In 10th grade, we shift our focus from more recent US history (1700-present) back to earlier world history. We'll use Church History in Plain Language as our major source, and add various real books appropriate for each historical period. Here are the real books and the approximate historical periods they cover:

Apostle, a Life of Paul by John Pollock - 1st century

Augustine of Hippo by Peter Brown - 300-400AD

Confessions by St. Augustine - 300-400AD

St. Francis by G. K. Chesterton - 1100AD

St. Thomas by G. K. Chesterton - 1200AD

Inferno by Dante 1300 AD

And reading throughout: History of Art for Young People

Other subjects:
Saxon Advanced Mathematics (pre-calculus)

Bob Jones Geography

Abeka Economics: Work and Prosperity

and rounding the education out with choir, piano, and a couple hours a day taking care of young baby brother.

The Association of Classical Christian Schools annual conference was a wonderful feast of insight and wisdom. The conference fulfilled its theme of "Truth, Goodness, and Beauty". As homeschoolers, attending this conference aimed at private school teachers was a good sanity check of our methods and ideals. By and large, our family's approach was confirmed. As with any great conference, a few ideas emerged which we will adopt. Here are several conclusions and ideas I took away from the conference.

1) Confirmed our focus on "readin', ritin', and 'rithmetic". Amid all the talk of Aristotle, Cicero, Epistemology, and the like, the bottom line remains that kids need to read good books, write about what they read, and do math consistently. The Schlect session on the survey results confirmed this.

2) Our family needs to spend more time reading together and discussing what we read. I want to spend about 2 hours together each Wednesday and Friday morning. Start with singing a hymn, then read a poem. The five of us older ones can take turns selecting and reading a favorite poem. It will be clunky and weird at first, but overtime should become beautiful. Then we'll read about 45 minutes in an elementary/middle school level book and then 45 minutes in a high school/adult level book. The books should be of opposite types. For example, if the elementary book is non-fiction narrative, then the adult book should be fiction/literature. Spend about 2-3 weeks on a book. If it's compelling stay with it. If not, drop it and start another. The older kids could be assigned further independent reading/writing in the more difficult books. I don't want to be afraid to start Augustine's City of God just because it's 1200 page and would take 18 months to read. We can read it a couple weeks and move on.

3) Just as Truth, Goodness, and Beauty are used to describe the nature of God, so the triad of Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom describe the nature of true education and maturity. Wisdom is the goal, built on a solid foundation of true knowledge and understanding how that knowledge (facts) relates to reality. I've always considered the goal of education to be wisdom. But I see now, it's actually more. The goal is not wisdom, but to love wisdom. The difference is substantial. A wise student may wither and over time lose their wisdom. But a lover of wisdom will pursue it relentlessly. A lover of wisdom is a self-learner, able to resist distraction and deception.

The ancients had it right after all. "Philosophy" is literally the "love of wisdom". So we must all be philosophers.

Ongoing journal of thoughts and decisions "real time" as our 9th grade homeschool plan is developed and implemented

August 2008 - 9th grade wrap-up
Grace finished the major sections of Democracy in America in May.  Summer has been a light dose of Saxon Algebra 2 - only about a lesson a week.  She has less than 10 lessons left to finish it and then on the Saxon Advanced to start 10th grade.  She's continuing working through Bob Jones Geography.  We'll keep that up into 10th grade, rotating with other subjects as we did in 9th.
This summer our girls we're involved in Austin Christian Theatre's production of "Circle of Heaven".  They loved it immensely.  That's wrapped up now and they're spending time on sewing projects and will attend a week long choir camp later in August.  They also did several longer term projects before the production rehearsals got busy - scrapbooks, photo albums, and other sewing. 
A well-rounded summer for the whole family.

April 11, 2008 - Essays and Poetry
Following The Wealth of Nations, Grace read The Law.  This was during the Presidential primary campaign here in Texas so very relevant to all the promises being made by the statists running for office.  Here's one of the essays. 
She's now in the middle of Democracy in America and has written several essays on her weekly readings.  Here's the first essay.

Grace has posted a recent sonnet on her blog.  This was an assignment from her work in the poetry survey Roar on the Other Side.

April 9, 2008 - Consumer Math
Grace is at lesson 105 in Saxon Algebra 2.  We'll switch back to Abeka Consumer Math for 2 or 3 weeks.  This is simple math compared to the algebra she's been doing.  So she's covering 2 sections a day and working 25% of the exercises in the 2 sections.  Picking up Consumer Math at Unit 6 and expect to complete Units 6, 7, and 8 in about 3 weeks.

