Patti's Homeschool Mentoring

Ms. Patti's Love of Learning, Community Home School Has Openings!

Hello Families,   

I'm starting my "Love of Learning", Community Home School again this fall and I have two  openings for ages 5 through 13, with a total of eight kids participating.

 I would also consider a pre-school age child who is ready to be a part of a group. Our Community Homeschool school is a Classical Liberal Arts learning environment, inspired by the TJEd philosophy, aka: Leadership Education.  We'll use resouces and techniques from, Waldorf, Montessori, Charlotte Mason and Classical approaches. We'll also sprinkle in field trips and some fun local  learning activities during our afternoons together.

 

On the Learning Agenda:

Math using Professor and Real Life Math: http://www.profb.com/Home.aspx,

Life of Fred for upper Math: http://lifeoffredmath.com/lof2.php

Charolette Mason Language Arts:  http://simplycharlottemason.com/books/hearing-and-reading-telling-and-writing-a-charlotte-mason-language-arts-handbook/

First Language Lessons: http://cathyduffyreviews.com/grammar-composition/first-language-lessons.htm 

Sequential Spelling: http://cathyduffyreviews.com/spelling-vocabulary/sequential-spelling.htm  

Powerglide Spanish, Mon @ 12:30 with Ms. Astrid:  http://www.amazon.com/review/R1M5X9T8AA0D8G/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R1M5X9T8AA0D8G

Inspired by, Classical Conversations History, US Geography and Music Memory Work with Ms. Michele and Ms. Patti: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co6CJdROEQE&feature=related 

Competiting in the National GEO Bee,  with Ms. Patti  http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee/

KidsTek Lego Learning, Wed @ 4pm: http://kidsteklearning.com/ ,

Science with Ms. Patti &  Online with Ms. Aura  @ http://www.sciencelearningspace.com/ 

 Soft Art & Waldorf Handwork, Fri @3:30pm with Ms. Allie & Ms. Patti:  http://mommychick.typepad.com/handwork_tv/ 
 "Patti empowers the children to find their own answers, often allowing their own wonder to lead them and, unknown to the children, finding ways to facilitate each child's discoveries through doing, seeking, conversing, playing, working and being exposed to great mentors. 

This community of children often come away with knowing that wasn't really taught, but was felt, experienced, lived, and internalized in a way rote learning can never imitate. Then they are encouraged to mentor others into the same kind of experience, bringing their own talents to the process. 

It's totally magical and a wondrous thing so see kids allowed to work and grow in her organic and well informed learning environment.”

~~Miranda B. Norris, Homeschool mom of three and owner of Miranda's Art of Living:   http://mirandasartofliving.squarespace.com/

 *Please note, the curriculum and resources we use will depend on the make up of the group.  I will be more than happy to take a look at, and possibly incorporate, any favorites your family has.  

 "I spend my days in the company of classic books and children, mine and other people's; In a wholesome, full of real life skills, artistic, hands on, imaginative, literature based, life learning environment. I am blessed everyday to see the light in children's eyes as they embrace the tools used for discovering their world .   This is probably the most soulful work in the world and it brings me much joy, even after 20 years of doing it!"  ~~patti

  Starting September 7th, 2011 

We'll meet Mon, Wed and Fri, Noon until 5:30pm at my home on Marco Island. 

**Parents are welcome to stay, help or drop off every day, one day or sometimes.  

This is a good opportunity to see "homeschooling" in action for those of you just starting out!    

 I'll be happy to accommodate those parents picking up their children on the way home from work with a later or earlier pick up time if needed. 

 For those families coming from Naples, we're starting a car pool to make the drive easier. With a north and south Naples pick up stop.  

 Our schedule will follow the public school calendar.

 

Tuesday's and Thursday's the students are welcome to join me in my other community co-op's.     

 About Tuesday's & Thursday's:

 Tuesday's we run an Organic Food Buying Club out of my home and the students will participate in running the club.  This is a unique and wonderful opportunity to get hands on life skills such as,  introduction to business, management. purchasing, real life math,  food preparation, nutrition, health and cooking.    

