Books and Fabric and Other Things

I have too many books and too much fabric... I think.

Last week I went through my fabric, chose out my favorites, had a fabric party, went through what was left and downsized my collection from five bins and two dressers full to five bins and a little bit more. I keep finding more fabric as I clean and pack my attic. It was refreshing to go through my fabric and dream and remember why I love to sew and over-analyze why I haven't sewn in a while. Then pack it all up, and remind myself that there will come a day soon when I can pull out my machine and sew, but today is not that day.

I am putting off going through the books, kind of. I packed up my drama/theater books and language text books, and various other books that the boys aren't into at the moment. I have at least eight boxes of books in my attic storage, just because there isn't a better place to put them. But everywhere I look, I see books, and I am happy, until I think about moving them, and then I am overwhelmed. 

In the process of packing fabric and books, I finished my "Brides Book" from my wedding - the scrap book that has fond memories and dress fabric and photos that didn't make it to the album. Now I have to throw away all the extra stuff, but slowly and surely things are getting done. 

It might get done faster if I didn't stop to read. I read Jared's Island by Marguerite DeAngeli and Caleb's Story by Patricia MacLaughlin, as well as a children's biography of John Paul Jones. I should write reviews on them, I suppose, but I thought rambling for a little might be a good break. I read mostly at night, after the boys were in bed, but I did have a cold this week and read the biography on the day I didn't feel very well. It was probably the first time in a long time when I actually stopped doing things when I felt sick and didn't try to push through. I did feel exhausted for about three more days, and pushed through those, but I didn't feel sick, just tired.

Now the boys have the cold. I know they aren't feeling well because they volunteered to lay down and have a quiet time yesterday. Today they seem to be going back and forth between being their normal crazy selves and wanting cuddles and rest. They are excited because they only have seven more days of school. They even thought of doing school work on Saturday so they could be done sooner, but they decided it wasn't that important and would rather play after all. We are all excited to be done with school work. We also have a instrument recital coming up that I have to figure out the details for - and they need to practice some more. 

I will write more about the new house at some other point, and hopefully have some pictures, but I am still pulling my thoughts together about it all. Each week seems to rush by and crawl at the same time and I can never get caught up, but never know what to do all at once.

So there was today's ramble. At least fragments of thoughts have been caught. Sometimes when I write, I think more clearly. Sometimes I just write. I think this was one of the latter times.

How to Think Like Shakespeare

My review of How to Think Like Shakespeare by Scott Newstok is simply, "Read it." If you are in anyway interested in education, you should read this book. If you love traditional things and don't want to see them lost, you should read this book. If you are a parent and want to see your children succeed, not in economic, but in the human sense, you should read this book. If you wonder what it means to be human and why we are not all machines, you should read this book. If you want to be more human, more thoughtful, more conversant, and more free, you should read this book. And if none of these summaries apply to you, you should read this book.

It is not a hard book to read. The chapters are relatively short, which is good because they are packed full of things to think about. They also progress in a way that only becomes evident as you near the end, from why we should think like Shakespeare, to how we can think like Shakespeare, to what will be the result if we do think like Shakespeare. But it isn't really about who Shakespeare was, it is more about Shakespeare as a representative of human expression. The way he conveys what it means to be a human still resonates for a reason. The book, naturally, is filled with quotes by Shakespeare, but also by a multitude of other authors, who whether consciously or unconsciously, have shaped the way we think today. 

None of the ideas set forth in this book are revolutionary, in the sense that they are new or set out to bring radical immediate change. Instead, it encourages us, educators especially, to transform one individual at a time, by helping them become the best human they can be. This is done through having a rich understanding of the past, debating (not simply accepting) the present, and making our heritage our own in the future. By reading, conversing, applying knowledge, not in a formulaic or mark the checkbox way, but in a free-flowing, logical, creative, human way, we become more ourselves. This brings freedom to never stop learning, to never stop applying what we know to new situations, to never be ashamed of our history, but to own it, learn from it, and grow out of it. 

One of the joys of reading, acting, and watching Shakespeare is the ability to relate to any given character because they are so much like me. The beauty of thinking like Shakespeare, is not imitating another human, but that the more we think like Shakespeare, the more we are able to become ourselves. Perhaps this is only a step away from the concept of the Incarnation (God becoming human) incarnating us (changing humans into real beings). The more we become like Him, the better able we are to express the child of God He created us to be. I do not lose my identity when I follow Jesus, but rather loose it - give it the freedom to truly express itself.

Could I go so far as to say Christian education will be one where students are taught not only believe in Jesus, but to also to read like Augustine, trust like Amy Carmichael, to write like Paul, to dig like John Patton, to reason like Solomon, to dream like Martin Luther King Jr, and to think like Shakespeare?