Seat Time vs. Instructional Time

I am happy to get private emails about homeschooling with Leadership Education principles. I've been getting a few about Transcripts lately. This is a challenging subject for the following reasons:

• Each person is different and is going to study different things.
• Each person is going to do different things once they "graduate" from homeschool. They will attend different colleges and universities, or just different types of careers. Each college/university has their own entrance requirements.
• Each state has different requirements for homeschool students. One state has no requirements other than an agreement to teach certain subjects while another has hours that need to be met each year. Yet another has subjects and hours per subject plus yearly state testing. This means each student will have to jump through different hoops.

Another thing to consider is how public school hours work. They have what they call "seat time" and then "instructional time". Seat time is the hours they are at school - 8am to 3pm. Instructional time for high school is 15 minutes of each 1 hour period. A student that goes to 6 periods a day actually only receives 1 1/2 hours of instruction time. Anyone who actually does a Scholar Phase is going to have tons more than that.

What are the other "seat time" hours spent on? - standing in line, walking between classes, lunch, waiting for class to start, waiting for class to end, finishing busy work assigned in class, etc.

So 180 days of instruction for 1.5 hours a day is actually only 270 hours of instruction per year, yet the public schools claim 1260 hours a year. I worked in public schools as a teacher and heard many discussions about seat time and instruction time.

If your child is spending 3-5 hours a day for 180 days a year, they are studying (not just sitting in a seat or standing in line) 540-900 hours a year. By the way, most state homeschool laws say they want 900 hours of instruction per year, which we all know is ridiculous for anything below high school and that the public schools don't even come close to that.

Underground Lava River Hike

The average Scholar will study 5,000 hours in their Scholar years! Divide that by 4 years of high school and you get 1250 hours per year of instructional time, not seat time. 

Granted, not all young people will finish their Scholar Phase in the "high school" years. This is okay. As you can see by breaking down the hours that even a student who is Transitioning until their Junior Year and then gets down to business for 2 years will have enough instructional time.

Seat Time - NOT!

Seat time is a myth. Who says learning only takes place in a seat? Think of all the things that are learned through homeschooling. We get out into nature. We get out into the real world to learn about how things work and to work with others of all ages. 

I was also asked about Physical Education. During good weather, we spend a lot of time outdoors with a 2 hour per week park day where we invite other families and play basketball, tennis, baseball, etc. We also schedule hikes and visit various National Parks and things that are available to us.

Over the years we've hiked canyons, visited several kinds of caves including naturally formed and man-made, visited Indian ruins and cliff dwellings, seen Civil War battlefields and outdoor museums, visited National Grave Sites, etc. We've been to the Grand Canyon and seen natural waterfalls. Probably the funnest place we saw when they were little was the City of Rocks and Cliff Dwellings in New Mexico.

The world is our school!

10 Easy Ways to Cut Your Homeschool Budget

Let's face it, homeschooling can be an expensive endeavor. One trip to a homeschooling convention with rows and rows of booths full of really cool looking curriculum can make any homeschool mother's mouth drool while at the same time her pocketbook shrinks. I know I've bought things that looked great and others raved about it, but when I tried to use it, well...it just didn't turn out like I hoped.

The important thing is to make wise purchasing choices. Doing the research before I buy has made for less costly mistakes and better purchases. I only have a budget of about $200 a year to spend on curriculum. Most of that is spent on Aleks math and then classic books throughout the year to build up our home library.

Here are a few tips to save money so that you can better budget for the things you really need:

1. Wet Erase Sheets

I discovered this trick a few years ago. Rather than buy multiple student worksheet books or copy everything, I made these cheap and easy re-useable sheets. (By the way, I own very few worksheets anymore, but we use these sometimes.)

Take a few clear plastic sheets and cut off the side with the 3 holes.

Slide the plastic sheet over the page in the student worksheet.

Using a fine tip wet erase pen, have your child finish the worksheet.

After you check the work, slide the sheet off.

Clean with a damp paper towel or washcloth (or sock, see below).

2. Personal Dry Erase Boards

These have become very popular in public schools, but I think they are a MUST HAVE for homeschooling. Children can go through a LOT of paper. I find these work for math problems, scratch paper, spelling practice, doodling, handwriting, etc.

