27 November 2010

Blogger seems to be having some difficulties, on this computer, anyhow.   I will email students with lesson plans later on Monday. 

Week of 20 September 2010

Monday and Tuesday:   Please continue on Chapter 4 Vocabulary; review descriptive adjectives and strong verbs.

We are going to seriously dig into Augustine.   Read from the Preface to Chapter 6  (that means ALL of it).  

Write down and define any words unfamiliar to you:  possibly providential, pious, contemplation, audible, atmospheric, besotting, inveterate, assent, incorporeal, condescension.

Wednesday:  Chapter 4 Vocabulary quiz and we will discuss and write about some of Augustine's ideas about which you are reading.

Thursday:  Begin on Chap. 5 Vocabulary. 

Friday:  Read and KWO Of the Nature of the First Days, Which are Said to Have Had Morning and Evening, Before There Was a Sun 

Week of 13 September 2010

Monday:  We will continue with our study of some of the writings of Augustine of Hippo.   City of God is available here, and through e-book readers such as Kindle, Nook, and on your iPhone.  While Barnes and Noble has an inexpensive edition, I don't recommend purchasing it as we will only read excerpts. 

Please take Monday to briefly read Augustine's preface and Of the Adversaries in the Name of Christ. and What Subjects Are to Be Handled in the Following Discourse and familiarize yourself with the historical and social  background in which he was writing.   The selection is fairly light.   Please continue to work on your Chap. 3 vocabulary study.   You are likely to see some big words that you don't know in your reading this week.   Write down and define any words unfamiliar to you!

Tuesday:  Finish Ch. 3 Vocabulary.  Read  Reasons For Burying the Bodies of the Saints; That We Should Not Endeavor By Sin to Obviate Sin;  That the Overthrow of Rome Has Not Corrected the Vices of the Romans. 


Wednesday:   We will have a Vocabulary quiz on Chapters 2 and 3.   I will also be introducing some writing techniques and we will do a writing exercise on Augustine of Hippo, so please ensure that you come to class having read the assignments.   


Thursday:  Begin  Ch. 4 Vocabulary.   Read Introduction to Book 2;  That the Gods of the Pagans Never Inculcated Holiness of Life;  and the Introduction to Book 5. 


Friday:   Continue Ch. 5 Vocabulary.   Read Concerning the Universal Providence of God in the Laws of Which All Things are Comprehended.  

Week of 6 September 2010

Happy Labor Day holiday! 

Tuesday:  Vocab. pp. 15-16
KWO as we discussed in class

Wednesday:  Class; bring KWO; prepare for vocab quiz
Thursday:  Vocab Chap. 3
Fridays:  Begin writing summaries, continue your Vocab ch. 3





 

Unit 1 Vocabulary Quiz

Take a sneak peek at your vocabulary quiz in the form of a crossword puzzle here! 

Lesson Plans, Week of 30 August 2010

This week, we will continue with the Vocabulary that we began last week, and we will begin St. Augustine's Confessions. 

Monday:  Begin by doing some exploration at the library, with an encyclopedia, or on the Internet (with your parent of course!) on what the culture was like during the time of St. Augustine and his early life.   http://www.iep.utm.edu/augustin/; worldwidefreeresources.com/upload/CH310_T_15.pdf and philosophy.fullcoll.edu/resources/profiles/augustine.pdf are  resources I like, but as always, please involve your parents as you use the Internet!

PP. 10-12 Vocab.  (up to Synonyms)

Tuesday:  PP. 12-14 Vocab;  Continue to read and explore the life of St. Augustine

Wednesday:  Vocab Quiz;
Introduction to Literary Analysis
Begin reading St. Augustine's CONFESSIONS

Thursday:  Vocab pp. 15-16 Definitions
Read CONFESSIONS


Friday:  Vocab pp. 16-17 
Continue reading CONFESSIONS

 

We Have Cause To Be Uneasy

In C.S. Lewis' masterful tome, Mere Christianity,  he systematically burns strawmen, fishes out red herrings, and in short dismantles the foundations of unbelief.  

I've been teaching Christian students for many years now, and have found that, with few exceptions, the world-view of my students is not much different than that of the postmodern world in which we live.   In addition, too many of us have grown intellectually fat and lazy... we don't know what we know, and we don't know how to rebut when the world challenges our faith on an intellectual level.  

Too many of our students will fall away from the "faith once delivered" once they reach college.

My goal is to teach Christian students to actively engage our culture for Christ.   Once in a while, I have been criticized for including "pagan" literature in my syllabi... why on earth, wonder faithful parents, would I do such a thing, when there is much in the Western canon that doesn't feature licentiousness, debauchery, vice and so forth (I Peter 4:3, Ephesians 5:18 et al) that we as believers are clearly to avoid, not embrace?

For one, we have the example of the Apostle Paul.  

I can't say it any more clearly.    I also highly recommend the book linked below.

About Secondary Composition and Literature

Welcome!  The purpose of this blog is to communicate with high school English class at our homeschool co-op in Birmingham, Alabama.  Assignments will be posted here.  

Course Description:  This is a high-school level survey of literary and historical selections from the Fall of Rome to the immediate Post-Reformation.    The class will feature weekly reading and writing assignments.    Lesson plans and assignments for the following week will be posted at the class blog on Fridays by 6 pm:  Http://wehavecausetobeuneasy.blogspot.com  (the title is a reference from C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity, in case you were wondering!)

Prerequisites:  Students should have a basic understanding of parts of speech, the ability to construct cohesive sentences, and the willingness to tackle challenging material, and the willingness to put forth the effort to master it with the help of their instructor and parent teachers. 

Student Expectations:  Students should check the blog, know their assignments, be prepared to spend about four hours per week on course assignments.   They should come to class having read the material assigned and having writing assignments completed. 

Texts:   Students will need Macbeth (Shakespeare Made Easy) and selections provided below.  I will post links to them on the class blog.  

Selections:

Augustine, from The Confessions of St. Augustine

Augustine, from The City of God

Benedict of Nursia, from The Rule of St. Benedict

Tacitus, from The Early Germans

Magna Carta

Geoffrey Chaucer, from The Canterbury Tales

Thomas Aquinas, from Whether God Exists

Thomas Aquinas, from Of Cheating and Of the Sin of Usury

Niccolo Machiavelli, from The Prince

Dante Alighieri, from The Divine Comedy

Erasmus, from In Praise of Folly

Martin Luther, from Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation

John  Calvin, from The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Convocation of the Clergy, from The Thirty-Nine Articles

Council of Trent, from The Decrees of the Council of Trent

Jacques Benigne Bousset, from Political Economy Drawn from Holy Scripture

Thomas Hobbes, from The Leviathan

John Locke, from The Second Treatise on Government

John Locke, from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Voltaire, from Candide