Wading into self-education

[MyLittleWonders]

So, I have been thinking of doing this for a couple years now and am finally ready to start. But, I'm not sure where to start! (And I think the dilemma is an excuse to not start yet until I figure it all out! :lol: ) I realized that there is so much I never learned despite many years of education (I think 20 of them from preschool through graduate school!). For those of you who have begun the path of self-education, where did you start? I'm not sure if I should start with one main subject and then slowly add in more, or just jump in fully. Math is the one subject where I feel okay leaving it for last; calculus is a bit fuzzy, though I excelled in math (and am married to a math dude, so we talk math a bit too). But, even though I read all the time, I have realized I read mostly inconsequential stuff. History is also pretty fuzzy (I think social studies killed history, at least for me!). Science, well ... I loved organic chemistry in college, but as a non-science major, I didn't take much else. Art? Well, I'm slowly acquainting myself with fine art. My thinking is starting with literature and history would probably be a good idea, but I don't want to get bogged down with too much heaviness all at once.

 

Also, what do you read for current affairs? I was thinking a good newspaper (at least the weekend edition) and a good magazine would be wise. Any ideas? Inspiration? Suggestions? BTDT stories are also good too. :D Thanks!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

So, I have been thinking of doing this for a couple years now and am finally ready to start. But, I'm not sure where to start! (And I think the dilemma is an excuse to not start yet until I figure it all out! :lol: ) I realized that there is so much I never learned despite many years of education (I think 20 of them from preschool through graduate school!). For those of you who have begun the path of self-education, where did you start? I'm not sure if I should start with one main subject and then slowly add in more, or just jump in fully. Math is the one subject where I feel okay leaving it for last; calculus is a bit fuzzy, though I excelled in math (and am married to a math dude, so we talk math a bit too). But, even though I read all the time, I have realized I read mostly inconsequential stuff. History is also pretty fuzzy (I think social studies killed history, at least for me!). Science, well ... I loved organic chemistry in college, but as a non-science major, I didn't take much else. Art? Well, I'm slowly acquainting myself with fine art. My thinking is starting with literature and history would probably be a good idea, but I don't want to get bogged down with too much heaviness all at once.

 

Also, what do you read for current affairs? I was thinking a good newspaper (at least the weekend edition) and a good magazine would be wise. Any ideas? Inspiration? Suggestions? BTDT stories are also good too. :D Thanks!

 

I think it's so cool that you are interested in expanding your horizons. Learning really is lifelong.

 

I would suggest some lively and interesting books that will make the learning grab you. It might be something broad and expansive like Susan Bauer's Hisoty of the World books. Or some of the many interesting non fiction books of the last few years (Seabiscuit, Flu, God Has Ninety-nine Names, Band of Brothers, Ripples of Battle). I like to find an author that I enjoy and read several of his or her books. (Stephen Ambrose, Lyn MacDonald, Daniel Boorstin, Victor Davis Hanson, Sharon Kaye Penman and Jeff Sharra are some of my favorite history writers.)

 

I think you should look for books that invoke a passion and follow it. Have fun.

[Nan in Mass]

I have found that I don't do well starting with an overview. I find overviews boring and I bog down fast no matter how much enthusiasm I start out with. I do better learning child-style. Children usually start with a question or a project and then expand from there (at least mine do). So for example, as much as I feel that I ought to know more history, there is no way I am going to sit down and read one of our lovely history books. I might wind up doing that in the end, but I have to start someplace else. I have to start someplace like deciding I wanted to build a Japanese garden. That led me to get books on garden design out of the library. To understand the garden books, I had to understand some history and geography. Once that specific need was firmly established, I could get books out about Japanese medieval history. In order to understand those, I needed some regular history. And that is how I managed to read some regular history. The only other way I've managed to read history overviews is by reading the Cartoon History books. My husband has a slightly different approach but it is still detail oriented. He gets books on local history, like the one written by a man in town on the train that used to come through. That lead to him doing some research on the net for old photos of our town. That lead him to being interested in other aspects of town history. That lead him to reading some biographies and adventure stories which lead him to something wider (geographically) than our own little town. And so forth. We both learned some science and government when researching composting heads. I also do occasional save-the-world projects. Those require research and self-education. I find those highly motivating GRIN. I also go to the library and bring home stacks of books on anything that looks interesting and browse through them. It is like grazing - I meander around and learn a little bit here and a little bit there. This is like dessert. I love learning as an adult because I don't have to finish anything and do things from beginning to end. Most of the books I read for self-education I read backwards or from the middle outwards. A more methodical, conventionally academic approach would be much more efficient and thorough, but there is absolutely no way that I could sustain it for any length of time, where I have happily, happily self-educated and read lots of library books on all sorts of things for years now doing it my own way.

