the Younger family live in a cramped apartment full of faded furniture. An anticipated insurance payout check might change all their lives forever. 

Though first performed in 1959, the themes of justice, hopefulness, and the grinding weariness of inescapable poverty remain relevant.

I am considering using this book in our senior spring as a substitute for Invisible Man, which I pre-read earlier in the school year and decided not to assign to First Son. The play is obviously much shorter, so I would also find some additional resources. I still have a few years before my second child will be a senior.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. I received the book as a gift. Links to Bookshop are affiliate links. 

So Light and Wild: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
by Annie Dillard

I selected this book for First Son's senior year of geography as he was studying North America. Kansas Dad believes Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is one of the most important (and beautifully written) books of nature essays by an American author, so it seemed a good choice. I'm pretty sure this is one of the books I did not read when it was assigned in college, so I read it just ahead of First Son.

Ms. Dillard wrote this collection of essays as she lived on Tinker Creek in Virginia, wandering the creek by day and night, through heat, rain, and winter cold, describing it through all four seasons and every kind of weather. 

It has always been a happy thought to me that the creek runs on all night, new every minute, whether I wish it or know it or care, as a closed book on a shelf continues to whisper to itself its own inexhaustible tale. (p. 69)

Her thoughts flow freely through the essays. They show clearly how becoming immersed in a real, physical landscape can allow it to become a part of you, and how you can be changed by it. As rare as such a life may have been in the 1970s when the book was first published, it is even more so today. Even those of us who live outside the cities find ourselves surrounded always by walls or separated from the world by metal and glass as we drive through the wind and weather. 

Is this where we live, I thought, in this place at this moment, with the air so light and wild? (p. 218)

There are frequent references to a creator, but not in a particularly religious way. 

I loved the slow pace and entrancing descriptions in the book, but First Son did not. I'm inclined to think most high schoolers will be more like First Son, but I will consider it as a geography book for my other kids. Perhaps I will choose to assign only one or two essays, rather than the whole book. I think it could work well that way. 

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links. I received a copy from a member of PaperBackSwap.com (affiliate link). 

The Magnificent Plains and Her People: My Antonia

My Antonia

by Willa Cather

Originally, I put this book on First Son's English novels list for senior year. Because First Son started with the beta high school Mater Amabilis plans, he only had senior year for novels, so I wanted to choose only three of the six or seven recommended. (Find the current high school English plans here.) I knew I wanted this one because the language is so evocative of the ethos and environment of the Great Plains, appropriate for a Kansan homeschool.

I listened to this book on CD from the library in Boston more than twenty years ago, and loved it, so I decided I should read it again.

The narrator moves out to the Nebraska as a young boy, recently orphaned and moving in with his grandparents.

As I looked about me I felt that the grass was the country, as the water is the sea. The red of the grass made all the great prairie the colour of wine-stains, or of certain seaweeds when they are first washed up. And there was so much motion in it; the whole country seemed, somehow, to be running. (p. 12)

His life is intertwined with a Bohemian family who were on the same train. Antonia, a few years older than he, becomes his dear and life-long friend, though they are often separated. His life away from the land he loves and the people he holds dear seems odd to me, but it allows a perspective of treasured memories and homecomings.

As we walked homeward across the fields, the sun dropped and lay like a great golden globe in the low west. While it hung there, the moon rose in the east, as big as a cart-wheel, pale silver and streaked with rose colour, thin as a bubble or a ghost-moon. For five, perhaps ten minutes, the two luminaries confronted each other across the level land, resting on opposite edges of the world. (p. 206)

Life on the prairies was often difficult, and the book doesn't shirk from tragedy. If you are handing this book to a student without reading it, you should be aware there is a suicide. You may also wish to pre-read the story of Peter and Pavel (in chapter VIII of Book I, The Shimerdas).

She had only to stand in the orchard, to put her hand on a little crab tree and look up at the apples, to make you feel the goodness of planting and tending and harvesting at last. All the strong things of her heard came out in her body, that had been so tireless in serving generous emotions.

It was no wonder that her sons stood tall and straight. She was a rich mine of life, like the founders of early races. (pp. 226-227)

 This book was even more beautiful than I remembered, and I am grateful I took the time to read it again. In the end, I let First Son choose between this book and Death Comes for the Archbishop, because by that point we knew he was considering the seminary, and he chose the other one. Which is also beautiful!

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. I received this book from another member of PaperBackSwap.com (affiliate link). Links to Bookshop are also affiliate links.

An American Odyssey: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

audiobook from Audible, performed by Elijah Wood

First Son is completing a blend of the beta Mater Amabilis high school plans and the updated ones, so I have to condense the six novels from Level 6 (eleventh and twelfth grades) into three novels for senior year. After talking with Kansas Dad and polling the Facebook group for thoughts, I think I've narrowed it down to four. I already own Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn on Audible, and I'm going to assign this to First Son as a free-time listen. He's not as devoted to audiobooks as First Daughter, but he'll find it easier than reading so I think we can squeeze it in as a fourth novel.

Mark Twain is not my favorite author, though I very much enjoyed his Joan of Arc. Listening to Elijah Wood's performance was vastly more enjoyable for me than reading the book would have been. He does a terrific job. It is a little disturbing for modern listeners to hear the language of the characters, but I feel like it's true to the historical dialogue Twain was invoking and the harshness of it to our ears is a reminder of the traumas of slavery and racism.

Because I listened to the book rather than reading it, I don't have many reliable quotes to share. My favorite parts of the book illuminated Huck's thought processes as he desperately tried to discern right and wrong in a world that honored the legal ownership of slaves. Twain skillfully reveals much of the despair and inequality of the institution of slavery, but without challenging it entirely, even though it was published after the Civil War.

I also loved the descriptions of the weather and natural world of the Mississippi River. Mark Twain knew that land inside and out and beautifully describes it, whether in narrative text or in the voice of Huckleberry Finn.

Huckleberry Finn lies at every town up and down the Mississippi. He lies even when he doesn't have anything to fear. Sometimes, these whoppers are tremendously entertaining, but I personally would have preferred half of them, and the ones remaining lasting only half as long. First Son will probably enjoy them more.

I'm pleased to include this book in our high school studies. It's a complicated book with lots of room for discussions and thoughts, most of which we won't cover explicitly, but I think it's an important American novel I'm sorry I missed before now. Now that I've read it, I feel sure I'll hear echoes of it in many other American works.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon are affiliate links. I purchased this audiobook.

An Impossible Stew: Ideas Have Consequences

Ideas Have Consequences

by Richard M. Weaver

This book brings up real problems and questions still relevant today despite it's 1948 copyright.

Sometimes this was a difficult book for me to read because Dr. Weaver would reference philosophical ideas or people without explicitly identifying them. More than once, I reread paragraphs (or chapters) when I realized he was using words I knew, but with different definitions. (For example, "materialistic" for him did not mean someone overly focused on possessions and money, but someone focused on the "material" world, rather than on abstract ideals and virtues.) Once I even asked my philosopher-turned-theologian husband to read through a paragraph and tell me if it really meant anything; there were so many philosophical terms all jumbled together, I couldn't tell if it contained any real ideas (like a mission statement gone horribly wrong). My husband assured me it did indeed mean something, "That's just how philosophers write."

I would need to write a blog post on every chapter to do justice to this book, but I don't want to devote that kind of time right now, so I'm going to try to condense my thoughts as well as I can.

In the Introduction, Dr. Weaver brings up materialism as it developed in the nineteenth century. (Remember, he's talking about limiting our explanations to the material world.) Darwin and his contemporaries made it "imperative to explain man by his environment" (p. 5). According to Dr. Weaver, science forced all of mankind to accept physical and only physical explanations for anything and everything, including his institutions, economy, and psychology. Certainly we have seen such a focus. Perhaps it is even prevalent in society today, but I do think there is a substantial number of people and institutions who have maintained the connection between mankind and our "transcendental glory" (p. 5). It's possible I feel a more balanced appreciation for the contributions of the nineteenth century scientists (and today's scientists) because the Catholic Church has continued to strive for salvation, seek the divine, nurture modern saints, and also encourage scientific investigations. I don't feel the same disconnect he insists must occur. Dr. Weaver seems to be suggesting we should deny all of these theories and lines of inquiry.

On the other hand, he writes things like:

For, as the course goes on, the movement turns centrifugal; we rejoice in our abandon and are never so full of the sense of accomplishment as when we have struck some bulwark of our culture a deadly blow. (p. 10)

There are some people who seek nothing so much as to destroy all that has come before, with a complete assurance there is nothing worth saving. The debates we hear and see every day regarding "cancel culture" are evidence of Dr. Weaver's insight. I would argue his insistence that we keep every single part of the past, retaining and admiring all of it, is just as flawed as that of those we seek to destroy it all. The best path is probably a very messy discussion and compromise to end up somewhere in the middle.

Dr. Weaver seems to be against the idea of equality. 

Where men feel that society means station, the highest and the lowest see their endeavors contributing to a common end, and they are in harmony rather than in competition. It will be found as a general rule that those parts of the world which have talked least of equality have in the solid fact of their social life exhibited the greatest fraternity...Nothing is more manifest than that as this social distance has diminished and all groups have moved nearer equality, suspicion and hostility have increased. (p. 39)

This is a difficult paragraph for Americans to read, primed as we are to value equality above almost all else. He provides little actual evidence for this assertion, and I'm not sure I believe him. Not that I believe we have an equal society. (See my post on The Tyranny of Merit and read that book for an excellent discussion of equality in America.) He extends this idea of equality later to include gender equality in addition to social equality. His ideas about the role of women were just as frustrating.

