Help Your Child Develop a Well Trained Mind

Author's Rating:

Pros: A wonderful resource for all parents

Cons: nothing major

The Bottom Line: 
This book is a wonderful resource as you plan your child's education -no matter what your philosophy or where they go to school.

Author's Review
If you are fortunate, you live near an elementary school filled with excellent teachers who are dedicated to develop your child’s skills in reading, writing, arithmetic, history and science. These teachers have small classes – no more than 10 students – and can give each student plenty of attention. The school sits next to a middle school that is safe (no drugs, guns or knives). This school also has small classes; the teachers train their students in logic, critical thinking and advanced writing. Plenty of one-on-one instruction is offered, especially in writing. And in the distance (not too far away) is a high school that will take students through world history, the classics of literature, the techniques of writing, high-level mathematics and science, debate, art history and music appreciation (not to mention vocational and technical training, resume preparation, and job hunting skills).

This book is for the rest of us.

And so begins the book The Well Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer. The fact of the matter is though, that even if you do have that utopian school system, parents are ultimately responsible for their children’s education – no matter where they go to school.

A couple of years ago, I made the leap to homeschooling. At first I was completely overwhelmed by the choices that were available to me. There is SOOO much out there, it is really hard to decide what will work for your children. I felt like I was going around in circles, until a friend loaned me this book. I now recommend it to all new homeschoolers (and even experienced ones).

Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer are a mother and daughter writing team. Jessie Wise decided to homeschool her three children 30 years ago, before most people had ever heard of it. Heck, it wasn’t even legal where I live 30 years ago. Jessie had been a school teacher and administrator. Susan is Jessie’s middle daughter. She is married and homeschools her 4 young children. She went to college at 17 on a full scholarship. She has 2 master’s degrees and is a college professor and well-known writer.

The book is sub-titled “How to Give Your Child a Classical Education at Home” and that seems to be very fitting, because the book does exactly that.

So, what is a Classical Education?

A classical education is a strong liberal arts education. It is what the Greeks and Romans gave their children. It is the education that Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton, Christopher Columbus, Shakespeare, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams all had, among countless others. For two millennia it was the standard in education.

In the 1940’s essayist Dorothy Sayers gave a speech called “The Lost Tools of Learning” where she talked about the way children learn – on a Trivium. And with that, classical education began to make its comeback.

The Trivium are the 3 pillars of a classical education. They divide children up into different age groups by how their mind grows and develop. The first stage is the grammar stage. Up until about age 10 or so, children are little sponges. So during this time, you just try and fill them with facts and knowledge. You don’t try to analyze it yet, that will come later. Right now, they are just on a quest for knowledge. Why is the sky blue? What is 2 + 2? The young child has an amazing ability for storing knowledge.

Next comes the logic, or dialectic, stage – approximately from ages 10-14. This is the age where they start to develop critical thinking skills. This is when you teach him to debate/argue as he hones these important skills. You take what you taught him during the grammar stage and analyze it.

Finally comes the rhetoric stage (high school), where self-expression is learned. You take the knowledge you gained, and your analysis of it and then put forth your own ideas on the topic.

If you think about it, isn’t that how we learn everything, even as adults?

So what does this book do?

So, if we think of education in terms of the trivium, we are basically planning out our child’s education fully at a very young age. Suddenly that seems like a very daunting task! But, don’t worry. If you have this book, it will walk you through it, and help you make the choices to design the optimum education for your child.

The book is divided up into 4 parts, along with a prologue and appendices.

Part I – Grammar Stage (K- Grade 4): This section starts with a chapter that gives an overview of the grammar stage. It then has a chapter on the preschool/Kindergarten years. It then moves on to chapters on teaching each of the subjects (English, math, science, etc…) during this age.

Part II – Logic Stage (Grades 5-8): Again, the first chapter is an overview of this stage. It then has chapters, on teaching each subject (including Logic)

Part III – Rhetoric Stage (Grades 9-12): The same basic format: a chapter overview of the rhetoric stage of learning, and then chapters on each subject.

Part IV – How to Educate Your Child at Home: This section covers the nuts and bolts of homeschooling: Why you should homeschool, socialization, scheduling and time management, record keeping, athletics, etc… This section is extremely useful for new homeschoolers.

