A few thoughts on homeschool years - Fall 1998

The many long hours I spent in conversation with my brother Daniel - both made available and necessitated by homeschooling - were more valuable than I realized at the time. Even our discussions concerning how to make homeschooling better were helping to develop our intellects and our sense of logic.

I think some things were happening during our homeschool years that none of us were aware of. Reading some things about Classical Education are helping me to understand this better. People today are so caught up in what children have learned. I'm starting to understand that a lot of what an education should be doing is exercising and developing the mind.

Mistakes people make because they think school is just about "learning things"...

- No need to study long division since we have calculators
-Avoid learning, reading books, etc. outside of school time and school requirements.

What a shame.

Thoughts - September 26, 1998

Lord to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal Life.

My heart and my head are filled with so much right now that I had to put something on paper.

Lord, tell me what you want me to do with my life and I will do it.

So much of American's lives are tied up with formal schooling and jobs. I don't espouse getting rid of either. But all too often they overshadow that which they are intended to serve; that is our life in the service of God. People view school as being for the sake of money. It would seem their entire lives are lived for the sake of money.

Forgotten: Family Life, Spiritual Life, Community Life.

You cannot serve two masters. Our lives must be directed toward God. Formal schooling should have the purpose of developing the intellect in order to prepare it to be used for God - which has both practical and spiritual significance.

So much of schooling is aimed at performing well on tests. This is backwards - tests should give you a sense of how you're doing in your education. If you're doing well that should be obvious from the test. But the test shouldn't define your education.

Father Hardon on "Writing and the Spiritual Life"

My notes from Fr. Hardon's talk at Thomas Aquinas College on "Writing and the Spiritual Life" on March 28, 1998, as published in the TAC Newsletter.

Reading this reminded me that I really should keep a journal of thoughts, ideas, notes, from my reading, stories, etc. Here are a few tidbits from the lecture:

"Very few people understand the value of writing...

My purpose here is to help you see why writing is such a blessed asset of the spiritual life. To be convinced of the value of writing, if only a few words every day, is to have made a giant stride on the road to sanctity...

Writing disciplines the mind. Left to ourselves our thoughts are nothing less than a jungle filled with wild animals. Our most important duty in life is to master our minds, to control our thoughts...

Every thought leads to a desire. Every desire leads to a habit. Every habit shapes our character. And our character determines our destiny. It all begins in the mind...

Writing is a proved way of lowering oneself in one's own estimation. There is no way known for more surely and effectively growing in humility than by writing...

we cannot write without thinking...

we should write for the practice of charity in sharing our souls...

What God in His wisdom and love has shared with us, keep a record of that. Share that wisdom and love with others by writing it down."

Getting Started

I'm very talented at starting notebooks with thoughts, comments from reading, etc.; dutifully commenting in these for a few days and getting sidetracked for awhile before starting the process once again. Here I will attempt to "collect my thoughts" at least all in one place, if not more consistently.

I will start with a few old sets of notes...