To All Who Attended CIRCE

[RunnerJoy]

Re: To All Who Attended CIRCE

Sounds like a great time, Courtney! Happy Anniversary!

Isn't it amazing how time flies? Bet it doesn't feel like 15!

AMDG,
Sarah

Thanks, Sarah! It really doesn't feel like 15 years.

[RanchMom]

Re: To All Who Attended CIRCE

Reading material! I didn't go planning on buying so many books, it's a good thing I had a little room in my carry on! I'm slowly working my way through Climbing Parnassus which is wonderful so far! I can only read a dozen or so pages at a time because there is so much goodness in it that I want to stop and process for awhile. My underlining is getting ridiculous. Upon reflection, this is actually very similar to how I feel about Circe. I took so many notes of great thoughts that I keep flipping back through and processing.

Overall I walked away feeling renewed in what I am doing and encouraged to stay the course. In our small community I am surrounded by Sonlight users, and I even attended Circe with one. That combined with the deep winter feeling of 'I'm tired of looking at the same stuff day after day' always leaves me wondering. Circe reminded me why I'm doing this and why it's so important. It encouraged me to make our day more beautiful and not allow us to fall into a drudgery of just getting the workbook done.

Andrew Kern said one particularly beautiful thing that I'll share (ok, they all said a ton of beautiful things but I find myself dwelling on this one today): Live in the conquest and the gifts of Christ while repenting for our divisions.

In addition, I came home feeling called to try and put together a small classical co op in our very rural, very remote area. Now I just have to sell some of these Mom's on the need for Latin and the beauty of educating classically.

[Mary]

Re: To All Who Attended CIRCE

Andrew Kern said one particularly beautiful thing that I'll share (ok, they all said a ton of beautiful things but I find myself dwelling on this one today): Live in the conquest and the gifts of Christ while repenting for our divisions.

I have in my notes, "Enjoy your conquest! Study the Greek Myths!". I also liked hearing him tell us that with regard to faith, on some level, we are all wrong. It's humbling (and good!) to remember that, no matter what our faith or personal beliefs regarding that faith, we absolutely cannot become self-righteous or prideful. His bit on healing the divisions in the Church was really beautifully stated and I can't wait to listen to it again when my CDs arrive. <3

On another note, I couldn't figure out if Andrew Pudewa was joking when he said that bit about hating Raising them Right by Theophan the Recluse. That book, along with my audio CD copy of "On the Upbringing of Children" by Bishop Irenaius (St. Xenia Skete) are my most cherished treasures on the subject of child-rearing - mainly because they are so straightforward. He's an interesting cat. Even in personal conversation, I can't tell when he's being sarcastic and when he's sincere. (He's reading this right now, isn't he?)

[pickandgrin]

Re: To All Who Attended CIRCE

Ranchmom--what is your non-forum name? Did we talk last weekend? If so, I haven't connected the real-you with the forum-you and would love to!

Mary,
I can't help you on Pudewa and Theophan. I was busy repenting for my venti latte that wouldn't let me sit through a 75 minute talk directly after lunch. I think the southern phrase is "making a scene" which is what I had to do--walking out from the second row to excuse myself for the bathroom. Maybe others can chime in on that part. When I walked back in he was just talking about it, so the context is lost on me. I did LOVE his poem from G. K. Chesterton--https://allpoetry.com/The-Hunting-Of-The-Dragon. It's a perfect compliment to the book I just finished by E. R. Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros (which I loved!).

The Hunting Of The Dragon

When we went hunting the Dragon
In the days when we were young,
We tossed the bright world over our shoulder
As bugle and baldrick slung;
Never was world so wild and fair
As what went by on the wind,
Never such fields of paradise
As the fields we left behind:
For this is the best of a rest for men
That men should rise and ride
Making a flying fairyland
Of market and country-side,
Wings on the cottage, wings on the wood,
Wings upon pot and pan,
For the hunting of the Dragon
That is the life of a man.

