I may be being a bit impulsive and may not be researching thoroughly enough, but I went ahead and ordered the Ancient History Portfolio recommended on the St. Theophan Academy blogsite, as well as her suggestion for learning Latin called Lively Latin. The same history portfolio is recommended on the Paidea Classic Homeschool Resources site. I’m new to the Classical approach to education, but do not feel that deprived because of the dialectical element. I just started to read part of Plato’s Apology, linked from the Paidea site, and got a post-traumatic stress reaction from our court room experiences and the subsequent debates I have engaged in online. I do better in question-answer/catechetical environments. But this implies that someone already knows the answers, and not that they are being derived through dialectics. I know that there is value in discussing things from differing points of view, but to me this is a way to better understand each other (question/answer), to discover weaknesses in a point of view, to gain new insights, and to explore and prioritize. I suppose these goals can be accomplished dialectically, unity and/or conversion can be achieved, but more often dialectics seems a mode to defend ones self, intimidate, subjugate, and to get notches on one’s belt. That’s been part of my motivation at least.
Still, my best times in discussions have been with people who knew more than me and expressed themselves better and when I was the recipient/questioner. I guess being female, that is what I do best. The male/female hierarchy has proven itself true to me, sometimes to my disappointment. I’m left to record my experience and explorations for general amusement, and for the guidance of my children. Such is the role of women. But does that mean I get the short end of the stick? Even though I’ve felt that way sometimes, it surely isn’t so. Children are the glory of women, and my kids, for better or worse, are my head-covering. I get to gaze on them and see the fresh face of angels. Not that they’re perfect and haven’t suffered from my failings, but I am proud of them and very thankful for them and really would rather be in no other place that with them in our homeschool environment.
As I approach the fall when one will move to a Dallas dorm, and one will be carpooling with and thus gone as long as his dad, and the other continue in his community college and work schedule, I am very glad to have them leave the nest with such excitement and anticipation, to which I owe Abeka’s more practical, challenging, left brain approach, to some extent. But I have three left at home, so I don’t know if I’ll be as positive when their turn comes. I don’t have to worry about having a completely empty nest for another 10 years. *conflicted sigh*
So, back to the Classical approach, I’m not that excited about learning western philosophy and its close kin literature, but I do want to incorporate more history about the millenniums before and after Christ and learn some Latin. I’ve talked about some of my problems with romantic and external conflict-oriented literature. I think the first unrealistic and daydreamy and the second, war/divorce inducing. I like psychological dramas better, like Silence of the Lambs which is definitely off the topic of homeschooling so I think I’ll steer towards Dostoyevsky. I saw the Gregory Peck version of his “The Gambler”, called The Great Sinner and had to switch channels during the part where he crossed the line to become a slave to his new addiction. It was too painful to watch his life-ruining fall, and how it-could-happen-to-anyone-even Gregory Peck(!) realistic it was. All to say that I like a thorough investigation of why people act the way they do, but getting into the mind of the more extreme actors-out in our society is pretty disturbing. Still, we are all affected by what they do, and understanding them is a first step towards at least our own healing from their effects, I believe, but maybe I’m wrong.
So learning corrected history and languages is a big step towards understanding other people. I used to believe literature can be too, but if the writer’s philosophy is wrong, then reading them helps you understand dysfunction better, which has it’s place in relating to them, but one must be healed by an alternative method.
The booklist to the Portfolio series looks a little daunting, but I’ll wait till I study the material more when it comes in the mail to figure out how to tailor it to our needs/abilities/schedule.