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marco-Island-Organics-Buying-Club/116273551783526 

 On Thursday's we host our TJEd MoM School which is going into it's fifth year! 

We meet on the 2nd,  4th and 5th (if applicalble) Thursday of each month.  

The students in our Love of Learning, Community Home School are welcome to participate in our Classical Liberal Arts & Life Skills, TJEd inspired study groups on Thursday's.    

 See: www.TJEd.org to learn more about the TJEd Philosophy and Patti's Homeschooling Blog to see one of our Thursday's in action:

http://homeschoolmentoring.typepad.com/pattis-homeschool-mentor/mommy-school/ 

**The families participating in my Love of Learning Community Home School are setting up a rotating babysitting schedule for the 1st and 3rd Thusday' of each month to accomidate those parents who are working and are in need of child care.      

To learn more about me and my background, my educational and child development philosophy and our TJEd Mom School, stop by my Blog and Facebook page  where you can read my bio's.  You'll also see photos of our Love of Learning, Community Home School in action!                                                                                                                   

 Go to: Patti's Homeschool Mentoring Blog:  

 http://homeschoolmentoring.typepad.com/pattis-homeschool-mentor/mommy-school/

 Patti's Homeschool Mentoring Facebook page with photos with comments,  you'll have to click on "see all photos" at the top right hand side to see the entire collection of albums:   http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pattis-homeschool-Mentoring/151966768152952?ref=sgm  

 

All participating families are required to read: Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning http://www.tjed.org/purchase/ebooks.  With particular attention paid to the Love of Learning phase.  This will give you a feel for how we will spend our afternoons learning together.  

I also request that each family participate in a daily classical book family read in their home and that TV and sugar be extremely limited, thereby enhancing your child's academic journey!      

 Contact me to receive my background information, testimonials and references or to discuss curriculum and your child's needs.  

 If you know of a family that might be interested, please feel free to forward this e-mail.  

~~:-)p

 Dear Patti,

     I cannot convey to you with enough enthusiasm the positive impact you have had on me and my children's lives through participating in your TJED program. Your leadership, mentoring and love for all of my children has made me a better mom, teacher and mentor.

     The way you have nurtured and educated each of my four children and myself has added so much more richness to our home school time at home. I am not worried about pounding facts anymore but, instead, am letting them experience the joy of learning. You have showed me that every

corner has not only a life experience but also a learning experience. My children have also benefited from your love of teaching by embracing new experiences without fear. They forge ahead now just to see what will happen versus being afraid of making a mistake.

     The result of being part of your program for over two years is apparent in the love and excitement my children have shown for "typical" boring material like the Laws of Motion, Inertia, knitting, felting and especially art and literature. Your style of teaching has grown my children and allowed them the down time to enjoy the world around them.

     I think what my daughter stated (my other three boys agreed with her) as we were driving to your house after a four month hiatus from your Thursday Coop says it all. She said,

"Mommy, I feel like we are going home."   Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Sincerely,

Michele B. Homeschooling Mom 

Of the Three Types of Education Which Will You Choose?

Conveyor Belt Education  

The modern public school system was set up about the same time as the industrial revolution with the intent to educate the poor so that they could get a job, and thereby support their families.

Each person who travels through the conveyor belt receives a stamp of approval at the end (diploma), and comes out into the world as a “finished product,” ready to be marketed to the highest bidder for employment. And like a factory, conveyor belt institutions test and grade all students on the same scales regardless of individual needs or interests.

The Conveyor Belt does precisely what it was designed to do. It produces a relatively literate workforce for the general populace. It is not designed, however, to produce independently thinking leaders.

Conveyor Belt education can be found in public schools, private or charter schools, and even in home schools. It is sometimes referred to as the “soviet conveyor belt,” because standards and grade levels are set low enough to ensure that nearly everyone can make it through the educational assembly line.

Conveyor Belt Education has as its objective to prepare everyone for a job, any job, by teaching them what to think. This includes rudimentary skills to help them function in society. In general, compulsory schools are set up on the conveyor belt model, although most of us can cite wonderful examples of many excellent teachers in the public system who use leadership methods.