3. Socks Erasers

We all have divorced and separated socks somewhere in our laundry, right? Why not reuse these poor lost socks as erasers for your Dry Erase Boards and Wet Erase Sheets. (They make good "dusting gloves" for kiddos too).

4. Use the Library

We use a ton of classics books and my budget does not allow me to own all the books we read each month (much less the space to store them). The library has most of the books we would want. If they don't, the Interlibrary Loan system has allowed us to borrow books from numerous local libraries without paying a cent.

5. Buy Used

Most families are also on a shoestring budget when it comes to homeschooling. Therefore, they re-sell their homschool curriculum in fairly good condition in most cases. I've bought from used curriculum fairs, eBay, Amazon, Home School Classifieds, Half.com, and Craigslist. For example, the Excellence in Writing Style and Structure program is $169 new. I bought it at a used curriculum fair for $40.

6. Sell Your Gently Used Curriculum

Like the post above, I also sell some of our used curriculum on the above websites. I often buy the items used and re-sell them later for about the same price I bought them for, breaking even!

7. Borrow Curriculum and Books

I was lucky enough to live in an area that had a great homeschool library that allowed members to borrow or check out items for a semester at a time. I also allow people to borrow items I have and have borrowed items from others to look at before purchasing. It helps to cut down on impulse buying and thus save you from spending money needlessly.

8. Use Online Freebies

The Internet is a vast source of free curriculum and teaching aides. There are too many to list here, but here are a few of the top contenders:

• Khan Academy - Math, History, Science, Economics, etc. Video based and easy to use. They have a Knowledge Map where students can master math topics and earn points and badges.
• YouTube - Many educational videos are available like Spalding Phonics, School House Rock, and The Human Calculator.
• Learning Page - Tons of worksheets for the early elementary years for math, handwriting, animals, etc.

9. Read for Free

Not only is the library a great free source for classic books. There are free Apps that can be downloaded for most phones, tablets, and computers to read books for free. 

The top eBook Apps are:

• Nook by Barnes and Noble
• Kindle by Amazon
• Google Books

Be careful of searching for "free" books as many undesirable books may also surface. Search for the specific title and author. We've downloaded several free titles, including, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", "Sense and Sensibility", "Guliver's Travels", "The Red Fairy Book" and "McGuffey Readers".

10. Focus on the Core Subjects

I've found that there is a lot of "fluff" out there. Focus on a few sound foundational programs and the rest will fall into place with the reading of classics. 

Some of the foundational programs we own are:

• Spalding Phonics - I borrowed the book "The Writing Road to Reading" from the library and only use the notebook pages where the student copies the rules. I bought a laminated set of the phonogram cards for $14. I've used these for all my children and foster children and never needed anything else.
• Math-U-See manipulatives - I've found that the Math-U-See program was good until the upper maths, but we still keep the manipulatives. I don't think the lower grades even need the curriculum. Most parents can teach basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division without an official math program, but the blocks are really helpful.
• Winston Grammar - I use this easy program to teach basic grammar and learn about diagramming sentences. We re-visit the topic for a couple weeks each year to make sure that the knowledge is still there. No other grammar program is needed with a classics based education.
• Excellence in Writing - I have the basic Style and Structure videos with the workbook and that's it! You can literally spend hundreds on needless, repetitive drills. The basic teaching is all you need on a writing program to teach what is expected. Free writing takes the place of all the other fluff.

Just know that we are all sucked in by the need to buy cool looking curriculum that fits in with the conveyor-belt way we were educated. I still get excited when I see workbooks. WHY? I guess it just makes me think...

workbook = learning

...yet, we all know that isn't true!

Reading and Personal Study = Learning

Good luck out there! I get tempted to spend too much each year myself.

Economics Classics

We decided to have economics as a separate class simply because it is such a misunderstood area of study in our society today. I truly believe that if everyone in our society studied economics, we would not be in the downward spiral we are currently in, and I mean all over the world, not just the United States. There are a few TJED for Teens classics and then some others we have studied.

Economics Classics from TJED for Teens:

• The Science of Getting Rich
• Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That The Poor And Middle Class Do Not!

