Principles of TJED

Recently on TJED Muse, a Yahoo Group for TJED families, there was a thread posted about negative blogs about TJED. I've seen them before. What inevitably ends up happening is a confused outlook on what TJED or Leadership Education really is. So, I responded to that post and decided to share it here.

Principles of TJED

I think the thing many miss is that all of the TJED books are about Principles, not a formula for how everyone should "do it". I love "Leadership Education: the Phases of Learning" because it explains the Principles of TJED.

Worldly Example: Tithing

Principle: The scriptures state that believers in Christ should pay one tenth of their increase in tithes to the Lord (or their church).

Practice: One person obeys this principle by paying one tenth after each paycheck is received. Another pays on a monthly basis, while yet another is self-employed and pays on a quarterly basis based upon profit. Still another person saves the money all year and pays once a year.

Who is doing it "right"? All of them! 

TJED Example:  Kidschool - Ingredient #4 - "Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning" pages 70-74

Principle: Gather the children together each day to share "What is Mine".

Practice: Rachel DeMille gives her examples in the book. I gather my children for religious devotional, read aloud book(s), and discussion of the books we read together and what they are reading and I gear it towards my Scholar age children and allow the little ones to play. Another family does Kidschool for older children during nap time while the little ones sleep. Another mother has Science on Monday, History on Tuesday, Literature on Wednesday, etc. Yet another mother gears Kidschool in the morning towards her younger children which leaves her free for the afternoon for older children. In another family, the father shares what he is passionate about in the evening after dinner.

Who is doing it "right"? All of them! Each family applies the principle in the way that meets their needs. Sometimes those needs change and are re-vamped as the needs of the family change. The principle of Kidschool is mother/father sharing what they feel inspired to share with their children to show passion and life-long learning. It doesn't matter when. It doesn't matter what they share. The principle leads to success in TJED because the children see their parent(s) passion for learning.

It is easy to get caught up in "the right way" to do things or the "only way to succeed" mentality. That is our conveyor-belt training! Whenever you think in absolutes when it comes to TJED, STOP! Ask yourself, "What is the Principle?" and then "How should I apply that Principle?"

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.

Getting it Together

When life throws you some curve balls, it can be hard to get back on track. Having challenges is part of life. We all have them at various times, some more than others it seems. With educating our children at home, we often find that difficult circumstances greatly alter our ability to stay with our education plan. We find ourselves detoured as we meet the challenges we face. Sometimes we are detoured far longer than we expected and it is easy to feel guilty, depressed, frustrated, or all of these things combined. If our trials have been of a very severe nature, like death, loss of job, new baby, etc. then we may find ourselves so discouraged that we may give up completely.

How do we overcome challenges that slow down our education?

1. First, realizing that everyone will face challenges in life at some point makes it a bit easier. We need not feel alone or that we are the only one. Yes, other people's challenges will be different than ours, the focus is on that everyone HAS challenges that derail their education at some point, even though they may be very different in nature.
2. Next, we need to not beat ourselves up over lost education time, passion for education, and loss in attitude towards education. When we face difficult trials in our lives, we turn to what is often called "survival mode". We cut back on things that are non-essential and turn towards getting through the day. This is a built in coping mechanism that is given to us by our creator to protect life first. We shouldn't feel guilty about doing this during the most difficult parts of our trials. Over time we can add more of the non-essentials back in. I know, how can education be non-essential? In terms of survival, education is not on the level of essentials, it takes back seat to food, shelter, safety, and personal relationships.
3. The first two steps are mental preparation and giving ourselves permission to cut back. The third step is to look forward to a return to our educational plan in a timely manner. Depending on the trial, it could be months before you can return to a full educational path. Trials that derail us completely like death, severe health problems, and a new baby will take the longest to recover from. Trials of a financial nature, discipline problems, moving, etc. will often take a change in attitude and a few weeks to get back on track. You are the only one that can determine when you are ready to return. Your children may even be very happy to be off-track! That will discourage any mother and make you wonder why you do it all. But, you will find that one day you will feel inspired to return to the schedule and you will feel the pull to bring the family back to the way of education that you need.
4. Once you feel that pull to return your family back to education, take some time to write notes or make a plan to ease back into the schedule. One of the most damaging things I've done in returning to our education plan was to "jump in with both feet". My children were suddenly told that the next day we were starting back to a full education schedule. It was a difficult day and I've learned since to add things in week by week rather than all at once. Usually it is the guilt that drives us to suddenly return to our education schedule in full force.

