The Diary of an Avid Reader. : Week 17: End of Semester, Euclid, and Hiking without Brooks oh my!

I have finished with my first semester!

Check out all The Great Books that we have read out of, and the books that we have read in their entirety (except for Latin Aesop's Fables). I will admit I still have not finished the Virginian (only about 100 pages to go!) We have studied these all over the period of about three and a half months.

This week we have been studying Euclid! It brings back all the lessons I had with

Mr. David Rees at Williamsburg Academy. (So funny!)

Here is the first proposition Screenshot from 2016-07-31 10-16-03.png

Pretty awesome right? So the purpose of this proposition is: to be able to construct on a finite line an equilateral triangle!

I love Euclid I am learning how to problem solve by taking everything one step at a time. I never knew how important that is.

Dr. Brooks told a story of how Abraham Lincoln was struggling in law school so he went home and learned Euclid and it changed his whole way of thinking, that is how he became the great lawyer that he was ( for the full story click here). It totally illustrates the power and effect that Euclid has on the mind. I figure if it has been working for oh… about 2,316 years. Then it probably works.

This week in my scripture study I have been studying Alma 43:9-10, Alma 60-62. All about the Nephites fighting for the cause of Liberty.

I was thinking about Alma 43:9-10 “And now the design of the Nephites was to support their lands, and their houses, and their wives, and their children, that they might preserve them from the hands of their enemies; and also that they might preserve their rights and their privileges, yea, and also their liberty, that they might worship God according to their desires. For they knew that if they should fall into the hands of the Lamanites, that whosoever should worship God in spirit and in truth, the true and the living God, the Lamanites would destroy.”

I was thinking “are the causes that we fight for under these criteria?” I am intentionally leaving that question open ended to let you ponder that farther. (Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty - Larry Conrad Winborg)

This week we have also been working on planning for the septic system and building the offices up stairs in the dining hall. Because of this Dr. Brooks was not able to accompany us on a 16 mile hike. We did not want to change the syllabus again so we just went our selves.