Bonfire of the Vanities

Bonfire of the Vanities geezer, originally uploaded by beenbrun.

One of the most fun things in homeschooling is to see my kids use what they've learned. A couple of months ago, our family read Exile by Katherine Lasky, the latest book in the Ga'hoole series. In this book, an owl called the Striga has become part of the Great Tree and has influenced the owls to live a very strict and ascetic lifestyle. The owls are discouraged from reading frivolous books. They even burn their "vanities" or non-useful items.

Fast-forward to yesterday. We are moving from studying the Middle Ages into the Renaissance. Yesterday, we watched the second episode of a series on the Medici family. In this show, we learned about Fra Savonarola, a Florentine monk who was determined to purify the Church and lead people into a more moral lifestyle. To this end, he had book burnings and the "Bonfire of the Vanities" where people brought their jewels and other non-essential items to be burned. During the show, the kids started talking about how the Striga was just like Savonarola. It's pretty obvious that Ms. Lasky based the Striga character on Savonarola and others like him.

This realization by the kids led to a discussion of "vanities" and God's view of posessions. We also talked about God's view of beauty and how having fun and owning some nice things are not inherently sinful. We also talked about using the Bible as our guide, not other people. Mostly it got the kids to think. I'm not worried that they remember the name and date of Savonarola, but that they develop an understanding of history and learn to evaluate historical events. It was another wonderful homeschooling moment.