On Charley and Being Different

We live in a society that worships “average” and fears anything different, but we can teach our children to appreciate the infinite variety in creation, and to be compassionate to those who have difficulties. Here’s one small place to start.

Christian Worldview or Christian Content? Which Do You Really Want?

Why choose worldview over specific content? Here’s why I did so for Excellence in Literature.

Q: I was recently asked whether Excellence in Literature had Christian content, and since I know it’s a question that others may have, I thought I’d share my answer here.

A: Excellence in Literature is written from a solidly Christian worldview, but it does not have explicitly “Christian content.” There are many reasons for this, but I’ll just outline a few:

I want students to learn to think analytically, so I present the focus texts and context materials so that they will have a large enough body of information to understand worldview as it’s seen in literature, music, and art. I believe they will learn more and retain it longer when it’s presented in this way.

I want parents to be able to use the curriculum without worrying about whether specific doctrinal issues are addressed differently from the way the family has been taught. There are many non-creedal issues upon which Christians differ, and it is parents who bear the responsibility for determining what the family will learn.

Every piece of literature studied is written from a specific worldview, and I believe that students who work through the curriculum will have a deep understanding of the consequences of specific ideas and philosophies. Fiction allows us to see what happens when people believe (or don’t believe) in an omnipotent, omniscient God, and I believe that the truths revealed are more powerful when students discover them for themselves, rather than having them spoon fed.

The curriculum is designed to teach literature and writing, and I believe the focus needs to remain on the literary material presented and practiced. Student essays will inevitably reflect the student’s worldview and can open many conversational avenues within the family.

While I was writing the curriculum, I heard from charter schools which wanted to be able to use the curriculum, but could do so only if it did not contain contain overt religious teaching.

A great deal of the old literature, especially British literature, is permeated with a Christian worldview and has the potential to be a great blessing. I want students to discover this by interacting with the author and the text, rather than by having me tell them what they should think.

When I taught this material in online classes (which I no longer do), I was astonished and blessed many times by the profound insights my students would have about a piece of literature I’d read many times. I don’t want to rob them of this thrill of discovery, nor do I want to replace it with a condensed version of what I’ve come to understand about a particular work. It would be like snatching a fresh, sweet orange from a child and substituting a reconstituted orange drink made from powder and water. I wrote the curriculum to provide an alternative to textbooks like that!

If you want to know more about how I chose the books for Excellence in Literature, you can read this earlier post.

You can read Cathy Duffy’s review of two of the EIL volumes at Cathy Duffy Reviews.

Finally, the Complete Curriculum (all five levels of Excellence in Literature) is available as an e-book. The binder version is so nice that I almost didn’t think you’d want it as an e-book, but I’ve heard from military families, a reader in New Zealand, and at least one person who is moving and wants an easy way to keep track of it, of so here it is. I hope those of you who have been waiting will enjoy it!

And of course, the books are available from the website at Everyday-Education.com.

Prayer of Francis of Assisi as a Labor Day Meditation

Many are celebrating today as Labor Day, and I wanted to share this song from a prayer by Francis of Assisi as a meditation on the kind of labor that has eternal value.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.