Has anyone heard David Hazell (My Father's World) speak?

[mommaduck]

Again, I know him in real life and know that he would appreciate feedback directly to him if he has personally offended anyone in the booth or in a talk.

 

This has been an interesting discussion to me because I've had mostly very positive experiences listening to his talks and enjoy his presentations for the most part.

 

I think I've picked up the pattern here of the Why's of various reactions to the same talk and speaker. It's what we are listening for to fill in the picture.

 

David is a big picture thinker. In order to appreciate many of his talks, it helps to realize he is always talking big picture.

 

This is how I have heard David's talk about Combining methods.

In Combining Classical, CM and unit studies, he is trying to describe a cross country road trip, but not really wanting to focus on the definitions of the types of roads. He's trying to help listeners see the big picture of finishing the road trip with high goals of classical education without sacrificing the fun parts of other educational methods. He's not really wanting to say that the different types of roads are bad in of themselves. He's trying to show a vision for how and when to use each of them at their best and to avoid them at their "road blocks" to the overall journey. In some of the talks (maybe not in his early season of March and April) he does say that each of those types can finish the job at a different time point in the big picture and not always have the same end result. So, maybe his analogy is breaking down too quickly? I don't know.

 

I got it now why Dawn said something like husbands like listening to him: he's a guy with a guy plan to staying on the road trip to get to the finishing point. He's not trying to say that unit studies or CM or Classical are bad. But trying to stay on the focus on getting as much done from each one as possible.

 

So, I can certainly understand how various people are hearing his definitions in his analogy. But I don't agree with the emotional reaction it is causing. He's trying to present a big picture of a long road trip, not really talking about the zoom in map of the route.

 

So, with that in mind, when you go to one of his workshops, or listen to the online stream I linked to, keep in mind he has his guy brain on and he is talking about the start to finish point of the road trip (Point A and Point B) and keeping big picture focus. He's trying to give an overall analogy. Every analogy has a break down point. Try not to get too upset when how he is trying to quickly define the terms of the analogy (that's where I'm hearing the negative reaction -- the definition of the analogy terms in respect to the trip). Remember, MFW uses Classical and CM and unit studies -- so they like those things. Scenic routes aren't bad. Interstates aren't bad. Old roads aren't bad.

 

It's like driving on the interstate with your family, coming to a rest area and having your dh tell you that the rest time is done and time to get back in the van and keep on. Remember, you do get to the rest areas and scenic routes - they are not bad things. David tries to talk to the big picture of what's going on based on their research and experiences.

 

and it's a lot like talking and listening to my own husband - he gets picky about wrong part of the details that I say.

oh well. Or listening to the same sermon, how different people will pick up different stuff and reaction differently. oh well.

 

Not everyone is going to click with his style. I hope that my positive experiences with most of his workshops can explain why I'm not hearing the same things that others are hearing and shed some light on why I like his talks and it might help others to know if they would like them or not like them.

 

-crystal

 

 

I can so relate to this and I have talked with him on the phone. *I* was the one hitting the hardballs and he took them and answered me very graciously, but without honesty and directness...three qualities I appreciate.

 

We took a detour from their curric and regretted it (this is our family, not yours ;) ). We are going back to MFW this year.

[mommaduck]

I'm listening to the links given. He hit home with me on the types of homeschoolers he runs across. From experience, I agree that he blends Classical, CM, and Unit Study together very well in their curriculum. I can see where some may think he's bashing certain types/people, because of the examples he gives, but it's more along the line that doing something strictly one way is not a be all/end all of how to educate. It may not work with certain families or certain children.

[Donna A.]

I'm listening to the links given. He hit home with me on the types of homeschoolers he runs across. From experience, I agree that he blends Classical, CM, and Unit Study together very well in their curriculum. I can see where some may think he's bashing certain types/people, because of the examples he gives, but it's more along the line that doing something strictly one way is not a be all/end all of how to educate. It may not work with certain families or certain children.

 

:iagree: