Home Schooling

 

Friday, February 1, 2013 – Home Schooling

Elliott can now claim a new title – world’s oldest student.  When I went off for my art history class at George Mason University, I detected a twinge of envy on his part.  He is proud of maintaining his intellectual curiosity, and if not for his physical limitations, he would have signed up for the art history class along with me.  Fortuitously, a sale catalog from The Great Courses arrived in the mail around the time the semester began.  This seemed to be the perfect solution.  Out of 20 or more courses that we considered, we narrowed it down to five:  Old Testament, New Testament, the art of reading, Einstein’s physics for non-scientists, and a history of jazz.

Once the package of discs arrived, the next decision was which course to “attend” first.  With our dual interests in art and religion, and my current enrollment in the art history class, we chose to focus on the Bible, since it provides the content for much of western art.  Earlier this week, we sat down for our first lecture on the Old Testament.  We were very impressed with our professor and each of the 45-minute lectures has been fascinating.  

There are so many advantages to this method of continuing education – you can attend class whenever you want, you can wear whatever you want, you can sit in a rocking chair, and you can pause the lecture if you have a coughing attack or have to run to the bathroom.  Now that we’ve discovered home schooling, there’s no chance of mental stagnation for Elliott. 

Also on the knowledge front, I have just discovered that the tilapia is not a laboratory creation after all.  Perusing an art history book, I learned that this poor, misunderstood fish has been around for a long, long time.  One of the photos showed a painted tomb wall in Egypt, dating back to around 1350 BCE, in which the tilapia is portrayed along with other animals.  The caption notes that ancient Egyptians would have recognized the tilapia as a symbol of rebirth.  I never would have imagined that.  But I still contend that tilapia has the consistency of rubber – and a taste to match, and I’ll seek out another type of fish the next time I make fish tacos.