Other Classics We Study:

• Uncle Eric Talks About Personal, Career, and Financial Security
• Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? A Fast, Clear, and Fun Explanation of the Economics You Need For Success in Your Career, Business, and Investments
• Whatever Happened to Justice?
• Are You Liberal? Conservative? Or Confused?
• Ancient Rome: How It Affects You Today
• Evaluating Books: What Would Thomas Jefferson Think About This? Guidelines for Selecting Books Consistent With the Principles of America's Founders
• The Money Mystery: The Hidden Force Affecting Your Career, Business, and Investments
• The Clipper Ship Strategy: For Success in Your Career, Business, and Investments
• The Thousand Year War in the Mideast: How It Affects You Today
• World War I: The Rest of the Story and How It Affects You Today, 1870 to 1935
• World War II: The Rest of the Story and How It Affects You Today, 1930 to September 11, 2001

We highly recommend all of the Uncle Eric books. We do not use them, but they also offer study guides. We study a chapter a day as part of our devotional time, and then discuss the topics of the chapter we studied. Sometimes there are topics and questions in the back of the book that we discuss as well. I have learned so much from these books! I can't speak highly enough of them.

World Religion Classics

I really only have one suggestion for studying the religions of the world....

....read their original works.

Scary? Yes, it can be. What if we are swayed to their beliefs? What if our children read their scriptural works and become hazy in truth and falsehood? For me the key has been to study the works with my own scriptures by my side. Sometimes I would check the references of my own scriptures after reading certain beliefs. Also, if a person's Core is not solid, then postpone reading other religious works until it is solid with right and wrong, true and false, good and bad.

What we found is that many religions have similar beliefs. Who knew, right? With that in mind, it is helping me to see two things:

1. We have much in common with other religions in which we can be happy about, sharing our mutual beliefs can help us find common ground to build relationships with our neighbors, friends, co-workers, etc.
2. Satan is very good at tweaking truth. He intermixes truth with his falsehoods. This knowledge helps me to see how easily people can be led away and reinforces the need to study my own faith DAILY!

World Religion Classics:

• Understanding the Times: The Collision of Today's Competing Worldviews - make sure you get the latest edition that includes Islam.
• Torah - Genesis
• The Bible
• Qur'an - Cows

Cross referencing between the Torah and the Bible is very interesting. My children and I found a few references in the Qur'an that are similar to Christian beliefs, yet many that are very different. We have not read all of the Qur'an, but have found certain parts of it to be useful to study so that we know where the Islamic culture is coming from.

This is not a very extensive list, for there are MANY religions on the earth today. Understanding the Times: The Collision of Today's Competing Worldviews is important to read to understand the different forces at work when it comes to religion and how they base their decisions.

NOTE: As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have another work to add to the study of Genesis in The Pearl of Great Price.

Science Classics

The Geometry of Fruits and Vegetables

Ooooo! Science! I've always been fascinated by science. I really enjoyed all of my science classes except Chemistry. I was feeling a bit daunted by the idea of learning science through classics. To me, science seems to NEED hands-on experience...you know...LABS! We tried a couple of Science curriculum packages, but really found them tedious and boring. With a sigh and my hands thrown up in the air I said, "Fine! I'll look for science classics!"

I have read a few now and found they greatly enhance my understanding in ways I was not expecting. First, I didn't understand everything, but I was able to understand MORE than before. Secondly, for me, most of these science classics will need to be studied repeatedly for me to grasp all the concepts in them. But, that's what classics are for! To be read over, and over, and over - finding new knowledge along the way in each re-read.

Science Classics from the TJED for Teens list:

• A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe: Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science by Michael S. Schnieder (See more below)
• The Illustrated Brief History of Time, Updated and Expanded Edition by Stephen Hawkins
• Relativity: The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein
• Elementus - Books I, II, III, and IV by Euclid

Constructing the Universe website

You have got to check out this website - Constructing the Universe. It goes hand-in-hand with the book "A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe: Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science". There  are lots of different links and additional activity books available on this website. We have not bought the activity books, but I thought some might like this nugget of information. I do want to go to his Constructing the Universe classroom, it looks like so much fun! If I had the money I would have a science "lab" like his.

