Patti's Homeschool Mentoring

The Student Whisperer, Inspiring Genius--Locals Our Books Have Arrived!!!

Like a master gardener, a great mentor, a Student Whisperer, knows how to set the stage for transformational experiences—as often as they are needed. She knows how to create the environment where such feelings & experiences are frequent, how to use such experiences to help us discover & improve ourselves, & even how to repeat & reinforce such feelings so that our motivation & efforts are sustained.

"A classic! It will apply to the businessman, teacher and mom alike."

The wait is finally over! The Student Whisperer by Oliver DeMille and Tiffany Rhoades Earl is now available in paperback. Reader response is the best ever. See for yourself:

• “My ‘epiphanal rate’ was off the charts.”

• “I was moved beyond words.”
  

• “…a guide book for all who want to truly mentor well and make a difference in the world.”

• “…no matter what I say it would be an understatement.”

Click on the link for: 

 Description

• Chapter Outline

• Reader Reviews

• Sample Download

• About the Authors

http://www.tjed.org/purchase/books/student-whisperer/

• • 
    

     A great mentor cares- and she is effective! 

    
    

    Hey locals, our books have arrived at the discounted cost of $10.00 each! 

     All I can say so far is WoW, so well done, a truly inspiring story and guide book!!! Another homeschooling classic that should be in every families resource library!

    TJEd MomSchool participants your books are by the front door. 

    Others, contact me to make arrangements to pick them up.

     
  • Enhance your experience with The Student Whisperer by downloading your free Student Whisperer Journal: 

    Click on the link below for: A free pdf download of The Student Whisperer Journal, a 176-page 8 1/2″ by 11″ binder insert designed to complement The Student Whisperer and enhance your experiences with the workshops and exercises it outlines.

    
    A free pdf download of the List of Inspiring Archetypes, from The Student Whisperer
    
    

    A free pdf download, “What is Thomas Jefferson Education?”
    
    

    Periodic updates, articles and downloads to assist you in your mentoring
    
    

    Notification of upcoming Leadership Education and LEMI events such as seminars, forums, online classes and webinars, etc.
    
    

    Access to special pricing on webinars, podcasts and new releases
    
    

    The monthly TJEd newsletter, “Inspire!”

     

     http://www.tjed.org/resources/student-whisperer/
    
    

 

Why Classics? By A Thomas Jefferson Education

      Why Classics?

#1: The Classics Teach Us Human Nature. The classics give us a glimpse into each of these basic human instincts. In fact, the thing which makes a classic great is glaring insight into basic human nature. Ultimately, as you study the classics, you learn about your own personal nature.  Learning through experience is good, but it is often better to learn from someone else's experiences and build on them. We hope a baby will learn from his parents not to touch a hot stove, even though the actual experience would certainly have impact.  If we will let them, the classics can teach us lessons without the pain of repeating certain mistakes ourselves. They can show us correct choices which will get us where we want to go.  At a deeper level, knowing how others think, feel and act allows us to predict behavior and lead accordingly. We can develop empathy, compassion, wisdom and self-discipline without subjecting our relationships to a more painful learning curve.  This is invaluable to the entrepreneur, parent, community leader or statesman. People with experience have been through certain patterns many times and know what to anticipate. The classics can provide us with many such experiences.  ~A Thomas Jefferson Education, p. 62

#2: The Classics bring us face-to-face with greatness. The purpose of studying literature is to become better. As we read, we experience despair, heartache, tragedy--and we learn to recognize what causes them and avoid it or cope with it in our own lives. As we study the characters, real or fictional, in the classics, we are inspired by greatness, which is the first step to becoming great ourselves. Greatness is the first goal of leadership education.    In the classics we come face-to-face with Moses on Sinai, Buddha leaving the castle, Christ at Gethsemane, Mohammad's cave (and Plato's), Paul on Mars Hill, Adam's finger outstretched on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Washington at Valley Forge, Hamlet, Lear, Shylock, Othello, Macbeth, MacDuff, Hector, Penelope and Jane Eyre. Who we are changes as we set higher and higher standards of what life is about and what we are here to accomplish.  ~A Thomas Jefferson Education, p. 63

 

 

#3: The Classics take us to the frontier to be conquered. Previous generations have had geographical frontiers to conquer. We don't. Without a frontier we cannot become what the Founders, the explorers and the pioneers became in their extremities.   Our challenges define us, our reactions to them mold and shape us. As Thucydides said over three thousand years ago, and as I used to tell my students at George Wythe College: "There is no need to suppose that human beings differ very much one from another: but it is true that the ones who come out on top are the ones who have been trained in the hardest school."   Human beings need a frontier in order to progress.  Fortunately, we do have one frontier left--and it is in fact the hardest one. It is the frontier within. In all of history, this frontier has not been fully conquered. The most challenging struggles of life are internal--and the classics can help. ~A Thomas Jefferson Education, p. 63

  Think.

#4: They Force us to Think.  At first reading the classics can be a chore, an assignment. If we persist, it eventually becomes leisure and even entertainment. Then one day (after a few weeks for some, perhaps years for another) something clicks; all the exposure to greatness reaches critical mass, and you, the reader, awaken. Your exposure to greatness changes you: your ideas are bigger, your dreams wilder, your plans more challenging, your faith more powerful. The classics can be hard work, and that is exactly what is needed to learn to think. Thinking is hard; deep thinking is not entertaining or easy.   Thinking is like exercise, it requires consistency and rigor. Like barbells in a weightlifting room, the classics force us to either put them down or exert our minds.   They require us to think. Not just in a rote memory way, either. The classics make us struggle, search, ponder, seek, analyze, discover, decide, and reconsider.   As with physical exercise, the exertion leads to pleasing results as we metamorphose and experience the pleasure of doing something wholesome and difficult that changes us for the better.     ~A Thomas Jefferson Education, p. 64-65

 

#5: The Classics connect us to our stories. Each culture is different because it has different shared stories. Different stories define each family, each religion, each nation. And members of each connect themselves with the stories--they make the stories part of their personal story. Can you imagine the Jews without the stories of Moses, the Maccabees, or the Holocaust? Or Americans without stories of Paul Revere, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln? Learn the stories of a culture, and you will come to understand that culture.   That is why I think it is such a tragedy that the current generation of American youth are mostly growing up without the stories of the Declaration of Independence, Daniel in the Lion's Den, Patrick Henry, Sitting Bull or Daniel Webster. The classics are the ark, the preserver, of stories which unite the cultures and the generations.   In addition to cultural, national and family stories, we each have individual stories. We all have a personal canon, a set of stories which we hang onto and believe in and base our lives around; and great classics are the best canon. A canon is the set of books we consider to be the standard of truth. Since the purpose of reading, of gaining education, is to become good, our most important task is to choose the right books.    Our personal set of stories, our canon, shapes our lives. I believe it is a law of the universe that we will not rise above our canon. Our canon is part of us, deeply, subconsciously. And the characters and teachings in our canon shape our characters--good, evil, mediocre, or great. ~A Thomas Jefferson Education, p. 65

 

#6: Our Canon Becomes our Plot. If you were evacuated to another planet and could only take one book, upon which to base the  teaching of your family and establishing right and wrong for your community, what would it be? Your answer is a good indication of what your national book might be. Are your companion books through life in line with your national book? What about your definitions of good and evil? Look at your life; is it in keeping with your canon?   These questions can be powerful as you analyze where to take the education of your children, your students, yourself. Perhaps the most important thing we can do to remain free and prosperous is to clarify a national book and live by it.   From the Founding through the end of World War II, the Bible and the Declaration were the U.S.'s national books. Even the great revolutions which occurred after 1945, such as increased freedom for minorities, were fueled by these two national books. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speeches center around them and quote them extensively.   America was based on them and became what it did because of them. Take them away, and America will become something very, very different.   The place to start is with yourself. Establish a clear canon and spend time in it every day. Become an expert on it, ponder it, put your life in line with it. Teach it to your family and then others. If you are a teacher, take it into your classroom.   If your faith doesn't include the Bible, use the Declaration or something of equal magnitude. Then broaden your knowledge to the other classics which support that central classic. Each nation is what it is due to its national books, and the choices you make now regarding books will have tremendous impact on what America will be twenty, forty and even sixty years from now.  ~A Thomas Jefferson Education, p. 67

  
 Stop by A Thomas Jefferson Education's Facebook Page at: http://www.facebook.com/Thomas.Jefferson.Education

Straight to College: Homeschoolers Skipping High School

What If You Don't Do High School OR Get a GED?

