Cultivate your capacities for amazement – you won’t worship
without it. There are a lot of boring worship services in the world filled with
people who have killed their capacities for amazement by watching tv hour after
hour after hour so that the only thing that excites them is the imbecility of
sitcoms and they have zero capacity to be blown away by glory of God. -John Piper
How do we prepare a child, again, to use the aesthetic sense with which he appears to come provided? His education should furnish him with whole galleries of mental pictures, pictures by great artists old and new…––in fact, every child should leave school with at least a couple of hundred pictures by great masters hanging permanently in the halls of his imagination, to say nothing of great buildings, sculpture, beauty of form and colour in things he sees. Perhaps we might secure at least a hundred lovely landscapes too,––sunsets, cloudscapes, starlight nights. At any rate he should go forth well furnished because imagination has the property of magical expansion, the more it holds the more it will hold. – Mason, 6.43
Sigh. I wish I could get across to you how I came into this whole homeschooling thing with such a germ of imagination. It had been pretty much pounded out of me. Those of you embarking on this journey will watch your own imagination begin to blossom and grow as you cultivate your capacities for amazement. And you get to share it all with your children.
From joy to joy,
Nancy
Further reading not referenced in my talk:
-LizzieBee’s find: Television by Roald Dahl (worth reading – he must have written this in the ’60s!)
–Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative
–Imagine: How Creativity Works
You are right about Dahl………..Ashley would agree! Course was also on Rawlings!
Love that for her last grad course. Middle School English.
I am thinking the first line of P&P~~ and yes, get thee a wife!
Also the very last scene of Henry V!
Cheerio!
Thanks for prayers!
I enjoyed your workshop very much! When we were brainstorming for books in which the children used their imagination, I was trying so hard to think of some "boy" books that fit the criteria. Could you point me toward the article you mentioned by….???? I know that's not helpful. You mentioned a name that wasn't familiar to me, and I didn't write it down, apparently, and have forgotten–but the subject matter was the relationship of imagination and sin. If you help me figure out what I mean, I'd be grateful. 🙂 Seriously, I'd like to read the article.
Karen,
I think you are referring to the article by Dick Keyes. It is found on page 17 of this Review, which has many other interesting articles on imagination – http://www.childlightusa.org/review_archives1.php
Let me know if that was it or not!
It was a blessing to see you at the conference and I'm particularly glad you enjoyed the session.
From joy to joy,
Nancy
Wonderful , inspiring workshop! Got my mind pondering and yearning to make something! Turns out it was cooking when I got home!
Great poem by Dahl. My daughter in law took a grad class on him this past semester with a professor who knew Dahl. We have the second book but must read it. What good is a book unread! Last one looks interesting too! So very good to see you!!!
Onto the Weddings, ( smile!)
Dear Bonnie,
Praying for you this weekend! Everyone here keeps repeating Benedick's line, "Get thee a wife, get thee a wife!"
My dd10 reads all things Dahl, including his autobiography. He's not everyone's cup of tea but he tickles her imagination. I found the description of him in Howards End is on the Landing interesting.
Amazingly good to see you. We needed more time, though.
From joy to joy,
Nancy
What an insightful post. Awesome post as usual!