A Self-Education Revolution

[GWOB]

This board includes self-ed, right? So where are the moms who want to improve themselves in order to provide a richer learning environment for their children? Can we truly discuss self-ed topics here? I know, though I was always in the "gifted" program K-12, I have some incredible gaps in my education. While I love the high school home-ed threads, I want to see some threads about moms trying to fill in the gaps of their own education. So can the self-ed moms get a little support here?

[meggie]

I'm here. Usually feel dumber than a box of rocks when talking w/ other moms who are self educating. Coursera has been super fun for me. I learn stuff and absorb information w/o having to actually speak w/ anyone and letting on how dumb I really am.

[Ohdanigirl]

I just enrolled in a bunch of Coursera classes. Does that count. I Plan to do some open courseware with ds as well. He wants to learn German, but I am a little scared of it. I may learn French, so that I may understand his struggles while he is learning German.

[GWOB]

Yay! I'm not the only one!

[meggie]

I just enrolled in a bunch of Coursera classes. Does that count. I Plan to do some open courseware with ds as well. He wants to learn German, but I am a little scared of it. I may learn French, so that I may understand his struggles while he is learning German.

 

It counts if you ever watch a lecture or read an assignment or take a quiz. Even if you don't complete a whole course or get the certificate, learning even one new thing is an important baby step.

[joannqn]

Does relearning math by doing AOPS with DS count? We sit down every morning at 7:30am together to do the lessons and problems together...as in both of us working the problems on paper and discussing them and helping each other (or consulting the solutions manual) as needed. I'm hoping to go through all of the AOPS books and be a math whiz some day.

[GWOB]

Does relearning math by doing AOPS with DS count? We sit down every morning at 7:30am together to do the lessons and problems together...as in both of us working the problems on paper and discussing them and helping each other (or consulting the solutions manual) as needed. I'm hoping to go through all of the AOPS books and be a math whiz some day.

 

Joann, any sort of learning counts. This is a thread for moms who just want to educate themselves in order to provide a better education for their children.

[joannqn]

Joann, any sort of learning counts. This is a thread for moms who just want to educate themselves in order to provide a better education for their children.

 

Well, I guess it counts. I can't afford the online classes, nor do I think he could keep up with the speed of those. I don't know the material. I do a poor job of keeping ahead, so together it is. Plus the fact that I dropped out of calculus has always bugged me. Before family problems got in the way of school, I was pretty good at math. This way, I get a second chance.

[Rosie_0801]

I spent Spring reading up on nature study things. It was nothing strenuous, but it was fun. Dd is nearly ready to start scrapbooking so we may just formalise our nature study a little next year. I just need to remember to get my hands on a map of the major terrain types in our state so I can finish thinking.

 

I started "Science Matters" the other day since it was so highly recommended on here. I hope some of it sticks in my head. I read a layman's book on quantum physics a while back. It was fun. It gave me a headache. I probably couldn't repeat anything I read, but it definitely stretched my brain. I think it was supposed to make me more skeptical but after reading that stuff, I feel more inclined to believe just about anything because it all sounded so crazy.

 

My schedule would be far more strenuous in an ideal world, but I don't live in an ideal world. I hope it cools down so I can read more instead of flaking out watching Dr Who reruns.

 

P.S. I now know how to run the water pump and the generator without having to go sooking to my aunt, so I'm feeling clever about that. :p

[newlifemom]

Just what is the Consoura thing I've hearing about? [They say the first step is admitting . . .:P]ETA: Oops, Coursera. See, I really need help. :o

[Rosie_0801]

https://www.coursera.org

[JeneralMom]

Oh I wish you guys had never mentioned Coursera!!! There are a ton of courses I want to take and so little time (and a pretty sucky internet connection right now).

[Giraffe]

I'm self educating. Reading history then reading the "Great Books", in chronological order (Ancients, Medieval, Renaissance, etc.). I haven't made much progress (laziness, I admit it), but I'm knuckling down and starting over.

 

I have a blog, long neglected, that I will pick back up. Wrestlingwithbooks . wordpress . com. Soon to be updated. ;)

[Candid]

I was fortunate when I started using Tapestry four years ago. The author encourages moms to read the lit selections themselves on their first pass through. I did that with works I hadn't read before or wanted to reread. This pass through I'm reading works related to the time period. So for this long period between fall of Rome and 1800 I picked out a few things to read on my own:

The City of God

The Prince (although I'm afraid that led to other works being added to my future list)

Miracle in Philadelphia

The Federalist Papers.

