I hesitate to tell you the truth, but it must be told.

Have you thought the books of Plato are above you?  Perhaps you thought it would take too long?  Maybe you don't think you need to read Plato, but have you given him a chance?  If not, why?

A Classical Education encourages one to understand our Western Civilization from the roots up and that includes the writings of the Greeks.  I thought I would have a hard time understanding it.  I thought "what would I learn that I haven't read somewhere else?" 

If you have not read Plato, I implore you to take one hour and read, what I believe to be the most important piece he's written, as it pertains to our vocation as home educators.  You should read Plato's Apology.  What is stopping you? It is not an apology in our everyday understanding of the word.  It is apologetics, the defense of a belief.  This very brief writing is an account of the trial of Socrates in 399BC.

Plato’s account of the examination of Socrates have so influenced thought in the more than two thousand years since Socrates’s death, that Alfred North Whitehead said the entire history of western thought is nothing but a series of footnotes to Plato.  It is by this careful, questioning examination that we learn and influence our souls and minds. 

Socrates didn't write.  Any accounts we have of Socrates are from the writings from Plato.  From these writings, we learn the methods of Socrates and his main contention:

Men of Athens, I honor and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you, and while I have life and strength I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy exhorting anyone whom I met after my manner, and convincing him, saying: O my friend, why do you who are a citizen of the great and mighty and wise city of Athens, care so much about laying up the greatest amount of money and honor and reputation, and so little about wisdom and truth and the greatest improvement of the soul, which you never regard or heed at all?  Are you not ashamed of this?  And if the person with whom I am arguing says: Yes, but I do care; I do not depart or let him go at once; I interrogate and examine and cross-examine him, and if I think that he has no virtue, but only says he has, I reproach him with undervaluing the greater and overvaluing the less.  -Plato, Apology

The Socratic method is Socrates' gentle way of respectful questioning to search for the truth and to achieve an improvement of the soul.  This method can be applied to any subject.  

“The unexamined life,” Socrates said, “is not worth living.” 

Mortimer Adler, in his "Paideia Proposal" (Paideia means "nurturing the whole child") suggests taking one entire day per week for nothing but Socratic Seminars.   A Socratic Seminar is dedicated time to ponder and question a particular subject, topic or literary work.  If you could employ one tactic to ensure your children learn to care about wisdom and truth and the improvement of their souls, take time for a Socratic Seminar.  I recently spoke to the headmaster of a prestigious, Catholic high school in our area.  He firmly believes the capstone of a Classical Education is the Socratic Seminar.  So you wonder, how do you, a homeschool mom pull it off?

Perhaps the possibility of getting a group of students together to discuss a topic or work of literature just doesn't exist for you.  That would be the ideal way to pull off a Socratic Seminar.   Maybe you could employ the Socratic Method within your regular school day instead.

If you are unfamiliar with this method, I would encourage you to take the time to read Plato's Apology.  Read it twice.  Read it three times.  It won't take you long.  It's only 30 pages in it's entirety.  You won't regret it and you will understand why it's imperative to use the Socratic Method with your child.  If I can't convince you, let Socrates.  The next time your child asks you a question about something they are working on, even a Math question, instead of giving the answer, take the time to ask questions and help the child find the answer on their own, with your gentle guidance.  Like Socrates.

 I hesitate to tell you the truth, but it must be told. - Plato, Apology

p.s.  If you would like to see the Socratic Method in action, watch the 1973 movie "The Paper Chase."
p.p.s.  A copy of the Apology is available on line here.

Finally: A Review of 10 Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child

Late January, I mentioned this book. I finished it a couple of weeks ago, then 2/3 of my children got sick.  So, this review was put on hold until life started to resume some kind of normalcy.

Anthony Esolen has a biting style similarly adopted by C. S. Lewis in Screwtape Letters.  The premise of his book is to give you a list of 10 premises that will destroy your child's imagination.  Of course the book is actually full of bits and pieces of beautiful classical literature and ideas that one would never want their child to read should they want them to mature into a thinking adult!  Heaven forbid! 

