Everyday Educator - Reading is A Gateway, Summer Book Club
00:00:00.000 | [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:00:03.880 | Welcome, friends, to this episode
00:00:06.280 | of the "Everyday Educator" podcast.
00:00:09.040 | I'm your host, Lisa Bailey.
00:00:11.040 | And I'm excited to spend some time with you today
00:00:14.440 | as we encourage one another, learn together, and ponder
00:00:18.640 | the delights and challenges that make homeschooling
00:00:22.200 | the adventure of a lifetime.
00:00:24.360 | Whether you're just considering this homeschooling possibility
00:00:28.400 | or deep into the daily delight of family learning,
00:00:32.560 | I believe you'll enjoy thinking along with us.
00:00:35.960 | But don't forget, although this online community is awesome,
00:00:41.200 | you'll find even closer support in a local CC community.
00:00:46.800 | So go to classicalconversations.com
00:00:50.560 | and find a community near you today.
00:00:55.400 | Well, listeners, I'm excited to be with you again today
00:00:58.840 | for another episode of our Summer Book Club series.
00:01:03.960 | I have been thinking about how much I love to read as a grown
00:01:08.640 | up and how much I love to read as a child.
00:01:13.480 | For childhood me, reading was a pleasure, a pure pleasure,
00:01:18.520 | almost a passion when I found books
00:01:21.280 | that really captured my mind.
00:01:23.800 | I could easily lose myself in a book
00:01:28.280 | and disappear for an entire afternoon or even most
00:01:33.160 | of the day in the summertime.
00:01:35.600 | I was often transformed by the books that I was reading.
00:01:41.560 | I became a prairie girl who only got one peppermint stick
00:01:46.280 | and a penny for Christmas.
00:01:48.720 | I swam with the dolphins.
00:01:51.400 | I joined a wagon train headed west.
00:01:55.240 | I solved mysteries as an amateur sleuth.
00:01:59.720 | And along the way, in all of these books that I read,
00:02:03.680 | I learned a million odd bits of information,
00:02:07.960 | stuff I never intended to learn, stuff I didn't even
00:02:12.400 | know I was learning.
00:02:14.800 | I picked up all sorts of insights
00:02:17.400 | on odd foreign culture and historical references
00:02:23.440 | and weird color names and so, so many vocabulary words.
00:02:30.520 | I was growing rich without knowing it.
00:02:34.560 | And that's what reading does.
00:02:36.720 | It transforms us while we're not looking.
00:02:42.600 | That's why it's really important to be careful what you read.
00:02:47.240 | It gets in your mind.
00:02:49.640 | It changes you.
00:02:52.320 | So this summer, I'm encouraging you to read with your children.
00:02:57.880 | See what's going in their minds and what's
00:03:02.600 | going on in their minds.
00:03:05.720 | Take in good stories and inspiring biographies
00:03:11.240 | and interesting tidbits from travel books and science books
00:03:16.360 | and hobby manuals and talk about what you read
00:03:22.120 | and how it makes you feel and what you've learned
00:03:26.240 | and what you think about it all.
00:03:28.840 | Reading is a gateway to growth.
00:03:33.640 | So this summer, go and grow together as a family.
00:03:42.320 | It's the best gift you'll ever give yourselves.
00:03:46.600 | Today, I want to read three selections, three short stories,
00:03:52.360 | chapters for you from our Copper Lodge Library,
00:03:56.880 | Exploring Insects with Uncle Paul.
00:04:00.880 | This is a great read aloud.
00:04:03.080 | It's good for morning basket time or family read alouds
00:04:07.520 | whenever you do it.
00:04:08.680 | And the subjects in Exploring Insects with Uncle Paul,
00:04:14.080 | you will find this fall to be a really great companion to what
00:04:19.320 | you're learning in our Foundations Essentials program.
00:04:23.000 | But today, I'm going to read you three stories.
00:04:26.440 | And then I'm going to give you some conversation starters,
00:04:32.040 | some questions that you could use as jumping off points
00:04:37.560 | from your reading that might lead you
00:04:40.960 | on another voyage of discovery with your children.