When to Study Science Classics

It is interesting to note the interaction of math and science. I've read a few books, and also in the Robinson Curriculum, that suggest that students should not start any formal study of science until they have mastered Algebra II and Geometry. We have followed that path and discovered that this method is a sound one. Nayna is taking a college level science class because she felt the study of Science was one of her weakest points. She has since learned that she can rapidly learn all that she does not know. In fact, she is tutoring an adult in her college class and is the lead in her study group, simply because she waited until she was ready to study science.

Studying Science Through Nature

The Charlotte Mason home education method has some great ideas on studying science through observation and hands-on experience. During Core and Love of Learning Phases, this is how we addressed science. Now that my children are Scholars, we can still learn that way and begin adding in the science classics.

NOTE: Science and Religion. It is important to note that some science classics try to rule out God or any notion of Intelligent Design. Studying these science classics with my children, or often before them, allows me to know ahead of time what areas we may need to stop and discuss our beliefs and the truth and knowledge that we have gained. Those with a shaky foundation or Core could be swayed to believe untruths. We enjoyed a movie called, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed", which touches on the removal of God from science. You can watch this movie on YouTube here if you are interested.

American History Classics

'I cannot tell a lie.'

American History is a pretty easy one to find classics on...or so I thought. Once I began studying American History, I realized that so many sources vary in their coverage of events. For example, I was raised on the story of George Washington and the Cherry Tree...remember that one..."I cannot tell a lie." How disappointing to find out the story is a lie!

It then becomes difficult to find true historical writings. I find that older versions seem to be the most correct and that we need to make sure we are reading unabridged versions of stories and histories. It is my belief that each time we read someone's abridged version, we are getting more opinion than fact unless it is well documented where the information comes from.

NOTE: This list overlaps with American Government. We choose to work on 100 hours for each subject and only allow a work to count towards one subject.

From Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens:

• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas
• "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death"
• "The Present Crisis"
• Also see the list for American Government

We have also added:

We found a fabulous history series by Dan Hunter at Living History Books. These are LDS based and we love them! There is an American History set that we have not started yet, but it is on the list (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2). We have some of the other sets and love the writing style as well as the detailed outlines, time-lines, maps, and references to where he got the information from; making this series of history books one of the few "curriculum" items we feel are classics. It is written from a very TJED point of view (no tests or worksheets) and Oliver DeMille even wrote the forward for them. Dan Hunter suggests that rather than test students, require projects or papers written on people or events (see below for more info).

HISTORY NOTEBOOK
We are embarking on a new idea to make our own history notebooks. I am getting mine started in order to "model" this for my teens. When I mentioned it nobody shouted, "Hooray! I always wanted to make a history notebook." Rather, I got one blank stare that said in silent mocking tones, "Seriously?" and another moderate eye roll that sarcastically mimicked, "Another great idea mom has to add to my full study load." I know, it might only seem appealing to the history fanatic, but I hope to get one started myself first and maybe inspire some others in my home later. ;-)

Check out this free download over at Living History Books on making your own history notebook.

Here are also some free notebook pages I made up to use based on the download listed above.  It didn't like his, not clean enough for me I guess. There are three different line height pages, including emergent writer (primary lined) pages, which Dan Hunter's does not include.

American Government Classics

I love learning about the birth of America, the various changes over time, and the current state of our great nation. This is one of the most important subjects to study from the classics. Textbooks have left out so much of what is true and necessary in the study of our government. One must study the original documents and the original words of the founding fathers in order to gain their own understanding of what government is and should be.

There are a lot of books listed here. For high school "credit", we choose from these lists and study for 100 hours to constitute a high school credit per Missouri law. That is pretty easy to do from this list, however, we continue with this list for Depth Phase.

From TJED for Teens:

• The Declaration of Independence
• The Constitution of the United States
• "The Gettysburg Address" speech by Abraham Lincoln
• "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King Jr.
• The Real Thomas Jefferson by Allison, Maxfield, Cook and Skousen
• The Real Benjamin Franklin by Allison
• The Real George Washington by Allison, Parry, and Skousen
• The Making of America by W. Cleon skousen
• Democracy in America Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 by Alexis De Tocqueville
• The 5,000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen
• The Law by Bastiat

Others we have added:

• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

Again, I would like to add sections of The Great Books of the Western World. 

