I'll take Shakespeare over Freud any day!

A couple of years ago, I watched the wonderful video series by Michael Wood called "In Search of Shakespeare." While some of the commentary reflects a very heterodox approach to Christianity, there is a pursuit of truth that is quite refreshing. So, anyway, I had watched this on the small screen of my laptop tucked away in the corner of our kitchen in Roswell. At the time, I had ordered, and was impatiently awaiting Joseph Pearce's book on Shakespeare. Back to the PBS series -- I was amazed to see a secular production also making the case for Shakespeare being not just an "ethnic Catholic" but one who was actively, if not secretly, involved in the "old faith". Last night, I watched the series again on our large-screen television. It was very moving.

This morning I have had some quiet time to pause and reflect on what it is to be a parent in these crazy times...what it is to be a crazy homeschooling parent in these lazy times....what it is for me to be such a "lazy daisy" in these hardworking times....

I love the LovetoLearn website and read this review with much interest. Turns out Freud was wrong about siblings! Big surprise!!! I need to drink some more coffee before I try to write more, or maybe I'll just throw all this out there as a challenge to myself and others to live a life full of common sense and right religion. It is not about being "right" the way moderns tend to think of it. It is about being right in the sense of being as good as we possibly can be. It is hard to be as good as we possibly can be without the priesthood and all seven sacraments of Mother Church. There is no getting around this. I am not "right" because I adhere to Mother Church. I adhere to the Magisterial teachings of the Church because I am acutely aware of how weak I am as a human being, and how generous God is in His Love for me. There are many errors of modernism, but the one that I have seen and experienced, time and time again in my own life, is the error that we humans are in charge of our destinies. The result of this error is always the worship of the State.

I could really go off on a tangent about modernism and think it a topic that is really brewing in this great country. If we --including me-- would stop watching and listening so much, and really engage our fellow man, then we would shake the trappings of modernism off and move forward as a truly courageous America, washed of its errors and tempatations. I do not think America has a chance as long as her Christians are divided.

Back down to earth, I am working on re-integrating art and music back into our curriculum. The hybrid school overall is just what the doctor ordered for this family. The competition is healthy and the schedule leaves lots of time for us to be together and learn together. I want to go over here to one of Elizabeth Foss's beautiful unit studies on music.

To close on a musical and hopeful note, one lesson I worked on with our young son this past Friday was a lovely story in his Abeka reader about the story behind the writing of "America the Beautiful," which as corn-ball as it sounds, is one of my favorite songs (If I get hit by a bus tomorrow, please play this at my funeral.). So, in the spirit of this song, may God truly mend our every flaw!

Quick movie log

If "you are what you watch," what does this "video salad" say about us?

This list is over the summer. We read more than we watch but, we do like our Netflix "Roku" boxes. The kids have been outside riding bikes and playing in the cul-de-sac. Once or twice a week, Dad and Mom "pop in" a video, usually something to do with WWII. Here is a quick list:

War of 1812, History Chan.
Tora, Tora, Tora -- that was fun, as kids and grandparents watched too
Midway
Patton -- My second favorite; I thought Patton should of pushed east and gone after Stalin.

Quo Vadis? -- This was, by far, my favorite...we know the early Christians were fed to lions and other cruel and hideous forms of "sport" in the Coliseum, but this movie really gives you a feeling for what it would have been like to approach such suffering with certain valor
Mark Twain, an A&E Biography
The Third Man, film noir evidently, started slow, but good ending, starring a very young Orson Welles
A Bridge Too Far

Girls' Weekend at Lake Chatuge, 9/5-6