 

I have better luck just diving in and doing it, even if it isn't perfect. If I waited until I really knew what I was doing to do something, I would never get anything done. And I understand what I read about something better if I have tried it first. I could read many books about analyzing literature, but until I actually tried it a few times, they wouldn't make sense, so I am better off getting some sort of basic guide (like TWEM) and then trying it. It was the same way with watercolours - I got a basic book and did some of it and then I went and got out lots of other books and took some lessons and whatever, and the books made sense and I could remember them.

 

We also have magazines. We like Science News and National Geographic. For regular news, we listen to NPR in the car. NPR is also good for making me curious about topics to investigate.

 

One thread that has been consistent throughout my adult life is learning about and working with creativity, since I like to make things.

 

HTH

-Nan

[Kareni]

I've added a couple of tags below. If you click on them, you'll see some other threads that might be of interest.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[MyLittleWonders]

Thank you for the advice (and the tags :D ). I have in my mind that to do this right, it has to be done from the beginning of time and worked through one book, one time period at a time (I have read WEM and that was my biggest impression, and I'm not good at taking what works and leaving the rest ;) ). I think I'll start with the Adler book (I like what he says about how kids are taught the mechanics of how to read, but after elementary school, are never really taught *how* to read for understanding; not even my AP English class did that). I also picked up a big volume of Wodehouse's stories at the library after reading about him in a blog (I think someone on here). They look good and I need to read a little fiction every now and then. I think I'll see where that leads me (well, and I'll keep reading my other books - I'm in love with Malcolm Gladwell at the moment). Maybe I'll eventually pull the Kingfisher history encyclopedia off the shelf; maybe this summer. It's good to be told that I can pick and choose, go down rabbit holes, and the such. I tend to be a "play by the rules" and have a hard time thinking outside the box (and yet I homeschool, and do so in a way completely differently than anything I learned in my credential program or how the kids in public school are educated; go figure!).

 

Kareni, I'll read through the other threads. :) I do love having this board; there is a wealth of information here!

[Rosie_0801]

First are the questions that send me off on rabbit trails: what kind of bush tucker foods could I grow? I really should read more of Jostein Gaarder's books. How big are the coils on the Livonian headdress in that picture? What are those raw foodies on about anyway? Who was Krishnamurti? I really should find out since I've quoted him in my sig line... For those kinds of self study topics, I jump right into whatever I can find online at the library and keep reading until I get bored or run out of resources. I also have a weird magnetic attraction to books so random ideas jump off library shelves at me...

 

For my "formal" school prep study, I decided to start with the Well Educated Mind because I started learning reading analysis skills at uni, but didn't graduate feeling I had in any way mastered it. I'm also studying with Analytical Grammar because I'm a parts to whole learner (ah the lingo you learn on homeschooling forums!) and know I'll be more able to start Latin when I've got the hang of English grammar. Also, hubby wants me to study Latin with him, so that's extra inspiration. My promise to do that is the carrot I'm dangling to get him to study grammar because it's really not interesting enough to do alone!

 

When I'm able to add something else to that, I'm going to start on maths because I've forgotten most of what I ever learned, and will study logic too. I'm curious to find out if I'm as logical as I like to think I am ;) and I'm finding the lack of logic domain specific vocabulary to be really annoying.

 

Content subjects like history and science don't seem terribly important at the moment. I majored in history at uni, and feel the most important part of that is the ability to write and I have all intentions of making sure I teach my kids to write! I might change my mind on science later, but I have enough to keep me occupied for quite a while!

 

So there's my life story...

 

:)

Rosie

Edited March 28, 2010 by Rosie_0801

[Nan in Mass]

