Why Christians Should Read Fiction

I recently met someone who had been raised without fiction. No Little Golden Books, no Dr. Seuss, no Little House on the Prairie, no Chronicles of Narnia…nothing. I can’t begin to imagine, but the thought makes me feel a bit hollow inside. The reason? Fiction is “not true,” therefore it violates the admonition in Colossians 3:9– “Lie not one to another…”. What a horrifyingly incorrect notion to base an entire life upon.

The opposite of fiction is non-fiction, and the difference is not in whether they convey truth, but the method by which truth is told. Both can tell the truth, and both do (unless the writer’s goal is to do otherwise, and even then, truth usually shines through somewhere). Fiction shows the truth through story, one of the most powerful lenses available. Non-fiction relates fact, usually as a linear narrative.

Of the two methods of telling truth, story is the more powerful and memorable, because it engages the emotions. Remember King David’s reaction when the prophet Nathan related the story about the poor man’s lamb, then said, “Thou art the man!” Wow. Stories are told throughout scripture because we have been created with minds designed to receive teaching in that format.

There are so many reasons Christians need to be readers, and they’ve been ably addressed in a recent Breakpoint article, Why Should Christ-Followers Read Fiction? Defending Story by author Mary DeMuth. Please visit the link and read it, if you’ve wondered about the issue. She clearly addresses most of the major reasons we need to read.

This issue is important, so that another child won’t grow up in the impoverished environment that my recent acquaintence experienced. As an adult, she’s worked hard to make up for the lack of story in her childhood, but as she said, “I realize that I’m still missing areas of important emotional understanding that I believe I’d have developed if I’d been able to empathize with characters in a book.” When you consider that one of the characteristics many psychopaths have in common is the lack of ability to empathize, it reinforces the need for reading great literature, especially in those who are commanded to “love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Create A Place of Quietness in your Day

Do you ever feel overwhelmed when there is noise and hubbub all day long? It can be hard to avoid when you have children home all the time. One of the things I did with my boys was to create quiet spaces in our day. I always tried to begin the day before anyone else got up. I’d take time over coffee and breakfast to read a chapter or two of the Bible, then look at my list of priorities for the day.

After the boys got up and we did school, we’d have an afternoon Quiet Time. It lasted for various amounts of time, depending upon their ages, but the important thing was that each person had a separate place to be, and there was nothing noisy happening in the house. Not even good noise like music! Each boy could read, write, color, nap, even play Legos or Knex, as long as he was silent. During that hour or whatever time we spent, our spirits were refreshed, and we grew ready to cope with the rest of the day.

After the boys went to bed, there was a final quiet time in which Donald and I would sit in the sunroom and read the newspaper or a book, I’d make my list for the next day, and we would sometimes visit quietly. It was a delightful way to wrap up our long day!

I hope that you have quiet spaces planned into your life for the next school year. It’s amazing what can happen in quiet moments! I’ve attached a handout from a recent conference where I spoke on “Making Time for Things That Matter.” It has a number of good quotes on quietness, as well as a few other helpful things. I hope you enjoy it!

making-time-handoutindd2

“Now I begin to feel that all that is important comes in quietness and waiting; and that activity should be only the working out, the digesting and putting forth of what one learned, so that one may become empty again to receive more.” Rodney Collin

“…in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15

Note: I have been trying to find out the artist and the name of the painting above. I initially thought it must be a Vermeer, or possibly a Rembrandt, but haven’t been able to find it in any of the sources I have. If you know, please leave a comment and let me know so that I can properly attribute it. Thank you!

New Transcripts Made Easy Review

Cindy from Curriculum Choice (a delightful blog) has posted a very nice review of Transcripts Made Easy. I’m grateful for it, and happy to know that it’s still helping to calm those homeschool-through-high-school fears.

High school transcripts and records really aren’t as hard you might think. I like to plan and do, but I’m not the best record-keeper on the planet, so my system had to be short, sweet and to the point. Practical!

Cindy says, “Transcripts Made Easy is truly easy to understand.  Even with 120 pages, it’s a fairly quick read, too.  Janice walks you through, step-by-step, how to simply and effectively keep academic records, how to turn those records into a GPA sheet, how to calculate credits and quality points, making adjustments for AP or college classes and how to make sure you are preparing your student for classes that meet state and college-bound goals.”

I’m glad it’s helpful. Thank you, Cindy, for the great review!

Great Literature is Great Because It’s Sticky

I’ve been thinking about Antigone all morning. She’s the heroine in the ancient Greek tragedy by Sophocles, and though the story was written over 1000 years ago, Antigone is a fresh, vibrant, unforgettable character. Her story raises more questions than it answers, and it sticks in my mind because those questions are about some of the most important issues that humankind can consider. A few of the questions raised in Antigone’s story are:

It’s possible, even easy, to discuss these questions as abstract issues, then quickly forget them. However, when Sophocles paints them in the context of Antigone’s loyal desire to care for her brother’s body and Creon’s demand that he remain unburied, those questions become “sticky.” They’re clothed in intense emotions we can all understand, and they stay in our mind. We see them through the eyes and the pain of another human, and the questions become our own, and are joined by others:

It can be fun to occasionally read “twinkies for the brain,” but our minds need more in order to grow. A steady diet of trivia will cause us to become more and more shallow, while a diet that contains generous helpings of great literature will help us grow both mentally and spiritually. We need to think about big issues so that we can absolutely know where we stand when confronted with difficult situations. Great literature should be part of every student’s preparation for life. It’s good, and good for you!

[If you haven't yet read Antigone, and you're using Excellence in Literature, you'll study it in the second unit of World Literature. That level isn't quite finished-- we're proofreading and laying it out, but if you need it, you can pre-order it and receive the body of the book and the first unit as an e-book so you can get started.]

How to Calculate +/- on a High School Transcript

I just had a question from a reader who wondered how to calculate quality points for plus and minus grades on the high-school transcript. The free GPA calculator just calculates whole numbers and weighted grades, but it’s pretty easy to allocate a point value for +/-. Just add or subtract 1/3 of a point from the whole number. You’ll come up with this:

A = 4
A- = 3.67
B+ = 3.33
B = 3
B- = 2.67
C+ = 2
C- = 1.67
D+ = 1.33
D = 1
D- = .67