00:04:46.320 | So you guys sit back and listen and get
00:04:50.280 | ready for The Kettle from Exploring Insects
00:04:57.040 | with Uncle Paul.
00:05:00.480 | Now, this day, Mother Ambrosine was very tired.
00:05:05.200 | She had taken down from their shelves
00:05:07.720 | kettles, saucepans, lamps, candlesticks, casseroles, pans,
00:05:14.920 | and lids.
00:05:16.960 | After having rubbed them with fine sand and ashes
00:05:21.480 | and washed them well, she had put the utensils in the sun
00:05:26.360 | to dry them thoroughly.
00:05:28.440 | They all shone like a mirror.
00:05:31.720 | The kettles particularly were superb
00:05:35.560 | with their rosy reflections.
00:05:38.120 | One might have said that tongues of fire
00:05:40.600 | were shining inside them.
00:05:43.240 | The candlesticks were a dazzling yellow.
00:05:46.760 | Emile and Jules were lost in admiration.
00:05:50.880 | "I should like to know what they make kettles of.
00:05:54.560 | They shine so," remarked Emile.
00:05:58.960 | "They are very ugly outside, all black and daubed with soot.
00:06:04.240 | But inside, how beautiful they are."
00:06:09.080 | "You must ask Uncle," replied his brother.
00:06:12.760 | "Yes," assented Emile.
00:06:15.680 | No sooner said than done, they went in search of their uncle.
00:06:21.840 | He did not have to be entreated.
00:06:23.880 | He was happy whenever there was an opportunity
00:06:27.520 | to teach them something.
00:06:30.040 | "Kettles are made of copper," he began.
00:06:34.680 | "And copper?"
00:06:36.320 | asked Jules.
00:06:38.080 | "Copper is not made.
00:06:40.520 | In certain countries, it is found already made,
00:06:44.600 | mixed with stone.
00:06:47.200 | It is one of the substances that is not
00:06:50.040 | in the power of man to make.
00:06:53.760 | We use these substances as God has deposited them
00:06:57.840 | in the bosom of the earth for purposes of human industry.
00:07:02.760 | But all our knowledge and all our skill
00:07:06.320 | could not produce them.
00:07:09.760 | In the bosom of mountains where copper is found,
00:07:13.240 | they hollow out galleries which go deep into the earth.
00:07:18.600 | There, workmen called miners, with lamps to light them,
00:07:24.120 | attack the rock with great blows of the pick,
00:07:28.280 | while others carry the detached blocks outside.
00:07:33.440 | These blocks of stone in which copper is found are called ore.
00:07:41.160 | In furnaces made for the purpose,
00:07:44.080 | they heat the ore to a very high temperature.
00:07:48.600 | The heat of our stove, when it's red hot,
00:07:51.800 | is nothing in comparison.
00:07:54.760 | The copper melts, runs, and is separated from the rest.
00:08:00.960 | Then, with hammers of enormous weight,
00:08:05.360 | set in motion by a wheel turned by water,
00:08:09.960 | they strike the mass of copper, which, little by little,
00:08:14.480 | becomes thin and is hollowed into a large basin.
00:08:20.560 | The coppersmith continues the work.
00:08:23.320 | He takes the shapeless basin and, with little strokes
00:08:28.360 | of the hammer, fashions it on the anvil
00:08:31.960 | to give it a regular shape.
00:08:35.040 | That is why coppersmiths tap all day with their hammers,
00:08:38.920 | commented Jules.
00:08:40.440 | I had often wondered, when passing their shops,
00:08:43.560 | why they made so much noise, always tap, tap,
00:08:46.320 | tapping without any stop.
00:08:48.600 | They were thinning the copper, shaping it
00:08:51.600 | into saucepans and kettles.
00:08:54.680 | Here, Emile asked, when a kettle is old, has holes in it,
00:08:59.880 | and can't be used, what do they do with it?
00:09:03.320 | I heard Mother Ambrosine speak of selling a worn-out kettle.
