Core and Love of Learning
I got the stuff I ordered from George Wythe College yesterday: Core and Love of Learning, A Recipe for Success; A Thomas Jefferson Education in Our Home: Educating Through the Phases of Learning; Scholar Phase (Mentoring the Thomas Jefferson Model When It’s Time for Them, Not You!) and finally the Thomas Jefferson Education Planner.
I only had time to puruse it is a bit yesterday but what I read I really liked. Here’s the method in a nutshell:
1. Classics, not Texbooks (like CM in using living books)
2. Mentors not Professors (mentors have a much more positive role and care about the individual rather than the material. Mentoring to me is much closer to what a mother can do. One doesn’t feel one has to put on the teacher hat and then the mommy hat. The mentor hat works for both roles, imo)
3. Inspire, not Require (this is akin to the kind of atmosphere of a living education that CM talks about. Is is also akin to unschooling and what some people call ’strewing.’)
4. Structure Time, not Content (this was the idea that really struck home for me. I think it might be the difference between the anxiety I feel being so free form in unschooling vs. being so rigid in classical schooling)
5. Quality, Not Conformity (once the student is inspired and working on something, the mentor doesn’t look to grade or reward conformity, but is there to encourage and and help.)
6. Simplicity, Not Complexity (keep it simple! No more of those Suduko like schedules trying to get a family of 5 kids doing 7 subjects in order, a la MOTH. Whew!)
7. YOU, not them (focus on your own education and let them come along for the ride!) Back to my mom!
A couple of other things I read that resonated with me. And these are things I just picked out randomly because I was looking this over right before I took a nap yesterday!
I like that they stress structuring the time spent during the day. That way there is a nice routine that flows through the day. This avoids so much frustration. This makes me think of something Hannah said yesterday. She said she didn’t like that I was waking them up at 9:00 a.m. lately. I thought I was being relaxed! Letting them wake up naturally. But she said it was depressing to her to get up at 9 and think there are only 3 hours to lunch time and I haven’t gotten anything done. She said the morning is the best time to get stuff done and if you wake up in the middle of it, you already feel like you’re behind! So she announced she was going to set her alarm but that if she didn’t get up would I please get her up. So I will.
The other thing I read yesterday was that meal time is really oral exam time only in a pleasurable way. It is a way to see what the kids are learning. This makes me think of my parents. I know I was reminiscing (sp?) about mom yesterday. One thing about my dad was that he would play quiz games with us at the dinner table. We kids thought it was great fun. He would quiz us on our times tables, state capitals, world capitals. Then somehow because of my mom’s love for British history we starting quizzing the kings of England. At one point I knew all the kings of England from Edward the Confessor on up to Elizabeth II. Even though I don’t remember them all now, I still have a very strong sense of when things happened in British history. So the de Mille’s take on meal time really dovetailed with my own childhood experience.
The other thing that I really appreciate about this approach to educating children is that it does not make me question my authority as a parent. This is the major trouble I have with unschooling. The unschooling landscape is peopled by folks who have you questioning every assumption you make with your children. For example, I was reading Joyce Fetteroll’s site. Someone had sent her a question about kids watching unlimited TV. JF’s response was to liken the mom limiting TV viewing to a husband limiting TV viewing for his wife. This sounded so unfair, except after I thought about it, I thought the reason it is unfair between a husband and wife is that their relationship is necessarily different than a parent and child’s. A husband and wife are grown ups and should both participate in decision making. A child is a child! A child needs someone to have authority over them to guide and make decisions for them that they simply can not make themselves due to immaturity and lack of experience. I think unschoolers are kind of unfair to children even though they speak in the name of taking children seriously. They take them seriously enough but they treat them like mini adults, which they simply are not. It is another example of ideology getting in the way of reality.
As a Catholic I know that God has given me the charge of raising these little souls. I think unschoolers often confuse authoritarian with authoritative which is a distinction the De Milles make.
I also like that in the TJE approach, the child fully owns his responsibility of getting an education. He knows it is his duty in life right now. There is no letting the child play Jazz Jackrabbit all day and hoping there is some educational value in it. The child must learn to discern what is beneficial or not. They do this by meeting with the parents and establishing some clear goals. So even though the child is left to choose what he wants to learn, he also knows he needs to actively pursue that goal via reading, discussion, projects of interest, etc. I like the honesty of this approach! It does make me think of Montessori’s three hour period. In the Montessori classroom the child is allowed much freedom but within the sphere of a prepared environment and a specific amount of time.
Anyway, time is up for now! The porch people say they are coming today to finish up. I don’t really believe it. Rick got home from CA last night. He went out and played catch with Josh and Sean. Josh is getting into baseball and Sean is following along. They spent a good part of yesterday outside in the beautiful weather playing catch.
Oh, Hannah may be on TV! She went last night to Cotillion (she got invited because they wanted more people at the class for the taping). apparently Channel 9 local news wanted to do a story on teaching teens etiquette. She had a blast. We’ll find out if and when they are showing it and then see if Hannah or anyone we know made the clip!
Cheerio
