The Classical Scholar

The number of home school moms who are actively involved in the daily academic routine of their kids is disproportionately higher than the number of homeschool dads who are involved in the same activities on a daily basis. Shocking revelation? Not really. If you’ve ever been to a homeschooling convention or participated in a home school cooperative, you’ve probably noticed that the parent more frequently in attendance is a mom. Although our culture’s position on this is changing, for our generation, men were raised to assume the roles of provider for and protector of the family, and this is good. However, unless the dad works at home, he is physically absent for most of the day making a living for his family while the homeschool mom stays home to take care of the kids.

I couldn’t find any hard statistics to support my premise, but we all know that in the United States, the modern homeschooling movement has been primarily carried by the women. Now don’t get excited…that’s not to say that our supportive husbands have not been bolstering us, encouraging us, and equipping us behind the scenes. In fact, I would suggest that within the Christian homeschooling community, most men believe that as head of the household, the education of their children is ultimately and finally their responsibility. I read a homeschooling Dad’s comment once that he was “just as responsible, just not as available.” As such, it takes a creative Dad to overcome the demands of a busy career to impart knowledge and wisdom to his children on a regular basis.

Classical scholars reject the traditional educational paradigm which states that learning begins and ends with the “school” day. Learning can happen at any time of the day or night, weekends included, in any circumstances (It’s really important to drive home this point when the kids are young or they might resent instruction on the weekends when they get older.) This is where Dad needs to be creative with instruction and take every chance he gets. (I know you’re tired, Dad, after a long day of work, but if you are alert to teaching opportunities, your brief interludes can yield multiple results!)

My husband, David, manages to creatively squeeze instruction into normal conversations with the kids by seeing every topic as a springboard for further review and learning. For instance, last week, I took notes during our morning Bible time reading the book of 1 Kings at the kitchen table just to show you how he covered more meaningful content in 45 minutes than I sometimes do in a day!

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Here’s the scoop. Although King David wanted to build Yahweh a house, the Lord told David no; his son, Solomon, would build the Temple in Jerusalem. The passage in 1 Kings goes into a lot of detail about the construction, and when we came across the measurement “cubit,” we checked the footnote to see how that converted to inches. Well, it turns out that a cubit is 18 inches in length, so David told our 13 year old to go to the whiteboard and perfom some “real-live” math. Connor groaned, but he knew what was coming because he’s used to our mantra that “all of life is learning.” He began calculating, and soon shared with us the dimensions of the Temple in length, width, and height. Well, that wasn’t too bad…after all these were linear dimensions and straight multiplication. Connor sat back down. But then, we read the next section which described the circumference of the pillars. Uh oh. Connor knew what was coming. David launched into a mathematical discussion of pi and the Greek philosophy behind their fascination with this unique number, and soon Connor was recalling the formula for circumference and calculating the pillar measurement.

During the course of our reading that morning, David used Socratic Dialogue (ask leading questions…don’t tell them the answer) to explore the following additional areas of learning that came straight out of the text:

• Literary analysis - David likes to closely read the text, so we talked about construction of the passage and how the writer made a general statement then went on to particularize that statement with details
• Religion - The writer mentions 2 pagans: Solomon’s Egyptian wife and King Hiram of Tyre who provided the cypress wood for construction of the Temple, so we briefly talked about the possible pagan influence especially the cows used in the Temple “bath” (the basin filled with water for offerings.) This bath was sitting on 12 oxen sculptures. Cows were worshipped in Egypt and Tyre as fertility gods. Remember the golden calf of the Exodus?
• History - Bronze is used in the Temple utensils, so we had a quick history on dating the text through the observance of weapons and tools (Bronze Age versus Iron Age)

Now none of that teaching was preplanned. My husband does it ALL the time. (The kids are always on the spot when Dad is home.) He just pays attention to what’s going on at the moment and uses what he already knows to lead a discussion. Sometimes he explains, but more often, he asks questions then explains. Dad can use all of life to teach and participate in the home school…whether he is playing racquetball with the kids, changing a tire, cutting firewood, or reading Scripture. All it takes is a Dad who is a lifelong learner and alert to the possibilities for learning.

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Dad’s involvement is only one of the 7 essential elements of a classical Christian homeschool. Learn more by clicking on the link.

Although a classical Christian home education is academically rigorous, you should still make time for meaningful extracurricular activities like sports. In the early childhood years, experiment with a variety of activities so that you can be more intentional in the high school years as you are preparing the transcript. We tried lots of different sports before settling in on their favorites.

