Beginning my self-education journey - can you help me?

[Canada_Mom]

I'm sorry if this has been asked a billion times before. I can't seem to find the answers that I'm looking for, so I'm hoping starting a new thread will help.

 

I firmly believe that learning is a life long process, and I thoroughly enjoy hs'ing and what it is adding to my life. My kids are very little, my oldest in is gr.1 but most (?) days I really feel that my college education really has not prepared me for the enormity of the task of hs'ing.

 

My skills lie in math and science but even those are (ahem) a bit rusty. I'm sure they will all come back to me when I need them, right? :001_huh: I am very weak in the areas of history and literature. I've read the WEM and tried to slog my way through HTRAB.- I would like to get the guide on HTRAB, perhaps that would benefit me.

 

I read the Janice's article in the thread in the Curriculum forum about self-education using TOG. Is this the best way to go? Is this necessary? Should I just follow the WEM and be content with that? I have tried for several years to find a stable reading buddy like WEM recommends but I keep losing my buddies who can't keep up to the reading. I'm not finding it very interesting reading on my own and am very insecure if I'm even understanding the book correctly. I'm the kind of person who needs feedback. I need to know if I'm on the right track...

 

Is it possible to get a solid, (quasi-solid?) self education in the areas of literature and history?? I would like, ideally, when my kids are in the dialectic and rhetoric stages to present them with the information b/c I understood it (at least partially) not just because that's what was in the "textbook" to do next. kwim??

 

Where should I start? What in your opinion are the best resources to use?

 

Please, I really need a nudge in the right direction!! TIA

[GailV]

Speaking as someone who totally stinks at history and lit, I went to the library last month and checked out an audio series from Teaching Textbooks -- History of Freedom by J. Rufus Fears. I listen to it while I'm cleaning or walking on the treadmill.

 

I was a bit intimidated by Teaching Textbooks when I looked at their website, but decided that getting something from the library was a no-lose proposition -- if I started listening to it and got totally confused I could just take it back and try something else.

 

So far I'm fascinated -- the guy can really make those battles come to life! Also, I'm gaining confidence, and find myself browsing the catalog for ideas on what to listen to next -- more history? try some lit?

 

So, that is my teeny tiny first step on the road to self-education. Probably the biggest hurdle was actually *taking* the step. Also, finding something in a form I'll actually use on a regular basis (I do some mindless task on a daily basis, it seems, so I can listen to audio books daily -- someone else may do better with a book or DVD, depending on their situation).

[Nan in Mass]

I'm doing it for the first time with my high schooler and a younger child. I like having the reading company, but my best reading partner has turned out to be my husband, even though he doesn't read the books. I describe them to him and then we talk about them. That way one of us isn't growing in a way the other one isn't, too. In summer, we have done a few as a family. I'm using TWEM. I read the introduction to the books and that is helpful. Mostly, I'm not too worried about "getting it right". For a few things, we've gotten the Teaching Company lectures, like The Iliad. I think you'd like these. You could listen to them in the car or doing the dishes and they would tell you if you were on the right track. They make them for Shakespeare and other works of literature, history, and lots of things. The government tapes, Power to the People cover works like Plato's Republic and The Prince (but more briefly). There is a guide that tells you which chapters to read before you listen to which lectures. They are expensive, but everything goes on sale each year, so you can watch for the sales. They also are available at libraries. They are meant for adult education. Have fun!

-Nan

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[Nan in Mass]

40+ !!! Lucky!

[Quiver0f10]

Nan,

 

Have you seen teaching the Classics from IEW? I wonder how that would compare to using TWEM?

[Nan in Mass]

Sorry, I haven't.

[Quiver0f10]

Sorry, I haven't.

 

 

Thanks anyways :)

[vmsurbat]

 

Have you seen teaching the Classics from IEW? I wonder how that would compare to using TWEM?

 

I have TWEM on my shelf; I bought and sold Teaching the Classics.

 

After all the recent discussion on Rhetoric Lit studies without specific novel guides, I dusted off my TWEM and am digging into it.

 

In short, TWEM is much more comprehensive than TTC.

 

TTC deals heavily with plot line: setting, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement; and using that to determine theme, particularly with the genres of fiction and poetry. The seminar covers each of these elements, and includes a listing of questions (many, many generic questions) for each of those topics, along with some particular stylistic questions (alliteration, similes, metaphors, for example). The questions are listed from easiest (to be used in the youngest grades) to most difficult (to be used in the later grades). The seminar format works through plot line/theme with a couple of examples; the given list of questions is for you to use as you orchestrate a lit. study on your own, choosing those questions you feel most applicable to the work.

 

I think you can get a very good feel for TTC by looking at their sample "book" guides--they have put together some guides for people who feel they need more hand-holding on studying particular works of literature and/or seeing TTC ideas put into action. As I mentioned, I sold my copy--not because it is "bad" but because it did not meet *my* needs. I would have found it more useful if I still had small children, but I don't.

 

TWEM, as I stated, is much more comprehensive--it deals with five different genres of literature: novel, autobiography/memoir, history, poetry, and drama. It gives you concrete step-by-step guidelines in gaining the skills to read for wisdom.

 

TWEM starts out with encouragement that serious reading is work and always has been, but we have the ability to begin. (There is a sample passage that SWB has you time as you read and answer a few specific questions. If you can do that (she says), you can read the Great Books.)

 

TWEM gives specific suggestions for keeping notes in a notebook and annotating the books you read. For each genre, it gives background information on the genre as a whole. It gives suggested readings (including specific editions) in a suggested order in each discipline. In a graduated format (grammar, logic, rhetoric levels), the book includes specific suggestions on the particular kinds of questions you should be asking for each level of reading and often illustrates by way of a brief example.

 

TWEM doesn't make learning look *easy*, but *doable.* It is definitely geared towards rhetoric studies (ie. high school and above).

 

To summarize: TTC concentrates on basic lit. analysis; TWEM concentrates on "learning how to learn from books."

 

HTH,

[Nan in Mass]

If you've seen it?

Just curious.