00:09:08.840 | It is melted, and another new kettle made out of the copper,
00:09:14.320 | replied Uncle Paul.
00:09:16.640 | Then the copper does not wear away.
00:09:20.400 | Well, it wears away too much, my friend.
00:09:23.360 | Some of it is lost when they rub it with sand to make it shine.
00:09:28.480 | Some is lost, too, by the continual action of the fire.
00:09:32.680 | But what is left is still good.
00:09:36.960 | Mother Ambrosine also spoke of recasting
00:09:41.000 | a lamp, which had lost a foot.
00:09:43.600 | What are lamps made of?
00:09:46.800 | They are of tin, another substance
00:09:51.080 | that we find ready-made in the bosom of the earth,
00:09:55.000 | without the power of producing it ourselves.
00:10:03.640 | And I'll continue reading the next chapter, Metals.
00:10:09.840 | Copper and tin are called metals, continued Uncle Paul.
00:10:16.680 | They are heavy, shining substances,
00:10:20.520 | which bear the blows of the hammer without breaking.
00:10:24.840 | They flatten, but do not break.
00:10:28.040 | There are still other substances which
00:10:30.440 | possess the considerable weight of copper and tin,
00:10:34.600 | as well as their brilliancy and resistance to blows.
00:10:39.000 | All of these substances are called metals.
00:10:42.880 | Then lead, which is so heavy, is a metal, too, asked Emil.
00:10:52.240 | Iron also, silver, and gold, queried his brother.
00:10:57.440 | Yes, these substances and still others are metals.
00:11:02.680 | All have a peculiar brilliancy called metallic luster.
00:11:09.720 | But the color varies.
00:11:11.880 | Copper is red, gold, yellow, silver, iron, lead, tin,
00:11:20.760 | white, with a very slightly different shade
00:11:24.800 | from one another.
00:11:26.840 | The candlesticks Mother Ambrosine is drying in the sun,
00:11:30.680 | said Emil, are a magnificent yellow,
00:11:33.720 | and so shiny they dazzle.
00:11:37.120 | Are they gold?
00:11:39.800 | No, my dear child.
00:11:41.720 | Your uncle does not possess such riches.
00:11:45.440 | They are brass.
00:11:47.760 | To vary the colors and other properties of the metals,
00:11:52.040 | instead of always using them separately,
00:11:55.280 | they often mix two or three together, or even more.
00:12:00.360 | They melt them together, and the whole
00:12:03.680 | constitutes a sort of new metal, different from those which
00:12:08.400 | enter into its composition.
00:12:11.480 | Thus, in melting together copper and a kind of white metal
00:12:18.280 | called zinc, the same as the garden watering pots
00:12:22.600 | are made of, they obtain brass, which
00:12:27.560 | has not the red of copper, nor the white of zinc,
00:12:32.320 | but the yellow of gold.
00:12:35.800 | The material of the candlesticks is, then,
00:12:39.200 | made of copper and zinc together.
00:12:43.280 | In a word, it is brass and not gold,
00:12:46.960 | in spite of its luster and yellow color.
00:12:50.600 | Gold is yellow and glitters, but all that is yellow and glitters
00:12:57.760 | is not gold.
00:12:59.840 | At the last village fair, they sold
00:13:02.360 | magnificent rings whose brilliancy deceived you.
00:13:07.680 | In gold, they would have cost a fine sum.
00:13:12.080 | The merchants sold them for a sue.
00:13:15.320 | They were brass.
00:13:17.480 | How can they tell gold from brass,
00:13:21.720 | since the color and luster are almost the same, asked Jules.
00:13:27.280 | By the weight, chiefly, gold is much heavier than brass.
00:13:33.600 | It is, indeed, the heaviest metal in frequent use.
00:13:38.640 | After it comes lead, then silver, copper, iron, tan,
00:13:45.440 | and, finally, zinc, the lightest of all.
00:13:49.600 | You told us that to melt copper, put in Emil,
00:13:53.440 | they needed a fire so intense that the heat of a red-hot
00:13:57.960 | stove would be nothing in comparison.
