A quick note on homeschooling

As the school year draws to an end, I'd like to write briefly about two things: the end of CZ's year, and our (very schematic) planning for next year.

On the convergence of projects at the end of this year:

I am really glad to see how hard CZ is working.  She is writing her first real research paper, and just finished the rough draft.  It's a good first draft.

The New York Public Library's hold system unfortunately can't even come close to keeping pace with a three-week research paper.  Most of the books she needs have now been stuck in limbo for two weeks between the Performing Arts branch and our local one. So she may end up having to do the entire paper from online material.  I have no idea whether it's now typical to write a high school research paper this way or not.  At any rate, it seems doable.

CZ keeps finding interesting side topic material, and actually seems eager to do more research even after the paper is finished, and perhaps organize her findings into other papers. She's found a mystery in her topic that's worthy of a novel--a lost symphony!

This eagerness to research and write is a big change from even a year ago.  It should be a sign of hope for other homeschooling moms whose children didn't enjoy writing when they were younger.  I didn't push structured writing (other than a few regrettable and short-lived episodes) when CZ was younger, so this is her first experience with it, at an age when she has more stamina.  We've led a family life full of discussion and ideas, however, so it hasn't been that hard to pick up an expository format now that she needs it.  

Also, since CZ also has four performances and several subjects that all need call for study right now, I told her she could put geometry on hold for two weeks.  We both want to finish math soon, but in homeschooling we do have the happy option of rearranging things when necessary. And she could do all the work, but it wouldn't be done as well and she wouldn't learn as much from it.  Putting math on hold allows for a better-written paper, SAT II study, attention to assigned reading from outside classes, and violin practice.  

I remember getting to college and thinking that the workload there was much more manageable than high school because I only had three classes to prepare for at any one time, rather than seven. I had more time to make connections in each class. This is multam non multa in action.

On planning for next year:

Now that CZ has proved she can do rigorous work and keep up the pace of outside classes, I'm willing, and in fact eager, to take a more creative approach next year.  I haven't figured out every detail, partly because I'm looking for other people to share classes with, but I'm generally willing to give CZ more leeway in the content of the coursework now that she knows what rigorous work looks like. It's not that she didn't approve of what she took this year (in fact, she did want to take every class), but next year we might be able to do more of the same kinds of work where she chooses the books and topics herself and does more of the work on her own. I hope we do this.

Also, I had a really helpful meeting yesterday with a local homeschooling mom whose son is a freshman in a very selective college this year.  We had never really talked in detail about homeschooling before, but she was quite gracious in sharing her experiences. She sat down at her computer and showed me how her son's transcript worked, what sort of portfolio and application package they had put together, and how she had collected letters of recommendation from various teachers and activity leaders he had worked with through high school.  She even lent me some college search books.

While I have no doubt that this young man's success in being admitted to ivy-league and similar level colleges was mostly due to his phenomenal test scores, coursework, and dedication to a few worthwhile activities, I was also pleased to see that the family was able to put together a package that allowed their son's creativity to shine through. The writing (for the course descriptions, much of it his own) was almost whimsical in places.  I have no idea what CZ will do for college yet, but I found this meeting to be very encouraging, and I'm thankful that there are moms out there who've been through this already and are willing to share their experiences in a relaxed, encouraging way.  

Spring food

This week the spring farmers' market season started in earnest.  I was in my favorite local bookstore buying some Moleskine journals, and I told the checkout girl how much l liked the springy green covers. 

"And there's rhubarb and asparagus up at the farmers' market, too!" she added. 

That's just where I was headed! So I went farther up the street and bought both rhubarb and asparagus, and also bought some ramps (center of bottom left photo, above), a relative of the scallion. They taste somewhere between scallions and garlic scapes.  

But that wasn't even my main farmers' market run for the week.  I went to my usual market today. Oh, boy!  I went so overboard that I may have a hard time using everything I bought. You can see some of the items I bought in the photo at right above. (I always keep a list running on my kitchen board so that I won't forget things in the refrigerator. Vegetables are on the left, things I need to buy on the right.)  

At the Friday market I found yet another new (for me) vegetable: lamb's quarters (top left, above).  I'd heard of them, but had never tasted any. It turns out they have a nutty flavor, and are a sort of wild spinach, so they can be used like spinach or chard. I did a little research on them, because I wasn't sure whether they might be the same thing as lamb's lettuce, or mache. They're not. Some people call them quelites, or Good King Henry, but lamb's lettuce is something different.  Aren't you glad you know that now?  