• Volume 43 - Articles of Confederation, The Federalist, On Liberty by J. S. Mill
• Volume 2 Syntopicon - Chapter 3 -Aristocracy, Chapter12 - Constitution, Chapter 16 - Democracy, Chapter 31 - Government, Chapter 42 - Justice, Chapter 46 - Law, Chapter 47 - Liberty
• Volume 2 Syntopicon - Chapter 59 - Monarchy, Chapter 62 - Oligarchy, Chapter 63 - One and Many, Chapter 64 - Opinion, Chapter 90 - State, Chapter 95 - Tyranny, Chapter 98 - War and Peace, Chapter 99 - Wealth, Chapter 101 - Wisdom

Poetry Classics

Poetry is not a topic that interested me very much. However, I am beginning to find it necessary and even enjoyable. (We can't always love everything, can we?) I know that most songs are poems and so that has intrigued me enough to spark my interest. My oldest child loves poetry and even wrote notebooks of poems herself. My son writes some songs once in awhile and so I can see that my children need these classics even if they are not personal favorites.

Poetry from Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens:

• Best Loved Poems of the American People by Hazel Felleman
• Sonnets by Shakespeare
• Poetry and Mathematics by Scott Buchanan

I had never thought of poetry and mathematics being similar topics, but I can now see that the rhythmic quality of poetry does have ma mathematical applications. A very interesting topic of study.

We also added:

• The Great Ideas Syntopicon, volume 2, Chapter 69: Poetry - from the Great Books of the Western World set.

As in Mathematics where we recommend the Syntopicon for a place of study, we highly recommend the chapter on Poetry for deeper consideration. There are several pages of explanation of what poetry is, how it is an "art" and how it is language, philosophy, and history. Next are oodles of references for further study on the subject of poetry from the great authors and thinkers of the western hemisphere.

TJED Conveyor-belt

Death of Socrates

I was going to post another Classics List for transcript purposes, but decided this needed to be posted instead.

On a Yahoo Group, of which I am a member, a discussion topic came up that has really got me thinking about TJED Conveyor-belt and the vast number of TJED based classes. I felt it need to be answered a bit more. So many people are looking for classroom environments for their Love of Learners and Scholars and I wonder if the choices out there meet the mustard.

Quote from a "TJED Muse" post: "When I asked the kids what they thought they'd REALLY like this class to look like, almost all of them agreed that they wanted to have a "sit down and take notes and lecture" part to the class each week, and they wanted it to last for 15 minutes. They also wanted a test. That was their request. Now, I wouldn't have designed a TJ Ed class that way, but it is what they wanted. So after four weeks, I talked to them again, and asked them what they had noticed. They noticed that they LIKED the lecture/notes, because they wanted to make sure that they were able to do that like the kids who attend public school."

My Answer: Have you ever considered that the reason these students asked for that type of learning environment is because that is the only picture of education that they have in the world today? Let's consider some other learning environments that brought people from thousands of miles away in a time when travel was difficult and time consuming, for example; Socrates, Aristotle, and Euclid.

How did they teach their students? Did they have tests, pre-essay and post-essay samples, or a syllabus? Or, did they inspire through asking and answering the tough questions, challenging the status quo, and showing by example what it takes to think for oneself? They taught their students in a Socratic discussion style in which they asked questions, deep thinking questions, and tried to answer them. These thinkers did not send out the questions before hand, rather they came up within the discussion.

As I read and study the great thinkers through the classics, I see very little classrooms that look like what we know today. For myself, I don't want my kids to get more of the world, I want them to get more of what is lost...a true educational experience that steps outside the box and asks the hard questions. In order to do that, it might mean taking the road less traveled and searching for those educational experiences that will impact them the most rather than a plethora of mediocre, which there is plenty of out there.

Does this mean we never experience the conveyor-belt? Of course not! There is too much around to avoid. But what it does mean is that we are careful and purposeful in what we choose to spend our time doing. There are many good things out there, but are they the best things? Only each family can answer that question for their family. I do hope, however, that we each keep the goal in sight as we make those decisions. Will this class, teacher, mentor, school, book club, group, friend, etc. lead my child closer to their end goals? Is this the best choice, or just a good choice?