 

…Conveyor Belts have an important place in society, but it is essential that they don’t become a monopoly and that professional and leadership training schools are maintained.

Oliver DeMille, A Thomas Jefferson Education, 2nd Edition, pages 21-22

Goals:

• Educate the Masses and Lower Classes
• Teach What to Think
• Get a Job

Curriculum:

• 85% Social
• 15% Textbooks

Method:

• “Soviet” Conveyor Belt—Schools look and run like factories
• Individual intiative and innovation from students (non-conformity) is discouraged
• Individual initiative and innovation from educators is discouraged

Careers: (According to age)

• 0-12 Study
• 12-18 Play
• 18-24 College Major/Job
• 24-68 Work/Job
• 68+ Retire or Volunteer

Most of us can point to exceptions to the rule: teachers or students who stood out and excelled within the compulsory system; the fact remains that the system per se is not designed to produce such anomalies, and does not, in general, encourage or reward such outcomes.

 

Professional Education

Professional education systems create specialists by teaching their students when to think. This model has been used much longer than the soviet conveyor belt, since it arose from the tradition of apprenticeship, where the student was systematically taught what his master knew before venturing out on his own.

Each professional, whether a mechanic, a lawyer, a doctor, or a financial adviser, is trained to meet a certain set of standards and to think creatively within his field of expertise. However, outside of that narrow scope of knowledge, he tends to rely on the understanding of other experts. A complex society such as modern day America reinforces this.

Professional education is also known as the “competitive conveyor belt,” since the methods used are the same as the soviet conveyor belt, but the standards are set much higher—the top 10-15%.

 

The professional system does what it’s designed to do—create expertise. And if you need a doctor, a lawyer, or a manager for your business, you are glad they are well prepared. The professional system has been very effective in achieving its goals, but it is not a substitute for leadership training.

Oliver DeMille, A Thomas Jefferson Education, 2nd Edition, page 23

Goals:

• Train Experts
• Teach When to Think

Curriculum:

• 50% Case Studies
• 50% Ethics

Method:

• Competitive Conveyor Belt—Students Compete

Careers: (According to age)

• 0-18 Play
• 18-22 College Major
• 22-26 Professional Training
• 26-65 Career
• 65+ Retire or Volunteer

 

 

Leadership Education

 Leadership Education has three primary goals.

First, to train thinkers, leaders, entrepreneurs, and statesmen—those with understanding and competence to lead society (do things right) and the moral character to act with integrity in the areas they lead in (do the right thing).

Second, to perpetuate freedom by helping people understand what freedom is and what must be done to maintain it, and inspiring them to actually do the difficult things required to make it happen.

Third, teach students how to think, which is how the first two goals must be accomplished. Those who know how to think are able to lead effectively and help a society remain free and prosperous, while those who know only when or what to think will be unable to do so.

The method for training leaders is as old as humanity—classics and mentors. The student studies the greatest works ever created, and submits to the guidance of great mentors, who customize the education for the student’s mission in life.

This is the simplest, though arguably the most challenging of the educational paths.

 

“Leadership Education, which I call ‘Thomas Jefferson Education,’ teaches students how to think and prepares them to be leaders in their homes and communities, entrepreneurs in business, and statesmen in government.

“…What happens when a society does not prepare leaders? We get managers and professionals leading in areas they have no training for, such as government, and we get a nation of followers who see no problem with that because they have no experience with anything else. …This was the legacy of Germany in the 1930s—a highly trained but uneducated people easily swayed by Hitler.”

Oliver DeMille, A Thomas Jefferson Education, 2nd Edition, pages 21, 27

Goals:

• Raise Great Souls
• Cultivate Leaders
• Teach How to Think

Curriculum:

• Classics (any works that inspire greatness and are worth revisiting time and time again)

Method:

• Mentors that Design a Custom Education for Each Student

Careers: (According to age)

• 0-12 Play/Family Work
• 12-16 Scholar Phase
• 16-20 Superb Education
• 20-24 Depth Phase (Liberal Arts College)
• 24-50 Build Two Towers (a Family and an Organization)
• 50+ Impact the World (Statesmanship)

From:  http://www.tjed.org/about-tjed/

What is TJEd?

