Thoughworthy (Why So Busy, Book Charts, Annual Review & More!)

This post contains affiliate links.

:: 1 ::

Wow, what a week! So much to do, so little time. I feel like that’s been my theme all week. I’ve had my head down working overtime. Charlotte Mason Boot Camp sold out within 48 hours of opening (sorry if you were meaning to do it this summer — the next session is in September), but the Liberty of Logic course is still open. Prepping for that has involved hours of formatting that I didn’t anticipate, but on the bright side I got a glimpse of all the great stuff we’re going to cover!

:: 2 ::

I finished a bunch of books last month, which means I started a bunch this month. I feel like I could make a hobby of starting books. (Perhaps I have?) I decided to try and organize myself a bit, so I made charts to track my progress:

I’ve never set up a chart like this before, but it felt a bit therapeutic drawing all those boxes.

For many years, my reading has been wide and varied because of all the pre-reading I was doing. Now that I’m mostly done with pre-reading, I’ve been trying to determine how best to encourage myself to be the reader I want to be (instead of just the reader I am by accident). We’ll see how this goes. I still use my Mother Culture and 5×5 Challenge charts, but these are the only ones that help me visualize my progress inside of individual books.

Here are links to the books, for those of you who love such things:

• Antifragile
• Radioactive
• On Love
• The Didascalion
• The Liberal Arts Tradition (2nd Edition)
• Gasp
• Homeopathic Treatment of Sports Injuries
• The Road to Serfdom
• Becoming Whole
• Strangers in a Strange Land

:: 3 ::

The Flourish Charlotte Mason Homeschool Annual Review is still available. It goes away June 30th (until Thanksgiving). The theory behind Flourish is simple: in order to look forward and plan the coming school year effectively, we first need to look back effectively. So many year-end reviews are focused on whether we checked all our boxes, but Flourish is different. In this three-session workshop, I lead you through a homeschool annual review process I designed to take a philosophical view and really assess whether what happened in the school year aligned with Charlotte Mason’s philosophy and goals.

Purchasing Flourish gives you access to the two main sessions that teach you how to do the assessments, the goals mini-session that helps you sort and prioritize your assessment data, downloadable PDF guides to lead you through the processes and procedures we discuss in the sessions, and MORE! All of this is designed to help you put the lessons into action right away.

The best part, I think, is that the program is designed for you to use year after year, building a review tradition that keeps priorities straight and strengthens your relationships with your children. ♥

:: 4 ::

This month in 2014:

This one was interesting to re-read, especially since I mentioned being a “few years out” from having a 15-year-old (and now I’m on my second one). I can say this: I wasn’t wrong.

:: 5 ::

Podcast episode of the week:

• The Tom Woods Show: Ep. 1664 On Looting and Police Brutality, With Eric July
  • I actually meant to listen to the episode on defunding the police (I thought it would be interesting because the Libertarian Party has had a version of that they’ve promoted for years), but ended up with the looting episode on accident. (It was late and my queue is too full.) It was actually a very interesting discussion.
  • I’m not a libertarian, but I am a sympathizer because most Republicans promote much bigger government than I’d like. I enjoy the creative ideas that often appear on this show. Much better than the usual libertarian approach of Complaining About Everything.

:: 6 ::

This week’s links collection:

• 16 charged in child pornography investigation in Polk County from WFLA
  • This is just a brief one because, honestly, some of the more detailed ones were stomach-turning. But why are Disney people always involved?
  • Also: when some people say they want to defund the police, I always wonder what happens to this kind of stuff? Who is supposed to police child trafficking or pornography if there are no police? I have yet to hear anyone (even libertarians) offer a good alternative.
• An Economic Theory of Whiteness from Areo Magazine
  • Prepare yourself for logic class with this read.
  • This really should be titled, “Why White Fragility Theory is a Classic Kafka Trap” and if you don’t know what that is, well … it’s sort of like a sophisticated version of the “When did you stop beating your wife?” question.
• The 1793 Project Unmasked from Reason
  • “Safetyism” really comes into play when we talk about this virus, too, don’t you think? I feel like the underlying issues are evident there, too.
  • Was it Paul Johnson who talked about factors that would destroy honesty in conversation? Maybe? I’m feeling fuzzy on the reference for this thought, but the underlying factors appear in this article for sure.

:: 7 ::

Corona reads:

• The potential of melatonin in the prevention and attenuation of oxidative hemolysis and myocardial injury from cd147 SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor binding from Melatonin Research
  • Interesting paper. You research junkies will enjoy the possibilities.

That’s all I’ve got this week; I really have been busy. 🙂