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/
    
    

 

On This Day in 1879 Albert Einstein was Born: From TJEd- This Week in History & The World As I See It by, A. Einstein

Have you ever seen TJED's This Week In History?  This wonderful resource is a constant in our home school!  We look forward to seeing all that has happend in our world and really apprectate the effort and research that goes into each weeks post.  It's a history curriculum all to itself!

 

 

This Week in History  is not only a great value, but a time saver and a worry eliminator, it...

• relieves fear, stress and burnout
• energizes your kidschool
• fills in the gaps
• cultivates cultural literacy
• facilitates state or provincial compliance
• correlates resources for co-ops, classrooms and family learning
• harnesses the power of technology in a classical leadership education
• harmonizes with Unschooling, Charlotte Mason, Montessori, Trivium/Quadrivium, IEW, eclectic, etc.
• delivers new ideas and areas of learning to you and your child
• instigates discussions and projects that expand wisdom and understanding
• connects the subject areas--from music to math, from geography to world religions, from hobbies to science projects, etc.
• motivates you and your students to greater excellence
• delivers Face to Face with Greatness
• empowers you to mentor your students in the classics
•  enlivens the 7 Keys of Great Teaching
• activates Phases of Learning

...so you can "Inspire, not Require"

For less than 35 cents a day, you have the world at your fingertips.

 And, so worth the subscription!! http://www.tjedonline.com/day-in-history.php?id=182 

 

1879: Birth Date of Albert Einstein.

  Albert Einstein was the physicist who formulated the theory of relativity that broadened understanding of space, time, and motion. He formulated his relativity theory in 1905 when he was 26 years old, and in 1921 he won the Nobel Prize for Physics. Born in Ulm, Germany, Einstein was forced to leave his homeland in 1933 when his German citizenship was taken away by the Nazis because he was Jewish.

He was the scientist who delved into theoretical physics; using a pencil, paper, and mathematical logic, he expanded our knowledge of matter, energy, heat, light, and atomic structure. His findings contributed to the development of such complex devices as the electric eye, sound movies, and television.

He also developed an idea that provided the basic principles for making the atomic bomb and other nuclear devices. Einstein's work on conversion of matter into energy helped bring the world into the atomic age.

 

Resources:

 

• History
• Who Was Albert Einstein? Brallier
• Albert Einstein: Young Thinker (The Childhood of Famous Americans Series), Hammontree
• Odd Boy Out: Young Albert Einstein, Brown

CHECK THIS STUFF OUT:

• A boatload of Einstein resources for kids and classrooms!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/

Who was smarter Newton or Einstein? 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/genius/index.html

http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/

http://www.kidsnet.org/sfkc/sfkc20030117-1.html

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/ein.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/time/think.

 

 

 The World As I See It 

                                                             An essay by Albert Einstein

 

"How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people -- first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving...

"I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves -- this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts -- possessions, outward success, luxury -- have always seemed to me contemptible.

 "My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude..." "My political ideal is democracy. Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized. It is an irony of fate that I myself have been the recipient of excessive admiration and reverence from my fellow-beings, through no fault, and no merit, of my own. The cause of this may well be the desire, unattainable for many, to understand the few ideas to which I have with my feeble powers attained through ceaseless struggle. I am quite aware that for any organization to reach its goals, one man must do the thinking and directing and generally bear the responsibility. But the led must not be coerced, they must be able to choose their leader. In my opinion, an autocratic system of coercion soon degenerates; force attracts men of low morality... The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the political state, but the creative, sentient individual, the personality; it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd as such remains dull in thought and dull in feeling.

"This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of herd life, the military system, which I abhor... This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery -- even if mixed with fear -- that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds: it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity. In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man... I am satisfied with the mystery of life's eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence -- as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason that manifests itself in nature."

Source: TJEd This Week In History: [Source: http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/essay.htm]

 

 Fun Einstein Quotes: 

 ********************************

[Note: This list of Einstein quotes was being forwarded around the Internet in e-mail, so I decided to put it on my web page. I'm afraid I can't vouch for its authenticity, tell you where it came from, who compiled the list, who Kevin Harris is, or anything like that. Still, the quotes are interesting and enlightening.]