For more on Socratic discussion, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method and
http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/the-role-of-socratic-questioning-in-thinki\ng-teaching-learning/522

Mathematics Classics

When I first considered learning math simply through reading classics, my mind immediately was full of "cricket sounds at midnight". Completely empty of thought basically. I couldn't wrap my mind around it at all! Nor could I think of ONE math classics. I had no idea where to start or what to do.

Thankfully, Dr. DeMille gives us some idea of where to start. I have read many of these, some were easier than others, but all were insightful after carefully making my way through them.

Math Classics from TJED for Teens

• Flatland by Edmund Abbot
• On Numbers by Isaac Asimov
• Introduction to Mathematics by Whitehead
• Arithmetic by Nichomachus
• Poetry and Mathematics by Buchanan
• Elementus by Euclid

Additional Math Classics

We own "The Great Books of the Western World" set. The Syntopicon in volumes 1 and 2 contain subjects covered in these books. Within volume 3 under "Mathematics" there is a fantastic explanation about the differences between truths proved or discovered about mathematics and quantity; or the study of arithmetic, geometry and other branches of mathematics.  After the explanation of what mathematics IS, there is an outline of topics and pages of references based on the outline. One could get a complete education about mathematics, both from the standpoint of the science of mathematics as well as quantity (how much), from studying the references listed in this book.

I am just beginning this study myself, but for someone who wants to truly understand everything about mathematics, this is the way to go!

Math Curriculum
We have used purchased math curriculum. I had purchased Math-U-See through Geometry before knowing about Math classics and how we could utilize them. My children do use Math-U-See and sometimes Khan Academy for math help. Another curriculum that I have heard good things about is Aleks, but we have not used it because I already have Math-U-See.

Mythology, Fairy Tales, and Fables

This subject is one my personal favorites. This is another class that we combine literature and composition. It is easy to have my children re-write fables and fairy tales or to even practice creative writing and come up with one of their own. Another fun thing to do is to compare versions of fairy tales or myths and discuss similarities and differences. I took Mythology in high school and it was just reading Mythology by Edith Hamilton and writing some papers on the subject for a half credit class.

As a side note on teaching composition, we use the Excellence in Writing program called "Teaching Writing: Structure and Style". I did not purchase anything other than that, the rest of their curriculum is too "textbooky" for me. We use the classics they are reading to practice the subjects of note taking, outlining, summarizing from notes, etc.

There is so much available for free online, so check out the links below.

Mythology, Fables, and Fairy Tales

There are only two listed in TJED For Teens:

• Mythology by Edith Hamilton
• Aesop's Fables - Stickney, Winter

We add the following as well:

• Grimm's Fairy Tales - Versions: Olcott, Steel
• Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales
• Andrew Lang

Study by Civilization

One way we are studying myths, fables, and fairy tales is by civilization. The Baldwin Project has several links to various civilizations with free online collections of their literature. We have found it very interesting to compare various versions from the different civilizations.

• Introduction to History - World History
• Ancient Greece
• Ancient Rome
• Norse
• Britain
• European Continent
• American
• Spain and Latin America
• Africa
• Asia
• Islam

British Literature and Composition

Most of our "classes" for high school credit are a literature and composition combination. British Literature is surely a fun class to read, write, and discuss. As I said in my last post, our state requires 100 hours to be considered a "credit", so I allow my youth to choose enough books to read and write about to fill that requirement. It so happens, that they have much more than 100 hours spent in this "class". It doesn't hurt to watch a few of the movies too.

British Literature

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Emma by Jane Austen
• The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
• Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
• Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Return of Sherlock Holmes
• The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
• The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
• The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
• King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable by Thomas Malory - Le Morte D'Arthur Vol. 1, Le Morte D'Arthur Vol. 2
• Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnnet

NOTE: The books chosen for this list are from "TJED for Teens" book, the AYLI classic books list and the Classics for Youth list in "A Thomas Jefferson Education" by Oliver DeMille.

American Literature and Composition

In high school it is often common to combine the study of literature with a composition class. We decided to take this approach and have our children write articles, essays, or reviews on the classics that our youth read. This not only cements their thoughts and what they learned, but gives practice in writing, grammar, and spelling.

Our youth choose from this list to create the 100 hours required for our state in a 1 credit class. Basically, I have them choose from this list and write about what they read.