 

More and more homeschoolers are skipping the high school option - including the GED or Graduate Equivalency Diploma - and heading straight to college ... community college, that is! No, I'm not talking about dual enrollment either. Just pure old college credits!

 

College INSTEAD of High School? 

Is it okay to skip high school?

 

Some homeschool families are choosing to not choose high school, but to bypass it altogether. No high school transcript, no dual enrollment, no GED (high school graduate equivalency diploma). Instead, they just begin acquiring college credits from community college sometime around age 14 to 16, ending with a smooth transfer of credits to a four-year college or university at some later time. With 60 hours of college credit from a junior college or community college, a high school transcript is not even requested when one transfers to another college! (Note that community college may be available at different ages in different states.)

 

 

Albert Einstein

Einstein dropped out of college and tested into the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and of course went on to become a Nobel-prize winning physicist.

 

 

The Teenage Liberation Handbook 

How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education

 

Here is the original teenage manifesto from Grace Llewellyn. Teens are not older children, they are young adults, and are capable and smart enough to be charting their own path without recourse to a cookie cutter education. Not limited to homeschoolers, Llewellyn urges teens everywhere to quit school and start living their real lives.

 

 

 

The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education

 

by: Grace Llewellyn

 

Amazon Price: (as of 02/24/2011)

This is a very dangerous book. It contradicts all the conventional wisdom about dropouts and the importance of a formal education. It is funny and inspiring. Do not, under any circumstances, share this book with a bright, frustrated high-schooler being ground into mind fudge by the school system. This writer cannot be responsible for the happiness and sense of personal responsibility that might result. ~ Bloomsbury Review

 

 Is High School Necessary? 

Or is it just busywork to keep our young adults off the streets?

 

Are high school classes just a waste of time on things that could be better learned in college or college at home?

 

~ High School Dropouts ~ U.S. Presidents

 

George Washington

Abraham Lincoln

Martin Van Buren

Andrew Jackson

Zachary Taylor

Millard Fillmore

Grover Cleveland

 

also:

Benjamin Franklin

Thomas Paine

 

Who Skips High School? 

And why would anyone want to?

 

I met a girl who told me she had not graduated from high school nor taken the GED, and yet here she was, taking university classes. She had not been homeschooled, but did her junior year of high school as a transfer student to New Zealand. When she came back to the States, her school board decided they were not interested in figuring out how her credits should be transferred to her high school transcript. Instead, they wanted her to just redo her junior year during what should have been her senior year. Instead she dropped out of high school and worked as a nanny for a year, since her state did not allow her to enroll as a full-time student in community college until age 18. At 18, she enrolled in community college and acquired 60 hours of credits; then transferred directly to a university in another state. No one ever asked to see her high school transcript.

 

Immediately, this became my plan for my own children, I already knew I would homeschoo). Now that I homeschool, I am becoming aware that many of my homeschooling friends with children older than mine already know about this exciting option and are taking advantage of it - and doing incredibly well!

 

 

~ High School Dropouts ~ Millionaires & Billionaires

 

Thomas Edison

John D. Rockefeller Sr.

Andrew Carnegie

Henry Ford

Walt Disney

Dave Thomas (Wendy's)

Ray Kroc (McDonald's)

Harlan Sanders (Kentucky Fried Chicken)

George Eastman (Kodak)

Amadeo Peter Giannini (Bank of America)

Frederick Royce (Rolls Royce)

Jim Clark (Netscape)

Jimmy Dean (Jimmy Dean Foods)

Kemmons Wilson (Holiday Inn)

 

College Without High School 

A Teenager's Guide to Skipping High School and Going to College

 

 

Blake Boles shares what homeschoolers have known for decades: teens are thriving everywhere without attending school! Blake will inspire you to seize the day and live well now, with every bit of confidence that the doors to college will be wide open to you. I am thrilled to have another messenger trumpet the truth that school is optional. I recommend all parents and educators to acquaint themselves with this information.

~ Kenneth Danforth, North Star Self-Directed Learning for Teens

 

 

 College Without High School: A Teenager's Guide to Skipping High School and Going to College

 

by: Blake Boles

 

Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 02/24/2011)

It is possible to pursue your dreams and gain admission to any college of your choice. The guidebook shows how to fulfill college admission requirements by proving five preparatory results: intellectual passion, leadership, logical reasoning, background knowledge, and the capacity for structured learning. The author, who leads teenage unschoolers on educational adventures, offers several suggestions for life-changing, confidence-building activities that will demonstrate those results. Students begin by defining their goals and dreams and then pursue them through a combination of meaningful and engaging adventures. ~ book description

 

How Do They Do It? 

How does it work?

 

Of course there are teens, and even younger, who enroll full-time in college or university. That is not exactly what we're talking about here. This discussion is about the teen who, while living at home, begins to take community college classes one or two at a time. Often they will begin with a class of high interest, whether it will count properly toward a degree or not, in order to get used to the college atmosphere without the added pressure of a stressful class. Moving from art or clay or language into literature and math and science, the student begins to accumulate college credits that will eventually count toward a degree. There is no rush to "finish" anything by age 18; neither a high school transcript nor a transfer to a full university.

 

Many homeschoolers choose the option of dual enrollment. This is where a high school student attends community college and gets dual credit, for both high school and college credits. If this is the only option available, okay ... but I'm not sure I see the point. If one is getting college credit for a class, what is the point of getting high school credit too? It seems like a total redundancy to me.

 

 

What Do You Think? 

Is it okay for homeschooled kids to skip high school altogether?

 

~ High School Dropouts ~ Artists & Musicians

 

George Gershwin

John Philip Sousa

Claude Monet

Irving Berlin

Ansel Adams

Duke Ellington

Jack Benny

Count Basie

Louis Armstrong

 

Required Reading in the Liberal Arts: The Great Books of The Western World

Finally, I found a great price for the 54 volume set of The Great Books of the Western World!

 I bought them used on Amazon for less than $200.00! They retail at $995.00.  

 

Then, I decided to take an Introducation to the Great Books class at Montecillio College

 

 

https://www.monticellocollege.org/ 

to learn how to " learn" from them!

 

All I need now is better deodorant, LOL...  The natural stuff is failing me.  I was a nervous wreck doing the beginning readings, during the class discussions and when I had to write the first paper!  The masters program in liberal arts education is a breeze compared to this thinking.  But, I know it will get better and better and by the end of today, I was really enjoying Aristotle's Ethics.  

 

And we're off... the goal is for me to read them all, some in classes like the one at Monticello, some on my own and to inspire my teen daughter to do the same!

 

 When used with a classical liberal arts education, this set is the epitome of learning from the greatest minds known to man. I am so excited!   

 

The only problem, where to put them?

 They are hanging out on the dining room server,what happens to them at the next dinner party?  

They need a forever home.  

 

 

These books, more or less form what Mortimer Adler and his editorial team believed were the core of Western learning and culture.  Virtually every book in this collection is required reading in the Liberal Arts, and the ideas and issues discussed by these authors still dominates and influences debate today. Here we see the finest works of Art, Science, Philosophy, Poetry, Prose and History from the time of the Greeks until the early 20th century.

 

 

Some have equated the knowledge in these books as equal to "a bachelor's, a master's, and two graduate degrees".

 

But you don't have to attend a class or school to acquire the knowledge! 

 

The Great Ideas Program at The Center for The Study of The Great Books:http://www.thegreatideas.org/gip.htm  is an outline of readings over a 10 year period to finish most of the knowledge in these books.