For men grow weary of fairyland
When the Dragon is a dream,
And tire of the talking bird in the tree,
The singing fish in the stream;
And the wandering stars grow stale, grow stale,
And the wonder is stiff with scorn;
For this is the honour of fairyland
And the following of the horn;

Beauty on beauty called us back
When we could rise and ride,
And a woman looked out of every window
As wonderful as a bride:
And the tavern-sign as a tabard blazed,
And the children cheered and ran,
For the love of the hate of the Dragon
That is the pride of a man.

The sages called him a shadow
And the light went out of the sun:
And the wise men told us that all was well
And all was weary and one:
And then, and then, in the quiet garden,
With never a weed to kill,
We knew that his shining tail had shone
In the white road over the hill:
We knew that the clouds were flakes of flame,
We knew that the sunset fire
Was red with the blood of the Dragon
Whose death is the world's desire.

For the horn was blown in the heart of the night
That men should rise and ride,
Keeping the tryst of a terrible jest
Never for long untried;
Drinking a dreadful blood for wine,
Never in cup or can,
The death of a deathless Dragon,
That is the life of a man.

ETA: Forgive me! The formatting is lost when I post, so if you want to see the poem with its proper indentations and formatting--see the link I included.

[CarlynD]

Re: To All Who Attended CIRCE

So, I had an absolutely amazing post that just got wiped out because I tried to do it from my phone. However, I will try to re-create it, but just know the other one was brilliant. (jk)

Dianna,
I am still catholic with a lowercase "c" but I am more and more with Chesterton about this. The cathedral was amazing. I'm sorry I don't recall the name of the priest who gave the homily, but he was young. He spoke of the True, Good, and Beautiful, so it was quite a wonderful end to our time in Louisville.

Mary,
I was not freaked out. I just know I am safe whenever I am with you!

Jessica P,
Thank you for the poem!

And I agree that Circe gave me the big picture of why I homeschool the way I do. It truly gave me the reasons to keep pressing on in the fight against the dragons of secularism and laziness. It is truly worth sacrificing for the True, the Good, and the Beautiful.

The image of the Body of Christ embodied is one of the gems from the Circe conference. We truly built each other up in the faith. Unity of the church has always been a heart's desire of mine. It is encouraging to hear other's desire for the same thing.

Blessings to all,
Carlyn

[RanchMom]

Re: To All Who Attended CIRCE

[QUOTE=pickandgrin;52680]Ranchmom--what is your non-forum name? Did we talk last weekend? If so, I haven't connected the real-you with the forum-you and would love to!

You want me to give up my super secret online persona!? j/k

My name is Jen Hill. I'm not sure that we actually met, hopefully soon though. This was my first go at an education conference outside the capacity of public education (had to sit through lots of those back in my public school days) and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I got out of it and am now trying to convince my husband of the necessity for me to attend Solidatas this summer. Wish me luck there!

[RanchMom]

Re: To All Who Attended CIRCE

So along that thread of unity of church, I have a question. And I'm slightly afraid that this is going to be either too complicated or controversial to discuss here, so moderators, please feel free to delete this if it is.

Since the conference I have dwelt a lot on the topic of church unity and uniting as followers of Christ. We live in a small, super rural, super isolated area (2 hours from another town). In this community we belong to a growing, non curriculum based co-op. It is the only one available currently. It has an application process which includes a signed statement of faith, written so that only 'evangelicals' can join, limiting any Catholics or LDS in our area. We don't do anything in the co-op that is specific to an evangelical faith. We pray at the beginning and that is the end of the faith portion. I've always been a little uncomfortable with the exclusion, as I come from a family of many mixed beliefs. It would make more sense if we were doing some kind of Bible or religious study, but we don't. The leader of the co-op, whose husband is a Baptist minister, was at CIRCE with me. I used the church unity topic as a discussion starter for the potential of opening up our co-op to all followers of Christ. She did not feel the same at all and actually jumped all over the 'Rule of 12' as a way to limit the growth further. (12 families only, which is our current size).

