Mt. Sophia Ideas» Uncategorized

Student Suggested Booklist

Vicki Tillman — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:21:16 +0000

Each year I ask the upperclassmen about their favorite books of the year. I thought I’d share with you, in case you need some good reading:

Student Suggested Booklist

Any book by Ted Dekker (These BOLDED books were chosen by several students.)

Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court- Mark Twain

Cry the Beloved Country- Alan Paton

Datable- Justin Lookadoo

The Good Earth- Pearl Buck

The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Heroes Don’t Run- Henry Maze

Les Miserables- Victor Hugo

Merchant of Venice- Shakespeare

Night- Elie Wiesel

Old Man and the Sea- Ernest Hemingway

The Prince- Machiavelli

Same Kind of Different as Me- Ron Hall

The Shack- William P. Young

A Separate Peace- John Knowles

Sherlock Holmes- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Soldier’s Heart- Gary Paulson

Start Up Nation- Dan Senor

Tom Sawyer- Mark Twain

Here is the compilation of books from past years:

General Fiction

The Anybodies- NE Bode

The Somebodies- NE Bode

The Nobodies- NE Bode

The Princess Bride- William Goldman

Katie Weldon series- Robin Jones Gunn

Flight of Eagles- Jack Higgins

The Pendragon Series- DJ Machale

The Shadow Children- Margaret Maddix

Eregon- Christopher Paolini

Atlas Shrugged- Ayn Rand

The Shack- William P. Young

The Hunger Games

Inspirational

Stepping Heavenward- Elizabeth Peters

Personal Growth

How to Win Friends and Influence People- Dale Carnegie

The Me Nobody Knew- Shannon McLinch

97 Random Thoughts About Life, Love, and Relationships- Justin Lookadoo

The Datable Rules- Justin Lookadoo

Enjoying Who You Are on the Way to Where You Are Going- Joyce Meyer

Hello Cruel World- Kate Parnsten

Define Normal- Julie Anne Peters

Historical Fiction

Parallel Journeys- Eleanor Ayer

Iron Peacock- Mary Stetson Clarke

Nine Days a Queen- Ann Rinaldi

Non-Fiction History

The Greatest Generation- Tom Brokaw

Abraham Lincoln: The Man Behind the Myths- Stephen B. Oates

My Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir- Clarence Thomas

General Non-Fiction

Brainwashed- Ben Shapiro

The Outliers- Malcolm Gladwell

Christian Fiction

Various books by Terri Blacktock

O’Malley Chronicles- Dee Henderson

Various books by Karen Kingsbury

Eli- Bill Myers

Suspence/Adventure- secular

Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy

Black- Ted Dekker

Classics

The Iliad

Mansfield Park- Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle- Avi

The Wisdom of Father Brown- GK Chesterton

Oliver Twist- Charles Dickens

Sherlock Holmes- Arthur Conan Doyle

A Wrinkle in Time- Madeleine L’Engle

The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Brave New World- Aldous Huxley

Screwtape Letters- CS Lewis

Space Trilogy- CS Lewis

The Crucible- Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman- Arthur Miller

Catcher in the Rye- JD Salinger

The Bronze Bow- Elizabeth George Speare

Of Mice and Men- John Steinbeck

The Pearl- John Steinbeck

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- Robert Louis Stevenson

The Hiding Place- Corrie Ten Boom

Lord of the Rings- JRR Tolkein

The Time Machine- HG Wells

The Glass Menagerie- Tennessee Williams

Total Surrender by Kyle Thorp

Vicki Tillman — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 23:13:31 +0000

Kyle Thorp (class of 2009) is an engineering student at Grove City College. He hosts a blog called Tell Your Story.

I encourage you to read the first eleven verses of John chapter 12. The passage is about the woman who annoited Jesus with an expensive perfume. Judas was angry at this reckless act the woman had done. He asked why the perfume couldn’t have at least been sold so that the money could be given to the poor. What a waste! But Mary did just the right thing.