What I think I loved most about this book was that it gave words to me to explain several things I have always inherently felt, but could not articulate.  One example is why, oh why, boys don't want to altar serve anymore now that girls are doing it (in a parish that allows both genders the opportunity.)  Really, I've always felt it was important for boys to be up on the altar and had even resisted the possibility of having my daughter serve.  Upon reading this and sharing it with my husband, we've pulled our daughter from that activity.  No spoilers, sorry.  

So here is a list.  I assure you he offers many ways to counter these methods throughout the book:

• Method 1: Keep Your Children Indoors as Much as Possible (or They Used to Call It "Air")
• Method 2: Never Leave Children to Themselves (or If Only We Had a Committee)
• Method 3: Keep Children Away from Machines and Machinists (or All Unauthorized Personnel Prohibited)
• Method 4: Replace the Fairy Tale with Political Clichés and Fads (or Vote Early and Often)
• Method 5: Cast Aspersions upon the Heroic and Patriotic (or We Are All Traitors Now)
• Method 6: Cut All Heroes Down to Size (or Pottering with the Puny)
• Method 7: Reduce All Talk of Love to Narcissism and Sex (or Insert Tab A into Slot B)
• Method 8: Level Distinctions between Man and Woman (or Spay and Geld)
• Method 9: Distract the Child with the Shallow and Unreal (or The Kingdom of Noise)
• Method 10: Deny the Transcendent (or Fix Above the Heads of Men the Lowest Ceiling of All)

I was initially drawn to this book after reading Wall Street Journal editorial contrasting this book with a book written by Amy Chu, Battle Hymm of the Tiger Mother which I do not recommend if you  are looking to raise thinkers.  But perhaps it was more reviews like this that really drew me in:

"This book made me want to jump up (very high) and cheer, or run around (very far) and shout warnings. The best way I can think of to save Western culture, next to everyone deciding to become saints, would be for all educators to take this uncommonly commonsensical book to heart. A worthy successor to C. S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man." -- Peter Kreeft, professor of philosophy, Boston College  

I started reading his book on Western Civilization while the kids were sick and LOVE IT.  I had no good education in history, so reading this book has  been both enlightening and entertaining.  I got my copy from the library, but the hubby insisted I buy a copy after reading a few selected sections.

When I get around to reading Dante, it is Esolen's translations I will seek.

Update to Boy's Book Club Listing

I ran into a little trouble this week with some of the planned reading for my Boy's Medieval Book Club.  We were planning on using _The Mabinogion_ by Sioned Davies for our next book.  I took this recommendation from my very favorite curriculum guide, Latin-Centered-Curriculumby Andrew Campbell.  I made a major mistake in not reading that particular version of the book prior to recommending it because it was specifically called out in the curriculum guide.

The Mabinogion is a group of Welsh/Celtic myths surrounding King Arthur, passed down orally and written at a later date.  Lady Charlotte Guest translated them in the 1800's.  I had read her translation and found the vocabulary too challenging for our 5th-9th grade boys.  So, I took the recommendation from the book because Campbell specifically called out the Davies translation because of the wonderful introduction and awesome vocabulary guide.  He also said any "in-print" version of the Mabinogion tales were acceptable.  To his credit, he recommended a children's version,  Tales from the Mabinogion by Gwyn Thomas and Kevin Crossley-Holland.  However, that version is out of print and sadly looked a little more juvenile than my group would like.  They resisted the first book, Favorite Medieval Tales by Mary Pope Osborne because some felt it was rather "baby-ish".   It really was well done, but these are boys who want some meat to their reading.  So, I mistakenly picked The Mabinogion (Oxford World's Classics) which is clearly written for adults based on the content (sexual in nature) in many of the stories.

