As a child C. S. Lewis attended a number of schools (which he hated), but in 1914 he moved to Bookham at Surrey to study privately with his father’s former tutor, William T. Kirkpatrick. Lewis homeschooled under Kirkpatrick for the next two years before receiving a scholarship to Oxford in December of 1916. In a letter dated October 12, 1915, Lewis described his typical day of schooling to a friend. (Lewis was 16 years old at the time, soon to turn 17.)
Typical Schedule:
- Breakfast and a short walk
- Thucydides and Homer
- 15-minute break
- Tacitus
- Lunch at 1:00
- Free time until tea
- Tea at 4:30
- Plato and Horace
- Supper at 7:30
- German and French until 9:00 p.m.
- Free time until bed (usually about 10:20 p.m.)
As soon as my bed room door is shut I get into my dressing gown, draw up a chair to my table and produce, like Louis Moore, note book and pencil. Here I write up my diary for the day, and then turning to the other end of the book devote myself to poetry, either new stuff or polishing the old. If I am not in the mood for that I draw faces and hands and feet etc for practice. This is the best part of the day of course, and I am usually in a very happy frame of mind by the time I slip into bed.
(Source: They Stand Together: The Letters of C. S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves, edited by Walter Hooper, p. 84)
So, any homeschoolers out there who follow the same schedule? Anyone who wants to? 
HT: The Scriptorium
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• Click here for more Narnia related posts.
• Click here for Countdown to Caspian roundup.
• Click here for Narnia sermon series.
From The Christian Institute:
A Christian family from Germany have been granted political asylum in the US after facing the threat of prison for home schooling their children. Uwe and Hannelore Romeike, who are evangelical Christians, were forced to flee Germany as they wished to educate their five children at home.
Home schooling is still illegal in Germany under laws introduced during the Nazi era. The German law means that parents who choose to home school their children can face fines or even imprisonment … The family endured harassment from the authorities, and on one occasion police officers came to the family’s home and forced the children to attend school. The family fled to the US after Germany’s highest court ruled that in severe cases of non-compliance social services could remove home schooled children from their parents.
Describing the case, Immigration Judge Lawrence O. Burman said that “the rights being violated here are basic human rights that no country has a right to violate”. He added: “Homeschoolers are a particular social group that the German Government is trying to suppress. This family has a well-founded fear of persecution…therefore, they are eligible for asylum…and the court will grant asylum.”
The Romeike family were represented by the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).
HT: First Thoughts
SCHOOL DAYS EDITION.
Ejected. Umpire Don Briggs ejected the entire crowd at a high school baseball game. He said he had no problem with the players but ejected the crowd of over 100 for being unruly, yelling and arguing.
Charming. Would you send your child to this school?
Children in this Indian village attend snake charming school as early as age two.
Vacation Delay. Officials at Dickson Elementary School in California announced that students would have to attend an additional 34 days of school this summer due to a clerical error. Thursday, June 17, was supposed to be the last day of school. Now the students will have to wait until July 31. The error? Their early release days were five minutes too short to count as official school days.
Christianity Today reports on how the current financial crisis is affecting seminaries in the United States. Salt Lake Theological Seminary in Utah officially closed in October, although faculty and staff are continuing to work on a volunteer basis to allow graduating seniors to complete their degree programs. Larger seminaries are also feeling the pinch, including my own alma mater, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
With the stock market dropping 50 percent by November from its October 2007 peak, schools that rely on endowment income remain the most vulnerable. Dennis Hollinger, president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, said the school lost $600,000 in endowment income in 2008. Some restricted endowment gifts have gone “under water,” meaning they are now worth less than the original gift, and the seminary cannot spend from the principal.
Hollinger said the Massachusetts school has cut close to $1 million from its budget of $20 million by canceling activities, realigning programs, and declining to replace departed staff. The school also closed its full-service bookstore, though a smaller shop will continue to sell textbooks.
Other schools discussed in the article include Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS). Please continue to pray for families, churches, seminaries, students and businesses during this time of economic stress.
HT: Between Two Worlds
Piedmont College professor Barbara Brown Taylor laments her Christian students’ lack of knowledge of church history and tradition.
They never noticed that Matthew and Luke tell different stories of Jesus’ birth, or that Mark and John tell no such stories at all. They never imagined that the first Christians did not walk around with New Testaments in their pockets. No one ever told them about Constantine, Augustine, Benedict or Martin Luther. They never thought about what happened during the centuries between Jesus’ resurrection and their own professions of faith. In their minds, they fell in line behind the disciples, picking up the proclamation of the gospel where those simple fishermen left off …
College students in all other regards, they remain fifth graders in religion. How, when they meet someone who asks them intelligent questions about their faith, will they come up with equally intelligent answers? Keep your class notes, I tell them. You never know when you may need them.
Dr. James Stobaugh has put together a helpful series of posts answering frequently asked questions about the SAT 1 (Scholastic Aptitude Test), PSAT (Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test), and the NMSQT (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test).
Stobaugh also offers his personal recommendations for the day of the SAT:
Here is one example of a typical test-day schedule. Times will vary depending on the actual time of the test, how far away the test site is, etc.
The California ruling that appeared to declare most homeschooling in that state illegal has been vacated, and the case will be re-heard. Pacific Justice Institute has the details.
