a book

I love World War II history.  And I love to read about the Revolutionary War.  Actually I have found through teaching my kids that I have a deep love of history.  I did not receive a very good, very thorough history education in school, I attended catholic school until sixth grade, public school through high school, and finally graduated from an undergrad program at a university.  I took history all through school, and several courses in college.  Yet, even with all of those years of history textbooks and history classes, I somehow graduated with a Bachelor's degree without knowing War of 1812 happened.  Without knowing that the holocaust occurred during the Second World War and without knowing the names of all seven continents, I didn't even know where most major countries were located on a globe, well besides the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and England.

Sad, huh?

When I began homeschooling, I determined that our kids would have a different experience.  I wanted them to graduate knowing basic geography, with a strong sense of the historical narrative that has unfolded from ancient times until know, and that they would know the major wars that have occurred, because really how can we hope to make better choices in the future if we cannot learn from the mistakes of the past?

This past week I devoured a book called Auschwitz Escape by Joel Rosenberg.  I cried, I bit my nails, I read until I could hardly keep my eyes open another second.  I love Joel Rosenberg, he is a very, very good author.  My favorite line from the book was when a Jewish young man asked a goy, a gentile, why was he in Auschwitz?  The pastor replied, you shouldn't be asking why as a Christian I am here, you should be asking why there aren't more Christians here.