Well-Trained Mind book - wow!

[alwayslearning]

I found this at the library today and I must say, I was skeptical given the (what I saw as a) rigid nature of their methods to teaching - especially considering my BA and MA are both in education - ha! - but.... wow, it makes such perfect sense.

 

I'm sold!

 

Was curious if anyone would be willing to share some of their methods into putting this into effect? I have a 1st and 4th grader... but of course we are halfway through the school year. A clean start next year will be good and I'd like to focus the second half of this year on the classical methods; but practically speaking .... any words of wisdom?? :)

 

Jen

[newlifemom]

Welcome Jen. That is what happened to me oh around 11 yrs ago. Here is where I really failed for many years and it is actually the easiest thing to start, memory work. Now I use Classical Conversations. There are plenty of great resources for memory work, but just start. My kids and I start our day with Latin recitation. We recite all the declensions, conjugations, and pronound [well we haven't gotten to demonstrative pronouns yet but soon] Then we recite whatever skip counting we are working on. [this is from our CC memory work] So today we skip counted the 15s to 15*15. Then we recited the times table for it as well. Then we work through multiplication/division flash cards. The rest of their memory work: history timeline, history sentence for the week, English grammar [this year the prepositions] science, and geography they do on their own. Latin Centered Curriculum is a great source for memory work as is the back of WTM or Veritas Press, or CC. If you implemented that this 2nd part of the year and then slowly added in pieces of WTM starting next year, I'd imagine you would be good to go. HTH

[serendipitous journey]

Hi, Jen! and welcome!

 

What have you been using so far? and what have you liked? and not-liked? are you Christian? old-earth or young-earth? that will affect some of your choices.

 

The WTM is straightforward to implement, but the devil is in the details: usually children, or personal philosohpy, or Life derails your original plans. Few follow it exactly. Here are some of the common areas of divergence:

1. science. I don't think anyone on the accelerated board follows the scienc recs, and hardly anybody at all does across the forum as a whole.

2. spelling. the spelling book suggested in WTM is not very popular. All About Spelling is one common option, there are several others.

3. math. most of us want our children to have a more sophisticated understanding of number than is the WTM elementary goal. More like the Logic stage goal, I suppose. Singapore, Math Mammoth, Life of Fred, Beast Academy (a third grade curriculum available from the Art of Problem Solving folks, they will be adding more elementary units over time), and MEP which is free but teacher-intensive: these are common Accelerated maths choices. Math U See for particular challenges and exceptionalities.

4. literature. There's a bit of a consensus that it's a shame to tie elementary literature as tightly to history era as WTM suggests. Many use read-aloud choices and lists from Sonlight, Veritas Press, and other sources. Your younger child, for ex., should have a chance to hear "My Father's Dragon"!

5. art. Many would like more art support for regular art. Atelier, Artistic Pursuits, Meet the Masters are popular choices, as is Harmony Art Mom's fine arts which follows, roughly, the WTM cycle.

6. Grammar. some use FLL; KISS and MCT grammar are perhaps more popular here?

 

I would suggest that you use the spring to bring in WTM-style subjects, say one a month, and trouble shoot as you go. For instance, you and/or your child may detest Story of the World: it's nice to know that ahead of time. You could just buy the STOW version you want next year and do the first few chapters if you like.

 

Writing With Ease is the SWB-standard writing program: that can be quite challenging for children not used to narrating or to following classical-curriculum style read-alouds. You may want to troubleshoot it this spring and find your level. First Language Lessons is the grammar from the Bauers.

 

Science: you can do WTM-style easily with the support of Real Science Odyssey and/or Elemental Science, and there are other similar programs. Many like the book Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding. Search for science posts by lewelma (aka Ruth in New Zealand) for an inquiry-based take on science. If you are Young-Earth, Apologia's "Exploring Creation with ..." series comes with excellent kits & notebooks that make it open-and-go, but they do not do a good job of explaining what non-creationist scientists believe. Again, troubleshooting this in the spring or summer will make the fall go easier.

 

... I think that's a good first pass of my advice! If you are Christian and interested in Classical Conversations, as Pam mentioned you could start that this year. I really would try to get the kinks worked out and be pretty comfortable with your choices before the next school year starts, for the smoothest beginning possible.

 

Also note that WTM is classical with a twist -- "neo-classical" is a popular way to put it -- Latin Centered Curriculum and Memoria Press' program are closer to classical-classical.