To his credit, Andrew Campbell exchanged several emails with me.  He indirectly chastised me (rightfully so) for not reading it before recommending it.  He did offer me some good advice about proceeding, however.  Here it is:

• Unfortunately there really is no way to sanitize these stories to remove all references to pre-Christian morals. The Arthurian legends themselves center on adultery as the reason for the fall of Camelot. People have different levels of comfort with this aspect of older literature. Campbell said he once taught the Arthurian legends to a group of very devout Catholic children, grades 4-7. They simply noted how unfaithfulness led to tragedy for all of the characters.  They didn't dwell on the topic, but he said they didn't avoid it entirely either.
• Now obviously if there are boys in the group who don't yet know the facts of life or recognize euphemisms for sex, the passages in the Davies version would no doubt confuse them.  Check in with the other parents (and yourself!) and ask whether they would be comfortable with the story as it is. If not, it is certainly fine to skip it.
• When it comes to the Arthurian legends themselves, you can always focus on the better-known stories: the sword in the stone, the founding of the Round Table, Lancelot (as a knight, not in his relationship with the queen), Galahad and the Grail. 

 So, lesson learned.  We are skipping it for now.  I am quickly trying to decide how to proceed so we don't miss our next reading deadlines.  Stay tuned!

Interesting look at technology in the classroom...

From Rod Dreher.  Here's the link.

Being a pair of geeks, we have discussed this topic ad nauseum at our house.  We do have the kids using computers, but it is not the focus of our homeschool. 

Doing the right thing...

Copyright issues are really a matter of conscience.  As a Catholic, I cannot make copies of copyrighted material without explicitly paying for it.  It's only fair.  But, there aren't many checks and balances available to keep people from doing things illegal and immoral.


I bring this up because I have been frequenting the used curriculum boards and ebay.  I saw this:

"Please take a moment to look at the awesome savings if you purchase this timeless collection. These are all in wonderful condition because they were all only used once in order to put them all onto my MP3 player so I can listen to them on the go. This shipment will be mailed only after funds are deposited through Paypal because it is a large amount. Please be reminded of the savings you receive but buying here. God Bless and happy bidding!"

They might be saving someone money, but what about the people who are out of jobs?  Now, we've experienced unemployment in this home.  In this economy, we aren't helping each other by pirating CD's, either ones you sell or ones you borrow.   Piracy might be putting some one out of a job somewhere, be it in the store, studio, warehouse, anywhere along the supply chain.  Piracy is making one OR more illegal copies.

One credible analysis by the Institute for Policy Innovation concludes that global music piracy causes $12.5 billion of economic losses every year, 71,060 U.S. jobs lost, a loss of $2.7 billion in workers' earnings, and a loss of $422 million in tax revenues, $291 million in personal income tax and $131 million in lost corporate income and production taxes.  For copies of the report, please visit www.ipi.org. 

You can read more here, too.  That is for music alone.  I'm sure it's much, much worse in the paper world.

Now, here's my rub.  I have loaned friends CD's before.  I can't control if they copied them and I have stopped lending them out because I paid for them and they did not.  So, they are stealing from me when they take that CD home and burn it or copy it.  I will not purchase used CD's anymore from the Internet or from anyone else, for that matter, after seeing this.  It's a hard thing to do because everything does cost more these days.  Perhaps it is because of things like what I found above that drives the prices up on CD's.  Buyer or lender beware!  I don't want to be a party to breaking the law or sin.

Ed. note:  Someone emailed me this on the very topic of copyright infringement:  Ultimately (and I am reminded of that poignant scene in Cinderella Man where the Dad admonishes his son for stealing bread when their family was destitute during the depression) our economic situation should not compromise our morals or ethics.

How To Get Your Kids To See the Light! Or Feel It! Or Hear It!

Learning Modalities for Home Educators

This was the third talk I presented at the 2010 Minnesota Catholic Home Educator's Conference this weekend.  Attendance was amazing.  This was the last slot of the day (3:00) and I had about 40 attendees.

This presentation has 57 slides, which makes it far too large to post all here.  I did have some requests for more data, though. I thought I would include some of those things.  Feel free to make requests for more information in the com box.

This was one diagram I was asked to include.  It is from:

The Quality Teaching Blog

at the Center for Quality Teaching and Learning and it is a diagram showing how to apply Learning Modalities to Learning Styles.  The Learning Modalities are in the yellow areas.  The Learning Styles are in the colored text on the outside of the diagram.