My kids have been involved in sports from the preschool years. Meredith started swimming on the local summer swim team, and Connor began playing baseball when they were very young. Not surprisingly, those 2 sports, swimming and baseball, have turned out to be their favorite athletic events. They also tried gymnastics (too tall), volleyball (not tall enough), basketball (really not tall enough), and golf (I’m still hoping they’ll acquire a passion one day…Connor seems more interested than Meredith…she thinks it’s boring.)

Our culture is obsessed with sports, and although I think sports need to take a back seat to academics, I do see the value of:

• maintaining a fit and healthy body
• learning discipline and patience as skills are gained
• participating with team members
• serving on the sidelines or on the field
• improving mental concentration and physical endurance
• accomplishing difficult goals
• learning how to lose graciously

Both of my kids are athletically confident and competitive, but my greatest joy over the years have been the times when the coaches and parents took me aside and complimented me on how kind, helpful, or mannerly my kids were. My face just beams when I hear these words of praise because I know they are becoming people of influence by living righteously. They are both gifted athletes, but the competition victories are not what is most important — it is their actual day-to-day responses to the challenges of the sport — on the field, in the natatorium, in the dugout, in the locker room — in community — that really matters and has an eternal impact on the lives the Lord has allowed them to influence.

David and I have made an effort to be involved in their sports, too, so that they see us serving. David loves coaching baseball and keeping score while I have been team mom and regularly volunteer to time races and collect admissions at swim meets.

Opportunities for sports involvement can be found by canvasing your local churches (many host Upward activities), municipal recreational leagues, and homeschool cooperatives. Make time in your homeschool schedule for some athletic activities and watch your kids grow in character and skill while influencing the kids and coaches around them.

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Socratic Dialogue refers to a method of classical home education that was first recorded in ancient Greece by Plato. In two of his more famous works, The Republic and The Apology, Plato records the conversations between the teacher, Socrates, and a variety of students. Although not immediately apparent, these conversations represented a method of inquiry in which an abstract moral concept such as justice, temperance, or virtue was examined through the process of asking questions. In effect, the master Socrates taught the pupil a concept by asking instead of telling.

So, how do you use Socratic Dialogue in your own home school? Well, the parent decides what concept he or she wants to explore and plans a series of specific questions that will eventually eliminate contradictions and reveal underlying beliefs. The questions are intended to…

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As a parent who likes to follow the news of successful home schooling students, you’ve probably heard about the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and how homeschoolers like 2007 champion, Evan O’Dorney, continue to surprise the public by winning! But you probably haven’t heard about a new scholarship opportunity for homeschoolers: the Princeton Review National Vocabulary Championship.

The Game Show Network and the Princeton Review teamed up last year to host the 1st annual National Vocabulary Championship which is “an initiative that aims to inspire students to expand their vocabularies” by offering free educational resources and awarding over $100,000 annually in college tuition scholarships. The contest is open to public and home school students. Eligible home school students are in grades 9-12 and between the ages of 13 and 19. Each day during the month of November 2007, the timed National Qualifying Exam which consists of 45 multiple choice questions is available for home school students to take online. The top scorers will be invited to take the regional in-person exam on January 12, 2008 which is like the qualifying exam except it also includes an essay. Fifty finalists will then advance to Los Angeles, California in the spring 2008 to compete for the top scholarship of $40,000.

Now before you dismiss this idea, you’ve got to go see the best part of this offer which, in my opinion, is the extensive list of study modules! There are 10 modules which help build vocabulary:

1. Mnemonic Madness

2. Compliment or Criticism?

3. What’s the Link?

4. Using Context

5. Using Context, part 2

6. Dictionaries, Etymologies, and Thessauri…Oh My!

7. Vocabulary Journaling

8. Secondary Meanings

9. The Perfect Roommate

10. Analogies

Each ~20 page module begins with a lesson, then a couple of independent activities to reinforce the teaching, a quiz, and flashcards to help them retain the vocabulary words that they studied! The modules are all in adobe pdf format which means you can save them to your computer for later use (think siblings!) or print them out now for your high school student. Additionally, there are 5 documents which list the 250 most frequently tested SAT vocabulary words. Here’s a screenshot:

Princeton Review Hit Parade 1

Princeton Review Hit Parade 2

Princeton Review Hit Parade 3

Princeton Review Hit Parade 4

Princeton Review Hit Parade 5

Now, I don’t know about you, but even if you do not want to have your teen take the National Vocabulary Qualifying Exam before the end of November, you will agree with me that the free study aids are invaluable and could really supplement your home school English curriculum! As I mentioned, the exam is ONLY given in November which means you only have about 2 weeks left to take it (sorry, i just learned about it this week). One of the things that I love about homeschooling is the flexibility…in fact, I’ve decided to put the 10 vocabulary modules and the SAT Vocabulary Hit Parade lists on the schedule next week for both Meredith and Connor, then they can take the online National Vocabulary Qualifying Exam the week of November 26, 2007. I look forward to hearing the announcement on the national news next spring that your home school teen has won a big college scholarship!