Discovered and organized by Oliver and Rachel DeMille,Thomas Jefferson Education, or “TJEd,” is an educational philosophy and a methodology by which great individuals throughout history were educated.

 Thousands of families and professional educators are applying those same principles today, with amazing success.

 

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

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?    

 

 

Life Skills Classes & Introduction to Family Work Boards

Here’s a question from a home school mom about…

 Life Skills Classes & and Introduction to Family Work Boards 

 

Hi Patti,

Have any of your TJEd parents developed any Adult Skills Class like the examples in the TJEd Home Companion?   Just wondering before I set out to reinvent the wheel.   ~~Sheils S.

~~ Some of the Life Skills Classes mentioned in the book are designed for parents to offer their own children, to facilitate the learning of common adult skills, and the acquisition of adult level responsibilities.  I have used these classes with my daughter and they work very well. 

You will find class descriptions on the following:  Baking, Preparing Meals, Grocery Shopping, Household Chores, Basic Auto and Household Equipment Maintenance.  

An example of a Class:

Baking:

Course Description: Learn how to bake a large variety of items.  Become such a great baker that you can fro it without assistance. 

Method: Learn from Mom how to bake all the items on the list.  Practice with Mom’s help until you can bake each thing without Mom around.  Have Mom sign off that you did it.  At this point Mom has created a Life Skills Sheet with the list and place for her initials when complete. 

Graduation: We will throw a big graduation party for you, and invite your friends to attend.  You’ll be the baker and treat everyone to a feast of your favorite baked items!

 

My Response:

Sorry Sheila, nothing organized that you can copy. Most of us are just going through our days and, when it comes to life skills, like the ones mentioned in the book, we take the kids along and show them and then test them when they think they have acquired the skill.  In my home school we have a list in our TJEd Planner and I sign off for my daughter there.   So in essence, we are all reinventing the wheel in an effort to personalize the tasks our family needs to learn.

My daughter is 14 now, so many of these tasks are being turned over to her. The chores/task- to academic study ratio is about three to one. One quarter chores each day, the rest is set aside for study time, since she is in transition to scholar phase.

It's pretty much the same for most of our friends who are teaching Life Skills to their teens.  The kids start doing the cooking, shopping, cleaning, fixing and organizing of space.  Which skills they study is decided based on what each family needs to manage their everyday lives.

Most of us that started Life Skills teaching later in our kids’ lives are still following the older children around, teaching them or modeling for them, how to do the tasks, or sending them back to re-do, if the job/task was not done well.

In our home school, we get up and start our days doing the chores/tasks together, before we go into studies. When the children are little we pretty much stay with them until they are able to do it on their own and the focus is mostly on doing chores and family work and, not academics in the home school.

Since my daughter is fourteen, if we are having a dinner party, she automatically knows she is a part of helping in the cleaning of the home, atmosphere décor, making the meal and cleanup, which we do when everyone leaves.   

 

Miranda from Miranda’s Art of Living http://mirandasartofliving.squarespace.com/

Is teaching cooking, nutrition and health classes at our weekly TJEd KidSchool which has been a big inspiration for wanting to learn about different foods and food preparation, as well. 

 

We follow Fly Lady's http://www.flylady.net/pages/df_monday.asp program for household chores, which I love because of its effectiveness, and what and how it teaches a person to manage their life and space.  It pays attention to every nook and cranny of the home inside and out and, the program also pays attention to self-care as well!  

So I would recommend using Fly Lady, as a way to not reinvent the wheel when Mentoring Life Skills and, when they start transitioning to Scholar phase include the TJEd Planner into the plan.

Sheila’s Response: Hi Patti thanks.

Mine are a few years behind your daughter, ages 12,9 & 3. I've attached our new "family work" board if you would like to share it. It's working and keeping things tidy around here and the kids love it too!! I have used FlyLady in the past and will likely introduce them to it as they get older. We are now working first before school.  Love the TJEd prospective on chores, looking forward to raising adults, not students. :) ~ Sheila S.