Individual learning style is a combination of environmental, emotional, sociological, and physical responses that characterize how each person learns.  Learning style is a function of heredity and experience, and develops individually over the life span.

Now, we did not delve into Learning Styles in our discussion because we were focusing specifically on how to adapt your teaching to a persons primary Learning Modality or how to incorporate Multi-sensory teaching, in case of multiple modalities in the home.

The Learning Styles in this diagram are based on Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory (ELT). 
A typical presentation of Kolb's two continuums is that the east-west axis is called the Processing Continuum (how we approach a task - either doing or watching), and the north-south axis is called the Perception Continuum (our emotional response, or how we think or feel about it).  These learning styles are the combination of two lines of axis (continuums) each formed between what Kolb calls 'dialectically related modes' of 'grasping experience' (doing or watching), and 'transforming experience' (feeling or thinking).  The result of these two decisions produces (and helps to form throughout our lives) the preferred learning style, hence the two-by-two matrix . We choose a way of 'grasping the experience', which defines our approach to it, and we choose a way to 'transform the experience' into something meaningful and usable, which defines our emotional response to the experience. Our learning style is a product of these two choice decisions:

1. how to approach a task - preferring to (a) watch or (b) do , and
2. our emotional response to the experience - preferring to (a) think or (b) feel.

In other words we choose our approach to the task or experience ('grasping the experience') by opting for 1(a) or 1(b):

• 1(a) - though watching others involved in the experience and reflecting on what happens (watching) or 
• 1(b) - through 'jumping straight in' and just doing it (doing)

And at the same time we choose how to emotionally transform the experience into something meaningful and useful by opting for 2(a) or 2(b):

• 2(a) - through gaining new information by thinking, analyzing, or planning (thinking) or 
• 2(b) - through experiencing the 'concrete, tangible, felt qualities of the world' (feeling)

The combination of these two choices produces a preferred learning style.

Interestingly enough, these tend to coincide with our Learning Modality!  So, Kinesthetic Learners are usually "Sensing Doers".  Tactile Learners are usually "Thinking Doers".  Visual Learners are usually "Sensing Watchers" and Auditory Learners are usually "Thinking Watchers".

Those quadrants can help you understand how those learners approach problems and learn.

Tomorrow I will add more information from my presentation.  Have a pleasant evening!

Intellectual Friendships (Part 3 of 4)

For our husbands...

In the everyday course of intellectual friendship, friends share with each other their moments of insight, present them to each other for testing. Such moments in turn require us to reconsider not just that discrete matter, but everything else in our view of the whole that touches upon the matter....As Socrates knew twenty-five centuries ago, the normal mean for penetrating further and synthesizing our knowledge is dialogue. Intellectual friendship consists in a great ocean of dialogue and discussion and those who have tasted it know it is among the highest human pleasures. - Mark C. Henri

As home schooling families go, I think we are pretty normal. Mom (the teacher) plans and executes most of the school activities with Dad (the principle) giving his approval to the plan and execution. The kids enjoy (or perhaps not) the fruits of the above agreement. Usually (not always) this is the arrangement. I have a few friends where the Dad is the primary teacher. I also have friends where one or more of the children attend school outside the home.

As part of this arrangement, Mom belongs to a support group of some type to help further develop herself and get some support on this journey. The kids may belong to a co-op, attend book clubs or other home school activities with an educational emphasis.

Who is left out of this equation? Dad. Well, perhaps Dad works outside the house. Is it fair to say he will find someone at work with whom he can discuss the books he just read about by G. K. Chesterton or Rod Dreher? Perhaps he wants to discuss religion or politics? In the current economic situation where jobs hang precariously on the brink of being outsourced, it seems that our men have to hang their conservative hats at the door and be "politically correct" at work or risk being disciplined for harassment or discrimination.