 

The CENTER has two primary missions:

 

From The Center for The Study of The Great Ideas web site: 

 

To help awaken citizens from their moral and intellectual slumbers and to help them understand why philosophy is everybody's business: the possibility of finding sound and practical answers to questions about the good life and good society. And philosophy's ability to answer the most basic normative questions, WHAT OUGHT WE SEEK IN LIFE? And HOW OUGHT WE SEEK IT?

 

Two, to promulgate the insights and ideals embedded in Dr. Adler's lifelong intellectual work in the fields of Philosophy, Liberal Education, Ethics and Politics. To continue functioning as THE resource for, access to, and the on-going interpretation of his work

 

Winter's Opportunity in Our Home Schools

 

“I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter.  Something waits beneath it,

the whole story doesn't show.”    
  ~Andrew Wyeth

 

 
 Back in the day when people lived according to nature's rhythms, we had no choice but to honor our human nature, our bodies, and our soul’s needs.  Before stores were made so convenient and long before we plugged in... Winter brought on a soulful time of reflection.  We had prepared for the storm outside and,  the much needed rest to come inside. 

Thomas Jefferson's Monteciello Home

We spent the bitterness of the season by the fire, dreaming with our family, and in deep study. Winter was essential to life's plan, a time for cleaning house, inside and out.  

Winters were extremely productive but, not in the physical sense… 

Some of the deepest, most impactful ideas throughout history, came to the greatest thinkers in the winter time.    

 Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney as John and Abagail Adams in HBO's MIni Series John Adams.

 The real Mr. & Mrs. Adams writings have touched my soul deeply.  

 

“Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.”  ~Pietro Aretino

 

Creating a home school that follows the seasons

 is full of the greatest nourishment and one of the simpilist joys that we can give to our family.

 

Subcoming to deep study and rest in the winter. 

Birthing  new ideas and projects in the spring.
 

Basking in the joys of a artistic espression and play in the summer. 

Reaping the bounty of the harvest and the rewards of our work,

as we prepare for the winter during autum's fall. 

 

 Nurturing not only academics, but all of life’s essentials, reminds us to ask ourselves: "If we are not going to move through our days like the rest of society, how then shall we live?" 

As many of us grow in our home school journey, we sense that pushing against the storm outside doesn’t make much sense; the struggle brings on those winter blues, we become heavy with the meaninglessness of it all...   

 Home schoolers  are learning that by subcoming to the winter season we have an opportunity to align with our soul, to get back to basics, by doing things a little differently and more effectively.

 Once we commit to the quiet and stillness of the season, a world of, "out of the box" possibilities opens up, and we see many the opportunity in our winter days.  We begin by creating different rituals to our days, changing how we live to be more in harmony with our children's rythyms, we look for more authentic work and relish in our slower days, so full of soulful activities.  

 As we take the road less traveled, a path that is more in tune with nature and our natural learning rhythms, we begin trusting in the knowing that there is a season and a reason for all things.

 

A Day In the Life: Photo from the Donnely Family Scrap Book

 

“The tendinous part of the mind, so to speak, is more developed in winter; the fleshy, in summer.  I should say winter had given the bone and sinew to literature, summer the tissues and the blood.”  ~John Burroughs

 

Wondering in what ways your family is taking the path less traveled…

What kind of home school days have you created this winter?    

 

 

Ideas and Links for Learning About Martin Luther King Jr. in Our Home School:

 Studying Martin Luther King Jr. in Our Home School

 

our house will watch the dream speech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk 

 

then do copy work and narration of the dream speech

http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html

 

 for  younger students,  we'll add reading a book on MLK, here's a free one online mini book, you have to sign up to down load:

http://www.mrsjonesroom.com/teachers/minibooks.html

 

 the older students can explore:

http://www.mlkonline.net/

 

 

Whenever we read a biography of a leader, we feel it's important to study their own words.  

My favorite  classic book on Mr. King is:

The Words of Martin Luther King Jr.

http://www.amazon.com/Words-Martin-Luther-King-Newmarket/dp/0937858285

 

 

 

 and National Geographic has a good video on MLK,  after watching have the children narrate back what they heard:

.http://video.kids.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/history-kids/mlk-day-vin-kids.html

 

we'll finish up by creating a  Lapbook to be placed on the book shelf for the student to return to over and over again.   

MLK lapbook (printables too) for those that enjoy lapbooking:

http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks/martin_luther_king_jr.htm

 

Thanks to  Homeschool For Free on Facebook for some of these links!

 

Our TJEd Mommy School aka: KidSchool or Home School Co-op in Action!

 

"In short, something truly amazing is happening. It is happening quietly, usually in small groups in unconnected neighborhoods. It is uncoordinated and mostly unorganized. Yet I believe it will shape the 21st Century. In the year 2100, it may well stand out as one of the most important trends of the century. It is quiet, it is spreading, and it is real: Mothers are seeing a need and filling it—themselves." ~~Rachel DeMille

Every Thursday we host a Mommy School

(home school co-op) in our home.

This blog post was inspired by the joy and fellowship

found inside our weekly gatherings,

and by the following essay, which goes right to the heart of the matter: 

What Homeschoolers Want Most:  http://www.tjed.org/2010/12/homeschoolers-want/

We have seventeen families participating in our Mommy School, and the children are separated into three groups: Scholar & Transition to Scholar (high-school age) Love of Learners (elementary through middle school ages) and Core (six and under). 

The common thread of our SW Florida TJEd inspired Mommy School, is that each family values, on some level, A Classical Liberal Arts Education and that we honor the Phases of Learning as described in the book:

Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning 

by, Oliver and Rachel DeMille.

The Phases are:  

Core, Love of Learning, Scholar, Depth, Mission, & Impact

for a quick understanding of the Phases: http://www.tjed.org/?s=phases+of+learning 

Love this photo... Mommy School in Action! The key to a successful Mommy School is to have mentors that have a passion for what they are inspiring!  

***********

"Mom Schools meet according to the needs of the students, and most Mom Schools tend to focus on one or a few areas of expertise. A network of such schools in an area provides a much deeper academic offering than the traditional co-ops. I call them Mom Schools because of the hundred or so I know, only a few are initiated by Dad. But in many of them Dad is partially or very closely involved." ~Rachel DeMille, A Thomas Jefferson Home Companion

Our teens are a mixed phase crowd: We have a couple Scholars and the rest are in Transition or Practice Scholar Phase. On this day, they met for their Deeper Thinking Study Group where they rotate through reading Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors and discussing it. They practice and play a Latin game, are discussing the book The One Minute Philosopher and from time to time play Chess. This group is Mentored by one our moms.

 

Meet Ms. Miranda http://mirandasartofliving.squarespace.com/ 

She is our Deeper Thinking Study Group Mentor, Art Teacher and our resident Health Coach. She is the mother of three children , all of whom attend on Thursday.  Miranda plays a big role in our Mommy School where she alternates from Study Group Mentor to Cooking and Nutrition Class Instructor, I can pretty much throw her into any group and she pops the learning!  Today she filled in for our Art Teacher and facilitated the Scholar's Graphic Novel, Art Class.  

 With sketch books in hand, the students worked on understanding the format of a story board. 

From time to time, if we don't have a mom or dad who can Mentor a class, or study group, we go outside our family circle and hire someone. We all pitch in to pay for that person.

Ms. Vivian Hadding is a local artist and home school mom, we hired. 
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1441553613

 

My husband is a part of our Mommy School, he works from our home and stops early on Thursdays to Mentor an American History Study Group, a topic he has much passion for!

Yes, they meet in our bedroom... by the end of a Thursday every room in the house has been used!

Mr. Jerry reads to the students, followed by a lively discussion.  

 Their learning is mostly conversational.

 

Keeping the learning simple and effective!  They read, narrate back, write essay's on the topic, discuss and from time to time present and/or debate in this group.