Aaahhh, yes! Raising Adults! ~~patti

So, would you mind telling me how your work board -works?

 Sheila S. on Family Work Boards:

Just as she describes in the Home Companion;  everyone has their own self decorated In and Out box, (except dad because he is at work all day for us). I labeled the Chart intentionally "Family Work" not Chore Chart because I wanted my children to realize we are a family, and this is family work. A family that lives together, makes messes together, cleans our home together. To emphasis this point I added the quote at the bottom. I started with her household chore list in the book and added and deleted to fit our home.

The top green pocket holds all of our household chores both indoors and out. Each morning or sometimes the night before, I sort through the chores that need to be completed for the day.

An "A" chore is more difficult than a “B” chore, cleaning the tub vs cleaning the bathroom mirror for example. Each child chooses 4 "A" jobs for the day, one "A" job/chore = 2 "B". Each day the choices are different bases on the cleaning needs of our home. I receive chores as well and move my  chore sheet from the IN and Out as a model for them. We all select our chore for the day at our morning gathering at breakfast.

 

I am happy to report this new method of chore assignments since Jan 1 has been well embraced by all. I am viewing chores as training adults who can take care of their own home someday and, not just cleaning all day because we are a family that makes messes,  quite a different perspective!

The girls are learning tasks that I never ask them to do before and feeling proud a confident in what they are learning. My 9 year old just learned how to clean the stove and oven inside, out and underneath, from complete top to bottom. Wow, was she proud of her accomplishment!

My next task is to tackle the adult skill classes. I hope to introduce this to them in the next few days with the baking, meal preparation, and grocery shopping classes to start.

I hope I did not leave anything out...please let me now if have any questions.

Yes, and we made Dream/Goal broads as our New Year Eve activity...thanks for all your wonderful ideas!!  ~~Sheila

 
 

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!    

 

Intellect vs. Intelligence, Teaching the ABC’s & Early Reading On & Off the Conveyor Belt

I was wondering which is the best approach to introduce toddlers to the vocals and alphabet?

Begin with the vocals, the full alphabet or using a program like Your Baby Can Read or Hooked on Phonics For Toddlers. What worked for you when you began with your kids? 

My twins are 19 months old and I am beginning with the vocals but any tips would help me and will be greatly appreciated.  ~Yadi

 

“Great teaching inspires students to educate themselves.”

 ~Dr. Oliver DeMille, Creator TJEd, Founder GWU and popular homeschool author.

Photo of a student directed Shakespeare study group, each teen is choosing to participate. 

 

     Trial and error and lots of successful “real learning”, has taught me that children should go through their days incorporated into the parents everyday routine, learning about life naturally.  In the child’s early years a parent’s educational focus is best devoted to character building and family work and, not academics.  A parent, as the primary role model for how and why to learn, should model a love of learning as the key component to “teaching” our children society’s body of knowledge.  By modeling, the parent naturally introduces what the tools are that we use to learn.     

 

       My initial, off the cuff response to your question would be,  if Hooked on Phonics or Teach Your Baby to Read are something you would choose for you, to learn with, and is something you love to work with, then do it.  But, if it is not natural to you, then why do it? 

 

      Obviously, we are interested in “teaching” our children the alphabet as a beginning to reading.   Wanting or feeling the need to “teach” the alphabet,  using popular learning resources, is natural because  we have learned from our own experiences that this is what parents do with children of this age.  The beauty I have seen in a Classical Liberal Arts (aka: Leadership Education) home school, is that children learn the same information naturally, because they are curious and want the tools to go through their days satisfying that curiosity.  Parents love to “inspire” natural learning, more than they like creating lesson plans and using pre-fab curriculum.  

 

      Home schooling should not be something else on your to do list.   Learning and living together in a natural way,  turns learning into a natural extension of who we are and how we spend our days.