In chapter two, Distinction and Hierarchy, Dr. Weaver writes:

But all hinges on the interpretation of needs; if the primary need of man is to perfect his spiritual being and prepare for immortality, then education of the mind and the passions will take precedence over all else. The growth of materialism, however, has made this a consideration remote and even incomprehensible to the majority. Those who maintain that education should prepare one for living successfully in this world have won a practically complete victory. (p. 45)

Here I think he's identified a problem and its source perfectly. Remember, Dr. Weaver's definition of "materialism" isn't just about buying and surrounding ourselves with lots of stuff. Nearly everyone will argue against that as a goal. Instead, he's talking about aligning our lives as if only what we see and feel in the material world is relevant. If we lose a belief in an eternal world and our potential participation in it, there's no reason to focus on anything other than a job, having enough food, and a comfortable life, even if we don't anticipate a luxurious one. Our educational goals, therefore, would adjust to ones that are centered around preparing for a career with adequate or ample compensation. It's almost impossible to blend these disparate views of education.

The chapter called The Great Steriopticon is one of the most baffling. He has some great insights:

In summary, the plea that the press, motion picture, and radio justify themselves by keeping people well informed turns out to be misleading. If one thinks merely of facts and of vivid sensations, the claim has some foundation, but if he thinks of encouragement to meditation, the contrary rather is true. For by keeping the time element continuously present--and one may recall Henry James's description of journalism as criticism of the moment at the moment--they discourage composition and so promote the fragmentation already reviewed. (p. 100)

Note, Dr. Weaver is not talking about meditation as a practice of mindfulness (I sense he'd shudder at the thought), but of a thoughtfulness, a serious consideration of whether what was read or heard was true. Just imagine if he were around today to comment on the proliferation of instant news and social media! 

On the other hand, his solutions to the problem of news filtered by a few media sources is to suggest the elimination of the free press and limiting the literacy rate. He seems to believe that, because children who learn to read often grow into adults who choose their reading material poorly, we should somehow choose who is to learn to read and who should not. Though he doesn't touch on how we should separate the masses from the chosen, it doesn't take much thought to conclude many of those not chosen would be non-white and poor. To be honest, I can't even contemplate limiting free press or access to literacy as possible solutions. They feel much more dangerous than filtered news.

You may sense that I was swaying constantly between disagreeing with Dr. Weaver and agreeing with him. In the end, I feel conflicted by the book. I think there were a lot of statements that have proven prescient, predicting very well the modern world we live in today, but there were also a lot of chapters that careened too far, ending in bitterness and an undue preference for the old simply because it is old (think Mozart; Beethoven was the beginning of the end). As I said above, the Truth is probably somewhere in the middle, and discovering it requires a more nuanced conversation than Dr. Weaver appears to provide in this book.

The foreword by Roger Kimball ends by claiming:

Weaver's work is a heady, sometimes an impossible stew. But it is one from which we can learn  "something of how to live" or (what is almost the same thing) something of how not to. (p. xvii)

I can agree with that. 

By finishing this book, I read from front to back two of the three books I received for Christmas. The final book, The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor, is probably one I shouldn't read cover to cover straight through, for the benefit of my mental health. I have, however, signed up for a book club based on her stories, so the book won't sit sadly on my shelf.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. I received this book as a gift. Links to Bookshop are affiliate links.

American History through Picture Books Over the Years

Like many homeschooling families, we love picture books. So while the requirements for history at the kindergarten level are limited (as in, you really don't need to do anything at all), we have always read picture books either on their own, or in combination with other readings.

For First Son, I put together all of American History in picture books over the course of a single year. For First Daughter, we focused more selectively on the same decades her big brother was studying. Each year, the list changes slightly, adapting to the kids and my goals for the year.

This post is going to pull together the American History through Picture Books posts I've made in the past. If I ever have time to write posts for the others years, I'll come back and add to this list. My guess is that your local library is going to have plenty of these books on hand as well as many wonderful news ones you might find as you search for these.

As a reminder, I am an affiliate with both Bookshop and Amazon. Links to those sites may generate income for me at no additional cost to you.

2009-2010 (First Son in Kindergarten)

Overall Plan

North America before 1600

Colonial America through the Revolutionary War

Exploration, Expansion, and the Civil War

Reconstruction, Urbanization, and Industrialization (1865-1889)

The Progressive Era (1890-1913)

World War I and the Jazz Age (1914-1928) 

The Great Depression

Everything after the Great Depression

2012-2013 (First Daughter in Kindergarten)

Slavery and the Civil War

Progressive Era and Immigration

World War I, Women's Suffrage, and the 1920s

The Great Depression and World War II

Civil Rights, Hawai'i, Alaska, and Space Exploration

Additional Books

The Mayflower (1620)

Follow Me Down to Nicodemus Town (1870s)

The Hundred-Year Barn (1919-2019)

Home in the Woods (1930s / Great Depression)

How to Live as an American: Strangers in a Strange Land

Strangers in a Strange Land: Living the Catholic Faith in a Post-Christian World

by Charles J. Chaput

Charles Chaput, Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia, writes eloquently and clearly about how Catholics are called to live in the world as the light of the world.