******

The Call of Community

"Many home schooling parents intrinsically know that their children need a community of other home schoolers.  A community of like-minded people.  A community of people who "get" them."  

"When we decided to start home schooling we really didn't know that it would make our children different somehow.  We wanted something different for our children, but we did not equate that if we offered something different, it would actually make them different."

The New Commonwealth School pg: 16

 

This is our Love of Learning Science Study Group. It is Mentored by Ms. Michelle one of our moms. She has two children attending on Thursday.  You'll see a big age span amongst the participants, as our Core Phase (pre-K ages) usually join in during Science.

Each mom in the group brings with them their unique talents and passions. Ms. Michelle has two children that she is homeschooling, five altogether, and works from home as an editor.  

Every week, Michelle, along with her passion for learning,

brings science to life with fun experiment demonstrations for our

Love of Learning- Liberty Kids and our Core Phase- Acorn home schooler's.

Look at the faces of our littlest participants... so curious! :-)   The lessons are short and sweet and the little children leave when they have seen or done enough.

 

Some of our kids love to present what they have learned (public speaking and additional learning practice) some don't, they have the choice. This is my grand niece, she is a few weeks shy of turning five and has been coming to my Mommy School since she was in diapers. She LOVES playing at school, and eats up everything we have to offer on Thursday's!

Creating Lap Books (hand made, authored by each student, personalized science text book). Each week after the experiment, we create a page in our books. Then we have the opportunity to read what we have learned. At the end of the semester,  we take our books home, to be placed on our shelves, so we can visit with them and continue our learning over and over again.

***** 

 Our TJEd Mommy School does not replace in home education, but is set up to accentuate what the students are already learning in their home schools.  We come together, parents and children, and decide what we want to learn in a group setting, then we look to our families in attendance, or the outside community for a Mentor, someone who would study the subject for fun is best!  

The study groups enable us to bring the learning to life in different, and at times, more effective ways. We get inspired by the people who have passions for what they are Mentoring, and the inspiration is contagious!  It  encourages everyone to help, we are challenged by other points of view, and we (children and adults) get to inspire the others around us.  

We base each study group, as much as possible, from a classic book.  We keep our lessons simple, mostly conversational, and relevant to the students life, and try to avoid Conveyor Belt educational patterns.    We break up the day with movement, the older kids take a walk, the younger ones play outside, as well as inside and, we eat together, each family brings a healthy snack to share.   

The Mommy School gives the children practice at growing up in a community with their primary role models or trusted adults close by, who can redirect and inspire good character development as needed.  

 The parents get much needed support and company in their home schooling endeavors!

 

We call the kids in the Love of Learning Phase-Liberty Kids at our Mommy School.

This is a Liberty Kids- Classic Book Language Arts- Learning Circle and is Mentored by Ms. Patti (that's been my nickname for twenty years now!)  Both pre-K and elementary ages sit through the reading and discuss it with us. I follow the Charlotte Mason philosophy, with a bunch of Waldorf methods sprinkled in, to bring the books to life. 

We read a classic book, discuss it, pull vocabulary words from the days reading and use and define them. From time to time, we take the words and create a story using them.

Each week we take an emotional (preferably)  passage from the reading and copy it. The older kids (when they are ready), don't copy, instead, they listen and write what they hear. They check their own work for structure and punctuation, and correct any mistakes, conditioning them for Scholar- self directed learning.

We draw a picture about the story in our language arts lap book, on the same page as our copy work. Narration plays a big role in our circle, each week we start our gathering taking turns re-telling the story and insights learned. 

We also try and bring some of the books we read to life;  we may do handwork, for instance we made log cabins using wood carving tools when we read the Little House series, we cook, reenact and for the current book The Tale of Despereaux we are creating, out of clay, a diorama of the castle and the characters from the story.

When it is dry, it will be available to play with.

When we do the Language Arts exercises, some pre-k'ers stay, some go off and play. For those in the pre- writing stage- they draw a picture based on the story and dictate to a mom what it is, we write it for them while they watch. When they are ready, we take a word or two and have them trace the words, they also practice writing them underneath.

I always have other moms with me to help and to redirect any behavior issues.  

They are encourage to share their wisdom with the group too!

Example of a Language Arts Lap Book

A Waldorf Inspired Wood Working Hand-Work Circle, creating logs for log cabins.  All ages participate and if a child is not ready to use pocket knives and wood working tools, they let us know, and can watch or practice on soap with a plastic knife.  

When it is time to learn a new skill, we look first to the other kids in the house to Mentor!

For our Core Phase group, whom we call Acorns, I run a Waldorf inspired, short and sweet circle time. We read a classic book, do some singing, finger plays, and movement (YOGA). We do a little journaling, where we draw a picture and dictation, based on the story... the older ones practice copying my writing. We may do some handwork or Waldorf type art.

It is important that the learning activity be natural, so we avoid pre-fab, cookie cutter-popular pre-school and elementary school arts and crafts activities.

Instead, we turn to resources like, water color painting, conte, felt, wax, sewing, knitting, and clay.

The idea when working with Core Phase children is to keep the children moving,  up and down... Contraction (academics short and sweet) and then expansion (movement & play).

For more information on Waldorf inspired art and crafts: http://www.openwaldorf.com/art.html

Talk about passion! Cooking Class with Mentor and Health Coach Miranda a woman who loves what she does!!!  http://mirandasartofliving.squarespace.com/

And, what would a Mommy School be without that -all important-in the background- kind of support? Ms. Christie is that for me. We have been homeschooling  together for fourteen year. Her son and my daughter have grown up together.  She is my go to person!  With help from other moms, she runs the kitchen, sets up the food, does the clean up, helps with the children, and fills in wherever we need her.  

She keeps the space running and knows where everything is so she can acclimate a new family if I am busy and makes sure the kids put everything away in the right place.  

   

We try and host a Mentor Lecture for our Mommy School participants a few times a year. We invite leaders, and inspiring members of our community to come and speak.

This is a photo of Lawrence Reed, President of the Foundation for Economic Education with the children.  Larry has come two years in a row to speak to our families. http://fee.org/people/lawrence-w-reed/ 

The first year, he gave a talk entitled: My Favorite President, Grover Cleveland. The second year, he spoke about Adam Smith,Philosopher and the man considered the, "father of economics". The talk was based on Smith's classic book: The Wealth of Nations.

Parents and students attend the lectures. The parents are encouraged, and come prepared to model group discussions, and to inspire the students into the discussion if needed.

Life Skills practice is a part of our Mommy School. We used drills, saws and muscle to create an Earth Box Organic Garden.

Learning to grow food here in SW Florida has been a challenge.  We've had to overcome the sand problem.  Here is the fruit of our labor!

We are always asking, "who in our group is connected to whom in our community?"  One of our daddies is connected to the fire department.  One day they showed up right outside our front door for a "come to us",  kind of  field trip!  

*****

"The most exciting thing about Mom Schools may be that they promise not only a better education for the rising generation, but they are also educating the parent’s generation in neighborhood after neighborhood across the globe. It is inevitable that this will impact our freedoms, our prosperity, and our future." ~~Rachel DeMille www.TJEd.org

The beauty of multiple age learning is how the older students model for the younger ones! 

Personally, I find that one of the added joys of creating a Mommy School in our home, is that my entire family has attended.

In this photo, my grand niece, my two nephews and the little guy is my grandson ♥♥♥♥

Our Mommy School on Thursday exhausts me, and some weeks I dread it... but always, I mean always, when it is over, and the last family leaves at 6pm,  I realize I am exhausted in a most soulful and very good way!  

I am blessed to be a part of each one of these families lives!

 Every one of them, adults and children, are here because they want to be, and they each bring their  positive energy, so full of inspiration for all of us!!! 

My daughter, niece, nephews and grandsons are equally blessed to have this wonderful community to grow up in!!! ♥

This Friday morning I woke to find this on my chalk board...