 

one last heads-up: I see you'll have a 5th grader next year? You might want to hang out on the Logic board, esp. to get a feel for placing her in a writing program. 5th or 6th are times when many start Writing With Skill; you'll probably want to do some Writing With Ease with her first, or maybe a different program, and Logic is a good place to troubleshoot this. The work can really pick up in 5th esp. if you haven't been "classical" all along.

 

:)

[alwayslearning]

You guys are amazing! Thank you so much! Ok, I just went through this entire book all afternoon/evening, and plotted out curriculum for next year (baseline, of course). We will be beginning the logic phase even though my oldest is 4th grade, he is incredibly advanced and given what we are studying this year (it is so weird what we are doing this year that is in sync with WTM!!! Like, creepy strange) ... we are going to do the 6th/2nd paths next year - which I am so thrilled about!!!

 

I need to research my curricula now!

 

Math will be pre-algebra, but I am not sure in which program. I know that is such a pivotal point and ugh, I am not sure which to choose.

Logic - have never even seen a logic program, so no idea what to even look for!

History/Geography - I have no problem creating my own lesson plans here

Art History/Skills - same here

English - The 6th grade readings, the writing and grammar I feel solid on (I am a high school English teacher, so feel confident there). I would like to find a good vocabulary program though... hmmm.

Science - again, we have been creating our own curriculum far beyond the texts we've seen. (I tend to be a little student-led in history/science because it leads to so much in-depth learning)

Latin - I really think I want to do this next year. We have been doing Spanish informally...

Bible - with this, I think we will just stick to our Bible studies

Music - just continuing with this in the time period. I am already doing this in our current year; and we have begun piano/music theory

And then building computer skills/typing, etc.

 

So really, Latin, logic, math and vocabulary ... those are the ones I need to figure out.

 

Now that I know what my goals are for next year, I can tweak our second semester to prepare.

 

Memory work - I am so bad about that!!! So I can definitely get that in motion this year.

 

I can see where this really bumps up the rigor in our academics, but this is probably a good time to impose that before he gets older with a pre-teen 'tude! :) hahaha

 

Thank you so much! I will check out the logic board, as well. :)

 

Jen

[Chrysalis Academy]

Welcome! This is a great place to get suggestions, no one is shy about telling you what they think! Sift through it all, and make your own choices, then when something doesn't work out, be willing to change - that is my best advice!

 

But for specifics: We are using Latin Prep 1 from Galore Park and we love it. It's usually recommended for around 5th grade/10 yo, so would be perfect for you. We used the Big Book of Lively Latin in 3rd/4th grade, I like Latin Prep much better, but LL is good for youngers.

 

For Logic, lots of folks here have suggested Art of Argument, and I've got a copy to start using next year. No actual experience implementing yet, but it looks great!

 

For vocabulary, I absolutely adore Caesar's English, from Michael Clay Thomas/Royal Fireworks Press. It's part of a bigger language arts program you might want to check out, but IMO is worth it even if it's the only piece of the bigger program that you do. Every other lesson is Latin roots, every other lesson is (mostly) Latin-based vocab words, in the order of frequency in which words show up in classic literature. We run into these words *all the time* in our read alouds, and the vocabulary enrichment of both my girls has been phenomenal.

 

Math - I don't feel qualified to suggest math for anyone else!! We use Math Mammoth and it works great for us, we supplement with Life of Fred and have done most of Beast Academy 3A & 3B. I definitely suggest you checking out the placement tests on websites, samples, etc. to get a feel for the different programs out there.

 

Good luck, and have fun!

[Bang!Zoom!]

In addition to WTM, don't forget there is a second major publication that compliments the ideals, and that book is by Susan Wise Bauer and is titled, "The Well Educated Mind".

 

As big a punch as WTM holds, so does WEM.

[acurtis75]

Two good resources for Latin and Logic materials are Classical Academic Press and Memoria. I prefer the Classical Academic Press materials but have used Memoria Press and their materials are good as well.

[acurtis75]

You didn't mention where your students are currently in math but based on grade level it sounds like they will be starting preAlgebra early. There are a lot of threads lately about options for young students doing pre-algebra which you probably want to search/review but here's a list of what I recall.

 

Mathusee - not a popular choice for parents here but I like it because it was very easy for me to accelerate. We use it as a spine and have completed the alpha - epsilon books over the last couple of years. At the pace we are moving we will finish Zeta and pre-algebra fairly quickly and then we'll probably switch to Aops.

 

Aops - beast academy is very popular for elementary. We use it as a supplement and dd loves it. Once you move in to their pre-algebra and above books they are way more challenging and really designed for kids who enjoy math.