 

I try to get teaching company tapes to listen to on the works I read plus on those in lit I will be teaching.

[mazakaal]

I've been doing some self-educating as well. I've had to learn Spanish and formal logic to stay one step ahead of ds, and I've had to re-learn algebra. It's amazing how much you can forget in 30 years. I also enjoy doing additional history reading to learn ahead of the kids - SWB's adult history books, History of the American People, things like that. And I'm re-reading War and Peace alongside my 14yo because it's been almost 20 years since I read it the first time and I want to be able to discuss it with him. So you can count me in as another self-educator.

[mazakaal]

Double post. Sorry.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I am working my way through the AOPS books. It started out as a just for fun thing but I have been learning so much I never knew.

Other things I am doing to further my education:

Going through How to Study Your Bible before tackling Daniel

Reading You can teach Your Child Successfully and A Biblical Home Education to rethink how I am homeschooling

Going through Lambs Book of Art and Artistic Pursuit with the kids to help improve my art skills

Reading (slowly) A Handbook of Nature Study and Keeping a Nature Journal

 

2013 goal is to read every non fiction book in my home library to brush up my knowledge in a multitude of subjects and read all the books I am making my kids read.

[Skadi]

I'm reading SWB's adult history books, improving my German, and teaching myself piano with GarageBand. I'm getting frustrated with piano, because I'm not progressing very quickly and reading music is haaaard. I like the program, mind you...I'm pretty sure it's me and not the fault of the format. I was feeling pretty good about myself before I decided to learn an instrument. Now I'm glad I can't afford a tutor because this is kind of embaressing.

[Occasionally]

I've been working on German using Duolingo, learning piano with the Bastien adult series, reading through some of the books from the Well-Educated Mind and SWB's history books, and am putting off learning some more Latin (I finished GSWL and haven't found anything I like for afterwards.) Ooh! I also found an online logic text that I've been meaning to get to.

 

Fortunately, since my kids are young, I feel like I have some time to work on my self education

[Carol in Cal.]

I think people keep defining self-education as TWEM, and foundering on the first or second book. I know that Don Quixote has foundered me more than once.

I am reading theology mostly right now, and economics, and public policy, and sustainable living.

Maybe someday I will return to the Great Books, but not anytime soon.

Popularized science is something I read up on quite a bit a couple of years ago. It was really nice to catch up like that.

[Candid]

The thing I don't like it TWEM is some of the guidelines seem restrictive and seem to encourage going in a certain order. I have some subjects that I read what seems to make sense at the time. Which means I read the Institutes of Calvin before talking Augustine's City. I'll survive.

 

If you want to start with Shakespeare don't feel like you have to plow through Greek drama first (although you could try one play). And so forth.

[Miss Marple]

I think my "self-education" goes/went hand in hand with the education of my children. My vision for their education was shaped by TWTM but I realized I was woefully uneducated in the liberal arts (literature, history, etc.). My post-high school education was greatly STEM influenced and I didn't have time for the other courses. The Great Courses, TheGreatBooks.com, Quine's World Views of the Western World, Starting Points, and teaching these as well as science courses in our co-op have greatly aided my self education. I guess I didn't necessarily set out to educate myself as much as I realized I needed to learn what I wanted the boys to learn before I attempted teaching it. But each time I have re-read/re-studied a certain work (even science topics), I have learned something new. Education goes on...even when the boys are being educated outside the home. I'm currently studying about the stock market and investments, the history of espionage, and other topics that just seem interesting right now. And I've purchased a harp - I'm going to try to teach myself the basics. Then maybe lessons...

[Miss Marple]

Double post - sigh!

[Joshin]

I'm brushing up on algebra with Khan Academy, and thinking about going on to pre-calc. I was really good in math until middle school, when I let one bad teacher ruin it for me. Even though my major in college didn't require a lot of math, I've always regretted not going further. Now that I have one really mathy kid and one that needs a lot of hand holding, I feel the urge to learn more.

 

I'm going to check out Coursera now!

[G5052]

Like anything, you have to choose your battles. I came into homeschooling pretty solid on everything but history. Basic levels of foreign languages, writing, math, and the rest haven't been a problem. But history. Ugh. I'm better than I was from using Sonlight for six years, but I still feel woefully inadequate. Now with teens in the house, I decided that history was an area that I would outsource to someone with the enthusiasm and depth I don't have. I've tried to study it myself, but I'm sporadic and it is not my passion.