This book was recommended in the Mater Amabilis™ high school Facebook group as a good addition to a high school American government class. I intend to assign it in the senior year. It doesn't cover the machinery of American government. Instead, it explores what it means to remain firm in the faith as an American today and how that faith directs our actions, not just in the voting booth but every day.

Early in the book, Archbishop Chaput briefly outlines the development of democratic government in the American colonies, showing how the leaders drew on the historical Christianity of Western civilization.

Christianity is a restless faith. It points us beyond this life, but also seeks to remake the world in holiness. Christians honor the past as part of salvation history. The past sets the stage for our own small parts in God's story. But the Gospel can't be satisfied with the world as it was, or is. Rather, the disciple serves God in "renewing the face of the earth."

In contemporary American politics, this goal to "remake the world" is separated from the historical frame of "holiness." It has transformed into political movements sustained by "almost 'religious' zeal. In my own life, I've seen people who abandon the faith, but then embrace this kind of zeal for issues like the environment.

Our laws and courtrooms declare people are equal even though we are obviously not equal by any measurement we have. And those inequalities are sustained by the lives we lead - the education we receive, the illnesses we suffer. So how are we equal? It's an ideal of equality that grew naturally from our Christian heritage but it now fraught with difficulty when separated from the God of creation.

Only God's love guarantees our worth. And therein lies our real equality. In him, our inequalities become not cruelties of fate, but openings that lead us to love, support, and "complete" each other in his name. 

Archbishop Chaput never insinuates we should be anything but beacons of truth when confronted by a society that is blurring the lines of gender, sexuality, or marriage, but he insists we must always speak out of love.

[T]he most powerful kind of witness...grows naturally out of the lives of ordinary people--parents and spouses and friends; people confident in the love that God bears for them and eager to share it with others; people who know the world not as a collection of confused facts but as a symphony of beauty, truth, and meaning.

He emphasizes that we cannot stand on the periphery and complain about everything we see around us. We cannot withdraw from the culture and hide in an enclave. Our beliefs, our actions, our love must directly impact the society of which we are a part.

But the fact remains that "the culture" is little more than the sum of the choices, habits, and dispositions of the people who live in a particular place at a particular time. We can't simply blame "the culture." We are the culture.

His advice does not translate into a specific formula or easy answers; we must immerse ourselves in the liturgy and tradition of our Catholic faith and translate that into a life of joyful sacrifice. We must show Christ's love for the world through our words and our actions, but the particular words and actions of our lives are a matter of individual discernment.

Knowing "about" Jesus Christ is not enough. We need to engage him with our whole lives. That means cleaning out the garbage of noise and distraction from our homes. It means building real Christian friendships. It means cultivating oases of silence, worship, and prayer in our lives. It means having more children and raising them in the love of the Lord. It means fighting death and fear with joy and life, one family at a time, with families sustaining one another against the temptations of weariness and resentment.

I have received nothing in exchange for this honest post. Links to Amazon are affiliate links. Kansas Dad requested this book through inter-library loan for me.

Lead Us Out: The World Beyond Your Head

The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction

by Matthew B. Crawford

Dr. Crawford is the author of Shop Class as Soulcraft, a book well worth your time. Kansas Dad picked The World Beyond Your Head for one of his classes last year. He encouraged me to read it, knowing I would find in it an essential argument for the kind of life we are trying to provide for our children.

This book will require a higher level of concentration than many popular philosophical books. The author claims it was written at a level understandable by anyone with a high school education, which while probably true, would require that person be quite interested and willing to focus. My husband assigned this to one of his recent honors classes and, as far as he could tell, none of the college students made it through the book. That's a shame because it's worth the effort.

Dr. Crawford begins with attention and the myriad ways our society and culture purposefully and insidiously weaken our ability to focus and think.

As atomized individuals called to create meaning for ourselves, we find ourselves the recipients of all manner of solicitude and guidance. We are offered forms of unfreedom that come slyly wrapped in autonomy talk: NO LIMITS!, as the credit card offer says. YOU'RE IN CHARGE. [...]

The image of human excellence I would like to offer as a counterweight to freedom thus understood is that of a powerful independent mind working at full song. Such independence is won through disciplined attention, in the kind of action that joins us to the world. And--this is important--it is precisely those constraining circumstances that provide the discipline. 

His critiques of modern culture are brutal and startling.

Few institutions or sites of moral authority were left untouched by the left's critiques. Parents, teachers, priests, elected officials--there was little that seemed defensible. Looking around in stunned silence, left and right eventually discovered common ground: a neoliberal consensus in which we have agreed to let the market quietly work its solvent action on all impediments to the natural chooser within.

Essentially, corporations and marketers shape everything in our culture. The government is not permitted to write laws "limiting" the choices of consumers. We are led to believe we have complete freedom, but in reality, the corporate world employs every psychological and legal tactic to shape our every decision, creating the perception of wants only they can fulfill.