00:14:01.480 | All metals do not resist like that,
00:14:05.280 | for I remember very well in what a sorry way
00:14:08.920 | the first leaden soldiers you gave me came to their end.
00:14:14.280 | Last winter, I had lined them up on the lukewarm stove
00:14:20.080 | just when I was not watching the troop tottered, sank down,
00:14:26.080 | and ran in little streams of melted lead.
00:14:29.360 | I had only time to save half a dozen grenadiers,
00:14:33.680 | and their feet were missing.
00:14:37.680 | And when Mother Amberzine thoughtlessly
00:14:39.720 | put the lamp on the stove, added Jules, oh, it was soon done for.
00:14:45.960 | A finger's breadth of tin had disappeared.
00:14:50.400 | Tin and lead melt very easily, explained Uncle Paul.
00:14:55.280 | The heat of our hearth is enough to make them run.
00:14:59.280 | Zinc also melts without much trouble,
00:15:02.040 | but silver, then copper, then gold, and, finally, iron
00:15:07.160 | need fires of an intensity unknown in our houses.
00:15:12.400 | Iron, above all, has excessive resistance,
00:15:17.240 | very valuable to us.
00:15:20.120 | Shovels, tongs, grates, stoves are iron.
00:15:26.040 | These various objects, always in contact with the fire,
00:15:30.360 | do not melt. However, they do not even soften.
00:15:35.360 | To soften iron so as to shape it easily on the anvil
00:15:41.000 | by blows from the hammer, the smith
00:15:44.120 | needs all the heat of his forge.
00:15:47.840 | In vain would he blow and put on coal.
00:15:51.000 | He would never succeed in melting it.
00:15:53.800 | Iron, however, can be melted, but you
00:15:58.920 | must use the most intense heat that human skill can produce.
00:16:07.080 | And now, Week 10's reading, Gold and Iron.
00:16:14.720 | Some metals never rust.
00:16:23.200 | Such a one is gold.
00:16:26.080 | Ancient gold pieces found in the earth after centuries
00:16:31.920 | are as bright as the day they were coined.
00:16:36.000 | No dross, no rust covers their effigy and inscription.
00:16:42.560 | Time, fire, humidity, air cannot harm this admirable metal.
00:16:50.960 | Therefore, gold, on account of its unchangeable luster
00:16:56.760 | and its rarity, is preeminently the material
00:17:01.720 | for ornaments and coins.
00:17:05.040 | Furthermore, gold is the first metal
00:17:08.760 | that man became acquainted with long before iron, lead, tin,
00:17:15.000 | and the others.
00:17:16.320 | The reason why man's attention was called to gold
00:17:20.880 | long centuries before iron is not hard to understand.
00:17:26.640 | Gold never rusts.
00:17:30.240 | Iron rusts with such grievous facility
00:17:33.880 | that in a short time, if we're not careful,
00:17:37.480 | it's converted into red earth.
00:17:41.560 | I've just told you that gold objects, however old they may
00:17:46.200 | be, have come to us intact, even after being
00:17:50.280 | in the dampest ground.
00:17:53.200 | As for objects of iron, not one has reached us
00:17:58.920 | that was not in an unrecognizable state.
00:18:03.680 | Corroded with rust, they become a shapeless, earthy crust.
00:18:09.520 | Now, I will ask Jules if the iron ore that
00:18:14.280 | is extracted from the bowels of the earth
00:18:16.840 | can be real, pure iron, such as we use.
00:18:23.240 | Hmm.
00:18:24.800 | It seems to me not, uncle.
00:18:27.480 | But if iron, at any given moment, is pure,
00:18:32.760 | it must rust with time and change to earthy matter,
00:18:36.880 | as does the blade of a knife buried in the ground.
00:18:41.800 | My brother seems to reckon correctly.
00:18:44.440 | I agree with him, said Claire.
00:18:48.200 | And gold?
00:18:49.680 | Uncle Paul asked her.
00:18:52.720 | It is different with gold, she replied,
00:18:55.480 | as that metal never rusts, is not changed by time, air,
00:19:02.520 | and dampness.