Rosie, I think what you said about whole to parts or parts to whole is very important. I discovered that I am happiest self-educating in a whole to parts way. If it is something that I don't care about very much, I am happiest doing it is an undisciplined way. I have found, though, that if it is something that I care about and need to learn in some depth, then I get completely frustrated doing it in an undisciplined way. (I have my own method of being disciplined or undisciplined - they probably look about the same from the outside but they aren't really - there is method in my madness when I am serious about something and no method when I am mearly curious GRIN.) I think most people who self-educate successfully know quite a lot about how they themselves learn and cater to that. We all use so much self-discipline to get through our lives. Self-educating needs to be set up so as to use as little of that self-discipline and as much of one's natural enthusiasm as possible. I can learn in a parts to whole manner, but it is draining. By learning in a whole to parts way, I can coast on the wave of enthusiasm and creativity. If, however, I wasn't naturally built to concentrate easily on one thing intesively for hours at a time and to be perfectly happy with less than perfect results for my efforts (both a necessity for whole to parts learning), I would find my learning cycle very very frustrating. I don't mind reading something in a foreign language that is full of words I don't know yet and only understanding part of it. I don't mind painting a picture that has exactly the shade of green I was trying for but looks like a three year old's. It takes so much effort for me to remember things unless I use them and keep using them that parts to whole learning takes a huge amount of energy and time. Self-educating at the same time one is doing all the other things adults do needs to be efficient. One of the lovely things about self-educating is that you can do it in whatever way is easiest, funnest, and most satisfying for you yourself; not the way of the public school system who is trying to mass educate, not in a way that that children can manage, not in a way that is boring but allows one to get one's money's worth, not in a way that makes learning easily assessable, but your very own way. So think about how you learn. What is most fun? What is most exciting? Do you learn by doing or by hearing or by seeing? Do you need to see the big picture first? Do you like having the picture narrowed to a comprehensible scope first? Do you like to get one part perfect before you move on? Do you like outside interaction? Are you bothered by having to go back and relearn something you got wrong the first time round? Do you mind guessing? How do you memorize? (I found I memorize much more easily if I am walking.) Would you rather concentrate on overtly memorizing the information in one book (think flashcards) or would you rather just read multiple books until the information somehow sinks in? Do you need to make mind maps or outline something to understand it? (If so, Teaching Company CDs in the car are not going to work for you GRIN.) Which sorts of things do you learn easily no matter how you do them and which sort do you need to do a specific way? You probably don't learn everything the same way... If you figure all this out about yourself, you will run less of a risk of burning out or getting frustrated and giving up.

HTH

-Nan

[MyLittleWonders]

Nan, those questions are awesome. I am printing them out to ponder them for a while. My biggest hurdle right now is undoing the habits I developed as a child/student when it comes to learning in the first place. When I was young, knowledge came very easy to me. I picked up on reading around my 4th birthday. School was never challenging (looking back, though I went to "good" schools, they just were not at the same caliber of really "good" schools). When I got to college, I was not prepared at all, and yet had developed this idea that if it didn't come naturally to me (as the previous 13 years had), then I wasn't going to do it (I was the epitome of the Staples commercial - "Yep, that was easy" ;) ). So, I never pushed myself. Somehow I graduated with a 3.3 or something from a U. C., but am not sure quite how I pulled that one off. Needless to say, I want to learn how to push myself now and stretch myself. I never learned lit./reading analysis. In my AP English class, we drew out Antigone's family tree and received style points.

 

So, while I really ponder your questions, I am going to work through Adler's How to Read a Book, continue with my Nothing but Wodehouse (I do say, I am rather enjoying the book), and probably start Bulfinch's Mythology (we are reading through D'Aulaire's Greek Myths and Black Ships Before Troy with the boys, and I do find mythology more and more interesting the older I get - I think hs'ing my children classically (mostly based on LCC) has actually helped spark me to learn more and learn that which I never learned growing up).

 

Rosie, I am jealous that you are your husband are doing Latin together (and therefore, grammar too). Maybe this summer, my dh can join me (he teaches and is so dang busy all school year). I have wanted to learn Latin ahead of my children; we have LfC A, which we won't begin until mid-June, and I think I might just start going through that now. And maybe a grammar book would be good (I almost bought Eat Shoots & Leaves, which I never realized was an adult book - I have only seen the picture book version). Hmm ... the possibilities. Oh, but to find the time to do it all! :D Oh, and I am a sprinter by nature, so I have to retrain myself to run marathons. ;) Otherwise, I will not have it in me to keep up.

[Rosie_0801]

Rosie, I am jealous that you are your husband are doing Latin together (and therefore, grammar too). Maybe this summer, my dh can join me (he teaches and is so dang busy all school year). I have wanted to learn Latin ahead of my children; we have LfC A, which we won't begin until mid-June, and I think I might just start going through that now. And maybe a grammar book would be good (I almost bought Eat Shoots & Leaves, which I never realized was an adult book - I have only seen the picture book version). Hmm ... the possibilities. Oh, but to find the time to do it all! :D Oh, and I am a sprinter by nature, so I have to retrain myself to run marathons. ;) Otherwise, I will not have it in me to keep up.

