At the Risk of Offence - Share Your Concerns

"Well, Captain Smollett, what have you to say?  All well, I hope; all shipshape and seaworthy?"
"Well, sir" said the captain, "better speak plain, I believe, even at the risk of offence.  I don't like this cruise; I don't like the men; and I don't like my officer.  That's the short and sweet."

How would this treasure hunt have been different if  Squire Trelawney had heeded the concerns of the captain instead of finding offence in his warnings?

Do we ever find offence when someone has the courage to disagree appropriately with us; when they warn us or try to help us see that we are on a course headed straight for disaster?

Title Swap

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Obama's America by Dinesh D'souza

A Man For All Seasons by Robert Bolt

Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff

Tales from the Odyssey by Mary Pope Osborn

Title Swap

The Talent Code - Daniel Coyle
The Life and Times of Fredrick Douglass (audio discs)
The Land - Mildred D. Taylor
Liberty and Freedom - David Hackett Fischer
Children's Classics - Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf; Saint-Seans: Carnival of Animals; Britten: Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (CD)

The Prosperity of America is Due to the Superiority of Their Women

"As for myself, I do not hesitate to avow that although the women of the United States are confined within the narrow circle of domestic life, and their situation is in some respects one of extreme dependence, I have nowhere seen women occupying a loftier position; and if I were asked, to what the singular prosperity and growing strength of that people ought mainly to be attributed, I should reply,—to the superiority of their women."

“Thoughts on A Thomas Jefferson Education", by Sara Sweet

Sometimes, with the right lens fitted to view our world, it takes on a new shape and focus. Several months ago, I began reading the education philosophies presented by Oliver DeMille who, along with his wife and other colleagues, has written several books including A Thomas Jefferson Education. His assessment of the needs of children of various ages, as well as their ability and desire to forge an education of their own design, is a very different picture than the current public educational model, which system DeMille calls the Conveyor Belt. What better name for our public educational system which creates copycat thinkers whose main objective is to take their place in an expendable workforce and whose focus is on the acquisition of things and power. On the contrary, DeMille advocates an educational model based on the historic practices of many of our young country’s leaders and centered on the idea of inspiring youth to become virtuous leaders of self, family, community, and nation that he calls Leadership Education. But is such a different educational approach necessary? What kind of impact could this alternate education have in our lives, community and culture?

Recently, our family invited the missionaries serving in our church over for dinner. While visiting with these young men, I realized that they had little aspiration for the future. One wants to attend college and major in entertainment (theater) but is not sure how he would apply that education. The other is unsure what he wants to study after his mission. These boys seemed to me to have very little vision or passion for their current or future life situation. I have witnessed many young adults and young couples with little ambition as well, where they find themselves chasing what I call the New American Dream, which consists of little else than acquisition. A big house, expensive car, home theater and other forms and devices meant for entertainment, and the resulting debt from all such spending are the mediocre end goals being pursued in our day, and this only after individuals are burned out from a long period of self-indulgence during their teenage and early adult years. Marriage and children along with the rewarding sacrifices of creating and rearing a family are no longer prized, nor are the noble pursuits of charity, contribution, and as DeMille points out, the two great achievements of public virtue and liber.

If this is the reality of the younger generations, our culture is on a steep downturn. Without something to counteract the slippery slope of selfishness, apathy, and a typically lazy pursuit of indulgence, what kind of future can we expect?

Being new to theories and ideas presented by DeMille, it seems presumptive for me to represent his philosophies as the answer to all society’s ills. However, I personally feel inspired through my study to implement his theories in my home with great expectations. After reading his educational philosophies, I now envision a revised home school for our family that is filled with character building classic literature, teamwork, inspiration, self discovery, self motivation, and history (to provide a lengthy context and true compass in a world without either). I anticipate that refocusing my efforts in the home on people and processes, rather than skills and subjects, I will be able to provide the learning tools and  environment my children need to build their own vision and motivation for their futures, and the future of the communities in which the y live. I hope that through classic works and exposure to mentors both past and present, the y will develop a firm grasp on whom the y ought to emulate, and the real impact of their efforts. I also anticipate that through the ir own interested pursuits, the y will build a skill set that will have a depth and breadth only attainable through internal motivation and priority. I personally have much to learn and so much to change about myself and my home to make these worthy goals a reality, and I hope that through these efforts to do so I will lessen the distance between the ideal “self” that my children see of themselves at any given moment, and who the y want to become. In shortening the distance between who the y are and who the y want to be, I envision that they can become true leaders of self, family and community, possible even of our nation or world.