So where's the dad to go? I hope the church or political party of choice provides some outlet, but that is not always the case. I think the home school dad feels a pull and uneven responsibility compared to dads of kids that are schooled. Maybe I am wrong. I think the Dad feels obligated to get Mom out of the house because she's been there all day long with the kids and she deserves a break. Dads deserve one, too, because besides working all day, dealing with the demands of providing for a large family (at least in our case) as well as trying to maintain or advance their careers takes a toll. Then, once they are home they feel the pull to be Dad and Husband. They, too, need time to read, silently reflect, pray and discuss things intellectually with other men.

They deserve time to foster and develop intellectual relationships. However, my husband has found that difficult. Most dads are in the same spot as my husband. I think. Work (Employee/Manager/insert-work title-here). Home (Dad and Husband). Repeat 4 more times. Home (Dad and Husband). Church (Dad and Husband, still) and Home(Dad and Husband). Perhaps things will improve as our children age. One of the few hobbies my husband has is watching "guy movies" in the "man cave." He invites other dads over to watch. He would like to discuss them, but the other men are Dads and Husbands that feel obligated to get back home to their families rather than stay and discuss the movie.

So, what does the man of your family do for intellectual friendships? I'm all ears. I would like to see what others have done to satisfy this important need.

Intellectual Friendships (Part 4 of 4)

In the little gem of a book by Mark. C. Henrie, called A Student's Guide to the Core Curriciulum, he discusses Intellectual Friendships in the section "A Core of One's Own."

Friendship is so important, Arisotle devoted two books of his Nicomachean Ethics to it - and only one book to Justice. One of the highest types of friendship is intellectual friendship....

In the everyday course of intellectual friendship, friends share with each other their moments of insight, present them to each other for testing. Such moments in turn require us to reconsider not just that discrete matter, but everything else in our view of the whole that touches upon the matter....As Socrates knew twenty-five centuries ago, the normal mean for penetrating further and synthesizing our knowledge is dialogue. Intellectual friendship consists in a great ocean of dialogue and discussion and those who have tasted it know it is among the highest human pleasures.

I am so blessed to have lots of intellectual friendships. For me, first and foremost are my friends that I meet with irregularly to discuss home educating our kids. I must admit that 99% of my friends are home educators and of that subset, about 95% are Catholic. So, to say we have a lot in common is an understatement. This has been the biggest blessing for me. Via our home school support group, I have had the opportunity to make some really great friendships. They are the kind of friendships where we're not afraid to challenge each other when we need to or when hear each other say something that doesn't sound right. They are friends that feel the same way about HOW we want to educate our kids. We may not be using the same curriculum or syllabus, but we have some vision that is common and most often there is the beauty of our religion that we have in common.

So, with that being said, I think it is hugely important for moms, especially home educating moms, to have support that equates to intellectual friendships. Seek out those friendships with like minded others. Find people in similar situations. Now, you may say that that is not best for us, to have a non-diverse set of friends. I disagree, to start out with, but agree if you have become comfortable with yourself.

You see, I think many of us received such poor educations ourselves that we don't feel comfortable charitably debating topics or sharing the "ah ha" moments that might not resonate with someone else. Also, our education choices for our children are both very personal and usually very deep rooted. I happen to know a lot of friends that make judgments about other home educating families based purely on their curriculum choices. Keep your eyes on your own work, folks!

So, when you find someone with similar, if not the same, values on educating your child, become friends. Build that relationship. Find out what they are doing and respectfully challenge each other and get to know why they made the same choices you have. Then, get to know more about them personally and you will most likely find a friend with whom you can have a truly intellectual conversation.

When I first came upon the concept of Thomas Jefferson Education, it was the summer of 2007. My mom was terminally ill. I had just had a baby with some issues at birth. Many of the friendships I had made had disappeared because I wasn't able to keep up with my end of the equation. I had to take care of my family first and foremost. I was on fire with the TJEd concept. I introduced my husband to the book and the concept. He, too, was fascinated. We both had some issues with a piece here or there. He encouraged me, though, to start educating myself. The "You not them" key. I started. Then, I had a couple come from Wisconsin to talk about TJEd. Lots of my old friends and many new came to listen. Many left thinking, "What are they thinking!!!!" while others said, "Yes! That is it!"

