Plutarch's Lives

Why do we read Plutarch's Lives in Charlotte Mason education?  Studying greek leadership, the rise and fall of leaders, their choices and consequences is valuable for developing children's idea of what makes a good citizen, good country and good government.  They learn leadership principles.  What is fascinating to me beyond that is how studying Plutarch was important to many great leaders of history including:

George Washington
Ben Franklin
Thomas More
Montaigne: Creator of the Essay
Dietrich Bonhoeffer took three books to prison: Plutarch's Lives, Goethe and the Bible.

I plan to add to this list I created from memory as I continue to study and learn.  I keep finding more and more leaders of the past who studied Plutarch's Lives.

Becoming a Man...by Rudyard Kipling

If 
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

Girls & Boys Groups

This morning after snagging a cantelope from the Farmer's Market, I jumped in the van with the fam.  Chad dropped all the girls at the "Daughters of Destiny" brunch and Bible study.  Over tea and Mexican pastries we studied themes related to this book:

Then, Chad and Tom headed over to pound nails and eat donuts and Mike's.  They are studying this book:

We are a multicultural bunch united by a vision to raise Godly boys and girls.  I am so thankful for the fellowship and friends who are supporting us. 

Letter N

I love personalizing the kids school. Tom lined up his cars on letter N. I was thinking about having Bethan spell a word, get one nail painted, spell a word, another painted...maybe Friday. This is all new for me and the possibilities for making things fun and tailored keep opening up as I go. These days Abi is blogging as I mentioned before 18inchdolls.net. She loves the conversational aspect...she's way into the comments section. She is also learning Amharic with me. This afternoon she quizzed me as I deboned chicken. While we were shopping for a birthday gift yesterday, she kept seeing "Disney". I told them 1 penny for every Disney word they find IN THE HOUSE. There's no way I would do that in Target--I'd be broke. What struck me was the ramble of facts about Walt Disney that came following her discovery...things she had learned because I grabbed a stack of books on cartooning and Disney at the library. He is our "modern art" focus for the term. It has been really fun and has encouraged the kids to get back into drawing. Bethan surprised me by reading one book instead of watching a movie. Its called "Adventures in Cartooning"