 

Singapore - lots of people use and love it so you should look at it. We just didn't like the format. We do use the challenging word problems as a supplement.

 

Teaching textbooks and Life of Fred have also been suggested for young pre-algebra students.

 

There are others but these are the ones that come to mind first.

[alwayslearning]

In addition to WTM, don't forget there is a second major publication that compliments the ideals, and that book is by Susan Wise Bauer and is titled, "The Well Educated Mind".

 

As big a punch as WTM holds, so does WEM.

 

Oh thank you - I didn't realize there was another one. :)

[alwayslearning]

You didn't mention where your students are currently in math but based on grade level it sounds like they will be starting preAlgebra early.

 

Yes, I am trying to see where our gaps are and make sure we have a solid foundation before moving on. Thank you for the titles you mentioned - I will begin researching everything! :)

[alwayslearning]

Two good resources for Latin and Logic materials are Classical Academic Press and Memoria. I prefer the Classical Academic Press materials but have used Memoria Press and their materials are good as well.

 

I was looking at the Memoria site and saw Introduction to Logic ... but it said 8th grade. Would this make my son's head spin? I never took logic (I really am not good at it, truth be told... reasonable - not logical hah) so I have no grid for even knowing where we would start.

[acurtis75]

 

 

Yes, I am trying to see where our gaps are and make sure we have a solid foundation before moving on. Thank you for the titles you mentioned - I will begin researching everything! :)

 

Mathusee and math mammoth are good options for filling gaps. MM is a lot cheaper fom what I understand. Since I started with mus and have a SIL with 5 kids who uses my books when I'm done I was willing to spend the money on mus because dd liked it and it's easy to accelerate through. Whichever you choose the method I have been using after suggestions for others here is watching the lesson for a chapter. Dd then decides whether she wants 1 practice page and the test or can just do the test to test out of that chapters work. If she struggles ith the worksheet practice we do an extra worksheet or two and spend a few days on the topic before doing the test.

[acurtis75]

 

 

I was looking at the Memoria site and saw Introduction to Logic ... but it said 8th grade. Would this make my son's head spin? I never took logic (I really am not good at it, truth be told... reasonable - not logical hah) so I have no grid for even knowing where we would start.

 

We haven't started formal logic but when we do I was leaning towards Art of Arguement. Maybe someone else uses Memoria and could better answer about logic level. Even though my dd is very advanced because we have a pretty full schedule i haven't added formal logic lessons yet. We have just been supplementing with things like Mindbenders from Critical Thinking Company.

[NittanyJen]

 

So really, Latin, logic, math and vocabulary ... those are the ones I need to figure out.

 

Now that I know what my goals are for next year, I can tweak our second semester to prepare.

 

Memory work - I am so bad about that!!! So I can definitely get that in motion this year.

 

I can see where this really bumps up the rigor in our academics, but this is probably a good time to impose that before he gets older with a pre-teen 'tude! :) hahaha

 

Thank you so much! I will check out the logic board, as well. :)

 

Jen

 

What you choose will really vary family by family!

 

Some ideas to mull over:

 

Latin: Lively Latin has worked well here. There are many other options discussed throughout the boards though.

 

Logic: We started with Mind Bender puzzles (grid style puzzles that go by many names, depending upon who publishes them; Mind Benders are the Critical Thinking Co name). We also have worked on Red Herring Mysteries, computer programming, and The Fallacy Detective (not completely secular, FYI). We'll be moving on to more formal logic next semester, and continuing with computer programming as well.

 

Math: We love Life of Fred as a standalone curriculum. It is very quirky-- works for some, not so much for others. There are currently three pre-Algebra books after Fractions and Decimals/Percents; there were only two when my older son went through the series and he did fine (Biology and Economics). There are many popular titles available; the key is to work with what works with your kid-- straightforward textbook (Lial's Forster, Dolciani), student-directed challenges to chew upon that don't necessarily give you every step, but certainly still give you the information to put it all together (Life of Fred, Art of Problem Solving)

 

Vocabulary: Two very worthy ways to go here are Vocabulary Workshop and Michael Clay Thompson's series (Caesar's English and Word Within the Word). They are both excellent.

 

Memory Work: Poetry is a good way to go here. Poems both silly and serious. The kings and queens of England. Key sections of the periodic table. Presidents. States and Capitals. Things that actually interest your child (names of Roman and Greek deities? Oceans of the world? Key American Artists?).

 

Have fun and good luck!