When someone asks my children ten years from now of their aspirations, as I did of the missionaries who visited our home, I envision that they will have firm answers, a plotted course, the skills to articulate and achieve their vision, and the charity to invite o the rs along on their surefooted path. If my children are able to accomplish these feats, they will have their roots in DeMille’s Leadership Education and a future that is boundless.

Title Swap

Books
Weapons of Mass Instruction - John Taylor Gatto
Wild Swans - Jung Chang
The Child Whisperer - Carol Tuttle
The Story of the World -
Right Start Math Games

DVD's
Amazing Grace
Alone, Yet Not Alone
Mom's Night Out

Web Sites
TED: Build A School in the Cloud by Sugata Mitra
TED SOLE
http://loveofplaymathmatics.blogspot.com/
https://xtramath.org/

How to Inspire Great Readers

Begin with Basic Tools

Did you know that over 90% of the English language is phonetically correct?  I have personally always struggled with spelling and when I heard this statistic, I wanted proof.  I found “proof” in my favorite resource, Spell to Write and Read.  I cannot give this program enough praise.  It is truly the secret to our families reading success.  You can find it at http://www.bhibooks.net/home.html

A Vacuum of Stimulation

Just like any other habit in your life that you want to create, you must make room for it.   No child would ever pick up a book on their own if they are allowed unlimited time with Television, Movies, Internet, and Video Games. If you want to raise a good reader, it is time to UNPLUG your family and let your children become very, very bored.  This may take some time to adjust too, that I like to refer as “detoxing.”  After a week or two of no electronic stimulation, your children will be craving new ideas – and that is where books come into the picture. 

Besides too much electronic stimulation squishing any desire to read, children can also spend too much time with friends, sports, dance, and other activities such as roaming the neighborhood.  Freeing their schedule up and allowing your children to have hours of “boredom” will highly increase their desire to read quit naturally.

Poetry

Did you know that the average American functions at only a 4^th-grade reading level? This is the level that we read newspapers, hear and understand our media and speak daily to one another.  How do we surpass this average and start thriving at a higher level?  POETRY! Add it to your student’s daily lives through reading it, memorizing it, reciting it, and copying it.  Poetry gives us a superior form of patterns of the English language at all levels.

Time, Not Content

Great mentors help their students establish and follow a consistent schedule, but they don’t micromanage the content.  Indeed, micro-management has become one of the real poisons of modern education. Encourage students to pursue their interests and passions during their study time.  For example:  Set aside a half hour a day for your student to read, but let them choose what it is they read.

Classics, Not Textbooks

No one can deny the value of a great idea well communicated. The inspiration, innovation and ingenuity inherent in great ideas elevate those who study them.  Great ideas are most effectively learned directly from the greatest thinkers, historians, artists, philosophers and prophets, and their original works. Great works inspire greatness, just as mediocre or poor works usually inspire mediocre and poor achievement.  The great accomplishments of humanity are the key to quality education. Study original sources — the intellectual and creative works of the world’s great thinkers, artists, scientists, etc., in the form they were produced.  Refer to the “Fantastic Reads for All Ages”book list for ideas for class titles.  Introduce new classics to your student by reading them aloud together.

Audio Books

A person can often understand concepts and vocabulary at a much higher level and rate when they are listening to a book, instead of reading it.  Listening to audio books is fantastic way to introduce your student to classics, which would be too difficult for them to read independently.  (This really works! My ten-year-old son recently no only listened to unabridged production of Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre,” he loved it too.)  Listening to great classics improves vocabulary, pronunciation, and comprehension.

Inspire With Your Example

Focus on your education, and invite them along for the ride. Read the classics in all fields, find mentors who inspire and demand quality, structure your days to include study time for yourself, and become a person who inspires great education.  A parent or teacher doesn’t have to be an “expert” to inspire great education (the classics provide the expertise), but he does have to be setting the example.