00:19:04.280 | It must be pure.
00:19:06.800 | Exactly so.
00:19:08.680 | In the rocks, where it is disseminated in small scales,
00:19:14.440 | gold is as brilliant as in jewelers' boxes.
00:19:20.040 | Claire's earrings have not more luster
00:19:23.640 | than the particles set by nature in the rock.
00:19:27.120 | On the contrary, what a pitiful appearance
00:19:30.480 | iron makes when it is found.
00:19:33.440 | It's an earthy crust, a reddish stone
00:19:37.440 | in which, only after long research,
00:19:40.440 | can one suspect the presence of a metal.
00:19:44.280 | It is, in fact, rust, mixed more or less with other substances.
00:19:51.280 | And then, it is not enough to perceive that this rusty stone
00:19:56.800 | contains a metal.
00:19:58.880 | A way must still be found to decompose the ore
00:20:02.960 | and bring the iron back to its metallic state.
00:20:07.880 | How many efforts were necessary to attain this result?
00:20:12.000 | One of the most difficult to achieve.
00:20:15.840 | How many fruitless attempts?
00:20:18.080 | How many painful trials?
00:20:21.560 | Iron, then, was the last to become of use to us.
00:20:27.200 | Long after gold and other metals,
00:20:29.880 | like copper and silver, which are sometimes, but not always,
00:20:34.880 | found pure, that most useful of metals was the last.
00:20:41.000 | But with it, an immense advance was made in human industry.
00:20:46.760 | From the moment man was in possession of iron,
00:20:51.160 | he found himself master of the earth.
00:20:55.720 | At the head of substances that resist shock,
00:21:00.160 | iron must be placed.
00:21:02.520 | And it is precisely its enormous resistance
00:21:05.680 | to rupture that makes this metal so precious to us.
00:21:10.640 | Never would a gold, copper, marble, or stone anvil
00:21:15.880 | resist the blows of the smith's hammer as an iron one does.
00:21:22.520 | The hammer itself, of what substance other than iron,
00:21:26.960 | could it be made?
00:21:28.840 | If a copper, silver, or gold, it would flatten, crush,
00:21:33.280 | and become useless in a short time,
00:21:35.520 | for those metals lack hardness.
00:21:39.920 | If of stone, it would break at the first rather hard blow.
00:21:44.560 | For these implements, nothing can take the place of iron,
00:21:49.640 | nor can it for axes, saws, knives, the mason's chisel,
00:21:56.640 | the quarry man's pick, the plowshare,
00:22:00.000 | and a number of other implements which cut, hew, pierce, plane,
00:22:07.040 | file, give, or receive violent blows.
00:22:11.760 | Iron alone has the hardness that can cut most other substances.
00:22:19.080 | And the resistance that sets blows at defiance.
00:22:23.640 | In this respect, iron is, of all mineral substances,
00:22:29.720 | the handsomest present that providence has given to man.
00:22:34.720 | It is preeminently the material for tools,
00:22:38.520 | indispensable in every art and industry.
00:22:44.440 | Claire and I read one day, said Jules,
00:22:47.480 | that when the Spaniards discovered America,
00:22:51.360 | the men of that new country had gold axes,
00:22:54.960 | which they very willingly exchanged for iron ones.
00:23:00.360 | I laugh at their innocence, which
00:23:02.520 | made them give such a costly price
00:23:05.720 | for a piece of very common metal.
00:23:08.880 | I think I see now that the exchange was to their advantage.
00:23:15.920 | Yes, decidedly to their advantage.
00:23:18.800 | For with an iron axe, they could fell trees
00:23:23.560 | to make their dugout canoes and their huts.
00:23:27.240 | They could better defend themselves
00:23:29.480 | against wild animals and attack the game in their hunts.
00:23:34.440 | This piece of iron gave them an assurance of food,
00:23:39.440 | a substantial boat, a warm dwelling, a redoubtable weapon.
00:23:46.440 | In comparison, a gold axe was only a useless plaything.
