How to Change Your Husband or Another Winner from Norms & Nobility

My long-time favorite book on education is David Hick's Norms & Nobility.  There are many things I like about it, not the least of which is a wonderful proposed curriculum; basically a list of great books to be studied from grade seven to twelve.  Though my oldest son is still a year away from seventh grade, that hasn't stopped me from collecting the books and dipping into them when I can.  I have yet to be disappointed.

In the tenth grade list is a mention of Erasmus' Colloquies.  I had never heard of the work and didn't even know what a colloquy was.  The book is actually somewhat difficult to find, but I did acquire an inexpensive reprint.  It turns out that a colloquy is another name for a dialogue and Erasmus' Colloquies is a rather large book filled with dialogues on a variety of subjects.   I flipped at random to one titled The Uneasy Wife and began to read.  The dialogue is between two women, one godly and wise and another who is complaining about her husband.  What follows is a delightful, wise, and quite funny discussion about how a wife should live with and "reform" a difficult or troublesome husband.  It may not be honey to a modern readers ears, but I say give me more of Erasmus the Wise.  

Here is an online version of The Uneasy Wife for your enjoyment.

Current Events and Classical Education

Over at the Circe Institute podcast, Andrew Kern answered my question about the place of current events in the classical school.  To hear his answer go to about the 11:20 mark in the podcast.

The Lost Arts of Civilization

The Lost Arts of Civilization is a testament to the notion that small is beautiful.  The little hardcover book, composed of seven chapters, uses classic literature to illustrate the arts that have been lost to our modern mass and technologically driven society.












The lost arts include:

1. Hospitality
2. Letter Writing
3. Conversation
4. Enjoying People
5. Pleasing Others
6. Courtship
7. Tasteful Dressing or Proper Attire

A book truly worthy of contemplation (and action).

Nothing New Under the Sun

“But the greatest drawback of our educational methods is that we pay an excessive amount of attention to the natural sciences and not enough to ethics.  Our chief fault is that we disregard that part of ethics which treats of human character, of its dispositions, its passions, and of the manner of adjusting these factors to public life and eloquence.  We neglect that discipline which deals with the differential features of the virtues and vices, with good and bad behavior-patterns…and with the art of seemly conduct in life, the most difficult of all arts.” - Giambattista Vico, in the year 1708

Maxim for the Instruction of the Over-Educated

To be Greek one should have no clothes;

to be medieval one should have no body;

to be modern one should have no soul.

                  - Oscar Wilde

A Classical Education in Letters

Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) is known for his Letters to His Son, instructing him in worldly wisdom and manners.  He actually began to send his letters when his son was only five years old and these letters are a classical education in themselves.  Go here to read the Juvenile Section and see the knowledge of the classical world passed on from father to son.