As a busy homeschooling mom, it is easy for me to put all of my needs and desires on the back burner. I know that taking care of myself is important, and I do see the value in it. I just have a very difficult time making it happen during the daily-ness of life.
This reality is why we have started the Expanding Wisdom community. I am done pretending that my best intention will help me follow through. I have tried that, and it just does not work for me. I need Jesus, accountability, and encouragement. Outside of a divine connection these things can only come from real people! The Expanding Wisdom community is a group of people who are interested in classical education and pursuing the true, good, and beautiful and want to connect with others who feel the same way. We have created a private Facebook group for us all to connect, ask questions, and share thoughts and ideas. In addition, we have started a mini reading group! This year we are reading Dante’s Inferno
Maybe you have read many classics and would like to discuss with other moms or maybe you have never read a classic and you long to become acquainted with some. Either way, we have room for you. See at the end of this post for the information on how to join.
If you are thinking “I would have no idea where to begin.” then rest assured, I have 5 tips to help you on your way. These tips have helped me go from never having read a classic, to being completely enchanted by them and teaching them to moms and high school students.
Tip #1: Choose a Question
Choosing a question is the most important thing to do, especially if you can only do one thing. Choose a question to ask yourself as you read through the book. This question could be related to a theme or event in the book. It could be a question about reality in which the book speaks to. This question will then drive your reading in a powerful way, allowing you to go deeper and notice things you may have never noticed otherwise. For example, in Dante, I am asking myself “Does love touch every created thing?” I am also thinking about the topics of freewill and lordship. How did I come up with these questions? I read the overview of Dante in the book ‘Invitation to the Classics.’ Your question should be something that you wonder about that the book has the potential to speak to.
Tip #2: Read a brief overview or synopsis of the book
The purpose for this is twofold. First, you have to know enough about the book in order to know what questions you can ask about it. Of course, you can ask anything, and you will discover something in that asking, but some questions will yield a harvest that is larger and richer based on the book. Second, knowing a bit about the author and a very brief outline of the book is helpful for placing you as you begin reading. With that said, the only danger to be careful of here is reading a lengthy review that “tells” you the whole book and what to think about it. Something short is more than sufficient. My first choice is ‘Invitation to the Classics’ because it does read the book for you and it presents several questions you could ask yourself while you read. If I have to, I will read from spark notes, but I only read the overview. Read enough to place yourself and read enough to get a sense for some questions you could ask yourself as you read.
Tip #3: Use the tool of highlighting and writing in your book
I know some feel like this is a no-no, but I have to say it is a powerful tool for many reasons. First, education is about forming relationships. When you highlight and write in your book, you are making the book yours! You own it in a special way. Owning your learning is essential for helping yourself to exercise your mind in a scholarly way. Second, it becomes a reference point for discussion and further study. I use Andrew Kern’s highlighting system. There is an article over at CiRCE called ‘On Wrecking Books to Bring them to Life’ I encourage you to read it. It also explains the colors and their purpose. If you are going to use the highlighting system, I will HIGHLY recommend only to use pink and blue in the beginning, I learned this the hard way.
Tip #4: Multiple Readings
With the classics, we could read them for the rest of our lives and never be done learning more about them. We need these layered reading to widen our understanding. Mortimer Adler wrote a great book about this called ‘How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading‘. The way I am going to implement this, so I don’t get overwhelmed and try to do too much, is by integrating this tip with the highlighting tip. Each week I will begin by taking a few minutes to skim the canto or pages I am reading and highlight every Proper noun or date in pink, pink is for people and places. I am not reading slowly at this point just skimming for information. Second, I skim again with green to find the major “scene changes.” Usually for books like Dante, Homer, and Virgil, they are structured around speeches, so I browse for quotation marks and highlight the sentence before the quotation marks. The green places you. (If you are just beginning, skip this reading/highlighting step) Lastly, I go back and start at the beginning of my reading selection for the week and read slowly with my pen/pencil and my blue highlighter next to me. Blue is for something I would want to put on a poster or use at the beginning of an essay. Blue is used to highlight a quote or passage that resonates with you and makes you want to memorize it or stop for a moment and contemplate. In addition, at times I will think of something or make a connection that I want to remember. I may jot this in the margin of my book or make a no
te in my commonplace journal, this, of course, brings us to our final tip.
Tip #5: Keep a Commonplace Journal
This tool is both beautiful, helpful, and has legacy potential. Not only will it give you a place where you can process through the thoughts swimming in your mind, but it is also a place you can record your favorite quotes, connections you have made and anything else that delights you. A commonplace journal would also be a treasure for your descendants to discover and explore. What a cool way to leave a legacy of learning and thinking to generations to come. I like choosing beautiful journals, Barnes & Nobles has many pretty journals to choose from as does Etsy, who even has many handmade books for sale.
These five tips, combined with reading great books in a community of friends has been the most important activities in my journey of intellectual and academic redemption. If the ideal of reading great books and having deep and meaningful encounters with them is appealing to you, then this community and these tips are where we should start.
To join, enter your name and email below. You will receive an email with a link to our Facebook group. When you get there just click ‘Request to join’, and I will approve you! I am so excited to connect and read with you all. If you are already part of the community check past emails from us or contact me to send you a new link.
Expanding Wisdom, extending grace,
Jen
This was really helpful! I wasn’t much of a reader in my younger days, but now that I’m homeschooling, I read SO much more. I hope these will help me get more out of what I read!
That is awesome, I am so glad it is helpful, thank you!