00:23:53.600 | Well, if iron came last, what did men do before they
00:23:59.080 | knew of it, asked Jules.
00:24:02.480 | They made their weapons and tools of copper.
00:24:05.920 | For like gold, this metal is sometimes in a pure state
00:24:11.160 | so that it can be utilized just as nature gives it to us.
00:24:15.600 | But a copper implement having little hardness
00:24:20.600 | is of much less value than an iron one.
00:24:24.120 | Thus, in those far-off days of copper axes,
00:24:28.880 | man was indeed a wretched creature.
00:24:33.680 | He was still more so before knowing copper.
00:24:37.400 | He cut a flint to a point or split it and fashioned it
00:24:42.080 | to the end of a stick.
00:24:43.480 | That was his only weapon.
00:24:47.520 | With this stone, he had to procure food, clothing, a hut,
00:24:53.320 | and to defend himself from wild beasts.
00:24:56.280 | His clothing was a skin thrown over his back,
00:24:59.560 | his dwelling a hut, a hut made of twisted branches
00:25:03.520 | and mud, his food a piece of flesh, produce of the chase.
00:25:09.200 | Domestic animals were unknown, the earth uncultivated,
00:25:14.640 | all industry lacking.
00:25:17.600 | And where was that, asked Clare.
00:25:22.080 | Everywhere, my dear child.
00:25:24.080 | Here, even in places where today are our most flourishing towns.
00:25:30.120 | Oh, how forlorn man was before attaining,
00:25:34.840 | by the help of iron, the well-being that we enjoy today.
00:25:39.840 | How forlorn was man and what a great present Providence
00:25:44.360 | gave him in giving him this metal.
00:25:48.440 | Just as Uncle Paul finished, Jacques
00:25:51.360 | knocked discreetly at the door.
00:25:55.080 | Jewels ran to open it.
00:25:57.200 | They whispered a few words to each other.
00:25:59.920 | It was at about an important affair for the next day.
00:26:05.000 | I hope that you enjoyed those three short stories
00:26:14.080 | from the Copper Lodge Library edition of Exploring Insects
00:26:18.880 | with Uncle Paul.
00:26:20.280 | But you know, the best part of reading, to me,
00:26:24.880 | is that it doesn't have to end when you finish the story.
00:26:29.080 | You can talk about it.
00:26:32.560 | You can prime the conversational pump and keep the story going.
00:26:40.160 | After you read these stories, you might say, and look around,
00:26:45.760 | what do you have at home that's made out of copper?
00:26:51.640 | Go through your cabinets.
00:26:54.120 | Go through your kitchen cabinets.
00:26:56.360 | Look at the decorations in your home.
00:26:58.640 | What do you have that's made out of copper?
00:27:00.840 | What do you have that's made out of gold?
00:27:05.240 | Do you have anything made out of brass?
00:27:07.440 | Can you compare it with something made out of gold?
00:27:12.040 | Is one heavier than the other?
00:27:14.600 | Do you have anything made out of silver?
00:27:17.440 | And then talk with your kids.
00:27:19.480 | Where did these things come from?
00:27:22.880 | Are they heirlooms that you got from your parents
00:27:26.200 | or from grandma and grandpa?
00:27:28.960 | Did you buy them at the store?
00:27:30.320 | Did you find them at the antique store?
00:27:34.000 | Did you make any of them yourselves?
00:27:38.200 | What are the characteristics of those metal objects?
00:27:42.800 | Which ones of them get dull?
00:27:48.480 | Do any of them get rusty?
00:27:50.800 | What is tarnish?
00:27:53.160 | And what does it look like?
00:27:54.920 | And how do you get rid of it?
00:27:57.480 | Which of those objects are hard?
00:28:02.000 | Which are the hardest?
00:28:05.280 | Talk about or do a little research
00:28:08.080 | on where do we find metals?
00:28:13.800 | And then how do we make other metals?
00:28:18.720 | Which metals are mined near where you live?
00:28:25.280 | Have you ever visited a mine?
00:28:26.960 | Could you find one to visit?
