Goals are a Good Thing

Okay, for those of you who have made some internal resolution to take up the WEM and join in this pursuit,  here's an accessible challenge for us:  Let's get to chapter XX by Jan 9.  My friend / reading partner is probably already on chapter XXXLVINLIGHTINGREADERXXXIVL, but that's okay.  She can sit down and wait for me to catch up now that the new year is upon me and I'm fresh with new resolution and intent. 

If you are reading this for the sport of watching people set goals and not reach them so as to make yourself feel better...tsk, tsk...go get a copy and join in the fun.  Better buy one.  The library doesn't have enough renews to keep you going on DQ.

Don Quixote is on Bed Rest

The holidays and illness have knocked me off the noble steed that was carrying me into the world of Don Quixote de La Mancha.  I am ashamed to admit that I am not much further along than when I previously posted.  There are a few quiet days ahead of me here without many commitments.  I'm sure my friend Heather who agreed to read and discuss the book with me as a "reading partner" is going to find me a bit of a ball and chain in the undertaking.  Nevertheless...I post my confession and will get back to it.

I have to say, though, that I think that SWB makes this the first undertaking in her book The Well Educated Mind not so much for the value of the novel, but to test the mettle of the readers who take her challenge to become the autodidacts they claim they want to be.  I won't let you down, Susan!  I am up to the task (or will be as soon as my head clears from this cold!)

The Accidental Field Trip

I called our friends to invite them to play yesterday afternoon, and on a whim she invited us to join them on an outing to a local dairy farm.  Some other families were going to investigate the possibility of buying a cow share so as to get raw milk.  I was interested, it sounded fun, so off we went.  It was muddy, but very nice for the children to see all the animals, and we were delighted with the new calves.  Here are a couple of the fun moments on the farm...Oh yes, and I am seriously considering a share to have the raw milk.  It's wonderful stuff.

Many Pages and Teeny, Tiny Print, or I'm Only on Chapter 3?!

Don Quixote is a long, long, book.  I know this undertaking is supposed to be educational, and intellectual, but with the pace my life has been taking lately, I imagine that it could take me the better part of my lifetime to read this monstrosity.  Okay, now that I've had a good rant about the stack of pages and teeny, tiny print I see sitting beside my reading chair...

I have to admit that I actually find this book to be very amusing.  I've only made it through chapter 3, but I love the scene in which the sordid inn where he stays for the night becomes the castle, the prostitutes are the "damsels in distress" and the muleteers become his hapless victims.  Finally in exasperation, the innkeeper knights the lunatic and sends him on his way.

On to chapter four...if I can stay awake.  The only problem with reading at night is that it is, well, night time and I tend to not retain what I've read as much.  The problem with reading in the morning is that I have my quiet time when I first get up.  I've also undertaken to read the entire Bible chronologically.  I've never read the Bible cover-to-cover, though I've probably read all or most of the Bible.  This morning I finished Leviticus.  I began that reading journey on November 3, so I'm covering a lot more territory reading the Good Book.  Can't help but say I find it far more inspiring, interesting and thought provoking than Don Quixote so far. 

Face it, as busy moms and homemakers, life gets in the way.  I'll excuse myself if D.Q. takes a while.  It doesn't look like Cervantes meant for it to be read in a rush, anyway.

The First Step of the Thousand Mile Journey

What I know about Don Quixote from my personal experience is limited. I never thought much about this book, and certainly never knew it was the watershed work that was the foundation of the literary genre known as “the novel.” I knew that it involved a madman chasing windmills, but I have no concept of how that is incorporated into the plot of the book.

After reading the introduction I am thoroughly irritated because of the scholar’s insistence on spoiling the plot in the second paragraph. Yes, it is a literary masterpiece, and yes, I am reading it as an educational pursuit, but I’d still like to enjoy the book as a plot unfolding! Nevertheless the introduction laid out some important background knowledge about Cervante’s life and personal pursuits, as well as how the tale of Don Quixote de la Mancha is told.

Ch. 1 – Tells how Don Quixote went mad by becoming so enmeshed in stories of chivalry and thereby decided to become a knight-errant.

The Well Educated Mind, A Journey's First Step

Here I begin my survey of human history from my human perspective.  I have undertaken the reading of The Well Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer because I want to learn the art of self-education, and not remain stagnant.  I also truly desire to model this for my chilren, that no one may take them captive through deceptive practices and doctrines.  I believe I must first articulate the reasons why I care to do this, because in so doing I may remind myself as to why I undertook this quest in the first place.  I am not what you might call a voracious reader.  I have a ravenous appetite, but continually strive against my lack of self-discipline and sometimes practical issues such as the physical exhaustion that comes from raising and homeschooling two children. 

I have concluded, then, that “slow and steady wins the race.”  I have throughout my life believed that anything done must be done with all gusto and fervor, and when that intensity cannot be sustained, then I must have failed to have the necessary passion to complete the project well.  Failure.  So here I begin to shed this erroneous belief and embark upon the journey which will likely be long and arduous and feel more like failures than successes, but I will fill my mind with valuable things, even though it will take me a lifetime. 

I should note that coinciding with this project I have also undertaken to study God’s perspective on human history and am reading the Bible through chronologically.  (Today I finished the book of Exodus.)  I am keeping a hand-written journal beside me as I read, since I prefer the intimacy of that medium for study of spiritual matters.  Also, I want to avoid the computer’s interference with my thoughts of God, as I am so easily distracted by, well, computer-y things.  This too, is a matter of self-discipline.

Bauer (SWB) says, “Sustained serious reading is at the center of the self-education project…Reading alone allows us to reach out beyond the restrictions of time and space, to take part in what Mortimer Adler has called the “Great Conversation” of ideas that began in ancient times and has continued unbroken to the present.  Reading makes us part of the Great Conversation, no matter where and when we pursue it.”

And so I begin.  I will keep a journal (in blog format) in keeping with SWB’s recommendations, and will probably make personal adjustments as I go.  I may or may not stick exclusively to her list, but at least at the outset I will keep her structure, so as to establish the discipline and get on track.