Book review: The Well-Trained Mind

So, after talking to my sister-in-law, I decided to look at Susan Wise Bauer and Jesse Wise's book, The Well-Trained Mind. I have to say that after reading this I felt like I just about had my curriculum figured out for me. The book covers educating your children from preschool through high school. It proclaims to be a guide to classical education.

In a lot of ways it is similar to Charlotte Mason's book. But instead of just being a philosophy, it's a whole program with suggested schedules and materials. They have some fantastic lists of resources.

I love how they divide history and science into four segments: Ancient times (5000 b.c.- a.d. 400), Medieval-Early Renaissance (400-1600), pre-Modern (1600-1850), and Modern (1850-present); and biology, earth science and astronomy, chemistry, and physics and computer science. Each of the four segments is covered in a year, and each segment has been covered three times when the student graduates from high school. Reading and science are correlated with history.

They divide a child's education into three main segments. The first four grades are called the "grammar" stage, where a student learns the "grammar," or basics, of each subject. Language is the main focus during those years. Grades 5-8 are called the "logic" stage. During this time a child's reasoning capacity is developing, and so it is time to teach them formal logic and critical thinking skills. The "rhetoric" stage is high school, and the main focus is teaching a student how to effectively express themselves in multiple ways, but particularly with language.

I highly agree with what they say about technology in education. It makes a lot of sense to me, and it really has helped solidify my opinion on childhood development and technology.

I can understand why some critics say this should be a reference book for every homeschooler. It really helps you develop a holistic plan for educating your child. It makes it seem quite doable to teach your child whatever he/she needs to know.

Week #4: Interview a homeschool mom

I had a fantastic interview with my sister-in-law, Beth Wright! Originally I was going to post the recording of the interview because I had thought I had done that before. But looking back at some of my old blogs, I realized that all I had posted was video, and I couldn't figure out how to post something that was just audio. Between that and computer trouble, I am a few days late posting this.

So, instead, I'll have to give you some brief highlights. It's too bad you can't hear her tell it for herself because it would be much better that way.

Beth does a terrific job of teaching history. She has broken it up into four segments: ancient, medieval, early modern and modern. She teaches a segment for a year before moving onto the next one. By the time a child graduates from high school, they've gone through all four segments three times, a little more in depth each time. Beth uses Susan Wise Bauer's The Story of the World books for the first four grades, as well as children's encyclopedias and other reference books.

Even cooler, Beth has her kids read literature and study humanities lessons that compliment what their learning in history. She also incorporates the study of world religions, and uses the Bible and Book of Mormon as part of their ancient history unit. I love it!

Something else that I thought was absolutely awesome is their opening exercises every day. They sing, read some literature together, and do some hands-on projects, like painting or playing with clay. She says it gets the kids warmed up and excited for school.

Finally, I was really impressed that her favorite teaching resource was her own curiosity. She loves to continue to learn and research. As I've been learning, that's the best trait in a homeschool mom. She uses the internet and the local library a lot.

She had some great organizational ideas, but if I start writing down every cool thing she said, I might as well just transcribe the whole interview (which would take way too long). So I guess I have to stop.

Thanks for sharing your great ideas, Beth!