Click to see prior entries:
January 25, 2008 - Wealth of Nations; Time Travel
November 20, 2007 - Latest Essay
November 7, 2007 - Symposium adjustment
October 8, 2007 - Sample Essay
September 19, 2007 - Booklist and Skill subjects
September 12, 2007 - Symposium progress report
September 11, 2007 - What to expect from a teenager
September 5, 2007 - Symposium 
August 29, 2007 - History planning

The Visionary Father’s Role in Home Education

Here's an excerpt from a recent Vision Forum email about the CD:

"The Visionary Father’s Role in Home Education tackles these questions and more by laying out seven fundamentals of biblical fatherhood applied to home education: The duty of fathers to lead with love by casting vision; providing distinctively biblical discipleship; spiritually defending the realm of the Christian household from external danger; overseeing the “big picture” direction for household management; enforcing discipline; serving as the resident historian; and leading in family worship."

More on the CD

(This article featured in Carnival of Homeschooling for week of July 28, 2008)

Several of the ACCS Conference speakers remarked that their greatest joy is in seeing some of their former students return to their schools - as teachers.  The movement is maturing and the second generation is emerging.  Teachers who early on were not sure they were making an impact are thrilled to see that many of their students did actually learn and mature and now are returning to teach or to enroll their own children in the school.

Most educators would agree that great education begins with great teachers.  If the teacher has taught well, the students are transformed into great people, well rounded and mature.  Mature, whole people are also able to lead and teach others.  They may not have the gift or desire to teach in a classroom setting, but surely their wisdom and sound living is contagious.  Having been well trained in rhetoric, they're able to impact the lives of others in their speech and their actions confirm their spoken word.

Success for the classical schooling method would mean that most of the graduates are wonderful, well rounded, articulate folks.  Mature, godly, biblically-minded students marry and presumably will follow the wise biblical instruction to multiply greatly.  Their families will have 5, 6, maybe even 10 children.  How will these children be educated?

The parents, successful graduates of a classical school, could send them all to the classical school.  However, financial costs of between $5,000 and $10,000 yearly, per student, make this impossible for all but the very wealthy.  Since the parents are themselves well rounded, intelligent, articulate, mature adults, they could join the faculty of the classical school.  Most schools permit the children of faculty to attend for free.  So the father could teach at the school, to solve the financial problem for the large family.

My guess is that the optimum class size for a teacher/classroom setting is under 10 students.  Many of the elite private schools boast class sizes under 10 and student:teacher ratio of 5 to 7 (see footnote).  So in the optimum classical school, great teachers teach classes of about 5 to 10 students - let's say 8 for this scenario.  So when the classically trained parents return to the faculty of the school, as the only way they can afford classical education for their large family, they find themselves teaching 8 children from other families.  Their children are in turn in classes of 8, taught by other parents, presumably classically trained, presumably with a large family they can't otherwise afford to enroll in the school.  Since the teachers are all intelligent, mature folks, I imagine that about 3 weeks into the school year, while standing around the water cooler after lunch, the conversation goes something like this:

Ted: "Hey Mike, you have my Carl and Cindy in your class - how's it going?"

Mike: "Great, they're a real joy, and you have my Wendy and Sam in yours.  Are they staying out of trouble?"

Ted: "Oh, we're having a ball, drop by anytime.  And Bill, how's my Catherine doing in 4th grade."

Bill: "Excellent, her project for the Science Fair is coming together nicely.  Take care of my Sally, tell her Hi for me."

Ted: "Uhh, yeah, I... I will..   Hey, wait a minute - Mike, you have my Carl and Cindy and I have two of yours.  Bill, you have my Catherine, and I have your Sally.  Joe has my middle schoolers...  and, and... Jeff has my older ones.. and, and.."

Mike:  "Ted, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Ted: "I think so - why not get my kids in my class and you take your kids to your class?  Why should I have you keep tabs on my kids when they're just down the hall, and I'm keeping up with your kids?  Makes perfect sense!"

Bill: "But guys, remember we all have our areas of expertise and are not able to teach all these other areas."

Ted: "Wait Bill, I went to a great school and got a complete education, well rounded in all the liberal arts, including math and science.  Didn't you?  Didn't the administrator require us all to demonstrate mastery in all the basic fields of study before we were hired?"

Bill: "Well, that's right, so really I know art well enough to teach it, and I can teach reading and math.  I learned to love history and poetry from my classical education.  I can teach more than just my science class..."

Mike: "But Ted, But what about age differences?  Can the high schoolers really learn with the younger kids?  How can we mix all the ages in a single classroom - it wouldn't work."

