plain jane Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 (edited) These following books have been in my amazon wishlist for quite some time now. I'm finally going to go ahead and order a few (2-3) of them. Can you please tell me what your faves have been or which you would buy/have been hoping to buy for yourself: The Case for Classical Christian Education by Douglas Wilson Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning by Douglas Wilson Repairing the Ruins edited by Douglas Wilson Climbing Parnassus by Tracy Lee Simmons Loyola and the Education System of the Jesuits by Thomas Hughes The Seven Laws of Teaching by John Milton Gregory The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric by Sister Mirium Joseph Edited March 8, 2009 by plain jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I talk to the trees Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 I have the Trivium book by Sister Miriam Joseph, and am so glad I bought it! I thought I had a grasp on English grammar until I read this book, but there is so much in there that I never learned, and probably never would have. I love the clarity of the examples she gives. This one gets my vote! -Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janie Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 The Seven Laws of Teaching by John Milton Gregory is a must. A short and succinct must-have. I've read all of the Wilson books. Since we were already heavily "into" classical education, they were rather anti-climatic for me. But of those you listed, I would favor Repairing the Ruins. Two books that are not on your list that I think every educator should read are The Art of Teaching by Gilbert Highet and Norms and Nobility by Hicks. Both are very accessible and informative. Now one I push every way I turn is Marva Collins' Way (Collins & Tamarkin). Marva Collins writes her story as an educator, a classical one at that! Don't miss this one. I keep it by my bedside for those nights when I need educator-encouragement. I have a huge list of educator books, if you ever want to see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 I have a huge list of educator books, if you ever want to see it. Oh, I would love to see your list. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janie Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Hi Jane, Thanks for your message, Jane. I'll post my list here; maybe others will benefit too. Also included in the list are my favorite teacher movies that I pulled off my blog, thus the links. "The Marva Collins Story" is one of my all-time favorites. Enjoy! “The Lost Tools of Learning.†Sayers, Dorothy. A Student's Guide to the Core Curriculum. Henrie. A Student's Guide to Philosophy. McInerny. A Student's Guide to U.S. History. McClay. A Student's Guide to the Study of History. Lukacs. A Student's Guide to Literature. Young. A Student's Guide to Classics. Thornton. A Student's Guide to Liberal Learning. Schall. Another Sort of Learning. Schall. You Can Teach Your Child Successfully. Beechick. Teaching Children. Lopez. The Way They Learn. Tobia. Cultural Literacy. Hirsch Classical Education. Veith and Kern. Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum. Berquist. For the Children’s Sake. MacAulay. Marva Collins’ Way. Collins and Tamarkin. Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education. Hicks. Ordinary Children, Extraordinary Teachers. Collins.Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning. Wilson. Repairing the Ruins. Wilson, Douglas, ed. The Devil Knows Latin. Kopff. The Priceless Gift. Hirschberg. The Well-Trained Mind. Wise and Bauer The Well-Educated Mind. Bauer. Discipleship of the Mind. Sire. The Habits of the Mind. Sire. The Seven Laws of Teaching. Gregory. Building a Christian Academy. Holmes. The Art of Teaching. Highet. The Elements of Teaching. Banner & Cannon. A Thomas Jefferson Education. DeMille. Teaching Redemptively. Graham. Putting Feet to the Trivium. Garfield. How Now Shall We Live. Colson & Pearcey. Total Truth. Pearcey. The Passionate Teacher. Fried. The Passionate Learner. Fried. The Courage to Teach. Palmer. Climbing Parnassus. Simmons. Recalling Education. Curtler. The Abolition of Man, C. S. Lewis Recalling Education, Hugh Mercer Cutler Wisdom And Eloquence: A Christian Paradigm for Classical Learning, Littlejohn and Evans Homeschooling for Excellence, Colfax Teaching the Classics: A Socratic Method for Literary Education (DVDs), Center for Literary Education The Knowledge Deficit (Hirsch) Classics in the Classroom (Jago) The Knowledge Deficit (Hirsch) With Rigor for All (Jago) The Excellent 11 (Clark) The Essential 55 (Clark) Teacher-story books: Marva Collins’ Way. Collins and Tamarkin. To Teach, To Love. Jesse Stuart The Queen of Education. Johnson, Louanne Making Waves. Johnson. Dangerous Minds. Johnson. My Posse Don’t Do Homework. Johnson. There are No Shortcuts. Esquith. Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire. Esquith Laying down the law. Clark, Joe[continue to search for this] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janie Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Favorite Teacher Movies ·A Touch of Greatness ·Akeelah and the Bee ·Antwone Fisher ·Coach Carter ·Conrack ·Dangerous Minds ·Finding Forrester ·Freedom Writers ·Goodbye, Mr. Chips ·Knights of the South Bronx ·Lean on Me ·Mr. Holland's Opus ·Music of the Heart ·October Sky ·Renaissance Man ·Something the Lord Made ·Stand and Deliver ·The Emperor's Club ·The Great Debaters ·The Hobart Shakespeareans ·The Man Without a Face ·The Marva Collins Story ·The Miracle Worker ·The Reading Room ·The Ron Clark Story ·To Serve Them All My Days ·To Sir, With Love ·Tom Brown's Schooldays Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon H in IL Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Cool beans, Janie! Thanks for typing all that out. I didn't personally find the Marva Collins books all that inspiring. I came away wondering how in heaven's name she managed to run a household and mother her children if she spent every evening grading papers and mapping out a program of education for each child for the next day and year. (And with little to no income from all that work.) My impression of Climbing Parnassus was that the author was trying to convince us that Latin and Greek were too **** hard to attempt, but we should do it anyway because it would do something for our brains in the future. He was never too clear about what that benefit was. Lots and lots of anecdotes about how very, very hard Latin and Greek are. It was, frankly, depressing. I had no idea that Sr. Miriam's book was a reference book on grammar when I bought it. I was expecting something along the lines of the Bluedorn's I suppose. [shaking my head at my inability to read the publisher's notes on Amazon :tongue_smilie:] It is truly in-depth. But it's not a book to read through, if you see what I mean. I think I began to understand how it was possible to educate oneself without college when I first read Kendall Hailey's "The Day I Became and Autodidact." Here's a short section from early in the book. "The dreary rigors of formal education are in full swing. Mine is a progressive school. The faculty allows the students to call them by their first names, all except Madame Tokar, who refuses to be called anything but Madame Tokar, and frankly I cannot imagine ever wanting to call her anything else. The highlight of the first day was learning how little schooling Benjamin Franklin had. Inspired by my commitment to being an autodidact, I felt compelled to ask: If Benjamin Franklin had done all he had done without ever going to high school, why are we all here? I could not have expected my teacher to have an answer for that one. Except perhaps to answer me with a question: If I had to be in high school, why did I have to be in her class? Luckily, that was a question she was too gracious to pose." (She further learns how little education Tolstoy had in formal schools. And Flaubert failed his law exams, before being allowed by his family to devote all his time to literature at home. This she finds encouraging.) Another great book about classical education that I read long before I knew I wanted to have it for my own children was "The Founders and the Classics: Greece, Rome, and the American Enlightenment" by Carl J. Richard. IMO, this book explains just exactly *why* classical education is so useful to the formation of great minds: The very thing I wish Climbing Parnassus addressed. And lastly, all the books by C.S. Lewis are, to my mind, exhortations on the benefit of a classical education. To be able to think that clearly seems to be impossible without a mind shaped and trained by rigorous study and analysis. He explains how he thinks about topics, and it is not in any sense *modern.* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Thanks for the lists Janie, and great info Sharon. What a great thread, good question, Jane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in St Louis Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Wilson's Case for Classical Education. I remember thinking I really liked it UNTIL I got to the chapter about homeschooling when he said Christian mothers would be better off volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center and sending the kiddos to a classical school. I know what he meant (like, you'd need to have that kind of school available and be able to afford it), but it rubbed me the wrong way. Rest of it -- :thumbup1: Melissa in St Louis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katalaska Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 To this great list of movies, I have one more--A Test of Love (similar topic to The Miracle Worker). http://www.amazon.com/Test-Love-Angela-Punch-McGregor/dp/6300184005/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=video&qid=1236558377&sr=8-3 Favorite Teacher Movies ·A Touch of Greatness ·Akeelah and the Bee ·Antwone Fisher ·Coach Carter ·Conrack ·Dangerous Minds ·Finding Forrester ·Freedom Writers ·Goodbye, Mr. Chips ·Knights of the South Bronx ·Lean on Me ·Mr. Holland's Opus ·Music of the Heart ·October Sky ·Renaissance Man ·Something the Lord Made ·Stand and Deliver ·The Emperor's Club ·The Great Debaters ·The Hobart Shakespeareans ·The Man Without a Face ·The Marva Collins Story ·The Miracle Worker ·The Reading Room ·The Ron Clark Story ·To Serve Them All My Days ·To Sir, With Love ·Tom Brown's Schooldays Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaNY Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 I am currently reading Climbing Parnassus. I highly recommend making it your first read on what makes a true Classical education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janie Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Btw, since I use Netflix, I just hopped over and typed in "Test of Love." When this popped up, I knew you must have linked a different "Test of Love"! "Arturo and Carmen are star-crossed lovers. Everything is getting between them: family, flirty friends, and potential mates. Determined to make their love last, they devise a dastardly plan---eliminate those who get between them! Jorge Prior directed this Mexican-produced black comedy." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon H in IL Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Thanks for the lists Janie, and great info Sharon. What a great thread, good question, Jane. Paula, you have made my day. I live for praise from the Bees. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katalaska Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 :tongue_smilie: Here's the summary for A Test of Love: Due to an ignorant misdiagnosis, a disabled little girl was institutionalized at the age of three, and subsequently spent her entire childhood in a hospital for the severely retarded. A caring therapist helped her to prove her intellectual capability. It is based on a book...an out of print book...trying to think of the title. Had to go to my VHS tape...the movie is based on Annie's Coming Out by Rosemary Crossley and Anne McDonald. http://www.amazon.com/Annies-Coming-Out-Rosemary-Crossley/dp/0140056882/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236573599&sr=8-1 Btw, since I use Netflix, I just hopped over and typed in "Test of Love." When this popped up, I knew you must have linked a different "Test of Love"! "Arturo and Carmen are star-crossed lovers. Everything is getting between them: family, flirty friends, and potential mates. Determined to make their love last, they devise a dastardly plan---eliminate those who get between them! Jorge Prior directed this Mexican-produced black comedy." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Paula, you have made my day. I live for praise from the Bees. :D :D:D:D:D:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepy Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 If you're really dedicated to the idea of a classical education, I think Climbing Parnassus is worth every penny. I haven't read The Trivium, by Sister Miriam Joseph, but it is on my wishlist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMindy Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 These following books have been in my amazon wishlist for quite some time now. I'm finally going to go ahead and order a few (2-3) of them. Can you please tell me what your faves have been or which you would buy/have been hoping to buy for yourself: The Case for Classical Christian Education by Douglas Wilson Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning by Douglas Wilson Repairing the Ruins edited by Douglas Wilson Climbing Parnassus by Tracy Lee Simmons Loyola and the Education System of the Jesuits by Thomas Hughes The Seven Laws of Teaching by John Milton Gregory The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric by Sister Mirium Joseph Quite honestly, I don't enjoy reading Doug Wilson, even though the very first book I ever read about classical ed was by him. His tone grates on my nerves and I can't enjoy the books even though I enjoy the ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.