The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home, Revised and Updated Edition by Susan Wise Bauer, Jessie Wise Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home, Revised and Updated Edition
Book Review: Great for those considering non-religious Homeschooling
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are considering homeschooling, and after you do all the research on all the various methods of homeschooling, if you want something fairly structured and rigorous you might settle on Classical Education like we did. This book is great in that it does not presume that you are an evangelical christian like some other homeschool "guides" (even though my husband is a pretty conservative christian (I am not), we both find this presumption in homeschool curricula a real pushy and annoying turn-off). It also gives you step-by-step "how-to" which we needed for our comfort level as new homeschoolers (if you've already been homeschooling for a long time you might not need the structure and step by step approach of this book but it still has great ideas and information). Book Review: Tons of Great Information
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a great resource for Home Educators! I read it before my first year home schooling and found it very helpful. I am a teacher by profession and this book gave me a better foundation for why it's important to teach with a "Classic" philosophy.Book Review: Not just for homeschoolers - supplement to a public school education
Summary: 5 Stars
I really appreciate The Well Trained Mind. I have been trying to decide how we should educate our young daughter. I think she would do extremely well if she was homeschooled, but since my husband and I both work full time, homeschooling is out. After reading the WTM, I have opted to send her to the local public school and then augment the curriculum ourselves with classical studies. The WTM has given me so many great ideas and tools. This summer, we've started the study of world history using "The Story of the World" series, and it is going very well. My daughter eats the information up and we have a great time doing the projects together at home. So, even tho we're not homeschoolers, the information in this book has still been very helpful for us. Book Review: Might be better if they got down from their pulpt....
Summary: 2 Stars
This book was a hard read for me because the authors spent a lot of time preaching the book, and were adamant that their way (whatever it was) was clearly the right way. It provides a clearcut method to homeschoolers who aren't sure yet how to actually go about teaching their children, but it takes away what should be one of the strengths of a home education by severely limiting flexibility.
The other downside is that for many students it forces them to become literature majors while neglecting their own talents. Art and music are probably started too late for students talented in those areas, and higher mathematics, computer science, along with non-latin foreign languages are pretty much all dismissed as not being important enough to teach properly. I agree that children should spend little time watching TV or playing computer games; however, these days good computer skills are a necessity. Also, because their education approach is almost entirely based on literature and is so highly structured, a mechanically oriented budding engineer might get crushed by it.
Book Review: Classical schooling
Summary: 5 Stars
My schooling bible! A must have for anyone interested in homeschooling the classical method.