Intro and Question (sorry, long read i know)

[jdsmith2816]

Greetings:

My wife, Kimberly, and I are interested in both bolstering our abysmal public school education and home schooling our child, Gavin, in a classical manner.

For those possibly interested, the following two paragraphs are a bit about us and our situation.

My name is JD Smith, I'm currently a twenty-four year old Software Developer in Shreveport, LA with no degree as of yet. In first through ninth I was always top of my class and the teachers pet, beyond that for some reason I quit caring and ended up graduating with a GPA of like 3.0 on a 5.0 scale. I personally feel there are many reasons to explain it but this thread is neither meant to be a sob story nor an excuse.

My wife is currently twenty-two and working in Haughton, LA as a dental assistant. She was always near the top of her class all the way through high school graduation but as of yet has been unable to complete a degree program. The reasons for this vary from the difficulties of working and taking care of a four year old child to just not having the will power to finish.

The main thrust of my posting is that we are, as earlier mentioned, looking forward to home schooling Gavin in the classical manner but feel inadequate to do so. Am I correct in assuming that, beyond teaching him how to read English, there is not much to teach until he gets to be closer to six?

This means that my wife and I should have a year and a half or so to improve ourselves in order to be capable of giving him the education we feel he deserves, correct?

Assuming this to be the case what is the recommended course to classically educating OURSELVES? I' think that we need to basically learn, in advance, what we are going to teach him. Not only should this make us more comfortable teaching him but we hope it will shore up our own deficiencies.

Is there a suggested curriculum to acquire beyond just Prima Latina and Christiana Latina for use in the first few years of education? If not then is only Latin taught in the beginning while other subjects, for instance mathematical instruction, are simply delayed until the later years? Is it possible to meet state requirements in that manner?

I know that the post is quite lengthy and, in some parts, slightly off topic for this sub-forum but there are a number of related questions that we need information on. My wife and I sincerely appreciate any forthcoming assistance and insight.

Best regards,

JD and Kimberly Smith

[barbara914]

It is wonderful that you are planning to homeschool your son. Here are some first recommendations:

"The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home" by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. This book will give you a good overview of the homeschooling process and the trivium. You will also find resources to use for yourselves.

Also read "the Latin-Centered Curriculum: A Home Schooler's Guide to a Classical Education" by Andrew A. Campbell. He has a different slant than SWB, but reading both will help you to decide on your approach.

"What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know: Preparing Your Child for a Lifetime of Learning" Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. focuses on the essential skills and knowledge for kindergartners. It will help you to plan age-appropriate lessons for your son. This series goes through the sixth grade.

Susan Wise Bause has also written "The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had," which I have found to be invaluable. It contains a way to approach the world's great literature (the trivium). It also has good reading lists and excellent introductions to the various genres--Novels, Autobiography and Memoir, Historans, Drama, and Poetry.

Like you, I did not have the advantage of a good education. Fortunately, I do have the advantage of a good mind and a great desire to know something about the world's history, great people, literature, languages, art, music, scientific ideas, and mathematics. I like the idea of the trivium--first get the facts. Get a solid foundation in the basics. Don't be embarrassed to use children's books to provide the skeleton before moving on to more complex material. Often books written for adults assume a level of knowledge--cultural literacy, in Hirsch's phrase--that I simply don't have.

I'm using the Singapore Math curriculum and I appreciate their use of the term "student" rather than "child." It helps me to remember that learning is related to levels, not age.

Carve out the time to make it happen, and you will make steady progress. Let me know how you're doing.

Cheers,
Barbara

[sahamamama]

Welcome JD and Kimberly!

Barbara’s post was EXCELLENT, especially her advice to use children’s books to gain a grasp of any new subject.

My own “bits” are as follows:

1. Begin with God’s heart for your family. James 1:5 states, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” This is the Lord’s promise to those who ask – He will give you wisdom. Ask Him for it.

2. Create a family learning culture. Read. Give away your TV. After a while, you will not miss it. Get library cards, a big “book basket,” and go to the library each week. Read. Memorize stuff (you pick the stuff). Listen to music (Wee Sing and Cedarmont Kids). Listen to books on tape. Some of our favorites are “The Jungle Book,” “Just So Stories,” “Peter Pan,” and “Charlotte’s Web.” You might also want to make family tapes (buy the 15 minutes per side tapes, anything else is so long when you are recording). Put poems, Bible verses, counting, skip counting, the ABC song, other songs, short stories, family prayers, and all sorts of language items on these tapes. Then, Gavin can listen to these or the books on tape when he takes his afternoon rest time, or while settling down to sleep at night.

3. Get an education, and maybe a degree. These are not the same thing. If completing a degree would benefit you financially, so that Kimberly could be home with Gavin in a few years, then I would say, definitely to go for it. Have you considered an online degree? It’s just a thought.

4. Gavin’s beginnings. Teach him his ABCs, letter recognition, and phonics (for this I recommend that you loosely follow The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading, by Jessie Wise, published by Peacehill Press). Teach him to count (we use dried chickpeas), number recognition (flash cards from Dollar General), and concepts of money, time, distance, weight, and measuring (kitchen math). Read lots of Mother Goose, fairy tales, nursery rhymes (the rhymes help later with reading), poetry (A. A. Milne, R. L. Stevenson, C. Rosetti), Bible stories, Greek and Roman myths, and nature books.

My husband (David) and I have three girls (Sarah, nearly 3; Hannah and Mary, nearly 1). We are doing the same thing you and Kimberly are doing – getting ourselves READY! May the Lord bless your family as your pursue His will.

Sincerely,
SaHaMaMama