I find myself thinking like Judas a lot. I have thought a lot about what I should be studying in college, what to do with my life. I have spent so much time worrying about whether I’m doing the right thing. I was afraid of doing the wrong thing and failing. I prayed that God would use me according to my abilities. I didn’t want to be wasted. Then I realized that my thinking was all wrong.

It is not our business to ensure that the little we have is put to good use. It’s easy to “surrender” ourselves with the condition that God use is us the way we have in mind. But we cannot say to God, “Wouldn’t my talents and abilities be better used in this setting?” We can only say, “God, here am I, all of me. Take me and use me as you please.” It is only when we pour ourselves so recklessly at his feet like this that we begin to be of use. It doesn’t matter if we feel like all our best work goes for naught. Give it to God, obey him, and he will make it something beautiful.

A Homeschool Soliloquy by Christa Swafford

Vicki Tillman — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 01:06:02 +0000

Christa will be a senior this year. She has a great handle on Shakespeare and homeschooling:)

To stay homeschooled or not to stay homeschooled—that is the question:

Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of “real” high school’s drama,

Or to take arms against a sea of stereotypes

And, by opposing, end them. To stay home, to sleep in—

Oh joy!—and by our sleep to say we end

The grumpiness and the thousand natural shocks

That sleep-deprived, “real-schooled” flesh is heir to—‘tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished. To stay home, to sleep—

To sleep, perchance to learn. Ay, there’s the rub,

For after that sleep we must study what math lessons may come,

When our parents have not studied trigonometry for twenty years;

This must give us pause. Here’s the respect

That makes calamity of studying at home.

For who would bear the whips and scorns of trig,

Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud answer book’s contumely,

The pangs of a weary mother, the father’s delay,

The insolence of noisy younger siblings, and the spurns

That “real-schooled” friends have more time than I do,

When I myself might my quietus make

By calling Social Services? Who would the “above-average” label bear,

To grunt and sweat under impossible expectations,

But for the dread of giving homeschoolers a bad reputation?

The uninforméd public from whose bourn

No story of un-socialization can escape strengthens the will

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others we know not of.

Thus stereotypes do make cowards of us all,

And we would rather stay homeschooled than—horrid thought!—

Go to “real school.”

-Christa Swafford

Quote for the Week

Vicki Tillman — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:05:24 +0000

You can do more than pray AFTER you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray UNTIL you have prayed. Prayer is striking the winning blow. Service is gathering up the results. – Dutch Sheets Related posts:Quote for the WeekQuote for the WeekQuote of the Week Related posts:

Mysteries of Half-Shown Photos and Thank God for SMEs

Vicki Tillman — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:16:35 +0000

I heard from a few folks that when they visited mtsophiaideas.com, the photos would only come through partially.

“Hmmm”, I said to myself, “that is very strange, because they show up just fine when I visit.”

After puzzling over this preponderous predicament and coming to the conclusion that one cannot solve a problem beyond one’s own skill, I emailed the family SME (Subject Matter Expert) on blogs and technology.

Ruth, my daughter-in-law, replied in a delightful manner (which had to be run through a translator, since it was techno-speak- but hey, I’m improving- I learned what a “dashboard” is and what one does when “copyblogging”…).

Anyway, to put it in language that those who are “of a certain age” can understand, here are the problems:

1) If the photos don’t show up well when you open the blog, it may be that you are using Internet Explorer. As much as we all love the grand-dame of the internet, it is not friendly to many blog-type things. So, you might want to get yourself an account with Mozilla, Safari, or such-like. It is easy (you get your kids to do it for you).

2) Me, myself, am guilty of importing photos from Word. Now, this is a sin of omission (or something like that) because, I didn’t know that that was bad. But now I do. I have repented of these injudicious ways and have come to see the light. Next photo will come from more accessible sources.

To tell the truth, I still don’t understand half of what I just said…

Welcome Adelaide Dagny Groop!

Vicki Tillman — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:39:21 +0000

Alex and Kate Weber Groop (both class of ‘04) introduce our first “full” Mt. Sophia second generation!

Congratulations!

What Are You Creating?

Vicki Tillman — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:23:36 +0000

We Are Culture Creators

Creators create.