The creeping saturation of life by hyperpalatable stimuli remains beneath the threshold of concern if we repeat often enough the mantra that "government interference" is bad for "the economy."

His writing on gambling, especially the manipulations of slot machines, is even more distressing than the story in The Power of Habit.

If we have no robust and demanding picture of what a good life would look like, then we are unable to articulate any detailed criticism of the particular sort of falling away from a good life that something like machine gambling represents.

The games marketed to children on various devices employ the same tactics as slot gaming. Providing a "picture of what a good life would look like" is an indispensable aspect of our homeschool.

Like many others, Dr. Crawford tries to seek the benefits of a life of faith without actual faith in God. We can hope this sort of questioning might lead some to truly encounter Christ.

In the epilogue, he writes:

The problem we began with a few hundred pages ago was that of distraction, which is usually discussed as a problem of technology. I suggested we view the problem as more fundamentally one of political economy: in a culture saturated with technologies for appropriating our attention, our interior mental lives are laid bare as a resource to be harvested by others. Viewing it this way shifts our gaze from the technology itself to the intention that guides its design and its dissemination into every area of life.

By the end of the book, he's exploring ways to counter this cultural tendency, not just by turning off a phone but by interacting directly and meaningfully with the physical world and the people who live in it. As we develop skills manipulating the physical world, we enrich our lives and our relationships.

I would love to assign this book to my high school students, but it would probably not interest them enough to draw our the required focus. I recommend it highly to just about everyone.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post, which is entirely my own opinion. Kansas Dad bought this book for his class. Links to Amazon are affiliate links.

Shaping Our World for Relationships: The Blue Zones of Happiness

The Blue Zones of Happiness: Lessons from the World's Happiest People

by Dan Buettner

Mater Amabilis™families may recognize the author; he's the same one who wrote Sovietrek and Africatrek. We never read Africatrek, but loved Sovietrek. Apparently the kind of man who spends months biking across continents is the kind of man who devotes his later life to exploring what kind of behavior is correlated with happiness.

In the very beginning of this book is a little survey the reader can take to assess their current level of "happiness." Just for fun, I jotted down my answers and scored them only to find I was practically off the chart for happiness in just about everything. Financially, I didn't score as high because Kansas Dad and I have deliberately chosen a lifestyle that allows us to focus on non-financial aspects of well-being. (I also scored a little low on having a goal to work toward, but as Kansas Dad said, if you're goal is just to read a book while drinking tea...there's not a lot of work and planning to put into that.)

The point, though, is that Kansas Dad and I have thought a lot about what makes us happy: faith, family, relationships. Then we shaped our life around those. Mr. Buettner's book identifies many of those same features.

The most interesting parts of this book for me were the ones that concentrated on how communities can choose to shape their laws and ordinances to make it easier for people to choose the kinds of activities that contribute to better health, better relationships, and general well-being. Most cities and towns in America do not consider "happiness" of their residents when developing their communities; they often focus on creating jobs (which are necessary but not sufficient) and economic development (also necessary but often at levels far below what people might expect).

As former French president Nicolas Sarkozy said in 2009, there has been a troubling disconnect in recent years between what government statistics are saying about the economy and what most people are feeling. While production and profits may be rising, people may not be feeling any better about their lives.

In the book, Mr. Buettner focuses on three countries in particular: Costa Rica, Denmark, and Singapore. Though he admits none of them would translate exactly into laws that would work in the United States, it's interesting to see how three different countries have developed different but equally successful ways to help their citizens flourish.

If the world you wake up to every day were designed to support healthier choices, you wouldn't need that extra oomph of willpower. if your grocery store featured the finest produce, if your friends dropped by every afternoon to take a walk together, if your neighborhood had easy-access sidewalks and bike lanes, if your workplace were a mile away from home, think how much easier it would be to make the choices I've outlined in this book that we all know lead to greater well-being!

Each chapter includes some focused ideas for the reader to consider applying to his or her own life. As I mentioned above, most of these are things we are already doing. One change I am considering is planting a small garden with the children this spring. Kansas Dad is the gardener around here; I much prefer to read about gardening. Or, even better, to just sit at a window overlooking a garden while reading Jane Austen. But growing things and especially food would be such a great complement to our homeschool and would augment much of what we're already doing...it seems like something that might be worth the effort.

The book also reminded me that negative interactions are remembered at a much greater rate than positive ones, something I lead in many parenting books over the years.

Offer at least three positive comments to each of your friends and loved ones, on average, for every negative.

Because we homeschool, my children do not have others interacting with them all day every day. They also have to listen to me correct them as their only teacher. As gentle as I try to be, I need to remember to also point out to them what they are doing well and when they are helping to cultivate a culture of love and kindness in our home.

One thing we won't be doing is following the 50-20-30 rule for our finances. It's not that I disagree with spending 20% of our income on financial stability and 30% on personal spending (shopping, entertainment, etc.). The problem, and one that probably affects lots of other people, is that we need more than 50% of our income to cover our essential living expenses (housing, health care, groceries, car payments, and utility bills). We could alter our percentages by changing Kansas Dad's job or sending me back into the workforce. Every now and then we talk about our options, but in the end we've always decided to continue our focus on family and relationships. We're willing to sacrifice these financial aspects to focus on what we think will make us happiest.