As we are getting it together after a month of trials, it feels good to get things back into action one step at a time. Our approach is to:

1. Pick a date we will begin returning to our education schedule. For us, that will be after our oldest goes back to college. We decided to extend our annual break a few more weeks to allow us to have more quality family time together. Normally I would start to feel guilty about this, but with so many deaths and health issues in the family, I think we need this extra time.
2. Decide what parts of our schedule are the most important to start first. One area that has crept in is a lot more entertainment than I normally allow. The first thing to change will be a reduction in our entertainment and to make the hours it is allowed to be firm again.
3. Make a plan for which week to add in schedule/rules to the plan. Our next schedule changes will be adding in devotional, kid school, and classes outside the home. These will have various start dates and will be added into the schedule with a plan in place, knowing that our schedule will steadily increase in demands.
4. Follow through with the plan to return to full education schedule. Knowing the plan helps everyone have an understanding of what is expected and when it will be expected. We typically discuss the schedule and the "step-up" plan a few weeks before we start it. Having the plan laid out helps everyone transition with a good attitude and makes the transition much less painful.

There will always be hiccups to any great plan. Learning to roll with it and adjust and tweak the plan as needed is important to remember. I'm feeling much better about our return to home education and hope to have a smooth transition.

Please share your tips and experience on getting back to home education after life's trials.

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!

Book Review: "The Republic" by Plato

The first two books of Plato's "The Republic" were very confusing for me. I struggled to follow the logic and figure out what exactly Socrates (the main character and teacher of Plato) is trying to argue. By book 4, I realized I was getting the hang of how the book reads and that I was following some of the logic. Book 5 brought me to a full halt as I was thoroughly disgusted by the whole "shared women and children" philosophy.

In all, I can see now where the Communist Manifesto and the Humanist Manifesto get a lot of their flawed logic from. I am still struggling with the fact that this book is part of the Great Books series. Why? Some of the analogies seem to be very compelling and true, while others are horrifyingly flawed and evil.

I was mislead by the title of the book to think this was an explanation of how a "Republic" government/society should be run, but I realized by the end that this is, in fact, an argument FOR an aristocracy government/society. This is, as Socrates would say, because I am basing my opinions on my prior knowledge of what a "Republic" is in our day and time. A democracy, in Socrates opinion, is one of the worst types of government because it allows too much freedom. Socrates argues that censorship in education, controlled birth populations, and choosing a person's vocation for them (among other ugly practices) brings about the perfect, just and happy society.

Some advice if you decide to read this book. Read your central cannon during the time you read this book. I felt that at times the arguments Socrates makes was in direct attack of my Christian faith! It was the same way I felt when reading the Communist and Humanist Manifestos. Yet, some of the book makes a lot of sense. It takes a lot of effort, at least for me, to pick out the truth and leave behind the false. Maybe that is the purpose of reading such a book.

What I Found to be Truth

• The Allegory of the Cave - The Cave was one of the things that I found truth in, which describes the state of an unlearned person who does not know what they do not know. It is pretty interesting and I do recommend reading this part of the book.

What I Found to be False

• Book 5 - Deals with education and the sharing of women and children. It is completely appalling. It negates the need for women and men to have separate roles in life and wipes out the family completely.
• Book 10 - The Myth of Er - Deals with reincarnation and a lot of the Greek mythology.
• There are many other things, but spread throughout the text and hard to pinpoint.

Book Review: "Ender's Game"

I have read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card twice now. The first time was about 10 years ago. I just recently re-read this book with my son. What a difference ten years can make! My perspective now is so different than it was then.

First of all, I am more appalled this time by the language and nudity than I was then. I read the book the first time with a book club in my ward. The book was chosen by a man in our ward who was attending ASU as a graduate student. He was highly insightful in all the books he chose and I loved every single one of them. I was reading this book for me and no one else. The ending was so sudden and shocking that I re-read the ending three times to make sure I understood it perfectly. His plight resonated with me, but I did not fully understand why. I was just beginning my own path to a healthier outlook on my life and the changes I need to make were just beginning to peak out.

Fast forward ten years - I read the book this time with a much deeper understanding of the evils of bad parenting, government manipulations, poor educational techniques, and harmful psychological practices. I read this with my son and felt sick as I was more personally attached to Ender and the effects of what his upbringing did to him. He was in all ways a product of his environment. An unwilling product who comes out the other side and decides to change his life. He refuses to BE that product anymore. Ender becomes "himself" and works to undo all the educational and psychological training to create a better more balanced person as an adult.

