The Well-Trained Mind -- Homeschooling

There is one constant and that is change. My girls are getting older and it is time to step things up a notch. I decided to review the Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. I was reminded at how much I like their approach. I think it is because they follow the trivium which is the standard of classical education since the middle ages. Basically the trivium is made up of 3 stages-- the grammar stage, where the child should learn the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic and facts and knowledge about things, this is followed by the logic stage, where they start to put facts together and analyze from whole to parts including the formal study of logic which I find fascinating, then the rhetoric stage is where the student can take the logic and form their own conclusions and ideas and express themselves and make good arguments and join the Great Conversation.

Now that is an education. The hard thing is becoming reeducated, I've got to learn formal logic, and then teach it to my kids. Fortunately, Susan Wise Bauer has laid it all out. Her mother, Susan Wise, homeschooled her back in the day, and she started Latin at age 10. She is classically educated and currently teaches English at the College of William and Mary and has written several books. So I think she knows her stuff and how to train students academically. I don't do everything she recommends, but I do want my children to be able to do the things she talks about and to study many of the things she recommends. I like the goal of being able to think, analyze and express ideas. I also like the idea of knowing facts and knowing about things and how they work.

This is not all I want my children to know and be, but it will be a major tool for them to accomplish the things they will want to accomplish throughout their lives.

So at this point, the grammar stage, they need to be excellent readers. They need to know how to spell. They need to know English grammar- parts of speech, punctuation, capitalization, etc. They need to get used to writing letters, summaries, copywork, dictation and other assignments. Memorization of scriptures and poems also help to lay down a good language foundation. They should also be familiar with basic concepts and events of World history, Basic Math, geography, science, art and music. Then we can start formal logic and Algebra!!

I'm very excited. It is a lot of work, but it has been sooo very rewarding. Some days are definitely better than others. Thank-you to Susan Wise Bauer and all her work helping us untrained homeschooling mothers!! By the way, she is coming to Utah in June to be the Keynote speaker at the UHEA conference. I am so excited to hear her speak. I heard her at that conference a couple years ago, but now we are entering a new phase and I'm sure I'll learn something new!!

To close this post, here are a couple of paragraphs written by Susan's mother on page 619 of The Well-Trained Mind:

"Personally, I decided to pur on hold some of my goals. But I held on the the wise council given me when my children were toddlers: "Live your life in chapters. You don't have to do everything you want to do in life during this chapter of rearing children.: This advice provided the cornerstone of my plans for personal goals."

"I wanted to write. I wanted to make a hand-briaded eary American-style rug." ....(she put those things on hold to educate her children)....

"I have time to write now. My rug-in-waiting is still in boxes, although I can almost see the time approaching to start it --- thirty years later! But my children are the most creative project I have been involved in. I can't compare the relationship I have with them to a relationship with a rug, no matter how beautifully hand-crafted. And my crafting of their education has been life-enriching to all of us."

I really like that idea of living our lives in chapters, and I like the idea that our children are the most creative project we can undertake. Thank- you Jessie for paving the way!!