Following that meeting, I started a small group which consists of home educating parents with similar education values. We have become friends, reading books and writing papers together as well as talking about what works for us and what doesn't. I appreciate the dialogue all most as much as I appreciate the great dialogue I have with my husband (but not quite as much - I still find him the most fascinating person on the planet.) We have been meeting for the last two years. While we sometimes read a common book and discuss it, usually we are discussing home education and what is/isn't working. I come away from those discussions not just energized, but feeling challenged to do better, reflecting on what is working for me and planning how to change what isn't.

Now, go! Find that friend. Get talking. Find out what they think. Find out how they got where they are and LEARN, CHALLENGE and SUPPORT each other.

Intellectual Friendships (Part 2 of 4)

for our Children

Children need more than just play friends, especially as they move into the tween/teen years. I hope my kids build intellectual friendships. It starts very basic for kids, though. My book clubs were designed with that purpose in mind. I wanted my kids to be able to have intellectual conversations with other kids about great books or other topics important to us, like Catholicism.

All to often, we want our kids to "go play" and they view their time studying and schooling as "work". I think that is because our misconception about learning. Kids have a natural Love of Learning that we spoil.

One of the ways we do that is to tell our little kids that want to help us with our "work" to go play. So, is it any surprise that when we want them to "work", they would rather play? Ask a two or three year old if cleaning the tub is fun and they will say yes. They also like to wash dishes. I did things any differently with my older kids. I could just get things faster and better. They have a lower interest in helping to clean. My little kids, however still want to wash, scrub, dust, vacuum and sweep. For this I am thankful.

As I stated in part one of this topic I came upon this while reading a lovely little book. In the book, Mark Henrie goes even further into some of the problems with teens/young adults (dare I say almost everyone) in America in A Student's Guide to the Core Curriculum.

...we (Americans) tend to understand leisure as the absence of work. The ancients, however, understood work as the absence of leisure. Leisure (otium, in Latin) was the substantial thing. and work the negation or absence of that (negotium). The ancients understood that human beings were made to enjoy their leisure seriously: the serious use of leisure is the cultivation of the mind, which is pleasant and good for its own sake. Americans, however, approach university studies as "work," as negotium, from which, once the work is done, they are "freed." Free time, such as time spent with friends, is thus kept clean of any trace of the learning of the classroom. This is no way to learn. It isn't even any real way to enjoy yourself.Our society is hung up on entertainment, not leisure. We look at education as "work" not "leisure."

The truly well educated use their free time to learn, not to be entertained. Or, perhaps you could say that the educated are entertained by learning. What do you do with your free time? Do you passively seek entertainment or do you seek to gain better understanding? Passive or Active?

The Ancient emperors used different forms of entertainment to pacify the urban masses, including chariot races, theatrical and musical performances, wild-beast hunts, mock sea battles, public executions, and gladiatorial combat. In the Colosseum, Rome's huge amphitheater, 50,000 Romans could watch the games. Look at our society now. TV and sports arenas are the Colosseums. The Internet, movie theaters, our TVs at home are the theatres. They serve to pacify (make us peaceful*) and we are passive (to suffer**) through it.

Education is an activity ( from L. actus "a doing" and actum "a thing done,") where entertainment is a passive event ( "to keep up, maintain,"). I'm not saying all entertainment is bad and I will tell you that I will used media in my education and that of my children. They do find it entertaining.

So, my goal is to help my tweeners to find intellectual friendships, not necessarily passing friendships where free time is frittered away in front of a TV or video game. This is a bigger challenge for my son than my daughter. I think boys are just drawn more to screen time. There are lots of studies to support my desire to limit the amount of time my boys, in particular, waste in front of a screen. One book, The Minds of Boys, states studies done using MRI technology while boys engaged in activities like reading, watching TV and playing computer games. Certain neural pathways were not engaged during activities that involved a screen. Our priest talks about how boys need to have real social relationships, not virtual relationships, like those found on Facebook or MySpace. I want them outside playing or discussing something while building Legos.