There's one booth at the market that sells potted plants, so I stocked up for my two roof deck planters with parsley, sage, rosemary, and basil. My chives, tarragon, lavender, thyme, and some pansies survived the mild winter, so I don't have to replant them. And I have a zinnia that I sprouted from some seeds that I keep stored in my cabinet.

That leaves tomatoes. My planter boxes won't grow the large kind well, but they do just fine with cherry-size tomatoes. My mom had sent me some heirloom cherry tomato seeds from her own garden. She just picked them out of the tomatoes when she was making a salad and stuck them in an envelope. I was a little skeptical that they'd come up, so I dumped a bunch of them in one pot. I was even more skeptical when the zinnias came up and they didn't, so I bought some Sweet 100s tomatoes at the farmers' market a couple of weeks ago. (I'd never pass up the chance to buy Sweet 100s in April. Last year I couldn't find them until June.)  

This week, the heirloom tomatoes started coming up. Not just one of them, but four, five, and then on up to ten!  Oops, now I'm not even sure how to separate them!  But they were getting sort of leggy on my windowsill, so I put them in the box upstairs, too. I planted everything else today in the warm sun, gave it all a good watering, and covered the boxes with netting to keep out the Starlings.  I'm already harvesting thyme and chives, so it looks like we'll have a good roof deck season, and the sprinklers aren't even on yet.  I'm feeling very productive!   

Clockwise from top left: 1. pansies, parsley and basil 2. sage, rosemary, tarragon and chives (with Sweet 100s above) 3 & 4. Sprouted heirloom cherry tomatoes on different days 5. tarragon and chives 6. lavender, thyme, and the heirloom cherry tomatoes still in their pot.

N.T. Wright at Redeemer (notes)

Our family went to hear N.T. Wright speak last night at Redeemer. I'm going to post my notes here because I sense many connections to the Norms and Nobility conversation going on at Ordo Amoris, especially the Russell Kirk article that Dana posted, "Can Virtue Be Taught?" Since I am not able to write much on Norms and Nobility, perhaps these notes can be my contribution to the conversation.

This talk was on Bishop Wright's new book, After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters. I haven't read the book yet, because Bob is still reading our copy (we only purchased it recently). But he said that the talk was a good indicator of the contents of the book.

Bishop Wright has a very winsome presence, and this talk inspired me to hope and joy. I mention this because when I read Surprised by Hope a couple of years ago, I was ever so slightly annoyed that he seemed convinced that the average Christian has a no clue that there are two stages after death, thinks that this physical world is bad, and that heaven is somewhere ethereal to which we escape. I don't find this to be the case, but then, I may not know as much about the state of Christian belief as he does. At any rate, hearing Bishop Wright's tone in person dispelled any such misgivings immediately. The man is humble and funny, and better yet, sincerely delighted in the Lord.

Also, because I know that in some circles there are questions about Bishop Wright's commitment to salvation by grace, I will add that he emphasized that everything he says follows from grace, and in no way negates it. He had some clear and inspiring ways of making his point, but I may not have written them down as clearly as I should have. He did have a mild disagreement with Luther (see below), but it is possible to have a mild disagreement with Luther and believe in salvation by grace.

And finally, since I pulled myself off the sofa during a mild stomach virus to attend this talk, and since I was sitting only four rows from the front and didn't want to be constantly scribbling with my pen, my note-taking may have been a bit sub par. As always with notes, it's possible that I have missed something, or worse, misrepresented it. I haven't checked every scripture reference. And where something doesn't seem to be quite clear in my notes, I've filled in the sense of it from memory. Still, I hope this post gets the main points across.

***

When people talk about virtue, they usually approach it using philosophical texts, such as Aristotle, rather than the New Testament.

The tendency in our age is to criticize Christianity as legalistic because we would rather be spontaneous, authentic selves. But Christianity doesn't obliterate our God-given personalities. In 2 Corinthians 5, "more fully clothed" means that we are only a shadow of our future true selves, which will be facets of God's glory. Evil makes you a clone. The difference between God's way and the world's way is that we find this self by dying.

Aristotle's vision for the statesman was to cultivate four virtues: courage, justice, temperance, and prudence. They were like mental muscles that had to be exercised until they became second nature. This kind of character was the goal (or telos) of the statesman's education.

We become what we do. Anyone can learn a vice; all we have to do is slide along. Building character takes purposeful effort. Courage is developed with a thousand small decisions to put someone else's well-being before our own. These small decisions form a habit that holds when tested, as it did for Capt. Sullenberger when he landed a plane in the Hudson.

