SCHOLA: Books on Florida

Thursday, January 15, 2004

Books on Florida

We love our homestate of Florida. Not the touristy, themeparky, Jimmy-Buffetty* shlock that most people identify with Florida, but the real Florida. Old Florida. I'm a native, married to a native from a family of South Florida pioneers. I just added links to some of the books we have on Florida, in my sidebar.

Also, to get a hilarious, true sense of Florida these days, read any fiction by my hero, Carl Hiaasen (whose dream is to be banned forever from Disney World.) His collections of non-fiction are equally good.

My oldest daughter (born as Hurricane Andrew tore through town -- as if giving birth the first time wasn't exciting enough) wants me to add a disclaimer: The book on Jose Gaspar is NOT for children; lots of 'sailor talk'. (Oops, I obviously didn't pre-read this one.)

Enjoy.

* Attention Parrotheads: I can certainly appreciate a well-crafted lyric and tune, and boy, Jimmy's sure got some great ones, BUT, it drives me crazy to have to hear, for example, "Margaritaville"...every...single...time...I visit a rawbar or any outdoor restaurant within 10 miles of the coast. So cliche. I think Jimmy would agree.

SCHOLA 101

schol' a: 1) An intermission of work, leisure for learning, learned conversation, debate, disputation, lecture, dissertation. 2) A meeting place for teachers and pupils, place for instruction, place of learning, school. 3) The disciples of a teacher, body of followers, school, sect. 4) An acronym for my tortuous blog title "Secular Classical Homeschoolers' Odyssean Learning Adventure." 5) How my Boston cousins pronounce "scholar." 6) Someone who studies at 10 o'clock for a dilla or a dolla.

These are the blatherings of an introverted, autodidactic, champion of The Enlightenment raising three daughters. At one time or another we have homeschooled, public-schooled, Catholic-schooled, cyber-schooled, unschooled, and even threatened boarding school. We have been inspired variously by The Well-Trained Mind, A Thomas Jefferson Education, and Climbing Parnassus, tempered by the writings and wisdom of Charlotte Mason, John Holt, Benjamin Franklin and Michel de Montaigne.

I try not to get wrapped up in labels, but we are secular and we are classical-ish.

We travel. A lot. Sometimes to the other side of the state and sometimes to the other side of the planet. Join us on our journey as we search for our home, navigate the waters of self-education, lounge with the lotus-eaters, and bash a Cyclops or two.