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Second grade curriculum review
As our schoolyear draws to a close, I’m stepping back (once again) to reflect on the curriculum I’ve used this year. 1. For history — Story of the World Vol. II: The Middle…
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Phantastes
This is the book that C.S. Lewis read one day on a train and felt his imagination had been “baptized.” I read it back when I was in college and it didn’t capture…
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The Gutenberg Elegies
How shall we characterize [reading]? What is it that separate reading acts share that lies beyond the local construction of setting, characters, and narrative circumstances? Is there a fundamental and identifiably constant condition…
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Getting to Wonderland
Independent childhood reading seems to continue and elaborate upon the process of imaginative projection initiated through listening. It is, beautifully and openly, a voluntary participation in an ulterior scheme of reality. We might…
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War and Peace
This novel spans roughly 15 years, from 1805-1820, centering on Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 and Russia’s resistance. More than 500 characters populate its pages, all of them well developed, and several…
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Gutenberg, the Reformation, creeds, and assorted ruminations
My daughter and I are up to the Reformation in history. It’s interesting, seeing the sweep of history — and church history. I’ve always had a wariness of “theology.” Systematic constructs of ideas…
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Dark Night of the Soul
Ever wondered how a holy, infinite God accommodates Himself to a human heart? Ever feel that the evangelical language for talking about it is formulaic or vague? Ever wonder if there’s something wrong…
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Finishing Isaiah
Isaiah is a difficult book for me. I love the story of King Hezekiah in the narrative chapters at the middle of the book. I love the passages where Isaiah’s vision soars and…
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The Calvary Road
Published in 1950, this little book has enjoyed a steady readership for almost 60 years. Just today, I discovered that it’s available in several locations online as an e-text. It’s been on my…
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At the Back of the North Wind
Any story always tells me itself what I’m to think about it… I never can tell what they call clever from what they call silly, but I always know whether I like a…