You can see from this example that virtue is not just following a bunch of legalistic rules. If Capt. Sullenberger had been an individualist or legalist, he would never have been able to react as gracefully as he did in an emergency. He would still have been consulting page 300 of the flight manual as the plane plunged into the Hudson. (He said this with a twinkle.)

Luther thought Catholic virtue was hypocrisy. The drift of modern Western thought is in agreement.

There was a large overlap between Christian virtue and the Greek. (He addresses this more fully below, and also during the Q & A.)

So what is our purpose (telos) here during this life, and in the New Heavens and the New Earth? We are supposed to be a royal priesthood. All Christians will share creative rule over the New Earth.

Aristotle's vision of character was for fine individuals to lead in battle. The Christian vision is corporate. (My note: Not in a business sense, but in the Christian sense, as in the Body of Christ. Americans have changed the meaning of the word to the point where it affects the way we run our churches.) Repeated behavior physically changes your brain (he mentioned a study that showed that the hippocampus of a London cabby was larger than that of most people because it contained a well-developed mental map of the city). Christian character should also change the brain.

(The following paragraph is one I'm not quite sure I got right.)

Modern Western (which Bishop Wright calls Romantic) thought is a reaction to Utilitarianism (or Consequentialism), the idea of trying to calculate which pragmatic action will bring the best outcome for the largest number of people possible. The problem with Utilitarianism is that we can't possibly calculate all the unintended consequences of our pragmatic actions. The Romantic reaction to Utilitarianism is that everything should be spontaneous. Unfortunately, Romanticism can lead to chaos. Also, spontaneity is itself a principle, so it contradicts its own philosophy. One can't decide spontaneously to be spontaneous.

The whole creation praises God, but only humans can add "because."

Some Christians start out thinking they have a calling, but they give up at the first difficulty, because it requires effort. They think effort isn't Christian because the Holy Spirit is supposed to work automatically. Often the way the Holy Spirit works, however, is by calling you to character. Grow up in your thinking; don't give up at the first resistance. 1 Corinthians 13 talks about past, present and future. "Put away childish thinking." Love is not our duty but our destiny. Hope is not merely optimism, but trust in the God of the future.

Galatians 5 on the fruit of the Spirit. Those led by the Spirit are not under the law. We misunderstand. We reject the ontology of rules, so we miss opportunities for growth. But the fruit does not grow automatically. (I think he means that by calling any attempt at self-discipline legalism, we miss opportunities for building character by the Spirit.)

New Christian life does bring dramatic change, especially at first, but we also need to tend and prune the tree in order to mature.

The list of fruit ends in self-control. The other characteristics on the list are easily counterfeit-able, but self-control is not. But the list is characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit, not a list of different fruits. Without self-control, the other characteristics are suspect. They all go together. (It's not like the lists of spiritual gifts that Paul uses.)

Joy is not happiness, but the fruit of settled conviction in the resurrection of Jesus. Joy springs from something that happened in space/time reality.

Christian virtues of the ancient world were: patience, humility, chastity, charity. The ancient pagan world didn't have much use for these. The pagans purposely cultivated pride. Christian character does make us better citizens, but we don't collude with the world. Instead we reflect the love of Christ. We collaborate without compromise. We critique without Dualism.

Q & A:

What are the first steps one should take to cultivate virtue?

You want to start the opposite of a vicious cycle, a virtuous cycle. Read the Scripture--sometimes in detail and sometimes as a whole. Also, read stories of men and women of faith (example, Maximilian Kolbe, a priest who quickly substituted himself for a family man who was going to be executed in a concentration camp).

Then bring it into the Body:

The person and the community do not cancel one another out; only the individual and the collective do. New Yorkers will have to work harder at community than the English, who have been settled in their parishes for generations. (Yes!) They will also have to work harder at keeping different kinds of people in their fellowship.

How to you keep virtue from reverting into legalism?

(His answer has to do with the purpose of the Law, which isn't sufficient in itself.) The Law is like a crash barrier. It stops you from doing something disastrous, but you still need to learn how to drive well. Legalism is an attitude that can creep into anything, even our efforts not to be legalistic.

What are the similarities and differences between our idea of virtue and that of those who don't believe?

There is a lot of overlap. We all know certain things in our bones, but also that we don't live up to them. "Press on toward the goal" is virtue language. (I didn't do a very good job writing this one down.)