Warming my heart and creating  :-) BIG SMILES :-) 

((HUGS)) to whomever wrote it yesterday!

 ~~~:-)p

Classic Book List

A good book can capture the imagination, while very subtly improving our child's knowledge of the world, of grammar and spelling, of vocabulary and a list of other benefits.  But more than that, a good book is both entertaining and thought provoking.  While there are many great books written today, here you will find the classics. 

 Most of the books on these lists of classical books or reads were published in the book "A Thomas Jefferson Education" by Oliver Van DeMille. The lists are found in the appendices of the book and are categorized by age group of the reader.

 The rest are some of my family's favorites.

  These are by no means all of the classics that are worthwhile to read! It's a list to get you started. Each family should choose which books fit their world view, interests and paradigms. 

  As you go through your home schooling journey, your reads will lead to other books so, I suggest you keep an ongoing list of your own somewhere handy.  

 

Contents

 1. Appendix A

2 Appendix B-2

3 Appendix B-1

4 Sources

5 External links

 

[edit]Appendix A

Appendix A is the 100 classic reads for adults.

Acton, The History of Freedom

John Adams, "Thoughts on Government"[1]

Aquinas, "On Kingship"

Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics

Aristotle, Politics

Aristotle, Rhetoric

Augustine, The City of God

Aurelius, Meditations

Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Austen, Sense and Sensibility

Bacon, Novum Organum

Bhagavad Gita

Bastait, The Law

Bastait, "What is Seen and Not Seen"

Benson, "The Proper Role of Government"

The Bible

Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy

Bronte, Wuthering Heights

Bronte, Jane Eyre

Carson, The American Tradition

Capra, The Tao of Physics

Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Churchill, Collected Speeches

Cicero, The Republic

Cicero, The Laws

Clausewitz, On War

Confucius, Analects

The Constitution of the United States

Copernicus, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres

Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Dante, The Divine Comedy

The Declaration of Independence

DeFoe, Robinson Crusoe

Descartes, A Discourse on Method

Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Dickens, Great Expectations

Douglas, Magnificent Obsession

Durant, A History of Civilization

Einstein, Relativity

Emerson, Collected Essays

Euclid, Elements

Frank, Alas Babylon

Franklin, Letters and Writings

Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents

Galileo, Two New Sciences

Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Goethe, Faust

Hobbes, Leviathan

Homer, The Iliad

Homer, The Odyssey

Hugo, Les Miserables

Hume, Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary

Jefferson, Letters, Speeches, and Writings

Keegan, History of Warfare

Kepler, Epitome

Martin Luther King, Jr., Collected Speeches

Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Lavoisier, Elements of Chemistry

Lewis, Mere Christianity

Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Lincoln, Collected Speeches

Locke, Second Treatise of Government

Machiavelli, The Prince

Madison, Hamilton and Jay, The Federalist Papers

Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto

More, Utopia

The Magna Charta

Mill, On Liberty

Milton, Paradise Regained

Mises, Human Action

The Monroe Doctrine

Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws

Newton, Mathematical Principles

Nichomachus, Introduction to Arithmetic

Neitzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

The Northwest Ordinance

Orwell, 1984

Plato, Collected Works

Polybius, Histories

Potok, The Chosen

Plutarch, Lives

Ptolemy, Almagest

Qu’ran

Shakespeare, Collected Works

Skousen, The Five Thousand Year Leap

Skousen, The Majesty of God's Law

Skousen, The Making of America

Smith, The Wealth of Nations

Solzhenitsyn, "A World Split Apart"

Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago

Sophocles, Oedipus Trilogy

Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin

Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Thackeray, Vanity Fair

Torah

Thoreau, Walden

Tolstoy, War and Peace

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian Wars

Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Washington, Letters, Speeches, and Writings

Weaver, Mainspring of Human Progress

Wister, The Virginian

 

[edit]Appendix B-2

Appendix B-2 are classics for older youth to read and discuss with their mentors.

Alice in Wonderland - Carroll

Animal Farm - Orwell

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

The Anne of Green Gables series - Montgomery

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

“Battle Hymn of the Republic”

Ben Hur: A Tale of Christ - Wallace

The Bible

Brighty of the Grand Canyon - Henry

Black Beauty - Sewell

The Black Stallion series – Farley

The Bronze Bow, Speare

Caddie Woodlawn, Brink

Calico Bush, Field

The Chronicles of Narnia series - Lewis

The Collected Verse of Edgar A Guest

“Concord Hymn” - Emerson

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court - Samuel Clemens

The Constitution of the United States

David Copperfield - Dickens

Davy Crockett Legends - Irwin Shapiro

The Declaration of Independence

The Deerslayer – Cooper

The Defender, Kalashnikoff

Don Quixote de la Mancha - Miguel de Cervantes

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Stevenson

The Dred Scott Decision

The Education of Henry Adams

Eight Cousins - Alcott

Emily Post’s Etiquette

Ender's Game

“In Flanders Fields”

Flatland - Abbott

The Foundation series - Asimov

Frankenstein - Shelley

“The Gettysburg Address” - Lincoln

“Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” – Henry

The Giver, Lowrey

The Great Brain series - Fitzgerald

Gulliver’s Travels - Swift

Hamilton’s Mythology - Hamilton

Hamlet - Shakespeare

Heidi - Spry

The Hiding Place - Boom

History Reborn

The Hobbit - Tolkien

Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of - Twain

“I Have a Dream” - King

Ivanhoe - Scott

Island of the Blue Dolphins - Scott O'Dell

Joan of Arc - Twain

Jo's Boys - Alcott

A Journey to the Center of the Earth - Verne

Julius Caesar (play) - Shakespeare

The Jungle Book - Kipling

King Arthur and the Round Table - Malory

Laddie - Porter

The Last of the Mohicans - Cooper

“Let America be America Again” - Hughes

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

The Little Britches series - Moody

Little Lord Fauntleroy - Burnett

Little Men - Alcott

Little Women - Alcott

The Lonesome Gods - L'Amour

Lord of the Rings series - Tolkien

“The Man with the Hoe”

Mathematicians are People, Too (2 volumes) - Reimer

Moby Dick - Melville

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - Douglass

National Velvet - Bagnold

Noah Webster’s Original 1828 Dictionary - Webster

North to Freedom - Holm

“O Captain! My Captain!” - Whitman

“Old Ironsides” - Holmes

Old Yeller - Gipson

Oliver Twist - Dickens

On Numbers - Conway

Paul Bunyan – Sheperd

Tales From Shakespeare, Lamb

Tarzan of the Apes, Burroughs

The Phantom Tollbooth - Juster

"The Present Crisis" - Lowell

The Real Benjamin Franklin - Allison

The Real George Washington - Parry and Allison

The Real Thomas Jefferson - Allison

“The Road Not Taken” s:The Road Not Taken - Frost

The Robe - Douglas

Robinson Crusoe - DeFoe

Romeo and Juliet - Shakespeare

The Sackett series - L'Amour

Sarah Bishop, O’Dell

The Saxon Math series - Saxon

The Secret Garden - Burnett

Shipwrecked

Soldiers, Statesmen, and Heroes - Parry

Sonnets of Shakespeare - Shakespeare

Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers - Kavanaugh

Stuart Little - White

The Summer of the Monkeys - Wilson Rawls

The Swiss Family Robinson - Wyss

Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of - Twain

Treasure Island - Stevenson

The Trumpet of the Swans - White

“Ulysses” - Tennyson

The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle - Lofting

The Walking Drum - L'Amour

Where the Red Fern Grows - Rawls

White Fang - London

William Tell

The Yearling - Rawlings

 

[edit]Appendix B-1

Appendix B-1 are classics to be read to young children.

A Christmas Carrol, Dickens

A Little Princess, Burnett

At the Back of North Wind, Mac Donald

Aesop’s Fables - Aesop

Andersen’s Fairy Tales – Anderson

A Wrinkle in Time, L’Engle

Aladdin and  Other Favorite Arabian Night Stories, Smith

Beauty and the Beast

The Bible

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Carry on Mr. Bowditch, Latham

“Casey at Bat”[2] – Thayer

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dahl

Charlotte’s Web - White

Chicken Little

A Christmas Carol - Dickens

Cinderella

Curious George, Rey

Dinotopia series – Gurney

The Dorr In The Wall, Angeli

Dr. Seuss series

The Emperor's New Clothes - Anderson

The Fourth Wise Man

The Gift of the Magi - Henry

The Giving Tree - Silverstein

“God Save the Flag” – Holmes

The Golden Goblet, McGraw

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg - Aesop

Grimm's Fairy Tales - Grimm

“The Highwayman”[3]

Hansel and Gretel - Grimm

Jack and the Beanstalk,

Johnny Tremain, Forbes

Just So Stories - Kipling

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Irving

“Lincoln, The Man of the People” - Markham

“Little Boy Blue”[4] - Field

Little Bea, Minarik

The Little Engine that Could

The Little House on the Prairie series - Wilder

The Little Red Hen

Little Red Riding Hood

The McGuffey Readers

Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes

The Tale of Despereaux,  Kate DiCamillo.

 “Paul Revere’s Ride”[5] - Longfellow