 

Heheh. We only get to study together when both the tots are in bed at a reasonable hour and we still have brain power left. We are lucky if that leads to one study session a week! I'm quite grateful that hubby is studying grammar with me. He's a whole to parts learner so doesn't feel any need to study English grammar with me at all, but he's willing to go along with it so I'll be able to study Latin with him. Even though he thinks I'm weird and if I want to study Latin I should just do it and not worry about this English grammar mumbo-jumbo :) My hubby used to be a teacher, so I understand exactly how busy "so dang busy" is! Is "Eat Shoots & Leaves" a reference book? I bought AG because I really needed a program to work through. I tried reading grammar definitions online but it wouldn't stick in my head.

 

You might find you're a whole to parts learner for some topics and parts to whole for others. I'm the latter for academic subjects, because I'm trying to systematically learn something, and I already know what that is. For the rabbit trail/ curiosity about a topic investigations, I might be exploring something I know little about, and so approach in a whole to parts way to find out what I specifically want to know. Did that last sentence make sense? Hmm.

 

Rosie

Edited March 28, 2010 by Rosie_0801

[MyLittleWonders]

From the looks of it, Eat Shoots & Leaves (and I think there might be a comma in there somewhere) was a book to read through, but I could not tell if it had practice exercises in it as well. I should look up Analytical Grammar. And I still need to figure out if I'm parts-to-whole or whole-to-parts. I do know I like seeing examples (either written in a book or someone physically showing me how to do something); I seem to learn best by example. So, definitions and the such are fine and all, but seeing whatever it is in action does even more for me. And I love talking about something, so I know I'd do better in a group-learning situation rather than just muddling through things on my own (even better, just sitting in on other people's conversations and just taking it all in!).

[Amy Jo]

I started with what I feel is most pressing: languages and history. I want to be well ahead of my eldest in Latin, and I want to teach them all Spanish, so I need to keep moving. And my grasp of who and when in history is weak. Perhaps because we moved a lot growing up, and I've been a rabbit trail person in that area. So I am working on reading history books this year (and next), and using a timeline.

 

Next will be science, but I have time on that. I did well in math, so I'll wait until a year or two before eldest hits algebra to brush up (I made it through statistics in college). Grammar ... I'll learn with my kids. Grammar is highly useful for learning a foreign language, but I'm not sure of its use in one's native language.

[Nan in Mass]

I think you might find your sprinting ability useful as an adult learner. It will allow you to gobble down a whole text book during your children's week long April vacation, when you actually have time. Some things need to be done marathon style, obviously, but it is surprising how much can be done in a sprint if you are an adult. I remember reading about one mother here who sat down with the Latin book one weekend and some huge sheets of paper and mapped out all the grammar. She said she was then prepared to teach it to her children. I have occasionally sprinted through a Dummies or Idiot book as a way of getting an idea of the big picture. Sometimes you can combine, too. Our Latin book assumed that you had no knowledge of English grammar and taught that along with the Latin grammar. I found it much easier to understand the grammar via Latin. Maybe you can find a reading partner, the way it suggests in TWEM. A few of us here read a short story together one time, and it was wonderful. My husband will be my reading partner, but we are so alike that it is easy for us to miss things. People here are really nice about discussing books, so if you can't find a partner, you can always just post your thoughts and ask what other people think.

Have fun!

Nan

[Nan in Mass]

I have found our Latin grammar vocabulary useful for explaining a few things like why one is supposed to say, "It is I." It has been mildly useful in explaining how to punctuate writing or untangle sentences that have too many that's. Other than that, I haven't found it very useful. It is nice to have some sort of common vocabulary so we can talk about language, occasionally. We don't know the English terms for things so we just use the vocabulary from our Latin and I wind up saying, "Who is the nominative. If it is the accusative or something else, you have to use whom." It works fine. The grammar we learned in Latin has been very, very useful learning other languages.

-Nan

[TechWife]

For those of you who have begun the path of self-education, where did you start?

I started where my interests were at the time and I have kept up with that process. First up was actually studying the Bible - not what someone wrote about it, but the actual book. I learned how to do this through Precept Upon Precept Bible Studies. Changed my life.

 

Math is the one subject where I feel okay leaving it for last; calculus is a bit fuzzy, though I excelled in math (and am married to a math dude, so we talk math a bit too).

This is my fuzziest area. Last year I realized that ds was coming up on Algebra, so I worked through the Keys to Fractions and the first six Keys to Algebra books. I hit a wall there, but I am intrigued by the subject in a way that I never was in formal school, so I am going to keep going with it. I am going to look into taking a class at our local community college to brush up. If I am able to, I will do this over this coming summer.

 

History is also pretty fuzzy (I think social studies killed history, at least for me!).