 

However, I've studied a lot about teaching writing over the years of homeschooling, and I teach outside classes in that and am teaching rhetoric to my own teens. I've always enjoyed writing, but it was not at all an academic focus in my education after high school. Periodically I toy with getting a graduate degree in rhetoric or such after the darlings have graduated. Who knows.

 

I ended up studying Latin in order to educate my own and even took a class with them at one point. For the last two years I ended up teaching Latin locally because no one else in the group had the background to approach it, and that has gone reasonably well. I'm a long way from being a good Latin teacher though, and the second year of high school Latin is my limit. Next year we won't be in that group, so I'm turning my materials over to someone else. I have a plan to keep studying Latin though. We have ended up outsourcing the upper levels of Latin because I just am not there yet, but it has worked well for me to have the basics.

 

So my self-education has been limited by design. I don't think that you can self-educate in everything and keep up with life, but I'm glad for what I've done.

[G5052]

Double post.

[beaners]

Count me in! I've been doing a handful of classes on Coursera. I'm slowly reading through my Harvard Classics set and following some interesting strands of those works. I'm trying to cover the majority of Harvard's Speech and Hearing program through Open Courseware in the next month or so, but that goal might be a bit overly ambitious.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Yep, I'm on board! Dd and I spent the morning at a cafe (had to get out of the house - it's been raining all week!), and I was struggling with the stoichiometry chapters in LOF PreA w/ Bio while she was reading Entomology and History. LOF has been a great refresher for me, but AoPS is next on my math list!

 

I'm also keeping up with the Coursera World History course, that has been very interesting. I've watched all of Merriman's European history course on Open Yale, and about half of the American Revolution course. It has definitely helped enrich our discussions of world and American history.

 

I belong to a Great Books reading group that meets about once a month, next up is King Lear. I've also had a TWEM-style list going for about 3 years now, but these days most of my reading time is spent on the topics, time periods, and authors that are on deck for dd.

 

Hmm, what else - I'm learning Latin alongside dd, thank goodness I've studied French and Spanish so I can keep up without any extra study time. So far! I know that at some point I'll have to make a choice about whether to consciously study ahead.

 

I also read a lot of science, trying hard right now to focus on Physics, since that is what I'll be teaching next. This is challenging for me, because I love reading anything to do with biology or life science, but phyiscs . . . not so much.

[dangermom]

Over the summers I practice my math with Khan Academy, and of course read my kid's algebra and chemistry textbooks to make sure I understand it all. I wish I could take a course on Coursera or better yet at the college I work at, but there's no time for that right now.

 

What I mostly do is read--literature and history and science. I have a book blog (see my sig!) and this year I ran a reading challenge for Greek classics. I belong to a Classics Club which is a lot of fun, and I generally try to read a lot of solid stuff. I'm good at reading. :) There are a couple of other bloggers who are doing WEM on schedule, and I joined up with them for Madame Bovary--I'm doing it again for Thomas Hardy now. That sort of thing is a lot of fun.

 

Between homeschooling the kids, a part-time job, and running the house I don't have as much time as I'd like for studying. I envy my kids, who are supposed to study for hours a day (and of course often try to get out of it)!

 

Oh, Rroberts, I totally hear you about physics! I am loving chemistry this year, it's my favorite, but physics is my husband's department, not mine. But there is a great book I would recommend--"Physics for Future Presidents" is a very good read. :)

[GWOB]

Yay! I am so glad so many of you are pushing hard to improve your education. Right now I am reading "Outliers". Economics is a weak subject for me. I have a few Great Courses coming in the mail (Luther, History of the Supreme Court, Joy of Math). I am been drooling over Coursera for a while now. I just need to pick something. I love hearing about what everyone is studying. Maybe something you guys are reading will inspire me.

[regentrude]

My own education has been strong in math, science, and foreign languages, but lacking in history. Homeschooling my kids, I have began to remedy the situation by listening to TC courses.

Over the last two years, I have listened to Vandiver's Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Mythology, Tragedies, Daileader's three courses on the Middle Ages, Bartlett's Italian Renaissance and am currently reading Herodotus and listening to Vandiver's lectures about him.

I started learning French with DD, but since she has been taking classes at the university, I have not kept up my own work.

I would really love to take some actual classes in a classroom, but my work schedule does not permit that at this point.

