Patti's Homeschool Mentoring

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

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

 

Do you think academic success predicts later success in life?

I think most students that were high academic achievers, definitely had what we would have called a successful life in the 80's and 90's as adults. There was a clear path to that type of American dream. That's not to say that those who didn't score good grades couldn't have a successful life as well, {describes me} but, they usually fell into the entrepreneurial, unschooler {even if they attended school} category. 

Over the last couple of years we are seeing a shift of people who are high academic achievers and, who specialized in a career, are having a hard time finding success in adult life. Now, Thomas is right about the US census data... We are still seeing financial success with academic success, but, we also see the management of that financial success and personal life choices, leaves much to be desired; leaving us to question what was missing in the education to lead to mis- management of personal and financial responsibilities? Are the majority of financially successful people, successful in all areas of life? Are they happy, on purpose, in balance, etc...

 The world is changing, the skills needed today in many cases do not have high academic success as their main focus. Sure, our communities main specialists are still needed, like doctors for instance, but, more and more we are seeing what the community is needing are people who are more entrepreneurial, people who can shift easily and quickly, {loose your job, the bills have to be paid tomorrow, there is no time to go back to school} people who can move and adjust with the flow of change. If you understand the turnings of history,this "flow of change" we are in tells us it will last for an entire generation! Unfortunately, our school systems and many home school curriculum's train people to specialize for good academic scores at the expense of other development. This specializing leads to a job or as in higher education a specialized career. Both of which have become hard to find these days, and many times do not fulfill us. 

 

It seems to me, someone who is more well rounded, not just academically acute, where all seven of their intelligences are adequately developed, where their brain is equally as nurtured and connected, as their hearts and souls are, is someone who is not specialized. This is a person who is self reliant in all of life's departments and will be marked as successful and have an easier time. These people will be able to shift accordingly and easily in the new environment and will give back to their communities in ways that are truly needed for survival. 

 

This whole brain, soul and self reliance development will enable people to find joy and success, in ways those of us who grew up in the 70's, 80's and 90's never imagined. We may not recognize their life as a success and we sure didn't expect that we would ever be raising people for this new kind of world, but, success it is. A successful life is already defined differently today, than it was a few years ago...

 

Can you imagine how it will be defined for our children when they enter the adult world? 

 

 

Josiah Bunting, in his book, An Education for Our Time, states, “The things our country requires are simply not the things our colleges are prepared to deliver.”