Pacific Justice Institute has just received word that the court ruling which declared most forms of homeschooling unlawful in California has been vacated. This means the Rachel L. decision, which has sparked a nationwide uproar, will not go into effect as it is currently written. The Second District Court of Appeal has instead decided to re-hear the case, with a new round of briefings due in late April. It would likely take the court several additional months to schedule oral argument and issue another decision.
HT: The Point
I thought this looked pretty interesting:
The Intellectual Devotional is … a collection of 365 lessons that will inspire and invigorate the reader every day of the year. Each nugget of wisdom is drawn from one of seven fields of knowledge: History, Literature, Philosophy, Mathematics & Science, Religion, Visual Arts, and Music.
I would prefer to call this a Daily Reader rather than a Devotional. Still, the concept is neat, and this looks like a great resource for strengthening your knowledge in a variety of fields.
The book presents information from a different discipline for each day of the week. Here are the links to the bibliographies for each section:
HT: Fire and Knowledge
Lifehack has a great article on how to improve your spelling skills. Check out some of the following neat spelling mnemonics (i.e. memory helps):
- A piece of pie.
- You hear with your ear.
- There is a place just like here.
- The inheritance is theirs because they are the heirs.
- Pull apart to separate.
- Definite has 2 i’s in it.
- Because: Big elephants can always understand small elephants.
- Cemetery has three e’s – “eee!” – like a scream.
- In no century is murder an innocent crime.
- Slaughter is laughter with an “s” at the beginning.
- Br! It’s February in New England.
- Stationery: Remember “e” for envelope or “er” for letter.
And if you have trouble spelling “mnemonic,” just remember: There is an “m-n-em” at the beginning of mnemonic!
I meet monthly with a group of local clergy for lunch, fellowship and planning. Over the past year we have been in conversation with the Superintendent of Schools about the possible addition of an elective class on the Bible to be taught at the high school level in our town. The superintendent has been very open to talking with us about this proposal and recently set up a meeting with the School Committee where we could present the course for consideration. A reporter from the local paper was invited, and you can read the summary of the meeting here.
The curriculum we are recommending is called The Bible and Its Influence, produced by the Bible Literacy Project. The course examines the Bible’s influence on literature and culture and is appropriate for use in public schools. I looked through the curriculum and was very impressed. It has received sterling endorsements from a wide variety of scholars and teachers. You can also preview the “inside of the book” at Amazon if you want to take a closer look for yourself.
Previous post in series:
Books relating to Bible literacy:
Most people would agree that the Bible is one of the most important documents in history. However, because it is also a religious book, public schools are sometimes hesitant to teach about the Bible due to issues of separation of church and state. In 1963, however, the Supreme Court made a ruling not against the study of the Bible in public schools, but rather against the devotional, religious use of the Bible in public schools. Supreme Court Justice Clark stated:
“It might be well said that one’s education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization. It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literacy and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment.” [School District of Abington Township v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 225 (1963)]
There are two main Bible curricula currently available for those public schools that would like to make an elective class on the Bible available to their students. These two curriculum choices are summarized below.
- The Bible in History and Literature
Produced by: The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools
The curriculum for the program shows a concern to convey the content of the Bible as compared to literature and history. The program is concerned with education rather than indoctrination of students. The central approach of the class is simply to study the Bible as a foundation document of society, and that approach is altogether appropriate in a comprehensive program of secular education.
- The Bible and Its Influence
Produced by: The Bible Literacy Project
A primary goal of the course is basic Biblical literacy—a grasp of the language, major narratives, and characters of the Bible. The course also explores the influence of the Bible in classic and contemporary poems, plays, and novels. Of course, the Bible is not merely literature—for a number of religious traditions it is sacred text. Our curriculum and online teacher training prepare teachers to address the relevant, major religious readings of the text in an academic and objective manner.
Further information concerning both of these curricula and their individual approaches is available at their respective websites as indicated above. Further information concerning the use of the Bible in public schools with respect to the First Amendment is available through the First Amendment Center at the following links:
Next post in series:
How much has going to school changed? Kansas State University Professor Michael Wesch and the students in his Introduction to Cultural Anthropology class created an interesting video profiling a vision of students today. The following answers were compiled from the answers of 133 students (out of 200) who responded to the survey questions.
- My average class size is 115.
- 18% of my teachers know my name.
- I complete 49% of the readings assigned to me. Only 26% are relevant to my life.
- I buy hundred dollar textbooks that I never open.
- My neighbor paid for class but never comes.
- I will read 8 books this year, 2300 web pages, & 1281 Facebook profiles.
- I will write 42 pages for class this semester and over 500 pages of email.
- I get 7 hours of sleep each night! I spend 1.5 hours watching TV each night. I spend 3.5 hours a day online. I listen to music 2.5 hours a day. I spend 2 hours on my cell phone, spend 3 hours in class, 2 hours eating. I work 2 hours every day, 3 hours studying. That’s a total of 26.5 hours every day.
- I am a multi-tasker. (I have to be.)
- I will be $20,000 in debt after graduation! I’m one of the lucky ones.
- When I graduate I will probably have a job that doesn’t exist today.
- I Facebook through most of my classes.
- I bring my laptop to class, but I’m not working on class stuff.
What do you think? Is this an accurate picture of students today? I have to say, I would not have been able to make any of those statements when I was in school, except maybe for the 7 hours of sleep and 2 hours eating!
HT: Noel Heikkinen
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