[swimmermom3]

This board includes self-ed, right? So where are the moms who want to improve themselves in order to provide a richer learning environment for their children? Can we truly discuss self-ed topics here? I know, though I was always in the "gifted" program K-12, I have some incredible gaps in my education. While I love the high school home-ed threads, I want to see some threads about moms trying to fill in the gaps of their own education. So can the self-ed moms get a little support here?

 

Oh! I don't know how I missed this thread. We are here in full force as I think self-ed is par for the course if you have made it to home schooling high schoolers. There is nothing like dissecting a dog shark or revisiting the quadratic formula to point out the limitations in one's own education. I must go make the house look like I have done something today besides explore the new forum, but am looking forward to reading the other replies.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Over the summers I practice my math with Khan Academy, and of course read my kid's algebra and chemistry textbooks to make sure I understand it all. I wish I could take a course on Coursera or better yet at the college I work at, but there's no time for that right now.

 

What I mostly do is read--literature and history and science. I have a book blog (see my sig!) and this year I ran a reading challenge for Greek classics. I belong to a Classics Club which is a lot of fun, and I generally try to read a lot of solid stuff. I'm good at reading. :) There are a couple of other bloggers who are doing WEM on schedule, and I joined up with them for Madame Bovary--I'm doing it again for Thomas Hardy now. That sort of thing is a lot of fun.

 

Between homeschooling the kids, a part-time job, and running the house I don't have as much time as I'd like for studying. I envy my kids, who are supposed to study for hours a day (and of course often try to get out of it)!

 

Oh, Rroberts, I totally hear you about physics! I am loving chemistry this year, it's my favorite, but physics is my husband's department, not mine. But there is a great book I would recommend--"Physics for Future Presidents" is a very good read. :)

 

 

Thanks for the rec! I just put it on hold!!

[chepyl]

I think the main place my education was truly lacking was in chemistry. I had a horrible teacher! I am just BAD at languages, so my 7 years of Spanish and 3 of French have left me able to read some and speak very little. Bit that is not for lack of trying!

 

I am learning chemistry with my kids as we work through some simple chemistry books right now. I am also working on reading the whole Bible chronologically, doing an in depth study of Isaiah on my own, Joshua with my small group at church, and reading Don Quixote....very VERY slowly! I am constantly educating myself in dance and teaching dance. I am thinking about an o.line class for quickbooks and maybe an Adobe class :)

[Rosie_0801]

Speaking of nature study... (Alright, you weren't, but I was.) We got to see frogs in the back dam last night! I could see something swimming around near the edge and crouched down for a closer look. Then they climbed right out as though they were just as interested in seeing me as I was in seeing them. They even sat there long enough for dd to come around from the other side and have a good look. http://frogs.org.au/frogs/species/Limnodynastes/dumerili/ I haven't seen a fully grown one yet. These critters were only as big as my thumbnail.

[Element]

I'm currently working my way through Mathematics for the Millions. I love math but it is probably my weakest subject. This book seems tailor-made for history loving mathophobes. Truthfully? I don't understand everything in it. However, I do feel that it's giving me a stronger foundation than I previously had.

 

Once I can afford it, I'm going to buy the AOPS Intro to Algebra. I took the placement test and, despite years of high school and college math, I can hardly do any of that stuff without a calculator. So, Intro to Alg. is where I'll start. :sigh:

[Miss Marple]

Another thing I've been doing with the boys this semester is working through the SAT question of the day. Most are pretty easy at this point, although I sometimes find myself lost in the writing section. I often find that I disagree with the answer to some of those questions or at least think there are a couple of options :tongue_smilie: . And there have been one or two math problems that stumped me for a while. I like to compare answers with the boys - esp. with the math - because we usually discover that we solved them differently but came up with the same answers.

[joannqn]

Speaking of nature study... (Alright, you weren't, but I was.) We got to see frogs in the back dam last night! I could see something swimming around near the edge and crouched down for a closer look. Then they climbed right out as though they were just as interested in seeing me as I was in seeing them. They even sat there long enough for dd to come around from the other side and have a good look. http://frogs.org.au/frogs/species/Limnodynastes/dumerili/ I haven't seen a fully grown one yet. These critters were only as big as my thumbnail.

 

Oh you'd love it here. I have a Pacific Tree Frog living in a glass tank on my kitchen counter. He's about an inch long, bright green, and has a black stripe going along his cheeks through his eye. I didn't expect to keep him more than a week or two, but we've had him several months now. He's just so darn cute.