What are you most interested in? A certain event? Time period? Understanding what you read in the newspaper? Do you like reading biographies? Memoirs? Do you lean towards to political side of history or the more personal side of history? Do you like to read about wars? Answers to those questions will help guide what you pick up.

 

Science, well ... I loved organic chemistry in college, but as a non-science major, I didn't take much else.

I was non-science. I actually got interested in this through my interest in current technologies and seeing the impact or potential impact that certain discoveries and/or inventions have on our lives. I found that to understand certain things, I had to do some background reading. For example, a desire to understand global warming/climate change, I ended up studying both Earth science and environmental science (I actually used middle school aged textbooks to do this, I don't feel like I have to understand everything on a graduate level). Scientific American is a good starter magazine - you will be able to tell where the public conversation is going & again, what interests you - could be physics, could be brain science, could be microbiology, any number of things.

 

Art? Well, I'm slowly acquainting myself with fine art.

Do you have any museums nearby? Even small ones would be good to visit. If you so desire, you could get something like Artistic Pursuits to work through on your own - or you could watch Mark Kistler videos on youtube to understand some basic information about drawing. DK has some great books about artistic techniques. If you learn a little about the techniques, you'll be better able to understand what makes each period in art different and it will help you know why you like what you like and don't like what you don't. It will give you a heightened sense of appreciation for what you are looking at, even if you don't like it!

 

Don't forget the performing arts - dance, music, drama. Catch a play - even a high school play can be fun if you've never seen live theater before. Symphony in the park during the summer can be a great intro to classical music. You can also usually get inexpensive boxed sets of composers or periods from a variety of sources, or download mp3's. For dance, the easiest way is to see a ballet where you already know the story line - the Nutcracker, Cinderella, etc. if you find you like it, you can branch out to other stories. Before you go to a performance, find out what piece is being presented and read about it - think about the questions who? what? where? when? why? Apply those questions to the piece as well as to the artists themselves.

 

My thinking is starting with literature and history would probably be a good idea, but I don't want to get bogged down with too much heaviness all at once.

Start with one thing - whatever interests you the most. That way you won't get bogged down. I keep a time line book of things that interest me. I include information from all areas - whatever catches my eye! For literature, I am participating in the 52 books in 52 weeks group - I don't read great literature always, but it keeps me accountable to keep reading and writing!

 

As another way to more fully understand literature, I am thinking of participating in the National Novel Writing Month - NaNoWriMo. They have free information on how to get started and follow through. I also enjoyed writing in school, so it's a way to participate in something I enjoyed.

 

Also, what do you read for current affairs? I was thinking a good newspaper (at least the weekend edition) and a good magazine would be wise.

The Wall Street Journal. New York Times. You can get home delivery of these papers nation wide. You can also see some of their articles on the internet and you can get an internet subscription to see all of them if you don't want to have the actual paper.

 

As you read the paper, do your best to fully understand the articles. Where did this happen? Why is that important? Who are the people mentioned? What do they do? How does it work? Where is this country? What is the history behind this conflict? Why is that illegal? What is the penalty for doing that? What impact does this have on the community (local, national, international)?

 

If you aren't used to reading the newspaper with these thoughts in mind, then pick one front page article and strive to fully understand it. Be sure to also read any follow up articles and editorials on the same subject. It may take a while for you to fully understand that article, depending on the time you have (days, weeks, month), but don't worry. Just continue to read the other articles, but concentrate on the one article or topic until you have a full grasp of it. After you are satisfied that you understand it, then pick another one from the current front page.

 

Any ideas? Inspiration? Suggestions? BTDT stories are also good too. :D Thanks!

Just start. Remember that you are not obligated to do something beginning to end - you can start anywhere and change course at anytime!

 

First are the questions that send me off on rabbit trails

Yes, those questions are the best!

 

Self-educating needs to be set up so as to use as little of that self-discipline and as much of one's natural enthusiasm as possible.

So true - that keeps the drudgery at bay.

Self-educating at the same time one is doing all the other things adults do needs to be efficient. One of the lovely things about self-educating is that you can do it in whatever way is easiest, funnest, and most satisfying for you yourself

:iagree:

 

One book that I have found helpful is What Smart Students Know - the top thing smart students know is that everything to need to know to fully understand something is not contained in a textbook and that it is understanding, not memorizing, that is true learning. Additionally, it teaches you how to research information, how to read how to outline and how to summarize information. I have used some of the skills from this book as I have read through information that is more difficult for me to understand/remember.

 

Remember, there is no right or wrong way to educate yourself! Above all, have fun!

Edited March 31, 2010 by TechWife