Fantastic Reads For All Ages

Children and Family Read Alouds

Aesop’s Fables

Andersen’s Fairy Tales

Beauty and the Beast

The Besty-Tacy Series, Maud Lovelace

The Blind Men and the Elephant, Karen Backstein

The Caterbury Tales, Retold, Barbara Cooney

“Casey at the Bat” , Ernest Thayler

Charlotte’s Web, E. B. White

A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

Cinderella

Dinotopia Series, James Gurney

Dr. Seuss books

The Emperor’s New Clothes

Five Chinese Brothers, Bishop

The Gift of the Magi, O. Henry

The Giving Tree, Shel Sliverstein

“God Save the Flag”, Oliver Wendelll Holmes

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Grimm’s Fairy Tales

Hansel and Gretel

Jack and the Beanstalk

Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving

“Lincoln, The Man of the People”

Little Boy Blue

The Little Engine That Could

The Little House Series, Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Little Red Hen

Little Red Riding Hood

Make Way for Duklings, Robert McCloskey

Madeline, Bemelmans

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Burton

The Mitten, Brett

McGuffey’s Readers

Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes

“Paul Revere’s Ride, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Perloo The Bold, Avi

Peter Pan, J. M. Barrie

Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

Pinocchio

Pollyanna, Eleanor Porter

The Princess and the Pea

Puss in Boots

Rapunzel

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Kipling

Rip Van Winkle,Carol Ottoleghi

Robin Hood, Roger Lancelyn Green

Saint George and the Dragon, Trina Hyman

Sleeping Beauty

Snowflake Bentley, Azarian

Song and Dance Man, Ackerman

The Song of Hiawatha, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

Snow White

Stone Soup, Brown

The Story About Ping, Marjorie Flack

The Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf

The Story Of The Other Wise Man,Henry Van Dyke

Tales from the Arabian Nights, Geraldine McCaughreanGeraldine

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

The Three Little Pigs

The Ugly Duckling

Tom Thumb

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears -Aardma

The Wind in the Willows, Grahame

Winnie-the-Pooh, Milne

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Frank Baum

Reads for Youth
A Door in the Wall, De Angeli

Alice In Wonderland, Carroll

Animal Farm, Orwell

Asimov on Numbers, Asimov

The Anne of Green Gablesseries, Montgomery

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

“Battle Hymn of the Republic“, Julia Ward Howe

The Bears of Hemlock Mountain, Dagliesh

Ben-Hur, Wallace, Johnson

Brighty: Of the Grand Canyon, Henry

Black Beauty, Sewell

The Black Stallion series, Farley

The Book of Three, Alexander

Caddie Woodlawn, Brink

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, Latham

The Chronicles of Narnia series, Lewis

Collected Works of Edgar A. Guest

“The Concord Hymn“, Emerson

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Twain

The Constitution of the United States

The Courage of Sarah Noble, Dagliesh

David Copperfield, Dickens

Davy Crockett Legends

The Declaration of Independence

The Diary of a Young Girl, Frank

The Doctor Dolittleseries, Lofting

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson

Dred Scott Decision

The Education of Henry Adams, Adams

Eight Cousins, Alcott

Emily Post’s Etiquette

“In Flanders Fields“, McCrae

Flatland, Abbott

The Foundation series, Asimov

Frankenstein, Shelley

“The Gettysburg Address,” Lincoln

“The War Inevitable”, Henry

The Great Brain series, Fitzgerald

Gulliver’s Travels, Swift

Mythology, Hamilton

“Hamlet,” Shakespeare

Heidi, Spyri

The Hiding Place, Boom

“The Highwayman”, Alfred Noyes

History Reborn, Anderson

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain

“I Have A Dream,” King

The Incredible Journey, Burnford

The Indian in the Cupboard, Banks

Ivanhoe, Scott

The Hobbit, Tolkein

Island of the Blue Dolphins, O’Dell

Joan of Arc, Twain

Jo’s Boys, Alcott

Journey to the Center of the Earth, Verne

“Julius Caesar,” Shakespeare

The Jungle Book, Kipling

King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table

Laddie, Porter

The Last of the Mohicans, Cooper

“Let America Be America Again,” Hughes

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

The Little Britchesseries, Moody

Little Lord Fauntleroy, Frances Hodgson Burnett

Little Men, Alcott

Little Women, Alcott

The Lonesome Gods, L’AmourThe Lord of the Rings series, Tolkein

The Magic Bicycle, Bibee

“The Man with the Hoe,” Markham

The Matchlock Gun, Edmonds

Mathematicians Are People, Too (2 volumes), Reimer

Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Atwater

Moby-Dick, Melville

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

National Velvet, Bagnold

Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary of the English Language