Another aspect I think Mr. Buettner doesn't really understand is the role of faith and children. The book encourages regular attendance and involvement in a faith community, but it doesn't seem to matter which one. Of course, we believe there is a difference and that following the truth of the Catholic Church (despite its current struggles) is better than other choices.

As for children, Mr. Buettner points out that they cause a decrease in happiness as long as they are dependents. I suppose that's true if you focus on the stress of raising children and perhaps our day-to-day struggles do cause less superficial happiness, but we believe children are a great blessing and give our lives meaning that would otherwise be more difficult to discern. I think this partly depends, too, on the support we have in raising children. Because we are relatively secure and supported by a loving family and parish, we experience less stress than others who may be worried about feeding their child.

Mr. Buettner's book seems to throw children in with other aspects of life like whether you can bike to work and eat healthy foods, but we would elevate them to another level. Children are not something you have to make you happier (now or in the future) nor are they something you should avoid because you think they will make you unhappy in the short term. All that being said, this view of children is probably outside the scope of Mr. Buettner's book, so I don't really blame him for this aspect of the book.

I received nothing in exchange for this review. I borrowed this book from the library. All opinions are my own. Links above to Amazon are affiliate links.

Saints to Read Aloud: Holy Friends

Holy Friends: Thirty Saints and Blesseds of the Americas

Written by Diana M. Amadeo

Illustrated by Irina Lombardo with Augusto Curreli

In the early grades, Mater Amabilis™ has lots of recommended books for saint studies. For first grade (Level 1B), they recommend Once Upon a Time Saints and More Once Upon a Time Saints. I wrote briefly about them after First Son's first grade year. After that, though, we started using them in our history studies so I have found other saint stories for first grade. Some people prefer to use alternate texts, too, because the stories aren't strictly biographical, instead including some inventive details.

First Daughter read Loyola Kids Book of Saints by Amy Welborn. We read it over two years. In kindergarten, I read aloud and she narrated. In first grade, she finished the book reading the stories independently before narrating them. I wrote about it here. Second Son might have been able to read the stories this year, but they were a little long overall and I wanted something that would last only one year.

Second Daughter read Saints Tell their Stories by Patricia Mitchell. I read the stories aloud and she narrated them. You can read about that book here.

Last year, in kindergarten, I read Saints and their Stories by Maria Loretta Giraldo to Second Son (which I wrote about here). These stories are longer than in the Mitchell book. Thinking long-term, the Mitchell book would work well in kindergarten and Saints and their Stories in first grade. Of course, as I'm writing this post in April 2018, Saints and their Stories is outrageously expensive at close to $50. So you shouldn't use it unless you or your library owns it. I was lucky enough to receive it as a review copy.

When I went looking through our first grade books, I decided to make another change. Instead of Saints Tell their Stories, which is lovely and would have worked perfectly, I decided to read Holy Friends. I bought this book used years and years ago when I cobbled together an American history study for First Son when he was in first or second grade. I just wanted a reason to read it aloud again.

In Holy Friends there are two and a half pages of text and a lovely full-page glossy illustration for each saint. There are thirty chapters, but actually more than thirty people because some chapters are about groups like the North American martyrs (St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, among others). With thirty chapters, it's easy to schedule off weeks for Advent and Holy Week and still finish in 36 weeks. Or, keep reading and finish early.

They are grouped by country and, of course, only include saints from North and South America. Many of the saints were missionaries from Europe, but a few were born in the Americas. The book was written in 2005, so some of those shown as blessed in the book are now saints.

• St. Marie of the Incarnation Guyard (Canada)
• St. Kateri Tekakwitha (Canada)
• St. Andre Bessette (Canada)
• St. Junipero Serra (US)
• St. Theodore Guerin (US)
• St. Damien Joseph de Veuster (US)

The saints are organized by country and include saints from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and the United States. I appreciated a book focused on the saints of the Americas because we were able to learn about a few that are less well-known as well as some with closer connections to us in the United States. There are marvelous examples of sacrificial love for the indigenous people of the Americas (like St. Peter Claver and St. Katharine Drexel) and saints and blesseds of non-European ancestry are included like St. Martin de Porres (Spanish father and indigenous mother) and St. Kateri Tekakwitha.

Second Son is an older first grader; he turned seven before the school year began. He may have been able to read the stories independently, but I preferred to read aloud to him to help with pronounciation and understanding.

Regardless of the saint book you choose, consider adding in a calendar exercise. Second Son loved finding the month and day of the feast day so he could mark our calendar. At first, it was just a scribble; by the end of the year he would usually write the saint's first name. When the feast day came around, even if we couldn't remember the saint (remember the scribbles?), I would let the kids have a piece of candy for dessert. This addition took only a few moments, but helped us easily incorporate months into our first grade year.