Collected Quotes from Albert Einstein

• "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction." 

• * "Imagination is more important than knowledge." 

• * "Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love."

• * "I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details." 

• * "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax." 

• * "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." 

• * "The only real valuable thing is intuition." 

• * "A person starts to live when he can live outside himself." 

• * "I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice." 

• * "God is subtle but he is not malicious." 

• * "Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character." 

• * "I never think of the future. It comes soon enough." 

• * "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility." 

• * "Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing." 

• * "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind." 

• * "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." 

• * "Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds." 

• * "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." 

• * "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." 

• * "Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it." 

• * "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." 

• * "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." 

• * "God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically." 

• * "The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking." 

• * "Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal." 

• * "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding." 

• * "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible." 

• * "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." 

• * "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." 

• * "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." 

• * "Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater." 

• * "Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity." 

• * "If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut." 

• * "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe." 

• * "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality." 

• * "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods." 

• * "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." 

• * "In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep." 

• * "The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead." 

• * "Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves." 

• * "Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!"

• * "No, this trick won't work...How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?" 

• * "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind." 

• * "Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever." 

• * "The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker." 

• * "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence." 

• * "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." 

• * "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrain

• ed by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." 

• * "The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge." 

• * "Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." 

• * "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat." 

• * "One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year." 

• * "...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought." 

• * "He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder." 

• * "A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

• * "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton) 

Source TJEd This Week In History & Copyright: Kevin Harris 1995 (may be freely distributed with this acknowledgement)

[Source: http://rescomp.stanford.edu/~cheshire/EinsteinQuotes.html]

 

 

 

Science Curriculum Used at Home or in A Home School Co-op

 When thinking about Science Curriculum in your home school or to use in a co-op there is one that always comes to the forefront on the home school grape vine and it's Apologia.  Although a Non-Secular curriculum, Secular home schoolers use it as well, omitting the religion.  

 

 

Popular critiques: Easy to read, interesting, memorable, unit style, easy to adapt to multiple ages, you can do as much or as little as you like, older children can work on their own.  In a multiple age setting older children can do the lap book suppliment on their own, the younger enjoy the discussion and activities.  

 

In our home school we use Apologia as well for all the reasons above!!  Our teen is able to self study using it.  She is pretty much unschooled and is use to getting her learning from the classics, cologuiums and writing, so she thought it was a little too text book'y but she continues using it.    

 

It also works well for a Science Co-op and students can get high school credits from a certidfied evaluator using it.  

It also works well for a Science Co-op and students can get high school credits from a certidfied 

 

 

 

I  hired a science tutor for our home school co-op and invited middle and high school ages to attend the class.  We started with Apologia's first high school year curriculum and all of the families that participated each paid $5.00 per week to cover the tutors cost, plus $1.00 each to cover the park where we met, community room rental.   We also had a one time lab fee and the tutor purchased all the supplies in the beginning of the year.  

 Each family studied and did the lesson work at home and the tutor did the labs with the kids and was available to answer any questions.   Families could do as much or as little as they wanted with the curriculum at home so it fit into the different home school approaches found in our group.  We also used it in a secular way, since we were a mixed crowd, allowing families to add the religion or not during their home study.  

 

 

We met once a week on Friday mornings at a local park before our home school support groups park day. The younger siblings got to play or there were times when another mom hosted a different learning opportunity for the younger ages.  The second year we met every other week for a longer period of time and the tutor did more than onelab/lesson with the group.  

 

 

 

 

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

Natural Remedies for Allergy Season

The home school message boards are all a buzz with people suffering with allergies.  It's allergy season down here in SW Florida too! Actually, it's seems to always be allergy season, on of the negatives of living in the warm sun all year round!  

Here are some things that really work and are constants in our home and friends homes.  

 

 Have you ever tried a Neti Pot, if not you really should consider using it a few times a day.  Not only is it effective for allergy season but keeps you sinus passage in tip, top shape!  