Ted: "What if we had our kids all day, not just for a 1 hour class.  We could start the older ones on some reading and math they could do on their own.  Then we could attend to the younger ones.  Let's face it, the little ones really don't need 8 hours of continuous classroom time.... Later we could get back with the older ones to discuss what they read and give them some direction in their writing projects."

Bill: "But what chaos that would be in a single school room!  What you'd need is a couple rooms where the kids could get alone when they needed to concentrate, and some place for the kids to spend their time between subjects - maybe a music room to practice piano or a basketball hoop outside where they could get some exercise while they took a break.  But that's crazy - no school has the budget to provide all those facilities for each teacher.  I mean, it sounds like we're describing somebody's home...."

Ted, Bill, Mike (in unison):  "...EXACTLY!!!"

So Ted, Bill, and Mike withdrew their kids from the school at the Christmas break and resigned from the school staff.  Each day at home they taught their own 8 kids whom they knew and loved, ate lunch with them, played with them, prayed with  them.  The dads started businesses with their kids help.  In short they lived together, learned together, loved together as the family they were intended to be.  Ted's, Bill's, and Mike's families worshipped together at the same church, their kids played on the same sports teams and the older ones enjoyed helping each other at the annual homeschool science fair.

Now, this is what will happen if the classical school movement is successful.  What would prevent it?

-Graduates are not qualified to teach their own kids.  Possible, but this would be a failure of the school, whose goal is to produce just these types of graduates.

-Graduates do not have large families. They have 2 or 3 kids so can afford to send them to the school and work elsewhere.  Possible, but this is a failure to be faithful to the biblical instructions to multiply greatly.

-Graduates are very wealthy and can afford $50,000-100,000 a year tuition.  Possible, but then parents don't need to work outside the home at all.  They can live modestly off of the money they would have spent on tuition.  Wise, mature parents would have saved this money while the children were pre-school age then be able to live on it indefinitely.  If they can't do this, then they aren't mature, selfless Christians - which again they would be if the classical school movement succeeds.

In conclusion, I support the classical Christian schools and wish them complete success.  I suspect there will always be a need for these schools.  However, their students should be first generation classical schoolers.  In this case, the parents may not have had a wonderful education.  They may want their kids to have a glorious education so that they in turn could homeschool their kids.  So the movement remains necessary as a transitional, remedial work.  But the real endgame - given 5 or 6 generations of faithfulness by the churches and by the schools, would be that the need for the schools ends and all live happily ever after, learning in their homes, with their parents.

Footnote: A search of private schools at http://www.petersons.com/pschools/code/psector.asp, using the term "student-teacher ratio".  Results show school profiles listing student-teacher ratios in the range mentioned.

Many of the men in our church have embarked on a study of marriage. The goal is to eventually determine a framework for the biblical process whereby the unmarried become married. Various terms for this are courtship, betrothal, or engagement. We are studying the Scripture with a desire to limit extra-biblical influences. All of us have opinions and cultural backgrounds. We aren't necessarily rejecting these, but trying to find the scriptural principles. We hope to apply these in wisdom so that each of our children begin their married lives with the Lord's richest blessing.

Here are my summary notes on purpose. Several of us searched the scripture independently, then we discussed our findings on a Sunday afternoon. Here's the summary of what I took away from our meeting.

Purpose for Marriage

God initially created Adam/Man as a single person. The Man was single – he was alone. Man was good, but his aloneness was not good. God then intentionally took the Woman out of the Man. Marriage is the action by which two alone people join together in a holy companionship that is so complete and so deep that the two become a single flesh.

The separation of the woman from man and their rejoining in marriage is not an after thought by God. It is His intentional action to show His glory in a unique way. The mystery of marriage whereby two become one gives insight into the nature of Christ’s relationship to His church. It may also reveal some of the mystery of the Trinity, where 3 distinct Persons are so profoundly united that Theirs is a single Essence and Nature. It allows for the deepest possible human love in a companionship where man and woman are thrilled with one another.

As two become one flesh, fruitfulness is the natural result. Children come into the family, surrounded by the love present in the thrilling companionship of father and mother. Together the family subdues and rules the earth. The man provides for and protects his wife and family. The woman is his helper, bearing children, tending the home. In a home of purpose, work, love, and joy, children thrive and mature to follow their parent’s calling, expand the work of God, and surpass the parent’s righteousness.