I purchased this book used years ago. The opinions here are my own. The links above to Amazon are affiliate links.

Homeschool Record: Our 2015-2016 Poetry

We read from a book of poetry about once a week just for beauty and enjoyment as part of our cultural studies loop.

Just for the blog record, here are the books of poetry we read during the 2015-2016 school year (6th grade, 3rd grade, 1st grade, pre-kindergarten).

The Dragons are Singing Tonight by Jack Prelutsky, pictures by Peter Sis - This is a whole book of poems in the voice of different dragons. Some are silly or clever. The children enjoyed them all. The illustrations were adequate for the poems, though I prefer other illustrators to Sis. (library copy)

The Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems edited by Donald Hall - This is a wonderful anthology covering nearly all of America's historical periods. The illustrations vary, matched with contemporary poems. (library copy)

Is It Far to Zanzibar? Poems about Tanzania  by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by Betsy Lewin - A delightful collection of poetry sharing life in the African country of Tanzania with wonderful illustrations.  This is a great book to include if you're Reading Around the World and want to cover Africa. (library copy)

Carnival of the Animals with new verses by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Mary GrandPre - We were revisiting poetry by Jack Prelutsky because my children enjoy his poems tremendously. This particular book is fun because it celebrates the Carnival of the Animals with new lyrics. It includes a CD of the music by Camille Saint-Saens. (library copy)

Earthshake: Poems from the Ground Up by Lisa Westberg Peters, pictures by Cathie Felstead - I loved this quirky book of geology poems, illustrated with bold colors and swirls. (library copy)

Goodnight Songs by Margaret Wise Brown is a book of twelve quiet poems illustrated by twelve different respected children's book illustrators like Jonathan Bean and Melissa Sweet. Tom Proutt and Emily Gary set each of the poems to music, available on the included CD. My children listened to the poems when I read them, enjoying the illustrations, but the younger ones loved the CD. They even asked me to add a couple of the songs to their playlist on Spotify. (library copy)

The Children's Own Longfellow, poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which I wrote about here. (library copy, but now we have our own copy from  PaperBackSwap.com)

America the Beautiful in the Words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - an older book with photographs of different American scenes to illustrated some of Longfellow's poetry. The kids were not as interested in this book. (library copy, one which they no longer have)


The Cuckoo's Haiku: and Other Birding Poems by Micheal J. Rosen, illustrated by Stan Fellows, provides about seven poems about different birds for each of the seasons. I am not a good judge of haiku, but the illustrations are lovely examples of nature study journals. I loved this book of poems. (library copy)

My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States collected by Lee Bennett Hopkins - We finished the year with this book as a complement to First Daughter's third grade state study. We didn't quite finish it and picked it back up in the fall. I like this collection of poems that highlights a few characteristics of the areas of the United States. We've checked it out from the library numerous times, but now we have our own copy thanks to PaperBackSwap.com.

Homeschool Record: Our 2016-2017 Poetry

In the past couple of years, we've started reading one poem a day, focusing on a particular poet for six weeks or so, depending on the book or books I choose to read. One poem each morning after our prayer - that's all.

Separate from this poet study, we read from a book of poetry about once a week just for beauty and enjoyment as part of our cultural studies loop.

Just for the blog record, here are the books of poetry we read during the 2016-2017 school year (7th grade, 4th grade, 2nd grade, kindergarten).

My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States collected by Lee Bennett Hopkins - We started this last year after First Daughter completed her third grade state study and finished the few left this year. I like this collection of poems that highlights a few characteristics of the areas of the United States. We've checked it out from the library numerous times, but now we have our own copy thanks to PaperBackSwap.com.

The Glorious Mother Goose selected by Cooper Edens - Second Son needed a dose of Mother Goose and this one was on our shelves. I happen to enjoy the illustrations in this book.

Over the Hills and Far Away: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes collected by Elizabeth Hammill - This book included a few of the traditional nursery rhymes we know from England and America with lots of variations and additions from cultures all over the world, gorgeously illustrated. (library copy)

Forest Has a Song by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is a book of poems focused on being outside, perfect for the family needing some nature study encouragement. The watercolor illustrations are fun and vibrant, too. (library copy)

Classic Poetry: An Illustrated Collection selected by Michael Rosen has a carefully selected collection of two or three poems by prominent poets in roughly chronological order, but I was disappointed at the times only a portion of a poem was included without any indication that it was just a portion. I don't mind excerpts of poetry for younger audiences; I just like to know.  There was a nice sentence of two to introduce each poet. We didn't finish by the end of the year, so we started with this book in the fall of 2017. (There's a newer version available, but we read the old one from our library.)

