Quote for the day: why not to rush through lessons

First posted here March 2013. From The Divine Comedy: III. Paradise, Canto V, translated by Dorothy L. Sayers and Barbara Reynolds.  Beatrice says to Dante:

Thou must sit still at table long enough
To let digestion work, the which would fain
Have more assistance, for this food is tough.

Open thy mind; take in what I explain
And keep it there; because to understand
Is not to know, if thou dost not retain.

Teacher training this week

Reading:
Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night (done that; lots of discussion about women's education)
Re-reading the last half of Charlotte Mason, School Education (got through that in one morning)
Making Sense of Adult Learning, by Dorothy MacKeracher (taking me longer)
Wendell Berry's poems
A surprisingly relevant newspaper column today about the science of relations (maybe I'll write a post about that)

Listening to:
Dr. Gwendolyn Starks, "Creative Writing with the Inklings and Friends"

Using all that to:
re-edit some of our Grade Eight plans.

Dante Quote for the Day

From The Divine Comedy: III. Paradise, Canto V, translated by Dorothy L. Sayers and Barbara Reynolds.  Beatrice describes two cases of misguided men (Jepthah, in the Old Testament, and Agamemnon) who, by keeping their vows, caused grief.  She warns, "Keep your oath / But not with stubborn wall-eyed foolishness."  Then she goes on to say:

Christians, be steadier in what you do,
Not blown like feathers at the wind's discretion,
Nor think that every water cleanses you;

You have both Testaments in your possession,
You have the Shepherd of the Church for guide;
So let these things suffice for your salvation...

Behave like men, and not like witless sheep...

Some weekend thinking: from Dante's Paradise

From Dorothy L. Sayers' translation of The Divine Comedy, III: Paradise, Canto IV.  Dante has been questioning Beatrice, his conductress through the heavenly realm, about some of the things he has seen so far.  Sudddenly it makes sense to him, and he bursts into thanks.

My love's whole store is too diminutive,
Too poor in thanks to give back grace for grace;
May He that sees, and has the power, so give!

That nothing save the light of truth allays
Our intellect's disquiet I now see plain--
God's truth, which holds all truth within its rays.

Intellect, like a wild thing in its den,
When it has run and reached it, there can rest,
As reach it must, else all desire were vain.

Hence, at the foot of truth, the undying quest
Springs like a shoot, and doubt is still the lure
That speeds us toward the height from crest to crest.

What books changed your life in 2012?

Mama Squirrel's responses to the Book Quiz posted on The Common Room this week

What was the best new (to you) author you discovered last year?

Probably Ellis Peters.  I started reading a couple of the Brother Cadfael books from The Apprentice's bookshelf when I was book-bored one night, and then I picked up more of them at the thrift store...

What was your favorite new (to you) series?

I read through almost the entire Brother Cadfael series. And several Dorothy L. Sayers mysteries I had never read. And several Rumpole of the Bailey books.

Book that made you cry?

I don't cry much over books, but I liked Sarah's Cottage, by D.E. Stevenson. I suspect we might be distantly related (D.E. Stevenson, I mean, not Sarah), but I'd have to ask my genealogist aunt about that.

Book that made you laugh out loud?

John Mortimer's Rumpole stories.

Book that totally changed your perspective on something?

I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What it Was, by Barbara Sher.

Best homeschool(ing) book?

The Big What Now Book of Learning Styles, by Carol Barnier.

Worst book that you managed to finish?

Castle Dor, started by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch and finished by Daphne Du Maurier. But two mysteries based on Sherlock Holmes and Josephine Tey came close for don't-bother-ness.

Book with the best surprise plot twist?

A Morbid Taste for Bones (the first Brother Cadfael book).

Best book-that-was-better-than-the-movie?

Our Man in Havana.  Although I like the movie too.

Most over-hyped book of the year?

I don't know!  I don't pay a lot of attention to hype.

Best Bibliovore recommendation of the year?

I don't use Bibliovore...I'm not even sure what it is.  I do read the NYT Book Review section, but most of the books in it scare me.

Book you have recommended to the most people this year?

Don't know.  Most people I know don't ask.

Best feel-good book of the year?

Don't know.

Best childrens/young adult book of the year?

In new books, I would vote for The Prairie Thief, but I am still waiting for our library to buy a copy.

Book you’ve been meaning to read for years and finally got to?

On The Art of Writing, and On The Art of Reading, both by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch.

Read aloud that the family enjoyed the most?

The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure, by Hans Magnus Enzensberger.  Or possibly The Hobbit. The Pushcart War doesn't count, because we're reading it right now.

Best cookbook/knitting/gardening/or other household how-to?

The 2012 Family Guide to Groceries under $250 a Month, by Liss Burnell.

Best non-fiction?

How to Read a Poem, and fall in love with poetry, by Edward Hirsch, but I'm not done it yet.

Best religion/theology/doctrine/philosophy?

The Mind of the Maker, by Dorothy L. Sayers. Also J.B., by Archibald MacLeish, and Walking with Bilbo, by Sarah Arthur.  And Spiritual Anorexia: How Contemporary Worship is Starving the Church, by Doug Erlandson.

Best political book?

Uncle Eric Talks About Personal, Career, and Financial Security, by Richard J. Maybury.  It's sort of political.

All-around best story of the year?

Not sure.

You?

It's March Break here, for most of us: on sewing and books

Ponytails and Crayons/Dollygirl have the week off from classes.  The Apprentice doesn't.  But at least the weather is co-operating; it's funny how often we do have good weather during March Break.  Ponytails will be doing some group sewing.  I think Crayons wants to sew some doll clothes too.  Last week we tried making a doll leotard out of some old Lycra leggings, but the stretchy stuff did not get along well with our sewing machine.  We'll try something else this week.

I saw this vintage poster on A Peaceful Day, and you can read more about it on Brain Pickings.  Having a Chapters gift card from a recent birthday, I decided to take President Roosevelt up on his suggestion and ordered a few books I wanted to read but hadn't found in the used pickings. Helen Hanff's Q's Legacy, Quiller-Couch's On the Art of Writing, and The Mind of the Maker should all be on their way here before the month's out, along with one book for Crayons' spring term.

(I have been reading On the Art of Writing from the Bartleby site for awhile now, printing it out a lecture at a time, but decided a real book would be better.  And I used to have The Mind of the Maker, back in the prehistoric university days, but didn't properly appreciate it then and gave it away again.  That and Harry Blamires' The Christian Mind.  I like passing books around, but really, those were two I should have hung on to, at least until I had finished reading them properly.)