The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home

by Susan Wise Bauer, Jessie Wise

Overview

This book will instruct you, step by step, on how to give your child an academically rigorous, comprehensive education from preschool through high school -- one that will train him or her to read, to think, to understand, to be well-rounded and curious about learning. Veteran home educators Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise outline the classical pattern of education called the trivium, which organizes learning around the maturing capacity of the child's mind and comprises three stages: the elementary school "grammar stage," when the building blocks of information are absorbed through memorization and rules; the middle school "logic stage," in which the student begins to think more analytically; and the high school "rhetoric stage," where the student learns to write and speak with force and originality. Using this theory as your model, you'll be able to instruct your child -- whether full time or as a supplement to classroom education -- in all levels of reading, writing, history, geography, mathematics, science, foreign languages, rhetoric, logic, art, and music, regardless of your own aptitude in those subjects.

Thousands of parents and teachers have already used the detailed book lists and methods described in The Well-Trained Mind to create a truly superior education for the children in their care. This newly revised edition contains completely updated ordering information for all curricula and books, new and expanded curricula recommendations, new material on using computers and distance learning resources, answers to common questions about home education, information about educational support groups, and advice on practical matters such as working with your local school board, preparing a high school transcript, and applying to colleges. You do have control over what and how your child learns. The Well-Trained Mind will give you the tools you'll need to teach your child with confidence and success.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393253627
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	08/09/2016
Edition description:	Fourth Edition
Pages:	848
Sales rank:	36,241
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Susan Wise Bauer is the best-selling author of the Story of the World series and The Well-Trained Mind, among other works. She lives in Virginia.

Jessie Wise, a former teacher, is a home education consultant, speaker, and writer. She has decades of experience as a classroom teacher, elementary school principal, private tutor, and educational consultant, and is the co-author of the best-selling The Well-Trained Mind and the groundbreaking elementary grammar text First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind. She lives in Charles City, Virginia.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 15
What The Well-Trained Mind Does: An Overview 17
Practical Considerations: Using The Well-Trained Mind without Losing Your Own 21
Supplementing Your Child's Education: The Well-Trained Mind and Full-Time School 23

Editorial Reviews

Wise, a former teacher and current home education consultant, explains that she decided to home-school her three children because the local public school "was a terrible environment socially" and ranked academically as one of the lowest in the state, and the private school she and her husband had chosen seemed unable to stimulate and challenge her children. Bauer, her older daughter and now an instructor at the College of William & Mary, adds the student's perspective. Together, they provide detailed information on a home-school curriculum for a type of classical education called the "trivium." Within each of the three stages of learning (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) are suggestions for lessons, how-to tips, and lists of resources. A common criticism of home schooling, that children have inadequate opportunity for social and emotional development, is also addressed here. For home-schooling a child or supplementing the education of one attending a public or private school, this book is a good purchase for most public libraries.--Terry A. Christner, Hutchinson P.L., KS Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Former-teacher Wise and her daughter Bauer (literature, College of William and Mary) draw, among other resources, their own experience of the former home-schooling the latter. Not a classical education in the sense of Greek and Latin, but an academically rigorous, comprehensive education from preschool through high school is possible within the family, they contend and demonstrate. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

An excellent resource for any family.

Educational Freedom Press

[Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer] are thorough and pragmatic, offering a detailed curriculum for kindergarten through grade 12, as well as opinions on everything from Latin (an indispensable language) to the Internet ('a mixed blessing').

The New Yorker

An 'A' for Home Schooling... a remarkable compendium of information designed to help home-schooling parents give their children a traditional liberal education.

City Journal

This book would be entertaining simply as the story of how Jessie, then a schoolteacher, decided to teach Susan, who now teaches literature at the College of William & Mary, at home.... But it's so much more than a good yarn. It's a mind-stretching tome.

Robert Holland - Richmond Times Dispatch

Has caused a revolution within the homeschool community.

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

Homeschooling parents on a mission to find the ultimate resource—or parents of traditionally-schooled children interested in an excellent supplement—are all well advised to peruse the pages of Wise and Wise Bauer's classy guide to classical education at home.

The Boox Review

An invaluable road map.

The Daily Democrat