What Not to Do: Ten Ways to Destroy to Destory the Imagination of Your Child

Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child

by Anthony Esolen

This book is satire. Mr. Esolen, of course, does not want you to destroy the imagination of your child. He writes from the viewpoint of the mass market machine, the ones who are more interested in how much a person buys rather than who a person is. Sometimes I find satire entertaining, but more often I struggle with it. Whether it's truly the author's belief, or just a byproduct of the tone of the book, the text seems overly critical of the people involved in public education in our country. While I may not agree with all of the education decisions by politicians, superintendents, principals, and teachers, I think most of them (especially the teachers) are struggling every day to find the right way to guide students to productive, happy adulthoods. (I heard the author speak at an event earlier this year and thought he was just as dismissive of public education in his speech as he is in the book. Judging by the reactions of the other attendees, I am the only person who felt like he goes a bit too far.)

There's one chapter for each method, though many of the concepts flow or overlap from one to the next. The ten methods (in a cursory sense) are

• keep them inside,
• don't give them time alone,
• don't let them interact with real people doing real work,
• teach them to disparage fairy tales,
• teach them to scorn heroes (spread over two methods),
• limit love to physical acts,
• disregard differences between men and women,
• entertain children to distraction, and
• refuse to acknowledge the idea of God or something higher than mankind.

Dr. Esolen's statements follow much of Charlotte Mason's beliefs, but are written in a dramatic sense for the modern reader. This book could be the impetus to delve deeper into a life of thought or affirmation of the struggle of a parent to fight against the contemporary forces of consumerism and high intensity parenting.

If we loved children, we would have a few. If we had them, we would want them as children, and would love the wonder with which they behold the world, and would hope that some of it might open our own eyes a little. We would love their games, and would want to play them once in a while, stirring in ourselves those memories of play that no one regrets, and that are almost the only things an old man can look back on with complete satisfaction. We would want children tagging along after us, or if not, then only because we would understand that they had better things to do.

I copied quotes from every chapter into my commonplace book, but I'll try to be more restrained on the blog. Charlotte Mason proposes we provide a feast of ideas for children, a large variety of subjects in small bits over many years with concentrated attention and narration to establish those ideas within the mind. Dr. Esolen considers how that kind of education can be valuable despite the technology which allows immediate access to a wide variety of information.

[A] developed memory is a wondrous and terrible storehouse of things seen and heard and done. It can do what no mere search engine on the internet can do. It can call up apparently unrelated things at once, molding them into a whole impression, or a new thought.

The first few methods concentrate on time spent in the natural world, particularly unscheduled time, time to sit and ponder, gaze and wonder.

We might think an ordinary flower just that; but to the mind made attentive to the works of nature, the most ordinary things are steeped in their own peculiar ways of being, and are mysterious.

The regular nature walk addresses some of this need, by providing a scheduled time for a child to focus his or her attention on a small piece of the natural world, but Dr. Esolen is advocating more than a weekly nature walk. He's talking about time for a child to wander and roam.

It seemed like a few of the methods involved teaching children to disdain the innocent, child-like (even if not childish), virtuous, or heroic stories, fictional and factual.

Fairy tales and folk tales are for children and childlike people, not because they are little and inconsequential, but because they are as enormous as life itself.

Tending the Heart of Virtue and The Mysteries of Life in Children's Literature address these issues quite well.

The really effective killer of the moral imagination, though, will want to raise children who snicker at anyone who possesses a remarkable virtue.

If we laugh at those who strive to do what is right in story and history, we see ourselves as superior. Virtue becomes something to avoid. It is better to be smart than wise, self-confident than humble, powerful than kind.

They will have nothing to be proud of, yet will scoff at humility. They will fancy themselves important, and will be slaves to the contemptuous marketers of the day. They will string after their names the letters of degrees from institutions of higher learning, and will not be able to read Milton--or be willing to read Milton. They will be aspiring, breathlessly, for prestige, a promotion, a nicer house, the office of lieutenant governor--but will have no hero to love, no hero's mentality to serve.

Whether modern American society is purposely shaped by political or corporate forces with the intention to destroy imagination in children and shape them into mere consumers of the next big, bright, shiny, expensive toy or experience, Dr. Esolen makes a strong case that these forces are present and they may prevent children from living a life beyond the next paycheck or vacation.

Our lifestyle here on the Range (homeschooling with living books, camping for family vacations, regular family meals together, living our Catholic faith) counters the kinds of forces Dr. Esolen outlines in this book. Though these choices may seem counter-cultural within the greater American society, they feel natural to me. It's much more difficult for me to imagine a way to expand our influence to the greater society, and this particular book doesn't provide specifics on ways people can influence the larger community to enact changes against the ten methods Dr. Esolen has identified.

I received a electronic version of this book free from the publisher. I recently saw a similar deal on facebook and an online search found lots of sites where you can download a e-book file (which you can then transfer to an e-reader) or a PDF you can read on your computer. It's a bit ironic given a mournful lament about the death of so many paper books in one of the chapters, but I appreciated being able to read this book without purchasing a copy.

The italic print: Links to Amazon are affiliate links. As an affiliate with Amazon, I receive a small commission if you follow one of my links, add something to your cart, and complete the purchase (in that order). Every little bit helps - thanks!