00:28:29.720 | Where are the mines in your state or your area located?
00:28:37.440 | And what kind of tools do miners use?
00:28:43.160 | Can you find pictures of them?
00:28:45.360 | If you can visit a mine or a mining museum or even
00:28:50.600 | a natural history museum, you may
00:28:53.320 | be able to look at or even touch some of the implements
00:28:57.960 | that miners use.
00:29:00.040 | What about coppersmiths?
00:29:01.720 | Have you ever watched a coppersmith work?
00:29:04.920 | Do you think you could find one to observe?
00:29:08.240 | Maybe they would let you hold their tools.
00:29:12.400 | You could, after reading these stories,
00:29:14.920 | go back and pick up some of the words
00:29:17.760 | that were unfamiliar to you, some metal vocabulary.
00:29:23.120 | What is or?
00:29:25.240 | What about luster?
00:29:26.440 | What do you have to do?
00:29:31.400 | What kind of training do you need to become a miner?
00:29:35.560 | What are tongs?
00:29:37.640 | Who uses an anvil?
00:29:40.920 | And what do you do to get rid of rust?
00:29:46.280 | Consider this quote, "All that glitters is not gold."
00:29:53.800 | Do a little research.
00:29:55.000 | Where does that quote come from?
00:29:58.960 | What did it mean in the context of our stories about metals?
00:30:06.000 | And what might that quotation mean metaphorically?
00:30:11.560 | Is there a lesson that we could learn,
00:30:15.160 | both from our metal stories and from other pieces
00:30:21.560 | of literature?
00:30:24.680 | And then it might be a lot of fun
00:30:27.440 | to think about how life changed for people
00:30:34.000 | as metals were discovered.
00:30:36.960 | How did people live before they had hard, strong, resilient
00:30:45.080 | tools?
00:30:46.480 | What would we do today without metals?
00:30:50.840 | Look around.
00:30:51.680 | Sit still in your house or wherever you're sitting
00:30:55.000 | and just look and see how many things you can see
00:31:00.600 | that are made out of metals.
00:31:03.960 | Think about what could be used instead of metal
00:31:09.440 | to make that object.
00:31:11.000 | Would it stand up as well?
00:31:14.600 | Use your imagination.
00:31:16.520 | What else could you use to make the objects of metal
00:31:20.880 | that you see around you?
00:31:23.440 | What else would you like to make if you
00:31:27.000 | were a coppersmith or a blacksmith
00:31:31.360 | and could make tools or other implements out of metal?
00:31:39.080 | Hopefully, this gives you some scope both for your imagination
00:31:44.280 | and for curiosity, things that you
00:31:47.720 | might like to explore as a family in another book,
00:31:52.680 | in your neighborhood, at a museum,
00:31:55.840 | maybe even online.
00:31:57.680 | Go and explore together and let your reading from today
00:32:03.360 | be a gateway into more conversation.
00:32:08.800 | If you are looking for other stories to read,
00:32:13.880 | I want to remind you that the Copper Lodge Library includes
00:32:18.840 | a lot of titles.
00:32:20.640 | And new to the Copper Lodge Library this year
00:32:24.480 | is a volume called English Epic Poetry.
00:32:30.120 | It has a collection of stories, including selections
00:32:33.960 | from Canterbury Tales, selections from Paradise Lost,
00:32:38.680 | from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
00:32:41.240 | You can build a family culture of reading
00:32:45.040 | by enjoying these stories together
00:32:47.440 | and having meaningful conversations about wisdom,
00:32:51.520 | about virtue.
00:32:54.480 | Even the less overtly religious poems
00:33:00.440 | include Christian themes like courage and forgiveness
00:33:04.720 | and the right use of power, things
00:33:07.320 | that will get some good conversations started
00:33:11.080 | at your house.
00:33:11.960 | So don't just stick to the Copper Lodge titles
00:33:15.960 | that I've been sharing with you this summer.
00:33:18.160 | Branch out and check out English Epic Poetry.
00:33:22.480 | And I will see you guys next week.
00:33:25.280 | Bye-bye.
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