This past spring semester, we hosted biweekly evening discussions based on lectures from Hillsdale College's online Shakespeare course, paired with delicious wine selections from Wine Time. Thanks to the positive reaction, we'll do it again this fall, based on the results of a recent survey. As before, the discussions will be free and open to … Continue reading Join Drink ‘N Think Discussions On C.S. Lewis This Fall
A Harvard Professor On Why Studying The Humanities Is Essential To A Good Life
"[T]he humanists inspired by Petrarch and later Erasmus and Thomas More saw themselves as helping to rebuild Christendom by returning it to its ancient roots. They believed the study of classical languages and literatures, neglected in the Middle Ages (a period concept they invented), could improve character and create a love for wisdom and true … Continue reading A Harvard Professor On Why Studying The Humanities Is Essential To A Good Life
‘Educated For The Short Term’ Versus Educated For Eternity
"Literature and history, those two great branches of human learning, records of human behavior, human thought, are less and less valued by the young, and by educators, too. Yet from them one may learn how to be a citizen and a human being. We may learn how to look at ourselves, and at the society … Continue reading ‘Educated For The Short Term’ Versus Educated For Eternity
What Happens When Children Read Only The Best Books For School
Recently English and Spanish teacher Phil Morgan shared in a beautiful essay "How I Got Middle Schoolers to Read Great Books Again." I'll spill his secret: Only assigning enduring, high-quality classic literature to his pupils. The societal consensus indicates that kids don’t read anymore. Perhaps my journey would be over before it even started, and … Continue reading What Happens When Children Read Only The Best Books For School
Bob Dylan Says Classic Literature Inspired His Nobel Prize-Winning Poetry
To his own surprise and much public debate, Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 2016 and just released his corresponding public lecture. In it, he cites works of classic literature as his inspiration and source material. When I started writing my own songs, the folk lingo was the only vocabulary that … Continue reading Bob Dylan Says Classic Literature Inspired His Nobel Prize-Winning Poetry
New Study Suggests Good Humanities Instruction Increases Math Knowledge, Too
University of Virginia cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham discusses some interesting results from a new study that finds good English teachers improved students' learning in math. First, ELA [English literature] teachers may, on average, provide a bigger boost to what are usually called non-cognitive skills: self-regulation, persistence, seeing oneself as belonging in school, and so on. … Continue reading New Study Suggests Good Humanities Instruction Increases Math Knowledge, Too
Good Books for Middle and High School
An incomplete list of classic books from the course of literary wanderings, both from voracious reading and a librarian stint. They are delightful, well-written, and thought provoking. After all, isn’t the purpose of an excellent book to shape your thinking by dialogue with great minds across time? Books that are longer, harder to read, or … Continue reading Good Books for Middle and High School
Redeemer Classical School 