Peter Pan - Barrie

Peter Rabbit - Potter

The Pied Piper of Hamlin

Pinocchio

The Adventures of Pinocchio – Colladi

The Princess and Curdie, MacDonald

The Princess and the Goblin, MacDonald

The Princess and the Pea

Pollyanna - Porter

The Princess and the Pea - Anderson

Puss-in-Boots - Perrault

Rapunzel - Grimm

Riki Tiki Tavi - Kipling

Rip Van Winkle - Irving

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - Pyle

Rumpelstiltskin - Grimm               

Rudyard Kipling Just So Stories

The Sign of the Beaver, Speare

Sleeping Beauty - Perrault

The Song of Hiawatha - Longfellow

Snow White – Grimm

Stewart Little, White

Tales of the Arabian Nights

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

The Three Little Pigs

Toby Tyler, Otis

Tom Thumb

The Trumpet of the Swan, White

The Trumpeter of Krakow, Kelly

"Twas the Night Before Christmas"[6]

The Ugly Duckling - Anderson

The Wind in the Willows - Grahame

Winnie-the-Pooh series – Milne

Winter of Fire, Jordoan

The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Speare

The Wizard of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Baum

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Read the Classics

 

WHY READ THE CLASSICS?

#1: They Teach Us Human Nature

Classics can teach us without the pain of repeating certain mistakes ourselves. Classics allow us to experience the greatest mistakes and successful choices of human history. If we learn from these, we will make fewer mistakes and have more successes. At a deeper level, knowing how others think, feel and act allows us to predict behavior and lead accordingly. ~ A Thomas Jefferson Education pg. 62

 

 We must read the classics, and families must lead out, or we will cease to be the kind of nation that deserves success, prosperity, civilization or happiness. This may seem too dramatic; but the reality is that Greece, Rome, Egypt, Israel and other great civilizations in history fell the same way, following a similar pattern. We may think we are above that; so did they.   ~TJEd, p 61

#2 We come Face-to-Face with Greatness, which is the first step to becoming great ourselves. Moses on Sinai, Buddha leaving the castle, Christ at Gethsemane, the caves of Mohammad and Plato, Paul on Mars Hill, Adam’s reaching finger, Washington at Valley Forge, Hamlet, Shylock, Othello, Macbeth, MacDuff, Hector, Penelope and Jane Eyre. Who we are changes as we are inspired by close contact with these.

 

 #3 Human beings need a frontier in order to progress. We do have one frontier left: the frontier within. In all of history, this frontier has not been fully conquered. The most challenging struggles of life are internal—and the classics can help. The classics deal with the real questions of life, our deepest concerns: joy, pain, fear, love, hate, courage, anger, death, faith, and others.

#4 Like barbells in a weightlifting room, the classics force us to either put them down or exert our minds. The classics make us struggle, search, ponder, seek, analyze, discover, decide, and reconsider. As with physical exercise, the exertion leads to pleasing results as we metamorphose and experience the pleasure of doing something wholesome and difficult that changes us for the better.

 #5- The Classics Connect Us To Our Stories:  The classics are the ark, the preserver, of stories which unite the cultures and the generations. Our personal set of stories, our canon, shapes our lives. I believe it is a law of the universe that we will not rise above our canon. And the characters and teachings in our canon shape our characters—good, evil, mediocre, or great.

 

~TJEd p. 65

#6-If you were evacuated to another planet and could take one book upon which to base the teaching of your family and establishing right for your community, what would it be? Your answer is a good indication of what your national book (canon) might be. Are your companion books through life in line with your canon? What about your definitions of good and evil? Is your life in keeping with your canon?   "When you re-read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before. You see more in you than there was before."  ~Clifton Fadiman

 

"When you re-read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before. You see more in you than there was before."

 ~Clifton Fadiman

Thomas Jefferson Education asked: Why study the classics?

Here is what some home schoolers said over on the TJEd Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Thomas.Jefferson.Education

W.H. said: I would say because doing so takes communication to a higher level. When communicating with another who is well read, one might say, "I love Big Brother," or "Who is John Galt" or "some animals are more equal than others “or” in a Machiavellian sense..." or “as iron sharpens iron”. To the unread these words at face value are worthless, but to those who have read common classics, a few words like these insert entire ideologies, emotions and complex thoughts. The difference in communicating with and without being well read is like doing a complex math problem, long hand or using a computer. Additionally in my case, I learn more about punctuation, vocabulary and spelling by observation than I ever did through instruction, but that is just the way my mind works. I did not really start reading until I was 30, but boy I wished I would have.

Thursday at 9:52am · Like ·  4 people ·

Thomas Jefferson Education said:  I love that comment! It is said of George Wythe that his legal decisions on the bench were a tutorial in the classics as his allusions chased one another up and down the page. Words are impregnated with meaning when we know the stories behind them. Like when Abigail Adams signed a letter, "Penelope." Such a wealth of love and fealty in one word--and they both clearly understood the allusion. And it was beautiful not just because of the information is transferred, but because it engaged both the mind and the heart in the reading of it, and its brevity was fraught with intimacy.

Thursday at 11:05am · Like ·  3 people ·

M. P. said: I like both of these comments, but I'd like to add something. Reading the classics not only teaches us about communication, but also about human nature in general. Human nature doesn't change through the generations or centuries. Learning about what happened in ancient Rome helps us better understand our OWN nature. As we understand our own nature better, we can make better decisions and get along with different people better.

Thursday at 11:32am · Like ·  3 people ·

Thomas Jefferson Education said: Totally agree. Sometimes see ourselves more clearly when we look in the heart and mind of an actor in a story than after days-long introspection.

Thursday at 11:34am · Like ·

K. B. said:  I believe that reading the classics teaches us two things. First, like M., said it teaches human nature and second, it teaches us history while inspiring us to look deeper and learn even more. As the old adage goes, "Those who do not learn from history and bound to repeat it" and it is so much easier to learn from a book than by experience.

Thursday at 11:53am · Like ·  1 person ·

S. H. said: I am starting, thanks to you!

Thursday at 12:11pm · Like ·

B. J. said:   When I read classics, they send me to other classics--for reference, verification, refutation. When I am well-versed in classics, I can see or hear with my heart so much more in the work or discussion--and in myself and other people. I can have a conversation with the author/speaker on his or her terms.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm reading The Count of Monte Cristo for the first time (hanging my head in shame). As I've been reading, I'm noting and researching all the references to other classics Dumas makes. It's astounding everything I would miss if I didn't know these things or look them up! I'm learning so much and experiencing the work on such a different level. Plus, I'm learning about myself and others--as M. said, human nature. I love the classics!

Thursday at 12:32pm · Like ·  2 people ·

L. D. said: Reading the classics is like doing genealogy. It is from the classics we see whence we sprang, why we live the way we do. The fact that the classics are no longer being taught in favor of more modern literature and textbooks is apparent in political and economic arenas. It's okay to look back; we will not turn into salt like Lot's wife.

Thursday at 1:32pm · Like ·  1 person ·

B. K. @ K.B said: -you said it's easier to learn from books than from experience, I think I'm one of those stronger not smarter types that seem to need experience to learn. Do you do anything special to facilitate learning from books? I love to read, but find it hard to figure out sometimes exactly what I really could be learning from the source. Are there typical questions you ask yourself while reading? Do you treat fiction and non fiction differently and how so if you do? These sound like odd questions looking at them but I really would like to get more out of reading the classics, and I think I can but I tink there's more take home than just the face value usually.

Friday at 12:22am · Like ·

M. B. said:  Reading the classics gives us, at our instant disposal, an army of mentors to guide us in the dilemmas of our day. Any thing I might be struggling with-truly, any thing, has been faced and handled before, either well or badly. I can take the time before acting to seek the council of many who have experienced those same dilemmas ahead of me and then proceed with action based on a variety of examples and wise or ill council. I think that is so fascinating and exciting!