How to use a Neti Pot    Here's an article from Web MD:http://www.webmd.com/allergies/sinus-pain-pressure-9/neti-pots 

 

  Adding a little essential oil to the Neti Pot can make the relief even better:  http://ecoki.com/aromatic-zinc-free-neti-wash-plus-with-essential-oils-for-sinus-support/ 

 Also, living constantly with aromatherapy either in a diffuser or humidifier works.  The choice of which to use depends on whether you need to drain (humidifier)  or are draining to much (diffuser).

                                                                           Battery operated diffuser. 

 

  Taking key vitamins to boost your immune system and using aromatherapy throughh the day and night is a wonderful way to breathe freely!  Go Green Girl has a short and to the point blog post on why, what and how to use oils: http://www.gogreengal.org/2011/02/allergy-seasons-natural-support-with-essential-oils-for-strong-immune-systems/ 

 

My well loved and much used essential oil station is as much a part of our daily life as the food we eat.  My shelf can be found at my kitchen desk and all of the kids and adults in my life know where to go to get relief!    

 

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

 

Favorite Latin Curriculum

For SAT prep use The Latin Road to English Grammar is great.  This program does require the parent to learn and work with the child. http://www.thelatinroad.com/latinroad/ 

 Review from Cathy Duffy Homeschool  Reviews:

http://cathyduffyreviews.com/foreign-language/lively-latin.htm 

Forget direct comparisons to other Latin programs; this one is really different. It combines instruction in English grammar with Latin, eliminating the need to use anything else for those subjects in most situations. The author states that students as young as fourth grade level have successfully worked through Volume I, although it will be more appropriate for most students who are at fifth grade level or beyond. It should work well with students beginning at junior or senior high levels

 

We also like English from The Roots Up, and these days we just use the flash cards, to rave reviews by the kids who love studying this way, as a game in our Mom School Latin Study Group.http://www.amazon.com/English-Roots-Up-Vol-T/dp/0964321033  

 

 

Review from Amazon Reviews: 

Amazon review: 

 

This review is from: English from the Roots Up, Vol. 1: Help for Reading, Writing, Spelling, and S.A.T. Scores (Plastic Comb)

English From The Roots Up is an excellent vocabulary and spelling tool for any age student--including the child who is learning to read, especially with phonics, and can write or the high school student trying to prepare for college entrance exams. It develops words from Latin and Greek roots using simple nemonic devices--index cards outlined in red for Latin or green for Greek, which you make yourself. Students learn one root at a time, and from that root are given examples where it's used. Recognizing Greek or Latin roots in English words enables the student to determine the definition and spelling of unknown words. The exercise is consistent for each root--learn the definition of the root, learn words that have that root and the definitions of those words as well. The lessons build on one another. Elementary children think it's fun, believe it or not, because they find themselves discovering big words that don't intimidate them anymore. They also have fun making up new words based on the roots they've learned. I have my 1st grader working through the lessons along with my 4th grader. We learn one root and the words associated with that root, master it and move on to the next at their pace. The book calls for making the cards on 3x5 index cards, but 4x6 or even 5x7 would be better in my opinion. I can't even write small enough to get the words with the root and their definitions on a single 3x5, much less a 5 or 9 y/o child.

 

I've just discovered Lively Latin and,  it is all the buzz in the Classical Liberal Arts Home School Community because students can self study using this program. I've read many great reviews,and Cathy Duffy's is the best, giving much detail.  We just purchased this program for our fourteen year old, and will let you all know how it goes. 

http://www.livelylatin.com/site/index.php  

 Review from Cathy Duffy Homeschool Reviews:

http://cathyduffyreviews.com/foreign-language/lively-latin.htm

After years of teaching Latin to homeschooled students with existing curricula and doing a lot of adaptation, Catherine Drown decided it was time to create her own program for teaching Latin to students in the elementary grades.

There were a number of elements she decided were essential for her ideal program:

• Study of English derivatives so students "could use their Latin knowledge to become more articulate and attentive to meaning in their own language."
• History of Rome incorporated into the course with related activities such as maps, timelines, internet links, and review.
• Use of traditional methods for learning Latin—recitation, chanting, parsing, and translating, but with a bit more fun and variety than in other programs.
• An  online component for students to play vocabulary games and connect with other students.
• A program that is easy for both parents and students to use--requires minimal preparation and presentation time from the teacher and allows students to do a great deal of their work independently. 
• Assumes no prior Latin study by the parent.
• Allows you to choose either ecclesiastical or classical pronunciation.

