Violins and Videos

This past week was exciting for us.  Jay got a little violin.  He is thrilled!  I love watching him love everything about it!

I was showing Jay some videos of violinists on You Tube.  This one is really fun since I've been on both the dancing and the violin ends-but never together!

I wish You Tube had been around when I started the violin.  It's so inspiring to hear and see so many great violinists!

These are the 2 books I am using to help us get started.  I will do a little review of them in a bit.

I was lucky to be able to see my violin teacher for a lesson on how to teach tiny people to play the violin a few weeks ago when I visited Utah.  I was 12 when I started.  This is very different than being 12!  We've been practicing with his box violin and just getting the real one out to look at :)

A Guide to a Classical Education

A friend of mine was homeschooling her children because the school they were living near was having issues and she didn't want her children there.  I asked her questions all the time (thanks Kendra!) about homeschooling.  When I asked her what her favorite homeschooling books were, A Well-Trained Mind was at the top of her list.

She let me borrow the book for a couple of weeks to check it out.  I read the first 7 chapters before she moved and I LOVED it.  Susan Wise Bauer is the author and she begins by telling her homeschool story.  She began homeschooling in the 1970's when it was unusual.  She started because her kids could already read when they started school and that was unusual.  She had never thought she would homeschool her children.  But she did and her children are successful and happy adults. 

 A Well-Trained Mind is the result of years of combing through available materials and trying them out. 

If you have ever been overwhelmed by all the options available for teaching your own children, this book is for you.  All her research is available in this book.  She narrows down the best teaching materials, gives descriptions according to age and ability and tells you where you can find them.

 Not only that, but there is also the practical information about how to schedule your day, what to do to approach each subject, book lists that are age/level appropriate, etc.

I love the idea she suggests of combining history with geography and the rotation of history she suggests: the idea of repetition and building by taking the children through the history of the world 4 times in the course of their schooling, building on what they knew, and reviewing what they knew before.  

In my humble opinion, this is a must-have even if you follow a different method of homeschooling.  For instance, I've also been reading about Charlotte Mason and her ideas.  It seems that The Well-Trained Mind has so many great resources that it would fit in with a variety of teaching/homeschooling styles and is an excellent resource for the homeschooling family.  Take a look with the link above.

About Glenn Doman Books:Teaching your Baby to Read, Math

I just finished reading How to Teach Your Baby Math and How to Teach your Baby to Read by Glenn Doman.  I think the thing I learned the most from reading them is that children have an amazing capacity to learn.  This book has helped me to not underestimate what my kids can learn.

The background of the book is that Glenn Doman worked with brain-injured kids in the 1940's.  They were looking for ways to help brain-injured children.  What they discovered (and is old news now) is that neuropathways can be re-built after they have been injured.  They also discovered that if they removed a portion of the brain that was injured, that the remaining part of the brain would take over and compensate for the loss.  They found that these children that were missing part of their brain were often able to operate at "normal" levels, and some even went on to function on "genius" levels.  They prepared a program that was successful in re-teaching the brain to function.  But after solving that problem, they started to wonder about well-children.  Why are children that are well not functioning at higher levels than they are if they have full-functioning brains?  After all, kids who are missing significant portions of their brains are doing the same things that they are, or more.

Over the course of time Glenn Doman founded the Institutes for Human Potential where they teach parents of brain injured children and now parents of well children what they can do to enhance their child's capabilities.  

What I read astounded me:

The research they did shows that a 1 year old child can learn math and to read FASTER than a 2 year old.

A 2 year old learns math and to read FASTER than a 3 year old.

A 3 year old learns math and to read FASTER than a 4 year old.

etc.

They also found that the ideal teacher is the child's Mother.  The home is the ideal learning ground.  Thank you.

So, regardless of how old your kids are, I would recommend reading both books.  Regardless of whether you want your 1 year old to learn to read or do math, this research and the books will change how you see your child's potential.

 There is some repeat in one after you have read the other because they build on the same foundation.  This also isn't a "quick fix" method.  You will invest time in doing it.  But that is how the results come for real too.  I'm not speaking from experience with teaching this method, just from my experience teaching in general :)

Jay started reading at 2.5 years old.  I didn't yet know about this method, but did some of the same things by chance.  I do believe that it is easy to teach your child.  I also believe that the younger they are, the easier it is.  When they are little all they want to do is be near you.  You may as well give them the gift of reading while you spend time loving them.  I am preparing some things to get Kay started now too.

I also picked up How to Multiply Your Baby's Intelligence by Glenn Doman so that is next on the list...I'll let you know how it goes...

Here is one quote from the book How to Teach your Baby to Read:

p. 110 "The cardinal rule is that both parent and child must joyously approach learning to read, as the superb game that it is.  The parent must never forget that learning is life's most exciting game-it is not work.  Learning is a reward, it is not a punishment.  Learning is a pleasure, it is not a chore.  Learning is a privilege, it is not a denial."

This quote made me ask the question, "Is the same true of teaching?"  It certainly is a privilege to teach your own child.  There is so much joy in discovering together and those moments of understanding are so precious.  There are so many little people out there just waiting to be taught.  This book will help you see.

A Classical Education

A Thomas Jefferson Education (see link below) was the first book I read after becoming a mother that got me thinking about the possibilities that only are available through educating my children personally.  It was a turning point for me. 

The book gives an overview of the history of education specifically in the United States.  Our founding fathers were all home schooled.  Only the poorest families would send their children to public schools because it simply wasn't as good.

The argument of the book is that our current educational system doesn't produce leaders.  To meet the challenges of our time we need leaders who are thinkers and public schools don't provide any leadership training.  This book talks about how to incorporate that training.

The book also uses the theory that the best education can be attained by going right to the source by teaching directly from the best books and mentors.  Educate your children with the classics that were created by the masters of the genre.  
"Find a great leader in history, and you will nearly always find two central elements of their education - classics and mentors. From Lincoln, Jefferson and Washington to Ghandi, Newton and John Locke, to Abigail Adams, Mother Theresa and Joan of Arc - great men and women of history studied other great men and women." p. 37

One of the most refreshing ideas to me in this book is the idea of mentors.  I don't have to be an expert on EVERYTHING.  I can find opportunities and people who can also inspire and mentor along with me.

You can read more about the book, as well as other people's thoughts on it on Amazon-just click the link below.

How it began at my home: about a book

My parents were continually searching for the "right" education for their children.  It was a bit of a trick because each child is unique.  The book was a major turning point in the way they viewed education.  I read it in jr. high as well, which is when they discovered it.

The book will persuade you that real learning comes from the desire within the individual, and that given the chance to pursue his course, the student will choose to learn.

It is a type of schooling that only the bravest of parents will take on.  Because you truly have to trust your child and believe that the world really is a classroom.  As a teenager I ached to have a school like this to go to.

 this reviewer said : Many additional books are available through the school's website at sudval.org. There, one can subscribe to an active discussion list regarding this philosophy. Info about similar schools and startup groups is available at the SERN website, sudburynetwork.org.

You can get a larger sense of the philosophy of the book by reading more reviews at Amazon.  Just click the link below:

This book is as good a place as any to begin the process of re-thinking what you assume education is.

"There can be no freedom without learning and learning without freedom is always in vain"-JFK