American Literature

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott
• Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
• Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingles Wilder
• Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingles Wilder
• Pollyanna by Elleanor Hodgman Porter
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper
• Where the Red Fern Grows by Rawls Wilson
• Man of the Family by Ralph Moody
• The Sackett Series by Louis L'Amour (link has reading order)
• Old Yeller by Fred Gipson
• The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

There are so many classics that could be added to this list as you see fit. If my children have a book they would like to use for this "class" then I typically look into it, read it myself and ask the child why they feel the book is a classic. If the book makes the classics list, then we use it!

NOTE: These books are chosen from the Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens list.

Book, Video, and Other Lists

Another important part of our yearly binder is the lists we keep of completed books, videos, magazines, and other articles. Here is a link to some list forms. My favorite is the books, issues and videos/plays/concerts forms. One requirement for my Scholars is that they record all of the materials they finish on these forms in their individual binders. Nayna and I also record the books we read on Goodreads.com with reviews. This is a nice way to have your student write a review and share it. Sometimes she reads so many books that she does not write reviews on every single one.

In addition to recording every book we finish, we also have checklists to chose books from. Our most important list is:



Once an item has been read they check it off on their list. Our goal is read all of the books during their Scholar Phase and marked off as level 1 and to hopefully have at least one a month marked off as level 2. (For an explanation of the three levels please see "TJED for Teens" by Oliver DeMille and Shannon Brooks.)

Course of Study for 2011-2012

Each year is a new experience in preparation for the next year. One of the things that I like is to get a general plan in order with some of my thoughts on what we need to study together. I like the files at donnayoung.org for helping me get organized. I'll be featuring a few of the forms that I personally use over the next few posts.

The Course of Study form is one of my favorite all-in-one-place forms to show my general outline for the entire year. I combine my two youth still at home on the same Course of Study. Many things we do together but for those things that are separate it is listed by their initial. To some this may seem a bit vague. Basically, I am outlining the mentoring portion of what we are studying. The rest will be determined throughout the year as the Scholar finds new interests and passions to study. It is important to remember that this is not a complete layout of the year, but this is a list of the things that I want to inspire them with and what I will share with them during our devotional, read aloud, and do-together portions of our education time.

Some are just resources for further study in specific ares. Some items are review, something we often turn to when we need to brush up on certain skills, like grammar and spelling. These resources are on the list for sporadic use. A few items are curriculum that has been purchased for that use. Each student chooses which resources they will use at any given time.

How does TJED compare?

Recently, I received an email that described a little bit of how Leadership Education (TJED) compares to other homeschool methods. This chart describes what homeschooling methods match up to which Phase of Learning.

Phase of Learning	Method Comparison
Core Phase	Unschooling
Love of Learning	Montesorri
Scholar Phase	Liberal Arts

I think this is pretty accurate. TJED is not a curriculum or a specific method, it is a set of correct principles that when applied help the learner achieve the goal of understanding right and wrong, true and false, good and bad, with a solid love for learning and the ability to think for themselves.

It is so much more than the public school's desire to educate in reading and memorizing facts. Even most homeschool curricula is focused on these same goals - reading, writing, and arithmetic. While these goals are important for a free society, the ability to think for oneself - to truly be able to wade through all the information and discover truth - is not to be found in public schools and even in most homeschool curricula.

When families first begin their TJED journey, one of the hardest things to do is let go of standard curriculum. "Classics, not Textbooks" is difficult to grasp. Are there classic curriculum choices? - Yes! But, they are few and must be selected with purpose.

How many times have I changed my home education approach? Many! Each child needs different things, each phase needs different resources based on the methods listed below.

• Unschooling during Core Phase does not need much more than a lot of experiences within the home and daily readings of the classics for young children.
• Montessori during Love of Learning adds more hands-on learning with experiences in nature and the world at large, allowing the child to leap from one exciting discovery to the next with a mentoring parent beside them.
• Liberal Arts education during Scholar Phase brings the deeper study into areas of interest in the beginning through projects and moves into broadening the individuals education through reading more challenging classics coupled with Socratic discussion.

The point is to recognize that various home education methods can and should be used within TJED. One does not need to abandon everything they have done before. The key is to determine when to use those favorite things.

What a STEAL!

I am so excited I can barely contain myself!

I won an Ebay bid on a set of the Great Books of the Western World for only...

