The Well Trained Mind-A Homeschooling ResourceJessie Wise and her daughter Susan Wise Bauer, wrote The Well Trained Mind for home schooling families interested in a classical education. Bauer was taught at home, by her mother, for most of her primary and secondary academic life and is currently a professor at The College of William and Mary. This book is an accumulation of their personal experiences and it takes readers, step by step, through the educational process from preschool through high school, with comprehensive subject matter, learning ideas and lists of books and materials needed for each area of study.
This main purpose of the text is to provide a chronological curriculum for home educators to follow from beginning to end. The use of whole books is stressed over excerpts of text in the hopes that the student will develop a full understanding of the subjects he or she is studying. Wise and Bauer divide the book in to three sections according to the age of the child, which are, The Grammar Stage: Kindergarten through Fourth Grade, The Logic Stage: Fifth through Eighth Grade and The Rhetoric Stage: Ninth through Twelfth Grade. In each section, the student studies the entire time-line of history, but on a different, progressive level, each time expanding their base knowledge.
Each section of the book is then divided into grade levels, which are in turn divided by subjects that include not only reading, writing, history, science and math, but also languages, music, art and computers, to name a few, focusing on a broad approach to learning. To help prepare the home classroom, the authors provide extensive lists of suggested readings and various materials, along with estimated costs. The teaching parent may then choose the specific topics they would like to cover, guided by their child's area of interest.
This book is meant to be a basic resource for the parent and child to help them navigate through all of the different home school curricula and schoolbooks available, settling on a learning path customized to their own ability. The author's intention seems to be to provide both teacher and student with quality information from numerous sources to achieve a higher standard of education in the home.
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