I finished A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-first Century © 2000 by Oliver Van DeMille yesterday. It is a good book I would recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about the benefits of a classic education as compared to a 'public' education. Here are some of the things I took note of:
"Home schooling has long and successful tradition. Actually, it has two traditions: First, the very wealthy have always educated their children at home, some through tutors and others themselves; and second, most of the greatest thinkers, leaders, statesmen, entrepreneurs, scientists and artists of history were self-educated." pg 15
"...all education boils down to two things: the student putting in the work to educate himself, and the teacher getting the student's attention long enough and deeply enough to get him started and help him keep going." pg 23
"Find a great leader in history, and you will find at least three central elements of their education-time, mentors and classics." pg 41
"Application of knowledge to the real world is essential; no education is complete, or even particularly valuable, unless the student uses what he or she has learned to serve the family, community, society, God." pg 47
"You can't train leaders on a conveyor belt; if you want to teach students how to think, their studies must be personalized." pg 49
More on conveyor belt education, "The very message of "graduation" is misleading no matter how you slice it: 1) you'd better get your learning in by a certain date or it doesn't count; 2) you have somehow achieved in twelve years of conveyor-belt-style experiences a wealth of knowledge worthy of endorsement by the sate; 3) after twelve years you are a "finished product;" and 4) "Whew! You made it! Now you can quit learning!"" pg 99
He goes on to say that in addition to maintaining our freedom and our civilization, there are at least six other reasons to study the classics:
-the classics teach us human nature
-the classics bring us face-to-face with greatness
-the classics take us to the frontier to be conquered
-the classics force us to think
-the classics connect us to those who share the stories
-our canon becomes our plot
This book also has left me wanting to do some more research on the 'Commonplace Book', this is not the first time I have heard of it. The idea is that students write in a book everyday, summarizing the main idea or a new concept that they learned. Ask them, "What is the most important thing you learned today?" and have them write the response, focusing on content rather than technique. As the writing becomes more advanced, concentrate on grammar, spelling and other details.
Recommended classic lists to follow in another post.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
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I have become very interested in Classical Education recently. It's the one method that my husband whole-heartedly embraces and wants us to pursue. I've been reading "When You Rise Up" by R.C. Sproul Jr. and it's great. Next in line is "Teaching the Trivium" by the Bluedorns.
I'm wanting to read the book that you mention here, but haven't put my hands on it yet.
Think about it, we as homeschooling adults are increasingly become self-learners! So we are educating ourselves classically :)
I am going to ad those books to my list Kela, thanks for the recommendation. I have learned so much since we started homeschooling this year, hopefully I am gaining wisdom! lol
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