$66 with free shipping!

Whoot! I basically bid when it was a low-ball price thinking I would never get it, but just thought I would give it a shot. To my happy surprise...I won! That is probably because it is missing a couple of the books. The set usually runs $150-300 on Ebay. New sets can run over $900 dollars. For less than $20 I can pick up the volumes that are missing. Sweet!

Why should I be happy about this?
This set contains all of the great authors, philosophers, mathematicians, scientists, etc. of the Western World. Some have equated the knowledge in these books as equal to "a bachelor's, a master's, and two graduate degrees".

When used with a classical education, this set is the epitome of learning from the greatest minds known to man. The Great Ideas Program is an outline of readings over a 10 year period to finish most of the knowledge in these books. I started on that path, but had difficulty acquiring all the books. Now I have my own set. (Can you feel my excitement!)

The Blessings of Prayer
For several months now I have been praying about how to acquire some of the things we need - health concerns and healing (which came), paying off debt, home education curriculum, home education social activities, travel expenses to see family, etc. I have relied heavily on Heavenly Father to supply us with our needs after all we can do. This has come as a direct answer to my prayers. After our prayers for Chris's tumor have been answered, I didn't think we deserved any more blessings, but I am extremely thankful to a Heavenly Father who has seen fit to bless us with so much.

My $200 Budget
With our tax return we set a budget of $200 for new curriculum this Spring. I never thought I would be able to get as much as I did. I bought Math-U-See Geometry, Great Books of the Western World set (still can't believe it!), and Generation Change Home Edition for Teens. Along with what we have acquired over the years and the fantastic library system we have, these new additions will be greatly loved.

Now to find a place to put my set of 52 books!

Education: How did it happen?

I've been re-reading "Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank. The second time through is definitely an eye-opener. I am understanding things I did not get before. I wanted to share a couple of insights from the book that I feel are relevant in today's society.

From Alas, Babylon:


Note: In this scene, Randy is talking to his brother, a colonel in the military, about the real threat of war in America. It is written in 1959, so the examples are older, but the meaning is relevant to today.


Quote #1:
"How did it happen?" Randy had asked. "Where did we slip?"

"It wasn't lack of money," Mark had replied. "It was state of mind. Chevrolet mentalities shying away from a space-ship world. Nations are like people. When they grow old and rich and fat they get conservative (not politics, conservative in innovation). They exhaust their energy trying to keep things the way they are - and that's against nature. Oh, the services were to blame to. Maybe even SAC. We designed the most beautiful bombers in the world, and built them by the thousands. We improved and modified them each year, like new model cars. We couldn't bear the thought that jet bombers themselves might be out of style. Right now we're in the position of the Federal Navy, with it's wooden steam frigates, up against the Confederate iron-clad. It is a state of mind that money alone won't cure."

"What will?" Randy asked.

"Men. Men like John Ericsson invent a Monitor to face the Merrimac. Bold men, audacious men, tenacious men. Impatient, odd-ball men like Rickover pounding desks for atomic subs. Ruthless men who will fire the dead heads and butt-kissers. Rude men who will tell the unimaginative, business-as-usual, seven-carbon *** to go take a jump at a galloping goose. Young men because we've got to be a young country again. If we get that kind of men we may hack it - if the other side gives us time."



Quote #2:
"Quite often the flood of history is undammed or diverted by the character and actions of one man."

Quote #3:
"When two ships are on a collision course and the men at the wheel inflexibly hold to that course, there is going to be a collision. You don't have to be farsighted to see that."

Why does this book matter?
In my conversations with many adults that I mentor, one of the most often asked question is "How can I be mentored by a book?" We are mentored by books when we make connections with how the characters behave and react to their environment and relate those characters and situations to our every day lives. In the above scene, I am reminded that the United States of America has been in crisis before. The United States struggle to remain a republic has been tried and tested many times.

I ask myself questions like:

• How did the characters behave? Where they right or wrong?
• How did our government survive other times of crisis? Can we use those tactics today or do we need new tactics?
• What made the difference between freedom and servitude? 
• How are these situations like today?

As I answers these question through my studies, I gain a better understanding of human nature and what I need to do, change, or support. 

This is how classics change us. 

This is how we are mentored by books.

What kinds of books are your mentors?