History is taught Chronologically over a 4-year period (each stage). The first year of each stage the Ancients are covered (up through about 500 CE), in the second year, the Middle Ages and early Renaissance are covered (500-1600 CE). In the 3rd year the late Renaissance through the beginning of modern time (1600-1850 CE), and finally in the fourth year of the stage you do the Modern time period (1850-present). Science is done in the same type of cyclical pattern, as is the reading list (which is made to correspond to the time period you are studying).

In each chapter they not only tell you what to cover, they give you ideas on how to cover it. They recommend curriculum and put together a recommended time schedule. For some subjects they might recommend a couple of different curriculums, with pros and cons of each so you can choose the one to best meet your families needs. They also might give alternative schedules, for kids that are advancing rapidly as well as those that need to slow down a bit. They also provide source listings of where to get the recommended material.

Finally, the book is mainly secular. Although the authors are Christian, the book can easily be used by non-Christian homeschoolers (such as myself). There are a few instances of where their first choice curriculum is Christian, but they tell you it is, and then give an alternative secular program, that might not be quite as good in their opinion, but will still get the job done.

Why do I like this book?

The main reason I like this book, is because it is an excellent resource! It is very well written and very clear to understand. Do I follow it to the letter? No, I don’t. I followed it fairly closely my first year homeschooling, but have since veered off quite a bit from it. But, it is always the first place I go when I am making curriculum choices and planning my children’s education. It is the baseline that I always start from, from there I change what I have to for my son’s unique learning style.

But that’s OK. From the very first page, they tell you that you don’t have to follow all their advice. They also tell you that you don’t have to homeschool, this book can be useful just to supplement your child’s education with. They very much have the attitude of “take what you need and leave the rest.” I really appreciate that. The last thing I want is a rigid, authoritarian style.

What don’t I like about the book?

Really there isn’t a whole lot I don’t like about the book. For the most part, the curriculum advice I have taken from them I have been very happy with and have generally agreed with their assessment. As I said before, there are some subjects where I am really not following their advice at all, but that’s not because there advice is wrong, but more that my son’s needs dictated using a different program.

The one area that we changed because we didn’t like it was the reading list. The reading list is meant to correspond with the time period of history being studied that year. Which is great in concept, but very limiting in reality. For example, in 1st, 4th and 9th grade you read Homer’s “The Odyssey”. In 1st grade as a picture book, in 4th grade as a children’s book, and then the “real” one in 9th grade. Their reason for doing it this way is that by the time your read it in 9th grade, you have already read it twice before and have a basic knowledge of the story. So, it isn’t as intimidating as it would be if you had never heard of it before now. I understand, and even agree with their reasoning, but feel that because of this some excellent books never get read at all. There is no Louisa May Alcott, for example. So, instead, I have chosen to use the “Good Book” reading list developed by John Senior.

However, this criticism is quite small in the grand scheme of things. As I said there are other areas we don’t follow for various reasons, so changing one more was not a big deal.

Final Thoughts…

A friend of mine recently called this book “the Martha Stewart of Homeschooling” (only this book has ethics…). She didn’t mean it as a bad thing, because she then went on to say that she always aspired to be like Martha Stewart. My house is definitely not like Martha Stewart’s (my kitchen is a LOT smaller, for one thing), but I do know that I am giving my children the best education I can and they will be prepared to head off into the world.

I highly recommend “The Well Trained Mind” to all parents, no matter where your children go to school.
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Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer maintain and excellent website to accompany the book. It can be found at www.welltrainedmind.com. The site has the book’s full Table of Contents as well as sample chapters. It also has bulletin boards, a newsletter, curriculum reviews, and book updates, among other things. I highly recommend checking it out.

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This review has been brought you as part of the TOAST write-off hosted by the Kids and Family/Education & Health/Beauty category leads MaryTara, Sblaydes, Cntaur5 & Shantel575 in honor of in honor of the start of a new school year..

The following members participated:
MaryTara, sblaydes, Shantel575, cntaur5, jo.com, chrisceb, kristinafh, pogomom , pluckyduck, mountainhigh , Donnie013 , MumMumMum, mind-full , melissasrn , vbfc , kurt_g, bops_mom, maggsmomm , cathyjones, tritter72 , bonniesayers, jillmkk – hey that’s me! , klueger , arjita, ritag11

~We wish them all a great year, no matter what their age is! ~