This week I have felt called to explore the idea of starting a new co-op. Preferably one with a classical bent (although we have a very limited number of families who lean that way here). I've looked at schole groups and the cottage school, but I think they might be bit much for this community (meaning I'm not sure I'd have enough interest). I may be better off starting with a weekly meeting where we do latin and maybe a great book study sort of thing.

Ack! I've just got all of these crazy ideas rolling around in my head and would love any feedback you guys may want to give!

[pickandgrin]

Re: To All Who Attended CIRCE

Oh, I do hope you can come! It's such a wonderful time.

[Mary]

Re: To All Who Attended CIRCE

So along that thread of unity of church, I have a question. And I'm slightly afraid that this is going to be either too complicated or controversial to discuss here, so moderators, please feel free to delete this if it is.

Since the conference I have dwelt a lot on the topic of church unity and uniting as followers of Christ. We live in a small, super rural, super isolated area (2 hours from another town). In this community we belong to a growing, non curriculum based co-op. It is the only one available currently. It has an application process which includes a signed statement of faith, written so that only 'evangelicals' can join, limiting any Catholics or LDS in our area. We don't do anything in the co-op that is specific to an evangelical faith. We pray at the beginning and that is the end of the faith portion. I've always been a little uncomfortable with the exclusion, as I come from a family of many mixed beliefs. It would make more sense if we were doing some kind of Bible or religious study, but we don't. The leader of the co-op, whose husband is a Baptist minister, was at CIRCE with me. I used the church unity topic as a discussion starter for the potential of opening up our co-op to all followers of Christ. She did not feel the same at all and actually jumped all over the 'Rule of 12' as a way to limit the growth further. (12 families only, which is our current size).

This week I have felt called to explore the idea of starting a new co-op. Preferably one with a classical bent (although we have a very limited number of families who lean that way here). I've looked at schole groups and the cottage school, but I think they might be bit much for this community (meaning I'm not sure I'd have enough interest). I may be better off starting with a weekly meeting where we do latin and maybe a great book study sort of thing.

Ack! I've just got all of these crazy ideas rolling around in my head and would love any feedback you guys may want to give!

I don't think your thoughts your or question are controversial at all. I think the beauty of the conference and of this forum is the ability to have rational, very adult conversations about sticky topics.

First, let me say that I'm so disappointed I didn't meet you! Or, if I did, that I didn't realize you were part of the forum.

Second, I had joined a co-op early on in my homeschooling career thinking that my 5-year-old would benefit from being around other homeschooled children. It didn't work for us because the different religious sects were so segregated, even within the co-op. I haven't even thought of joining a co-op since, as I find that interfaith mingling often ends badly. (Dealing with this now in an AHG troop.) Why? Because, as Andrew Kern pointed out so beautifully, many of us (myself included!) need to humble ourselves and accept that some of our beliefs may actually be wrong. We may need to work on being gracious and warm and inclusive - and we can do this without sacrificing any of our own beliefs. It is difficult, but it can be done. ("I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me", right?) <3 "We are divided by nothing" is something Andrew Kern said that really resonated with me. He said that the worst occurrence in the world was the division of the church. I'll go one step further and say that the next worse is the fact that we continue this division.

There is no reason why a group can't get together and go through the Christian Studies program. For those of that accept the Septuagint, it can be added in and taught at home. Those that don't needn't worry. Systematically studying what is written in the bible without layering on any interpretation is something we should be able to do as a group (we can either leave doctrine and dogma at home or discuss it maturely as a group, depending on age). There is no reason we can't read through Dangerous Journey and have a calm, level-headed conversation about the beliefs and attitudes at that time...and why this book was written in the first place. We can all absolutely celebrate our victory and read the pagan myths while basking in the delight that Christ has conquered! Divisions of faith needn't cross over into these subjects.