[Rosie_0801]

Oh you'd love it here. I have a Pacific Tree Frog living in a glass tank on my kitchen counter. He's about an inch long, bright green, and has a black stripe going along his cheeks through his eye. I didn't expect to keep him more than a week or two, but we've had him several months now. He's just so darn cute.

 

Oh yes! Very handsome!

[joannqn]

Here's our actual frog.

 

With my 3 year old

 

Closeup

 

We've learned that he absolutely will overeat...as in eat every living cricket put in his aquarium...so you have to be careful not to drop too many in there. He turns into a big round marble when he's full. Once, DH accidentally dropped way too many in there, and he was huge, round, and gagging. We thought he'd surely die, but he didn't. If you put the cricket container next to the glass, he'll sit there with his nose to the glass watching them. You can hold him and play with him, and he'll croak (more like squeak) if you turn him upside down. He jumps at his food to catch it rather than using a long tongue. He generally has pretty good aim too. He won't jump at food that isn't moving, so it must be live.

 

DD12 is saving up money for a leopard gecko.

 

-JoAnn, who never thought she'd be doing nature study INSIDE her home.

[4Kiddos]

I am self-educating too! Right now I am focusing on homeschool theory. I am doing some light reading: ;)

 

Norms and Nobility

The Abolition of Man

Charlotte Mason 6 volume series

 

I really like some the Circe Institute free lectures and am trying to learn more about that.

 

Beyond that, I am reading more about WW2 through books and videos. I really love this series called Wartime Farm by BBC:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8vaexIRSZ0

 

Edited to add: Wow! It is so cool that the You Tube videos now show up on my comment!

[Caraway]

I'm here. I wish that self-ed had a separate board.

[TracyP]

Ahh, self - ed. I have lofty goals but I often fall short. I have been prereading some lit, (re)learning piano, and trying to stay up on current events by subscribing to Smithsonian.

 

I was studying Latin this summer and liked it, but that has fallen by the wayside. I want to give it another try and I really, really want to take a run through an Algebra program before I get there. I know I could use the refresher. I'm pretty happy learning everything else alongside my kids.

 

BTW, Coursera looks really cool. I'm going to be checking that out.

[MtnMama]

I'm taking 2 Coursera classes and working slowly through Getting Started With Latin. I'm also going to try to just read more next year. I feel like I learn so much that way.

[Elinor Everywhere]

I'm into self-ed, but not because I want to teach my kids. I fear my days for that are over!

 

I did a lot of excellent reading over the past few years by using TOG, but now it's going to be all about me. Or mostly, anyway, since I just finished reading "Teenager's Guide to the Real World". Hello, summer reading for two 15yo's I know! :)

[Rosie_0801]

No! They aren't Pobblebonk frogs! I got to see them in daylight instead of at dusk today and they are a different colour to what I thought! I've been trying to search online, but can't work out what they are. I'll have to go see if my aunt has found her frog book...

 

Coz you all need an update on the frogs living in a dam in central Victoria, Australia...

[Ibbygirl]

This board includes self-ed, right? So where are the moms who want to improve themselves in order to provide a richer learning environment for their children? Can we truly discuss self-ed topics here? I know, though I was always in the "gifted" program K-12, I have some incredible gaps in my education. While I love the high school home-ed threads, I want to see some threads about moms trying to fill in the gaps of their own education. So can the self-ed moms get a little support here?

 

 

I have determined to read as many classics as I can and to start there. I don't have any other formal plan of study at the moment than that. There are just so many books to read and I've read so few of them, I will be busy for a long time just trying to do that. :)

[flyingiguana]

Yep, I'm on board! Dd and I spent the morning at a cafe (had to get out of the house - it's been raining all week!), and I was struggling with the stoichiometry chapters in LOF PreA w/ Bio while she was reading Entomology and History.

 

Are you using anything in particular for entomology? I'd be interested in hearing about some resources.

[Bang!Zoom!]

Roll back the calendar a hundred years ago and try to find this conversation like this going on somewhere on the planet.

 

It's enough to make you giggle inside.

 

If it was, where would it have been even have been happening?

[Element]

Roll back the calendar a hundred years ago and try to find this conversation like this going on somewhere on the planet.

 

It's enough to make you giggle inside.

 

If it was, where would it have been even have been happening?

 

You know the answer: Chautauqua! ;)

 

One of these days we should have a WTMeetup at Chautauqua. I've always wanted to go. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to afford it any time soon!