Scriptures on the purpose of marriage, supporting this summary:

· Companionship, helper for man Gen 2:18-23, Mal 2:14-16
· Male/Female distinct, yet united portray God’s image (Gen 1:26-28)
(Gen 2: 22-24) Women from man (distinct), so must re-unite w/ Man as one flesh for completion, fruitfulness
· Fruitfulness, godly offspring taking dominion Gen 1:26-28,Lev 21:13-15, Jer 29:6, Mal 2:14-16
· Happiness of bride Deu 24:5, Song of Solomon
· Happiness of husband Prov 5:18, Song of Solomon 4:9-10
· Husband’s crown, Lord’s favor; Husband receives God’s blessing in his wife
Prov 12:4, Prov 18:22
· Prophetic message to God’s people Hosea 1:2
· To meet need of a non-eunuch Matt 19:3-12, even one w/ impeccable self-control?
· To avoid sexual immorality 1 Cor 7:2-9
· To satisfy a man’s longing for a beautiful woman - Deut 21:10-14
· Authority, legal protection for wife. Numbers 30
· Place of rest (comfort, stability, protection) for the wife - Ruth 1:8-9
· Displays Christ/Church relationship Rev 19:6-9

Remarriage purpose
· To “establish a name” for a deceased husband Deu 25:5-7, Ruth 4:10, Matt 22:24-33, Luke 20:28-34
· David/Abigail – reason unclear, merely David taking opportunity to marry a godly woman? David feels responsible for her after she’s widowed? 1Sam 25:32-42
· Resolve woman’s sensual desires - marry; bear children; keep house 1 Tim 5:11-14

Each Christian family must have a routine time of focusing on the scripture and praying for one another.  Here's what has worked well for us...

2Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

2Timothy 1:9-10 [God] has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,

Has God's light shined in your heart? Jonathan Edwards gives the best description I've seen of the effects of that light. Test your heart and see if you are in the faith. I lived many years acknowledging that Jesus was Lord and agreeing with church creeds, but this sense of pleasure and delight in the excellency of God did not occur until much later. This is the heart-sense we need to unveil before our children. And we must pray for God's light, it is a gift we cannot strive toward.

from A Divine and Supernatural Light by Jonathan Edwards

[The] spiritual and divine light ... may be thus described: A true sense of the divine excellency of the things revealed in the word of God, and a conviction of the truth and reality of them thence arising. This spiritual light primarily consists in the former of these, viz. a real sense and apprehension of the divine excellency of things revealed in the word of God. A spiritual and saving conviction of the truth and reality of these things, arises from such a sight of their divine excellency and glory; so that this conviction of their truth is an effect and natural consequence of this sight of their divine glory. There is therefore in the spiritual light,

1. A true sense of the divine and superlative excellency of the things of religion; a real sense of the excellency of God and Jesus Christ, and of the work of redemption, and the ways and works of God revealed in the gospel. There is a divine and superlative glory in these things; an excellency that is of a vastly higher kind, and more sublime nature, than in other things; a glory greatly distinguishing them from all that is earthly and temporal. He that is spiritually enlightened truly apprehends and sees it, or has a sense of it. He does not merely rationally believe that God is glorious, but he has a sense of the gloriousness of God in his heart. There is not only a rational belief that God is holy, and that holiness is a good thing, but there is a sense of the loveliness of God’s holiness. There is not only a speculatively judging that God is gracious, but a sense how amiable God is on account of the beauty of this divine attribute.

There is a twofold knowledge of good of which God has made the mind of man capable. The first, that which is merely notional; as when a person only speculatively judges that any thing is, which, by the agreement of mankind, is called good or excellent, viz. that which is most to general advantage, and between which and a reward there is a suitableness,—and the like. And the other thing is, that which consists in the sense of the heart; as when the heart is sensible of pleasure and delight in the presence of the idea of it. In the former is exercised merely the speculative faculty, or the understanding, in distinction from the will or the disposition of the soul. In the latter, the will, or inclination, or heart are mainly concerned.

Thus there is a difference between having an opinion, that God is holy and gracious, and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness. A man may have the former that knows not how honey tastes; but a man cannot have the latter unless he has an idea of the taste of honey in his mind. So there is a difference between believing that a person is beautiful, and having a sense of his beauty. The former may be obtained by hearsay, but the latter only by seeing the countenance. When the heart is sensible of the beauty and amiableness of a thing, it necessarily feels pleasure in the apprehension. It is implied in a person’s being heartily sensible of the loveliness of a thing, that the idea of it is pleasant to his soul; which is a far different thing from having a rational opinion that it is excellent.

We recently attended the 200 Year Plan conference held by Vision Forum. The conference CD's are now available in case you weren't able to attend.