Chapters: Amish Backgrounds and Customs --- The Development of the Amish School System -- The Amish Educational System Today -- The Amish Schools -- Amish Teachers -- Amish Educational Methods -- The Amish "Scholar" -- Amish Educational Outcomes -- Conclusions
Chapters: How it began - The ninepatch and the faceless dolls - The journey begins - Testing the dream - Coming home - Going back - Harvest time - Lessons - The emerging ninepatch.
Summary
"Plain and Simple vividly recounts sojourns with two Amish families, visits during which Bender enters a world without television, telephone, electric light, or refrigerators; a world where clutter and hurry are replaced with inner quiet and calm ritual; a world where a sunny kitchen 'glows' and 'no distinction was made between the sacred and the everyday.' In nine interrelated chapters--as simple and elegant as a classic nine-patch Amish quilt--Bender shares the quiet power she found reflected in lives of joyful simplicity, humanity, and clarity. The fast-paced, opinionated, often frazzled Bender returns home and reworks her 'crazy-quilt' life, integrating the soul-soothing qualities she has observed in the Amish, and celebrating the patterns in the Amish, and celebrating the patterns formed by the distinctive 'patches' of her own life." [from the publisher]
Includes bibliographical references (p. 295-304) and index.
Contents
Introduction to a way of life -- The European connection -- Coming to America -- Pioneering in the American West -- Agriculture and everyday life -- Church and community government -- Home and family -- Phases of life -- Amish schools -- School management -- Conscience in conflict -- Interaction with outsiders -- Joining and leaving the faith -- Controversies and disputes -- Memorabilia -- Legends -- Misfortunes -- Malicious attacks -- Criticisms -- Speaking out: the Amish explain -- Tributes -- Chronology of Amish history.
Summary
Intimate view of life in the Amish world with more than 150 letters and journal entries, poems, stories, and riddles.