North to Freedom, Holm

Number the Stars, Lois Lowry

“O Captain! My Captain!,” Whitman

“Old Ironsides,” Holmes

Old Yeller, Gipson

Oliver Twist, Dickens

Paul Bunyan and Other Tall Tales

The Phantom Tollbooth, Juster “The Present Crisis,” Lowell

“The Road Not Taken,” Frost

The Real Benjamin Franklin, Allison

The Real George Washington, Parry

The Real Thomas Jefferson, Allison

The Robe, Douglas

Robinson Crusoe, Defoe

Roll of Thunder; Hear my Cry, Mildred D. Taylor

The Sackett Series, L’Amour

Saxon Math Series

The Secret Garden, Burnett

Soldiers, Statesmen & Heroes, Parry

Sounder, William Howard Armstrong

Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers ,Kavanaugh

Stuart Little, White

Summer of the Monkeys, Rawls

The Swiss Family Robinson, Wyss

Tarzan, Burroughs

The Thief Lord, Cornelia Funke

To Kill a Mocking Bird, Harper Lee

Tom Sawyer, Twain

Treasure Island, Stevenson

The Trumpet of the Swan, White

Tuck Everlastling, Babbitt

White Fang, London

The story of William Tell

Where the Red Fern Grows, Rawls

Reads for Highschool Students/Adults

Acton, The History of Freedom

John Adams, “Thoughts on Government”

Aquinas, “On Kingship”

Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics

Aristotle, Politics

Aristotle, Rhetoric

Augustine, The City of God

Aurelius, Meditations

Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Austen, Sense and Sensibility

Bacon, Novum Organum

Bastiat, The Law

Bastiat, “That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Not Seen”

Benson, “The Proper Role of Government”

Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy

Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles

Bronte, Wuthering Heights

Bronte, Jane Eyre

Carson, The American Tradition

Capra, The Tao of Physics

Cather, my Antonia

Cervantes, Don Quixote

Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Churchill, Collected Speeches

Cicero, The Republic and The Laws

Clausewitz, On War

Confucius, The Analects

Constitution of the United States

Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

Copernicus, On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres

Costain, The Silver Chalice

Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Crane, The Red Badge of Courage

Dante, The Divine Comedy

The Declaration of Independence

Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

Descartes, A Discourse on the Method

Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Dickens, Great Expectations

Dillard, A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

D’Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel

Douglas, Magnificent Obsession

Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

Durant, The Story of Civilization (11 Volume Set)

Einstein, Relativity

Emerson, Essays

Euclid, Elements

Frank, Alas, Babylon

Franklin, Letters and Writings

Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents

Galileo, Two New Sciences

Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Goethe, Faust

Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

Hobbes, Leviathan

Homer, The Iliad

Homer, The Odyssey

Hugo, Les Miserables

Hume, Essays Moral, Political, and Literary

Jefferson, Letters, Speeches and Writings

Keegan, A History of Warfare

Kepler, Epitome

Martin Luther King, Jr., Collected Speeches

Kipling, Captains Courageous

Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Lavoisier, Elements of Chemistry

Lewis, Mere Christianity

Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Lincoln, Great Speeches

Locke, Second Treatise Of Government

Machiavelli, The Prince

Madison, Hamilton and Jay, The Federalist Papers

Marx and Engels, The Communist ManifestoMore, Utopia

The Magna Charta

Mill, On Liberty

Milton, Paradise Regained

Mises, Human Action

The Monroe Doctrine

Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws

Newton, Mathematical Principles

Nicomachus, Introduction to Arithmetic

Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

The Northwest Ordinance

Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four

Plato, Complete Works

Polybius, The Histories

Potok, The Chosen

Plutarch, Lives

Ptolemy, Almagest

Shakespeare, Complete Works

Skousen, The 5000 Year Leap

Skousen, The Majesty of God’s Law

Skousen, The Making of America

Smith, The Wealth of Nations

Solzhenitsyn, “A World Split Apart”

Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago

Sophocles, The Oedipus Trilogy

Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Sun Tzu, The Art Of War

Thackeray, Vanity Fair

Thoreau, Walden

Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Tolstoy, War And Peace

Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War

Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Washington, Letters, Speeches and Writings

Weaver, The Mainspring of Human Progress

Wells, The Invisible Man
Wister, The Virginian