 

     When it comes to learning to talk, learning symbols  such as the alphabet, for example  and reading,  I have discovered it is best to just talk to your children, to share your interests with them and to read.  Read the classics, read articles and read some more,  for yourself, and to them, early and often!  The most important of these learning ingredients is that they see you reading!!!  Their presence while you model a love for learning by  reading, researching and discussing, is the single most important thing you can do as their “teacher” to bring out your children’s innate genius!  Nurturing of their genius, in this way, ignites their natural curiosity and in turn they will seek the tools (learning the sounds of the letters), that society uses for learning when they are ready. 

     By changing the focus of my attention to me rather than them, I found I wanted to read to them more; I wanted to share all that I was discovering.   I structured my schedule so I would have the time to let them see me reading and I also read aloud a few times a day to the children in my home.  I make it a priority each time they asked me to read a book to them.   I filled my daughters (and the kids in my Mom School co-op) life with books.  I turned off the TV and computer, added a few strategically placed, open ended learning toys, especially those that condition life skills and building. I displayed thinking toys such as puzzles (yes, a few abc puzzles too) and math & language arts games, and filled the rooms with lots and lots of books on bottom shelves.  I let the shelves stay messy; it makes the books more attractive to toddlers, than a straight line of books does.    This environment went a long way to “teaching” all that they needed to know about the sound of letters and words.   The more I use the environment along with modeling and the less I use what I learned about teaching in “conveyor belt” schools, the more the children in my life fall in love with knowing and the brighter and more self-directed  they are! 

 

This is one of a couple book shelves around our environment, this is in the space where the toddlers spend most of their time.

      A natural learning environment and my enthusiasm about being with the children in my life speaks volumes to them;  more so than formal instruction as in, this is the letter A and it sounds like____, could ever do!  This approach tells the children that I value and trust their abilities to learn and those books are where we get our information about the world and entertainment from.  The books lying around and the older people reading them in the home,  kicks in the natural next step of curiosity so that someday, when it is time, they will want to be just like mommy, able to read on their own.

 

   Change the Environment Not the Child-Books and Thinking Puzzles  

    If there was one best piece of advice most of us veteran home schoolers would love to tell new parents it would be;  learning to read (or learning any other subject for that matter) will happen even if you don’t require them to learn it, or try to fill them up with the information of it!  And, surprise, in most cases the learning is deeper.         

     The only other tactic I might add when inspiring children, is pointing; when reading to your children take your finger and as you read follow the words you are saying.  This naturally, enables them to connect that what mommy is saying is connected to the symbols they are seeing.   Learning letters (symbols) and their sounds this way is more relevant to them, which inspires their natural curiosity and they form the questions in their own minds that are needed to learn.  This is how children “own” their education.  It is not parroting and unlike “teaching” when the question hasn’t been asked, engages the full brain, not just a part of it.   

     I learned years ago, in my early child development and alternative education classes that when a child parrots back the alphabet or reads letters or even words, before they are ready for the information, they are doing just that -parroting back, and are only engaging and developing part of their brain. Some child developments specialists are even suggesting that the capability for high level comprehension doesn’t develop until late elementary and/or up into the middle school years for some.   My experience is that children let you know when they have that capacity, so I take my cues from them.     

      Showing children the letters and singing the alphabet song is not necessary but can be a good thing if done in a playful way, it gives them a memory to build from. So a CD with the alphabet song playing in the back ground, mommy pointing to the letter A and sounding it out while the child is looking, or daddy saying with sincere interest, “I want to share this book I am reading.” And, “Look honey these are words and letters and they tell me _______ (what it says) and it makes me feel _____(fill in the blank).”   All of this can be a wonderful foundation on which to build learning.    When interest in words starts to show, I will read a word, slowly sounding out each letters sound and telling the child these letters are b-a-b-y and that says baby.  When a child starts to drift off, I stop, immediately.   Doing this along with pointing to the words you are reading works but, it must be done only when there is relevance to the child. 

     After twenty years of working with children, this much I know for sure, I cannot teach or inspire anything I am not sincerely interested in and it must be relevant to the child, as well as to me.  So, when I gather with children, my main purpose is to “be” with them, while reading and learning together for pleasure. Being together is the first priority, doing a lesson with them is the second.  I like to call our lessons playing at school.  I take my cues as to whether or not to introduce the lesson from the child.  And, most important I have learned that there is no certain age when a person should know something.   Keeping this formula in mind is what I like to call my, “kid magnet”.  It is my secret ingredient for why I have so many kids loving to learn around me.    