If we truly want One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church, we really have to be on the front lines extending olive branches - and we can do this without becoming total Harvey Milquetoasts. Ask questions of others. Examine your own faith. Talk to your preacher or your priest. Listen with humble and merciful ears. Respond with kindness - even if you disagree. Wait, this is great advice for every inch of our lives! We can disagree and be strong in our beliefs without being nasty or exclusionary.
One of the most profound things I heard at this conference was, "If you believe you are in The Right, then you are obligated to lead the way with love and repentance."
I have that taped to my bathroom mirror now. Love and repentance are such difficult things (for me) to master.

[Emilylovesbooks]

Re: To All Who Attended CIRCE

Mary, I really love what you just wrote--so helpful in all aspects of life!

[KF2000]

Re: To All Who Attended CIRCE

I think your idea of starting a group that is more in line with your academic goals is a great idea. Not wacky at all. You and even one other family count as a group! .

"Never despise meager beginnings" is a line from a movie that keeps me going whenever I get nervous about making progress with our cottage school. You just put yourself out there and let God do the rest.

But I would agree with your instinct to start with Latin, or literature, or something like that. This gives you a wide berth of things to talk about without coming close to matters of doctrine. I do not, and am not, planning to include Christian Studies in our cottage school at all because families really do need the freedom to teach that course as their faith perspective dictates. Having respect and love for people of different beliefs is a different thing than acting as though there are no differences. Teaching CS to a mixed classroom would have to tread that line, and is not something I aim to do in my school.

AMDG,
Sarah

[Mary]

Re: To All Who Attended CIRCE

I do not, and am not, planning to include Christian Studies in our cottage school at all because families really do need the freedom to teach that course as their faith perspective dictates. Having respect and love for people of different beliefs is a different thing than acting as though there are no differences. Teaching CS to a mixed classroom would have to tread that line, and is not something I aim to do in my school.

I should clarify that I did not intend to suggest that anyone should begin a cottage school with a Christian Studies component- especially with a mixed group of "unknowns". I re-read my post and realized that this sounds like what I was suggesting! *ACK!*
I was speaking more generally, as we did at the conference, and the message was not that differences between beliefs should be ignored. Rather, the focus was concentrating on the things that bring us together (love, respect, mercy, forgiveness) rather than what divides us as Christians.
I am sorry that I did not make this more not clear. I made statements based on what we heard at the conference, forgetting that many reading this were not there. I'll drink more coffee and think more carefully the next time I post.

[KF2000]

Re: To All Who Attended CIRCE

Mary,
No worries at all. Since she was asking for specific advice, I felt the need to clarify. But I am not surprised at all by the exhuberence of an after-conference "high." Your post read to me in the "Mere Christianity" vein, which is really valuable, especially since so many of us do deeply desire a reunion. And you guys sharing the thoughts from the weekend is always a blessing to us!

AMDG,
Sarah

[RanchMom]

Re: To All Who Attended CIRCE

Ah, there has been so much beauty in these responses! Thank you, you lovely ladies. I knew there was a good reason I fell drawn to discuss it here.

I spoke with 4 other homeschool Mom's this afternoon who are either currently doing, or would like to do a latin program next year, so I think that may be a good jumping off point. Once we get that figured out I can reach out to some of the other non-evangelical Mom's that I know have been left out, let them know what we are doing and hope they have some interest.

[pickandgrin]

Re: To All Who Attended CIRCE

Ah, there has been so much beauty in these responses! Thank you, you lovely ladies. I knew there was a good reason I fell drawn to discuss it here.

I spoke with 4 other homeschool Mom's this afternoon who are either currently doing, or would like to do a latin program next year, so I think that may be a good jumping off point. Once we get that figured out I can reach out to some of the other non-evangelical Mom's that I know have been left out, let them know what we are doing and hope they have some interest.

Jen,
How exciting! Please keep us posted.