What are your own disciplines?

Bible reading and prayer. The Psalms are the backbone. They run the gamut of emotional experiences, and they encourage you to pray. C.S. Lewis said Psalm 19 was the greatest poem ever written.

Also the sacraments.

Could you speak on the role of suffering in creating virtue?

Christians had had various traditions of suffering, such as flagellation, but regardless, suffering will come and find you. Romans 8 speaks to suffering. The Corinthians were ashamed of Paul because he suffered. When you suffer, you only realize in retrospect what you've learned from it. That suffering has beneficial aspects is often counter-intuitive to young, successful people.

What is the Holy Spirit's role in character development over time?

Read 1 Corinthians 15 and Colossians 1. There is a paradox of the Spirit. The Spirit may tell our minds that we should do certain things, and then we follow up. We don't possess the Spirit; the Spirit possesses us. But we can create favorable conditions for the Spirit, as a gardener does for his plants. Jesus said we don't see the Spirit, but we know he has come. His workings are mysterious.

What is the role of worship in creating virtue?

Read Revelations 4-5 as a description of worship. You become what you worship.

What is the difference between the Christian virtue of love and the pagan one?

Love wasn't a primary virtue for Aristotle. It was lower on the list. One does see love in the letters of Cicero, for example. But pagan love has no sense of obligation to those outside one's own family or social class. In Christianity, love centers on the gospel.

Recital today

We're going to hear our friend Nicole's senior recital at Juilliard today. Nicole's mom, Elaiza, was CZ's first violin teacher. Nicole began the Juilliard precollege program at age seven and is now graduating from the college. She immigrated from Venezuela for her music and has made many sacrifices along the way. She is a lovely young woman and, obviously, an excellent violinist! We're delighted to hear her play today.

If you click on the photo, you can see what she'll be playing.

First birds of 2010

A Palm Warbler. This one is awfully cute, but he's not in his spring plumage, so if you want to see his rust-colored cap, try this copyrighted photo.

(If you haven't read this blog in the spring before, be forewarned. I get really enthusiastic about warbler migration! If you're one of those people who doesn't see the fun in spending hours looking straight up into trees with binoculars during pollen season, I won't be offended! It should be safe to return by early June.)

I was able to spend about an hour birding in Riverside Park yesterday. It was a cool, windy day which blew clouds rapidly over the Hudson and further dappled the light under the new, yellow-green leaves. I wore a wool jacket, but I didn't really need gloves.

Here's what I saw:

2 American Kestrels, squabbling high in a tree. Their querulous cries where what made me notice them.

4 Mourning Doves

1 Red-bellied Woodpecker, carving out a hole in the same spot as last year. I really admire his persistence, as last year's nest got taken over by Starlings. At first I thought this bird had really worn feathers, but eventually I realized he was all ruffled because his head would scrape the top of the hole on each strike.

1 Northern Flicker

2 Blue Jays, chasing one another

1 Black-capped Chickadee, heard only

1 wren, but only saw the silhouette so I'm not sure what type

2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, one with his bright red crest up, furiously chasing the other

Robins everywhere. Singing, of course!

Yellow-rumped Warblers, several

1 Pine Warbler

Palm Warblers, lots and lots of them flying from tree to tree with the Yellow-Rumps and Pine Warbler, all eating catkins

2 Eastern Towhees

2 Chipping Sparrows

White-throated Sparrows, still around for now, calling, "Oh say, Canada! Canada!" I think they're homesick. Their friends the Juncos are gone.

2 Cardinals, an obvious pair

These birds were not here a week ago. I don't even think they were here three days ago. So these are the very first arrivals!

I was somewhat surprised to see so many Palm Warblers, since usually the Yellow-rumps arrive first, and in such large numbers that for about two weeks they're almost as common as House Sparrows. If House Sparrows are the street urchins of the bird world, Yellow-rumps are the bird equivalent to the zucchini squash--early and abundant, yet still seasonal enough that you're delighted to see them make an appearance.

Chipping Sparrow

All photos from Wikipedia Commons.

Does he know about this chair?

The Chair arrived yesterday.

I don't know when Bob started asking for it. We've never had enough comfortable places to sit in our living room, and when we have visitors, someone inevitably ends up on the floor with pillows instead.

Last summer, Bob told me that if I'd just get a chair, he'd get rid of the TV. I knew this was a golden moment, so I jumped on it: I disconnected the cable, and the doorman toddled out of our apartment with our ancient Sony. So then we had a hole, like a gap tooth, awaiting the Chair.

