I want to begin by wishing you all a blessed feast of the Annunciation of the Good News by the Archangel Gabriel to Mary! All around the world, Christians are celebrating this great event, recounted in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke.  This “annunciation” - an older way of saying “announcement” - comes in the form of a twofold message from the archangel. First, Gabriel hails Mary with an imperative: “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”  Mary...

In our studies of the history of the world in 2nd grade, my class has recently landed in the fascinating and tumultuous world of Ancient Rome. From Romulus and Remus through the days of the Republic right up to, most recently, Julius Caesar, the stories, historical accounts, and myths of ancient Rome have captured and enraptured the second-grade students. They’re not the only ones. I was fortunate enough in college to spend 6 months studying in the beautiful city of Rome. There, history is not...

The Athenian philosopher Socrates taught that the proper education of children safeguards the integrity and durability of civilization. Why? Because the “proper” education of children – a classical education – ensures that the mind, body, and soul of each student are strengthened and refined in the activities that are natural to them: thinking, acting, and living “the examined life.” For Socrates, education should create the internal conditions – virtue, wisdom, and the love of truth – out of...

For me, the heart of the nature poem has always been grounded in its need to pronounce—again and again—that the world is and for no reason. The journals of Lewis and Clark, replete with the struggle and urgency to find a language for the expanse and abundance of the world they were confronted by, added over 1,500 words to the American language. Or think of the child’s hunger for words—what’s this, the child asks, what’s this, what’s this. -Robert Cording, “To Discover an Order as of a Season”...

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and critically.  Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.”  Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. I spent sometime earlier this month reading through quotes of the Civil Rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Rev. King’s inspiration for his work and writings came from a deeply rooted Christian upbringing and beliefs. For almost every quote I read, a Biblical equivalent came to mind. His words resonate, not...

[Post #5 on Vigen Guroian’s Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken A Child’s Moral Imagination] In this final post on Guroian’s Tending the Heart of Virtue, we’ll review and reflect upon the content of chapters 5-6 as well as the book’s conclusion, drawing a final lesson for ourselves as parents, teachers, and educators of children. Chapter 5 Guroian turns in chapter 5 to Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen and C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to explore...

[Post #4 on Guroian, Tending the Heart of Virtue, chapters 2-4] In our last post on Guroian's great book, we discussed the difference between virtues and values, and how classical stories narrate the transformation of the human person through the acquisition and sustenance of virtue. Values have a place, but a subordinate one to virtue. In today’s post, which will be the penultimate reflection on Guroian’s Tending the Heart of Virtue, I will offer a summary of chapters 2-4, and Guroian’s...

[Post #3 on Guroian’s Tending the Heart of Virtue] In our last post on Guroian’s Tending the Heart of Virtue, we discussed some of the ways in which stories appeal to and influence the moral imagination of children. Guroian elaborates further on this in chapter 1: “Fairy tales and fantasy stories transport the reader into other worlds that are fresh with wonder, surprise, and danger. They challenge the reader to make sense out of those other worlds, to navigate his way through them, and to...