     I learned the hard way that introducing early academics and reading before a child is naturally ready can hinder the child’s full brain development and curiosity.  My step son was three when he came into my life and his parents were doing the Teach Your Baby to Read program from The Better Baby Institute in Philadelphia.  At three, he was reading words and at four, books.  The beauty was that his mom spent lots of time with him doing things she recognized, was comfortable with and, which gave her a purpose and gave him lots of attention.   The negative was when he was four we were driving down the road and from the back seat we heard, “Live nude girls.  Why are they nude?”

      In my opinion, my step son was exposed to society’s body of knowledge at far too young an age because of his early reading.  He didn’t have the emotional and social intelligence yet developed to assimilate adult knowledge.   This early maturity in his left brain served him well in the private college preparatory schools he was educated in.  He learned to play the school game and play it well, receiving good grades and his choice of college.    

     By the time our son was ready to go off to undergraduate school he was extremely burned out and lacked knowing what his mission in the world was.  He longed for what he called a “real education” and applied to a great books liberal arts college, which scared both his parents and school counselors, since it was not what he was groomed for.   But, off he went, with a comprehension problem stemming from learning to read too early and having never really enjoyed reading for fun, to this small college, where he would spend his days reading and discussing three hundred or so, of the greatest books ever written, for a degree in philosophy.   Not only did his choice change his life for the better, but it changed ours too!  It began his and our entire family’s de-schooling journey, we all fell in love with “real” whole brain learning.   Today, our son is choosing to home school- holistically his own children.      

Our grandson is just starting his learning journey!

     At eighteen, when our first born was heading off to that great books liberal arts college, his sister came into our life.  We had learned a lot by then, and chose to home school in harmony with the phases of learning as dictated by nature.  Our daughters  toddler through second grade years were full of real family work, handwork, natural learning rhythms and a love of learning environment that kept her in that magical world of childhood imagination and play.   Despite going off this path for a bit in the later elementary years, out of fear, our ninth grade daughter is in love with, and self-directed, in acquiring knowledge.  She thinks more deeply at fourteen than our son did, is better-rounded, and, learning comes easily to her now that she is the one asking the questions.  She  is in the habit of regulating the information that comes in to her life, making sure she is ready for it, and is a young woman full of good character, purpose and is simply joyful.   I attribute this to getting out of her way and not “teaching” her phonics and such.

Open Ended Toy & Imagination Enhanced Play Area 

     Unlike our son’s experience, our daughter spent much time in her imagination as a younger child.  Even today, at fourteen, she loves to read and write stories, and says she “has to write” for fun every day.   Child development science has repeatedly proven, that it’s through the imagination and play that our brain assimilates society’s body of knowledge and is then developed to its full capacity.    Children allowed to develop in harmony with their natural clocks and phases, who first ask for the information and, whose childhood play is more prevalent than academic learning, all the way up through middle school have a better opportunity to fully develop all seven of their intelligences! 

     When you think about developing multiple intelligences in a child, one could make the argument that these children are smarter because they are self-directed in their learning and able to think for themselves when compared to a child thrown into early academics.  Early academics can have a tendency to lead to developing intellect in a specialized learning capacity.   Specialized learning is the overdeveloping of one or the multiple intelligences, at the expense of full brain and character development. 

     There’s an extreme metaphor that sums up the difference between whole brain and specialized learning:   A specialized “intellectual” person knows how to build a bomb, so they do.  A whole brain developed-multiple “intelligent” person also knows how to build a bomb, but they don’t.    