All of this available at an affordable price without having to purchase extra components!

In my opinion, Lively Latin lives up to its name. Even though the methodology is quite traditional, the mix of multi-sensory learning methods and use of stories and art should be more appealing to most students than most other options trying to cover comparable material.

 

Kindergarten question: What subjects do you cover with them on a normal day. What curriculum do you prefer at this age?

Handwork and Family Read... we are knitting while reading

Kindergarten is what we call the Core Phase, and focusing on character development is key!  Lots of family work & real life lessons, surrounded by a love of learning, modeled by elders and the great classic books, the best mentors through the ages!  After 20 years of studying education & alternative education, with one grown child who had early academics (teach your baby to read program, college prep elementary school, etc...) and now, a teen who had delayed academics with a Waldorf inspired beginning and an intention on honoring natures phases of development since then; 

  I am able to say without a doubt that academics should not be the focus of a home school at this age!   Simple Homeschool has a good article explaining the phases: http://simplehomeschool.net/the-4-phases-of-learning-in-leadership-education/ 

Young mind at work

 

  Also see:  Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning for in depth description of child development phases.  www.TJEd.org. 

  We are not in a hurry around here, I have seen with my own eyes, in different kinds of families, that even children who are unschooled, who never learn what is traditionally taught in elementary school, pick it up in a short period of time when it is developmentally appropriate. 

 Our teen is in love with learning, and is self directed in her intense studies, and at 14 she has caught up and in some subjects has passed her peers academically who are in a classroom type home school.  

 So our unintentional (big life lesson) experiment with these two different types of education, taught us much about walking a different learning path, with confidence that the end outcome will be what we really want!  

 Beginning with the end in mind: I want a whole child, who's seven intelligences (whole brain) have been developed, so she can overcome any obstacle and is self reliant in all areas of life, and not just specialized to perform academically or for a job.  I want her heart & soul to guide her so that she knows instantly right from wrong, good from evil, and can see through propaganda, to what is true.

 I want her core foundation to be based on service!  The missing link in most traditional education settings and the foundation to all future self directed, scholarly learning.  Already,  we see honoring the phases of learning and development is  bringing her much inner peace & joy! 

Family Work!

  Here is Dr. Raymond Moore's site and an article titled: Delayed Academics: Key to Preventing Learning Problems

http://www.excellenceineducation.com/better_late_than_early.php

 

 

A Waldorf Inspired- Core Phase Learning Playroom 

 

Favorite Kindergarten Curriculum's to use loosely and based on the child's interest:

 Waldorf Inspired, Oak Meadow: http://www.oakmeadow.com/ 

Literature Based: 5 In a Row: http://fiarhq.com/fiveinarow.info/index.html

Charlotte Mason Classical Liberal Arts: http://www.amblesideonline.org/

 

Three Ways Women Change The World...

There are at least three ways women change the world. First, it takes a mother to raise a village. For me, a mother is any adult woman who mentors youth, who helps them grow into contributing, happy adults. There are as many ways to get involved as there are women, but all of us must do it. And the marital/maternal status of a woman has nothing to do with her fully participating in this mission. 

~R.D., "Steel to Gold"  

 

 

Second, your education is your most valuable asset. I don’t mean this in the narrow sense of education, and I certainly don’t mean formal diplomas or degrees. Education includes our whole heart, and our whole mind—everything we have and all we are. We should never stop improving who we are, our hearts and our minds. With all that hangs in the balance, no woman can settle for anything but the very best education.

 Third, raising children and mentoring the next generation is the thing that changes the world the most. It is who we are; it is why we were born. We must train up the leaders of the future with confidence, power and grace. If we fail, the world will fail. If we shrink, hesitate, or doubt, precious time will be lost.

 

 

Now, the most important thing I have to say: You Can Do It!

~~Rachel DeMille www.TJEd.org