****

As for me, all of the above applies.  @ B.K.  I too learn from doing, the energy of motion and practice is necessary for me to assimilate.  So, I have a system that I follow while reading that was born out of me not really learning what others were getting out of a read.  I learned that I needed to become disciplined in my study.  I have questions that I ask myself before and while I read.  While reading, if there are references, I stop and look into them and anything uncommon to me I look up.  If there are math problems, science formulas, etc., I stop and practice the application of them or find someone to show me.   The first questions I ask about a book usually come from a previous read since one book always leads to another.   I have acquired the habit of taking lots of notes and I have a stream lined system for that note taking; things like different colored highlighter and the particular place I write the note in the book applies to different learning or application.  I not only ask myself  who, what, where, when and how the passage reminds me of something, but, also, how I feel about it, which has become just as important for me to jot down.   

 I learned early on that I needed to write my thoughts directly after each reading session even if it was only a short paragraph that I read.  I take advantage of online study guides, using their questions about a book to help in my discussion and/or writing and I’m careful not to read the opinion pieces before I form my own.   Also, I love online discussion groups and more importantly, having someone (a mentor) take me through the read has been the key to seeing how and what I can learn from a classic book.    

 Reading the classics allows me to learn according to my level of awareness and phase of development.  Re-reading, keeps the ever growing learning opportunity a pleasure!    

 

How We Overcame Our Fears of Learning Math

When it comes to Math, studies show that only 30% of children are successful at learning in a conveyor belt (traditional school) setting.  The curriculum in these schools is also popular in home schools, where the system and methods  have been in place since the industrial revolution, whose focus was to train the masses of common children who had little use for any studies that did not translate into wage-earning.

What happens to the 70%  of the students who just don't get it, are bored with it, or who get a bad taste in their mouths, along with a negative self image, because the Math information being taught is not relevant?    They become grown up adults with limited Math experience,  just look at the current American statistics surrounding Math, and you'll find something is not working!

Twelve years ago, I started my then, pre-schooler, off with an environment full of wonderful Math, engineering and geometry type games, toys and Waldorf & Montessori inspired Math resources, in an effort to give her the best Math start.    I felt like she was getting the "language" of math with a solid foundation and this would enable her to be able to learn higher concepts as she grew.  

When our daughter reached seven years old we introduced the popular home school curriculum Saxon Math and required her to learn it, as a Waldorf inspired teacher I knew better, but it was what was popular, traditional, and I thought she could handle it because of her wonderful start to Math concepts!   

 I wanted her to be good at Math and didn't want her to have the phobias that I did towards Math study.  So I took myself out of the equation and hired other home school moms and tutors through the years to teach her, thinking that would make all the difference.    

By the time she was eleven years old, we had given up on the tutors and thrown out Saxon Math, while my heart broke as I realized all of my fears had come true,  I had a child with a Math phobia and a low self image around being able to learn Math

At the same time A Thomas Jefferson Education aka: Leadership Education came into my life and I started to understand the concept of "inspire not require" and what the phases of learning were... so we started back at the beginning.  

Using classic books and biographies of mathematicians, beginning with the Mathematicians are People Too books, which are stories from the lives of great Mathematicians, we went in chronological order learning about the discoveries , scientists and Math concepts.  We watched shows,  followed popular Math people in the world and we brought Math concepts to life naturally in our home.  We involved her in the book keeping of our business and home, the kitchen work, the projects and we played lots of Math and deeper thinking games.  

We changed the conversation from you are not good at Math, to you are one of the 70% who have a problem with the way Math is taught in schools and you will learn it differently (when you are ready) than your friends are learning it in public school, conveyor belt settings.  

We also told her that it wasn't important to learn Math, that she would learn it when and if she needed it, no big deal.  And whenever possible we showed her that she had a Math brain, sometimes this took lots of creativity, foresight and pulling information out of left field, so to speak, to inspire that belief in her.  Changing the conversation started working but, a little part of her still was worried about getting into college and passing the SAT, that's where  John Holt's writings on learning Math later in life when the skills were needed came in.

Holt, one of the founding fathers of the Unschooling movement,  tells a story of a group of teens who didn't know much Math at all and decided they [wanted] to learn it.  The story goes on to say that within a short period of time, 30 to 60 days, if I remember correctly, they learned the concepts from addition up to calculus.  Using less rote learning and more whole brain instruction, not only could they pass a test, they owned their Math learning for life! He has similar stories about learning a musical instrument later in life when the adult [wants] too.  (See Holt article below.) 

How many adults can say we remember our higher Math lessons? 

My daughter started buying into this theory.   Her self image started shifting and we were banking on the idea that she would be able,  when and if the time came,  to learn all the Math concepts needed to pass an SAT in a very short period of time.  

As for me, deep inside I knew that what I had focused on had expanded, I had made my worse fears come true by requiring she learn Math the traditional way.  I believe our children  live in our emotions and my daughter had picked up on my phobia about Math.   How many times did I teach in my parenting classes that a core answer to most parenting dilemma's is,  "How can you become the change you want to see in your children?"  I knew if I wanted her to have a positive self image over Math, I needed to get rid of my negative one.  My thoughts went something like this...  I am almost fifty years old, not really interested in Math, never mind the effort it would take to over come that deep fear at this point in my life!  But, my daughter needed me to shift...

As my daughter entered into the teen years I was changing too.  The teen years is a time for tremendous growth, not just for our young adults but, for parents of teens, as well.  My fourteen year home school journey had taught me to want to model  a Love of Learning for my children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren and, to inspire them, not require them to learn!  

Based on this principle, I had started down the path of my own Classical Liberal Arts studies and was one  chapter ahead of my daughter in just about every other academic subject,  but could I reall do that with Math too?  (((MUCH FEAR)))

 Foundational parenting rule here, if I wanted her to love learning Math, I need to show her how it was done!     

My Classical Liberal Arts approach to learning Math began with a purpose that was full of love for my daughter, making my choice to study Math a good one (and somewhat more appealing)  for me too, since inspiring her education was part of my mission in life. 

 

 Everything that I learned I told her about in natural every day conversations.  She watched and even participated, as I struggled and used her Math knowledge and study skills to Mentor me.  She  knew more than I did, and learning came easier to her.  "We teach what we need to learn", comes to mind.  Together we discovered that a person who really [wants] too, can learn new and challenging concepts.  I really [wanted] to learn Math, because I [wanted] her to loose the fear of it.  I have to say  fighting those deep, low self image demons inside of me was one of the hardest parenting things I have ever done! Once I stopped fighting my decision and let go of the fear, the rest came easily...  we-e-e-l-l-l... the decision was easy anyway!  LOL...

There's a saying, "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear."  A chess master had walked into our lives after a few months into my Math study, he had decided to volunteer his Mentoring services to our  Scholar Study Group in our weekly TJEd KidSchool Co-op.  One day he was talking to my daughter about Math and deeper thinking, I heard her saying in response, something about her troubles with Algebraic concepts.   He said, her trouble with understanding this pattern of thought, was probably because they weren't introduced to her in a good and everyday life- relevant way.  He went over to the white board, showed her some Algebra, that fit in with their conversation, and about  three minutes later  she was asking him to be her Algebra Mentor.    

Mr. G., as we call him, has been her Math Mentor ever since.  He comes to our home for an hour once a week charges us $20.00 and uses a holistic, living and Classical approach that is a combination of the resources listed below when teaching.  He also has the gift of  inspiring by showing the students the Math relevance in life,  instead of requiring his students to memorize only!  