The problem is, I don't have many opportunities to buy furniture, so I'm sort of perfectionistic about it. I took two trips to a store to look at chairs, one with Bob. Then I started looking for fabric. There was only one more color I could pull out of the rug that would look good in the room, and that was a dark, cool charcoal--no pattern. I wanted a velvety texture...just because. I went through every fabric book in the store, and started on other stores. I'd bring home the little swatches and put them on the floor, then turn them a quarter turn to see how they caught the light. I'd get busy and forget about them. The one I liked best only came in a 1" x 2" swatch, so I had to order a yard. It got backordered. My mother-in-law came up and didn't like it. My sister suggested other colors. Six months went by. Finally I ordered cool charcoal velvet anyway.

Bob, patient man that he is, didn't complain, but he would occasionally ask wistfully, "When is the chair coming?" It's the same plaintive tone he gets when I cook vegetarian too many nights in a row.

Last week I got the call: When could they deliver the chair? CZ and I looked at one another and said in unison, "Shh, don't tell Daddy!" Yesterday, the appointed day, the delivery window came and went. Finally I got a call from the delivery man: "I'm at__________. Where are you?" Someone had given him our old address on the East Side! We rescheduled for later in the afternoon. That window came and went. Our phone went out (it's been doing that lately). It was almost time for Bob to come home.

Finally, at six p.m., the buzzer rang. The delivery man, obviously happy to be at the end of his day, dropped the chair into place with a smile and whisked off the plastic. Voila! My cell phone rang. It was Bob wanting to know why he couldn't reach us on the house phone. CZ ran into the bedroom to muffle the delivery man's booming voice and disco cell phone, and made excuses for me.

Was it worth it? Less than an hour later, we watched Bob walk into the apartment, talking about something else. He turned the corner to put his backpack on the chair, saw that it was a different chair, and jumped back in exaggerated surprise. "Ah!" he gasped. "The Chair! It's here!"

So last night after dinner we all got our books and sat in our places: I in my spot on the side of the sofa next to the table, Bob in his green chair with the ottoman, and CZ in the new chair. (After all, she was the one who usually got stuck on the floor.)

And there was great rejoicing.

The calm before the storm

Ah, it's so nice to have a moment to sit down and reflect again! Our family has just been through a logistical whirlwind. We've done so much that I've forgotten what all we did!

This weekend CZ performed in a "gala." It was the follow up to February's performance competition. Before Saturday night, I wasn't even entirely sure what a gala was--only that it seemed to involve a long, sparkly dress and a lot of drama in the presentation. But now I know!

I dislike shopping so much that I almost waited too late to buy the dress, but finally CZ and I took a day off from studies and went to Macy's in Herald Square. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I didn't realize that school was out, that we were in high prom season, and that the store was having a one-day sale (on everything but prom dresses), and that they were also having a flower show. I never saw so many people in one store before! After three hours, we were standing in a long line of high school girls for a second round in the fitting room, listening to disco music that was so loud we could barely hear each other, and wilting under the harsh fluorescent lighting. CZ remarked, "When I've had it with shopping, my throats starts to hurt. It really hurts right now." But we persevered, and we came away with a long, blue, sparkly dress with a scarf thing in the back. And three others that will go back to the store. We got the job done.

The gala went well, and was even more pleasant that I expected, considering that the week leading up to it had been emotionally draining. CZ made all the Saint-Saens concerto's difficult runs and high notes, flung her bow around with an extra bit of flair, and got spontaneous applause at the end, which is exactly what you want to hear when you perform. And one of her friends showed up unannounced, with her mom, so it was a nice surprise to have that extra support.

The show itself was nothing like a conservatory style performance, but included a bit of everything--Broadway vocals, arias, a one act play, tap dancing to Sinatra, an appearance by a former Miss America finalist, and a hilariously campy spoof on Abba's "Money, Money, Money." The theater director MCed the show. Even the theater's dog made an appearance. It was indeed a gala!

Now we're fully into end-of-year recital season. CZ is at her accompanist's recital as we speak, in fact. We'll attend a family friend's graduation recital at Juilliard next week. And no doubt we'll go to other performances that I don't even know about yet. In the next few weeks, CZ herself will have performances for chamber music, composition, orchestra, and of course, her solo jury, which is like a violinist's final exam. We'll probably have another recording made as well.

Did I say it was a nice time to reflect? It's more like the calm before the storm!