Perhaps if you are struggling with this, you can do what we have done by starting a book club or finding a Boy Scout organization or American Heritage Girls group. Both organizations help build character in children and they develop life long friendships. Perhaps an even more important aspect is having a mentor, someone other than a parent, that will guide them to the right books and activities, to develop them into a whole civilized person.

I challenge you to think about your kids' free time (and yours) and how you both use it.

* Pacify is from L. pacificus "peaceful, peace-making," from pax (gen. pacis) "peace"
** Passive is from L. passivus "capable of feeling or suffering," from pass-, pp. stem of pati "to suffer"

Intellectual Friendships (Part 1 of 4)

I'm reading through more of the ISI Student's Guides I had mentioned a year and a half ago in this post. I wrote the post about A Student's Guide to the Core Curriculum by Mark C. Henrie and promised I would write more about it. Here it is, very late.

As I was reading it yesterday, I realized there is a great discrepancy in my family with respect to Intellectual Friendships. I want to discuss the importance of Intellectual Friendship. We'll start off with what Intellectual Friendship is (part 1) and the need for our children (part 2), husbands (part 3) and us to have those types of friendships (part 4). Henrie discusses this in the section "A Core of One's Own."

Friendship is so important, Arisotle devoted two books of his Nicomachean Ethics to it - and only one book to Justice. One of the highest types of friendship is intellectual friendship....

In the everyday course of intellectual friendship, friends share with each other their moments of insight, present them to each other for testing. Such moments in turn require us to reconsider not just that discrete matter, but everything else in our view of the whole that touches upon the matter....As Socrates knew twenty-five centuries ago, the normal mean for penetrating further and synthesizing our knowledge is dialogue. Intelectual friendship consists in a great ocean of dialogue and discussion and those who have tasted it know it is among the highest human pleasures.

With whom do you dialogue? Do you have this kind of friendship? I do and I'm anxious to share more with you about it in Part 4.

Less is More

If you haven't read my blog before, you may not know I take an eclectic approach to homeschooling. Call it Classical TJEd or multa non multum, which means not many things (multa), but much (multum). *

I read _A Well Trained Mind_ and was a little overwhelmed to say the least. I read _Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum_ and settled down a little. Then I read _The Thomas Jefferson Education_. All these books form the basis of how I educate my kids.

Classical education is based on academics while TJEd aim is to develop leadership and scholarship. How do we combine the two? Classical education seems subject heavy while TJEd can seem almost like "unschooling." Combining subjects works for us to accomplish the "multa non multum" model. Religion, Literature and History are tied together. Math stands alone until the kids get into higher level Mathematics. Spelling, Writing and Reading are bound as one.

Remember, we must always meet the students where they are, intellectually speaking, and lead them from what they knows to what they don't know. We need to do it, respecting their development level and all the while instilling virtue. I apply the concepts of the Trivium based on my children's cognitive abilities, which don't always line up with the grade or age.

The advantages of the multum non multa approach are many. First of all, it eliminates busywork. Rolling subjects together reduces wasted time. The time savings may be applied to the my kids' own interests and to enrichment subjects such as computer programming, dance, or cooking. My preparation time is much reduced and I am learn right along with my students. This has led to considerable savings on formal curricula.

The principle of multum non multa, which could be translated, “less is more" works well for us. It's Classical TJEd.

* This is also the name of a chapter in _Latin-Centered Curriculum_ by Andrew Campbell. It's not the expressly the same material, but same concept. I am reading the book, so I'll give a review when I have finished.

My Philosophy Guru

Go ahead. Have some fun! Take the quiz. Let me know how you score.

My guru is EPICURUS.

Key fact: Epicurus, founder of Epicureanism, is probably the most misunderstood philosopher of antiquity.

Must have: A delight in the countryside and gardens.

Key promise: Peace and tranquility.

Key peril: Boredom.

Most likely to say: "The true hedonist can find as much pleasure in a glass of chilled water as in a feast for a king."

Least likely to say: "He who tires of the city, tires of life."