Is your high school homeschooler ready for the PSAT exam? Usually this national exam (preliminary to the SAT - Scholastic Aptitude Test administered by the College Board) is taken during the sophomore year for practice and the junior year for the National Merit Scholarship qualifier. But your home school student can take it earlier than that if you think he or she would benefit from some advance practice.

One of my home school friends told me about a free PSAT practice exam and the amazing results her son achieved on the real PSAT as a result: he scored 20 points higher! This could be due to the fact that he had more learning experience under his belt or maybe he was just more familiar with the exam format so he felt less threatened. Or it could be that the questions on the real PSAT exam were easier, but I doubt it!

I decided to investigate and enrolled Meredith (almost 15 - freshman) in the free Princeton Review practice test this past fall. A local hotel hosted the test (they also did free practice SAT exams) in a conference room. You’d think that there would be pre-selling of their review course, but they didn’t even ask talk to the parents! Within 2 weeks, she had her complete exam results with line by line answers so she could see what she missed. (For those of you who are interested, click on the link above, enter your zip code, and see if your local rep is hosting any free events or call them if they are not and get on their email distribution for the next test.)

Meredith did really well in the language portion, but her math needs some shoring up. She’s about 1/3 of the way through Algebra 1, and she’s really insecure when it comes to closed book math exams, so that didn’t surprise me. The great thing about the free Princeton exam is that she can see exactly what areas she needs to work on. We have a great book, 100 Math Tips for the SAT, and How to Master Them Now! that she is using to systematically work through her weak areas.

One of the benefits of taking the PSAT and SAT practice exams is the time factor. Once you get your results back, you can work through the problems that you’ve missed over time instead of cramming at the last minute. What PSAT homeschooling tips or other free practice exams do you know about?

Have you ever started your homeschooling day with a plan only to find yourself chasing a rabbit? I recently heard a well-respected authority say that all knowledge was related, and after following a link for learning a foreign language this morning, I landed on a blog which featured this beautiful video about Bosnia Herzegovina. I’m sure the author of the blog only intended to promote her beautiful country, but I ended up pondering other ideas related to Christianity and classical education. Today I’ll show you how to take seemingly unrelated trivia and incorporate it into your classical education. Enjoy the video then continue reading…

Trivia

Bosnia Herzegovina is located in southern Europe on the Balkan Peninsula directly east of Italy. Previously part of Yugoslavia, Bosnia Herzegovina is home to Sarajevo, host city of the 1984 Winter Olympics. During the struggle for independence in 1992-1995, the people of this country experienced war in their homeland. According to Operation World, 1.3 million citizens fled their homes, and after the war only about 1/4 of them returned to the country to build new homes and start again.

Although the war officially ended in 1995, NATO maintained a stabilization force there until December 2005. The video clip portrays a countryside of beauty and tranquility, and the people appear to be at peace, but there are ongoing ethnic and religious tensions. During the 500 year Turkish occupation, many Bosnians became Muslim (38-50% of the population), and during the ’90’s, the Croats created an alliance with the Bosnians against the Christian Serbians (35% in a 50/50 split: Catholic/Orthodox.)

You may recall seeing news reports during the ’90s about ethnic cleansing, looting, destruction, and death under Serbian Milosovic’s reign of terror. Such horror has “left deep scars and abiding hatred between communities that once lived together, spoke the same language, and even intermarried.” (Operation World p.116) The Bosnian language is based on the Latin alphabet although the Cyrillic alphabet is used occasionally.

Observation

So how can you apply seemingly unrelated facts or news events to your classical home school? One of the hallmarks of a classical education is inductive reasoning which involves 3 steps: (1) observe, (2) interpret, and (3) apply. In this particular situation, I have observed (step 1) something in my world (the enticing video) which caused me to want to learn more. My first reaction was a desire to visit Bosnia Herzegovina; then I wanted to learn more about the people of the country so I did a little more research.

Interpretation

Next, I quickly catalogued my new knowledge so that I could interpret (step 2) what I had learned. What did I learn? I discovered that Bosnia Herzegovina has recently experienced war; in fact, my peers there were fleeing their homes and losing loved ones while I was adding to my family and creating a safe home for my newborns! I learned that there are more Muslims than Christians in the country, and that Protestant Christians are nearly nonexistent. I learned that these people have a long history…they were around when the Turks dominated the world during the Crusades. What is the meaning of this information that I have gathered.

Application

Finally, I apply (step 3) what I have learned to our own home school situation. