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Taken from TJEd.org.
There are 4 phases of learning: Core Phase, roughly ages 0-8; Love of Learning Phase, roughly 8-12; Scholar Phase, roughly 12-16; and Depth Phase, roughly 16-22. Beyond this come the Applicational Phases of Mission and Impact, where we each set out and accomplish our unique missions in life, and fulfill our role as societal elder and mentor to the rising generation. During Core Phase work times and play times are scheduled, with children allowed to choose their own subjects of play during play time. As they get older, play includes reading, math and other subjects that students choose to engage for fun. At the beginning of the Love of Learning Phase a student might choose a structure of 1 or 2 or 3 hours a day of set study time; it is important that the student choose it, and that the mentor help the student learn accountability for his choice. If the student won’t choose it, you haven’t inspired him yet—get to work. Don’t fall back into requiring. Pay the price to inspire, and trust the process–it’s the only way to get the result of the student owning their role as a self-educator. By the early Scholar Phase a student will likely be studying 6-8 hours a day on topics of their deepest interest. During the Scholar and Depth Phases, the student increases the structured time and goes into more depth. Taken from TJEd.org.
1. Classics, not Textbooks 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. 2. Mentors, not Professors The professor/expert tells the students, invites them to conform to certain ideas and standards, and grades or otherwise rewards/punishes them for their various levels of conformity. In contrast, the mentor finds out the student’s goals, interests, talents, weaknesses, strengths and purpose, and then helps him develop and carry out a plan to prepare for his unique mission. 3. Inspire, not Require There are really only two ways to teach—you can inspire the student to voluntarily and enthusiastically choose to do the hard work necessary to get a great education, or you can attempt to require it of them. Instead of asking, “what can I do to make these students perform?” the great teacher says, “I haven’t yet become truly inspirational. What do I need to do so that these students will want to do the hard work to get a superb education?” 4. Structure Time, not Content Great mentors help their students establish and follow a consistent schedule, but they don’t micromanage the content. Great teachers and schools encourage students to pursue their interests and passions during their study time. 5. Quality, not Conformity With the student feeling inspired and working hard to get a great education, the mentor should give appropriate feedback and help. But the feedback should ideally not take the form of common “grading”, but rather personalized feedback, commenting on the particular strengths of a work, including clarity of expression, original thought, technical precision, correlation of principles and ideas, effectiveness of argumentation or other reader appeal, etc. 6. Simplicity, not Complexity The more complex the curriculum, the more reliant the student becomes on experts, and the more likely the student is to get caught up in the Requirement/Conformity trap. Great teachers train great thinkers, and great leaders, by keeping it simple: students study the greatest minds and characters in history in every field, write about and discuss what is learned in numerous settings, and apply what is learned in various ways under the tutelage of a mentor. 7. YOU, not Them If you think these principles are about improving your child’s or student’s education, you will never have the power to inspire them to do the hard work of self-education. 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 he does have to be setting the example. Many people who are used to a conveyor belt education might not agree with this schedule for teaching writing to children and youth. I have started to see that this is working with my own children and those I mentor in our scholar classes, so I'd like to share a bit of what I've learned. Young children should start learning to "write" through narration, or in other words, talking. Ask your children about their day. Ask them for details and descriptions. Occasionally write what they are telling you. My girls wanted to write in a journal and write stories before they could really write, so they would simply tell me what they wanted me to write. They still love to go back to those first stories they created! Another form of narration is to have them retell a story you have read to them. Narration leads to descriptive writing. Asking questions is again encouraged here as you ask them to go into detail about characters, events, places, etc. It is wonderful to have them draw pictures to go along with the words. I purchased a fun book filled with pictures you can show your child and ask them to write about what they see. This is especially helpful for visual learners. Expository writing will naturally follow description as the previous two will help your child learn to enjoy writing. A great time to begin teaching this is around the age of 12. Once a child has learned to use exposition, they will be in a position to write persuasively. In our scholar classes, we have our youth write persuasive essays almost weekly. I have had the privilege of watching their thoughts and writing abilities grow and find great joy in reading their essays. If we skip any of these steps, we are encouraging a hate of writing, which a couple of my children have experienced as I didn't know these principles until fairly recently. It has taken a lot of time to overcome their dislike of writing. I can't say they like it much better yet, but they are willing to try and are improving with each assignment. We should help our children never lose sight of creative writing as this will help them in all of their other writings. Many homeschool moms and students alike are intimidated by writing. If we can remember the purpose of writing is to feel joy in creating something of their own and to build their confidence, then we have accomplished something great! Tanya Simler |
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