Mind Food

"Oh mom, do I have to read the appetizer."

"Excuse me, the what?" 

Sigh. "The appetizer, right here."  and he points to the title above his reading story.

"Well, yes you do. But that is called a title, not an appetizer."

"Oh, okay!
 But, Mom, I think appetizer makes more sense then title, and I WOULD rather just read the story."

You just have to love the way a six year olds mind works.  It is so creative and imaginative!

It isn't all that hard to imagine how he came up with this nomenclature.

An appetizer comes before a meal.  Right?

A story is a  meal for the mind.

So it naturally follows that what comes before the story would be the appetizer.

This made me think of  what Charlotte Mason's wrote in "Towards A Philosophy of Education".

"As soon as a child begins his education, he begins learning as a student. Our role is to make sure he has plenty of food for his mind. 

He needs intellectual nourishment of good quality, and he needs lots of it.

Each of us naturally has a limited amount of ideas in our minds, but we know where to get more. 

The best thoughts that the world has are stored in books.

We must introduce our children to books--the very best books.

Our concern as educators is to have abundance and orderly serving of them."

I really love this quote!  It sums up a great deal in a beautiful way. Mind Food! Yes!

And you know, children aren't the only ones that need intellectual nourishment, mommies need it too.  

I had a wonderful conversation about our need for mind food with my sweet friend Kim.  It is easy to be so busy mothering that we forget that we must feed ourselves, too.

Life is busy and full and it can be hard to grab those moments to read books that furnish our minds with ideas that are alive.  Things we will think about and ponder.

"An inspiring idea sparks a new habit of thought, 

and, therefore, a new habit of life.

....

In attempting this important task, 

we seek and have the promise of receiving the help of God's Spirit. 

We recognize Him as the Supreme Educator, 

teaching humans things that men have labeled as secular, 

as much as He teaches them things that are considered religious."

- School Education p. 173

Are you reading anything interesting, thought provoking? educational?

I would love to hear about what you are reading.  I am always looking for recommendations and suggestions.

You can check out what I have been reading in my sidebar on Library Thing.