Today my daughter and I are discovering we CAN learn new and hard things and that it is best to study Math concepts as they go hand and hand with real life experience.  Our success at overcoming our fears has taught us not to worry that our journey in learning Math does not look like societies (or traditional school) time line or path to learning. 

We shifted our ideas, process and beliefs,  and now Math  is  more naturally integrated in everyday things  and sits in our lives just as language arts or history does, and like Language Arts there are tools inside of learning Math that we use in everyday life.   

The success key: We learned how to learn Math, we do it the same way we learn History, Science and Language Arts, in a Classical Liberal Arts Setting full of simulations!

And this blows my mind...

Today, I am reading and studying Sir Isaac Newton's Principia Vol. 1 & 2!

Here's a list of our favorite Math resources:   

Classical Liberal Arts Academy (CLAA) 

Online Classical Liberal Arts -understand mathematics both philosophically and practically:  

From their web site: 

By restoring classical mathematics we are neither running away from nor neglecting mathematics as they are used today.  After all, most of what modernists claim as their own was inherited from classically educated mathematicians, whose education they despise. 

Our aim, like that of all classical mathematicians, is to understand mathematics both philosophically and practically.  The exclusively practical focus of school mathematics courses was developed in the 1800s by the public schools, whose job it was not to train elite students but the masses of common children who had little use for any studies that did not translate into wage-earning.  Today, there is hardly a school available that is not oriented toward the workplace.

Our aims are what they were among all wise men of the past.  We wish, as Socrates said, "to rise out of the sea of change and lay hold of true being".  That is, we wish to ascend, by means of the mathematical arts (and later by Logic), into the study of transcendent and unchanging truths that cannot be studied through the senses. 

http://www.classicalliberalarts.com/Courses/QUADRIVIUM/index.htm  

Living Math

~ Insisting a child must be taught traditional, scope-and-sequence arithmetic to learn mathematics is like saying one must learn classical notes and scales before one can learn music. You might get there, but you miss out on the inspiration of beautiful music created by the masters along the way. We need not master all the "basics" before being able to experience the appreciation that carries us through the hard work of learning. Think of applying living math principles as developing a "mathematical ear" while working toward the mastery of basic theory. ~

This site is dedicated to sharing resources for learning, exploring and enjoying math in a dynamic and holistic manner, for all ages.

Philosophy and holistic methods: http://www.livingmath.net/

Math U See

Our goal is to help produce confident problem solvers who enjoy the study of math. The reason we study math is so we can apply what we learn in everyday situations. The students learn their math facts, rules, and formulas, and are able to use this knowledge in real life applications. The study of math is much more than committing a list of facts to memory. It includes memorization, but it also encompasses learning the concepts that are critical to problem solving.

K-12 Curriculum: http://www.mathusee.com/

Life of Fred Series

Never again hear the question which many math students have: "When are we ever gonna use this stuff?" or "Math is boring!"

No other textbooks are like these. Each text is written in the style of a novel with a humorous story line. Each section tells part of the life of Fred Gauss and how, in the course of his life, he encounters the need for the math and then learns the methods. Tons of solved examples. Each hardcover textbook contains ALL of the material – more than most instructors cover in traditional classroom settings. Includes tons of proofs.

http://lifeoffredmath.com/index.php

 

ALEKS hosted through TJEd

What is ALEKS? Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces is a Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system. ALEKS uses adaptive questioning to quickly and accurately determine exactly what a student knows and doesn't know in a course. ALEKS then instructs the student on the topics she is most ready to learn. As a student works through a course, ALEKS periodically reassesses the student to ensure that topics learned are also retained. ALEKS courses are very complete in their topic coverage and ALEKS avoids multiple-choice questions. A student who shows a high level of mastery of an ALEKS course will be successful in the actual course she is taking. ALEKS also provides the advantages of one-on-one instruction, 24/7, from virtually any Web-based computer for a fraction of the cost of a human tutor.

http://www.tjed.org/resources/aleks-math/

The following books really inspired us!!!

Inteligro Math, The Holistic Approach to math and Science for the New millennium

by Tiffany Rhoades Earl

This book will motivate youth, and practically anyone, to want to study and understand math and science.  It inspires!  If you know someone who needs to fall in love with math or science, have them read this book."  Oliver Van DeMille, Founder of George Wythe University, and author of A Thomas Jefferson Education 

http://shop.lemimentortraining.com/Books_c8.htm 

The Math Book,

From Pythagoras to the 57th Dimension, 250 Milestones in the History of Mathmetics

By Clifford A. Pickover

A wonderful coffee table book that we purchased at the Smithsonian last summer!!

http://www.amazon.com/Math-Book-Pythagoras-Milestones-Mathematics/dp/1402757964/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292450411&sr=8-1

 

Here's a little inspiration for you... An excerpt from an interview with John Holt on teaching Math

  copied from An Unschooling Life

http://anunschoolinglife.com/john-holt/

John Holt (1923-1985) was a teacher and controversial education writer who advocated school reform and ultimately became one of the forces behind the homeschooling movement of the 70’s and 80’s. He wrote ten books about education and founded the magazine Growing Without Schooling. John Holt’s books Instead of Education: Ways to Help People do Things Better,  How Children Learn and How Children Fail are still popular among parents and people seeking a self-directed education.

Although John Holt’s work primarily discusses children, the overall message can be applied to learners of all ages. If you want to cultivate your ability to learn deeply and effectively, you’ll definitely want to see what he has to say.

 

What your philosophy about math?
My approach to math is to say, What do we adults use numbers for? We use them to measure things. And we measure things so that having measured them we can do things with them, or make certain judgments about them. And so I say let children do with numbers what we do with numbers. I’m a great believer in many kinds of measuring instruments – tapes (centimeter tape, inch tapes, rolls of tapes), rulers, scales, thermometers, barometers, metronomes, electric metronomes with lights flashing on and off that you can make go faster and slower, stopwatches, things for time.Another thing is money. Kids are fascinated by money. We all say: “We’ll have to teach them all this arithmetic so that some day they can deal with money.” I think dealing with money is inherently interesting to children. I say family finances ought to be out on the table, charts on the wall: expenses, food, taxes, insurance, health care, how much this costs, how much it cost last year. I think actually, like typing, double-entry bookkeeping and basic accounting are fascinating skills, and if you’re talking about basics, those are basics.The fundamental idea of double-entry bookkeeping, the distinction between your income and expenses and assets and liabilities is one of the really beautiful inventions of the human mind. It’s fabulous the way it works, and I think families should do their finances as if they were a little teeny corporation with income and expenses and assets and liabilities and depreciation.Some kids might get to the point where they would want to be the family treasurer and keep the family books and balance the checkbook. This is all really “big adult stuff.” Let the child write out the checks that are paying the bills, instead of the harassed picture, you know, of father with his tie untied, sitting at the desk and papers all over the place. Why? This is inherently interesting, so let’s at least make this part of our life – like every other part – accessible to children. The best way to meet numbers is in real life, as everything else. It’s embedded in the context of reality, and what schooling does is to try to take everything out of the context of reality. So everything appears like some little thing floating around in space, and it’s a terrible mistake. You know, there are numbers in building; there are numbers in construction; there are numbers in business;there are numbers in photography; there are numbers in music; there are fractions incooking. So wherever numbers are in real life, then let’s go and meet them and work with them.

“The human animal is a learning animal. We like to learn; we need to learn; we are good at it; we don’t need to be shown how or made to do it. What kills the processes are the people interfering with it or trying to regulate it or control it.”