I can relate to Ender in so many ways. I am becoming the person I am meant to be, coming out the other side of some damaging practices to overcome and be better...Dr. Groft would say "virtuous". Virtue meaning to be as God intended us to be.

How often do books change us? How does reading about fictional people like Ender bring us to a deeper understanding of ourselves? How does a book bring us to our own personal truth?

Detox

One of the mistakes I made when I first brought my children home was to push them. I have found that they need some time to "detox". It takes a good six months, which scares most people away from doing it, yet it is one of the MOST IMPORTANT things you can do to switch gears from public education to home education. During detox, we had the following rules:

1. No TV, video games, or computers during school hours - 9am-1pm at our house - 30 minutes break for lunch.
2. During school hours they were to keep busy with - books, educational games (board games, card games, etc.), educational toys, and educational videos that were on the approved list (included many classic movies).
3. I encouraged them to start projects - like building models, learning to crochet, painting, coloring, etc. These projects were also considered "school".
4. The only required participation was to Mom School - which is when I teach what is mine. Mom School includes our read-a-loud book and whatever else I decide to teach that day.

During this "detox" time, I spent my "school hours" working on my own education, for myself and as an example to my children. How do you know when detox is over? Easy! They start choosing to learn on their own, they ask questions and want your feedback, and they start coming up with their own goals. You find a child with a book they can't put down or a project they HAVE to finish.

I hope this all makes sense. It is so easy to do what we did as children and so hard to change and do something else.

I Finished the 5 Pillar List! Whoo Hoo!

I started working on my 5 Pillar Certification reading list a little over 2 years ago. I am so excited that I just finished my last book, "Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers". Yippee! I have worked very hard to complete this challenge that I placed upon myself, but sometimes I struggled to read books that were not MY choice. I think this experience was one to help me over the hump of transitioning to Scholar Phase and beginning to fill in more of the holes in my education, in areas like biographies, plays, and non-fiction works. I have a lot more work to do in order to feel "well-educated".

I have come to the conclusion that a college education is not much of an education at all. Sure, I learned small amounts about literature, web-design, math, and history...but, my current readings have taught me far more than what I learned in college. I feel so blessed to have found Leadership Education (a.k.a. Thomas Jefferson Education) and to be experiencing this for myself while my children are still young to learn at home in a way that makes their education truly theirs and not some rubber-stamp education provided by the government. I hope that everyone who reads this post will continue their education by reading the good books from the great minds of history.

I have only cracked the surface!

Key #7 - You, Not Them

One of the areas that I've had the hardest time getting off the conveyor-belt is in the concept of "You, not Them." I tend to want to focus on what they (the children) need, what they are doing, how much they are learning, etc. In implementing TJED in our home, I struggled with focusing on me and not the kids.
Some helps that I found are the 1 - Education Self-Assesment, 2 - Family Vision worksheets, and 3 - Master Actualization Plan (MAP) by Donna Goff at Moor House Academy. These worksheets helped me to plan what I am going to do for my education, what I envision for our family, what I can do as the mentor of each person, etc. This turned the focus to me and what I can do in our family to bring about the end results that I hope to bring about.
Another area these worksheets helped me was to get down to the basic elements each child needs from me. Things like learning style, temperament, social needs, etc. can be addressed as I take the time to ponder each person's needs and then assess my own education to see if I have what it takes to meet those needs.
This process is an ongoing project. It is not for the faint of heart! I am still working on this and find it rewarding to see my progress and the progress of our family as we all work towards a Love of Learning and Scholarship together.
NOTE: It is important to do them in the following order: 1) Education Self-Assessment, 2) Family Vision, and then 3) MAP.

Eight Keys of Great Teaching

This used to be Seven Keys of Great Teaching, but Dr. Oliver DeMille added a new key in his new book "Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning". I feel that these keys are useful to every family - home schooled, public schooled, or charter school.

1. Classics, not Textbooks
2. Mentors, not Professors
3. Quality, not Conformity
4. Time, not Content
5. Inspire, not Require
6. Simplicity, not Complexity
7. You, not Them
8. Secure, not Stress - NEW!

My first instinct when reading this list was, "I can do this!" and then it changed to, "HOW do I do this?" Over the next few months I will post about each KEY to Great Teaching.