     The conveyor belt education that emphasizes a one size fits all, specialized education, is not what is needed for our changing world.  Curriculum such as Teach Your Baby to Read and adult led required lessons are part of a conveyor belt education.  It fills our society with intellectual adults and lacks grown up people who embody intelligence.  Unfortunately, this lack came from good intentions by parents and society to “teach”.  We now know that in order to develop all of our brains capacity it is best to foster natural curiosities, by modeling an inspired education, promoting a love of learning and conditioning self-reliance in all areas of life.  More and more home educators are coming to the realization that just because using curriculum and having someone try to fill us up with information was the way we were taught, doesn’t mean a conveyor belt education supports a harmonious home school family life and the kind of future we want for our children.    Unfortunately, many home schoolers are walking in both schools of thought these days and,  at times are at a loss for how to inspire the child to want to learn, instead of teaching lessons.

     Whenever I feel the need to “teach” something to a young person, I tread carefully and question why, asking the children first if they are interested in knowing this information.  If they are not interested and I still want to teach it, I have conditioned a big red stop sign to pop up in my mind, as a cue to look deeper into my need to teach.  Nine times out of ten, it’s my own conveyor belt education popping up and, I realize I am afraid they won’t learn the information in the end.  I simply don’t trust the natural process.  By requiring them to learn something, based on my time line, I think I am becoming more comfortable.   After all, isn’t it a part of the mommy job description in our society?  Filling our child up with every possible piece of information is familiar and, is what we think we are supposed to do to prepare our children to be successful grownups.    But that is all it is, familiar.  I have been raising kids long enough to know it is not necessary to prepare a child on my agenda and doing so could possibly make my family life and future grown up children less comfortable in the end.   So I let it go and put the focus back on me and modeling my love of learning, spending my energy creating opportunity to inspire the lesson.   Sure enough, one never knows when, but the information I was looking to teach gets into the children because they asked for it.  With each lesson learned I develop less conveyor belt tendencies and more faith in the natural processes of learning!      

     How could a question as simple as, “How should I teach my children the abc’s, verbally or with popular curriculum?” Turn into this big picture answer?   Because after twenty nine years of parenting I am learning more and more to begin my answer with the end in mind.

       I am reminded of a reoccurring conversation that happens in the home schooling world, about how much of a pleasure it is to “teach” our kids when they are little.  After all, young children just want our attention and are like sponges, soaking up everything, whether the information is relevant or not.  This same wonderful experience of teaching our littles, commonly turns into drudgery when those same children enter the later elementary years!  How many a home school mom asks, “Why does little Johnny fight me when it is time to sit and teach him a lesson?”    The answer is, that he has just enough balance and real whole brain learning happening in his home school to fight for what his brain development really needs, which is to allow him to form his own questions!    Another thing you here from a parent is, “I already did fifth grade, I’m not interested in spending my day teaching this stuff!”   So maybe we should stop looking to what is familiar about education and start our home school life by taking our cues from the children in our lives, trusting the natural learning process and teaching by answering questions when they are asked.   Instead of planning teaching time why not spend that energy inspiring and modeling for our youngster’s brain- the ability to be able to learn on its own, an effort sure to avoid the sitting for lessons and the drama that comes with it the later home school years.   

Self directed lessons-researching and creating

    By all means share the alphabet with your children, draw, sing and show it, if showing the symbols and how to use them as a tool is what is coming naturally to you in everyday life with your kids.  Being careful about your desire to do it now, asking yourself if it is because you feel it is time to teach it, based on their ages, or this is what you are supposed to be teaching because you are trying to give them a good head start. Teaching the alphabet sounds using a curriculum will give them a head start, but maybe not on the road you want them to be on in the end.   

   Children live in our emotions and they may be able to parrot back academic learning, but how you feel about what you are teaching and how they feel is the real lesson they are learning.  By focusing on you and your love for learning and, not them, you change the environment around so that your children learn to trust themselves and their abilities; they go from depending on you to “teach” them about the world, to depending on themselves and having a hand in all of their education endeavors.  You become a mentor instead of a teacher. 

     The question for me has become not, “How do I teach this or that?” But, “What is it I really want for my children, when it comes to their education and how can I inspire it?”

      My answer has been pretty consistent for the last couple of years, always choosing the path that enables them to own their education, whether I am comfortable with it or not.  

Choosing a classic book assures many valuable lessons learned and is something all ages enjoy!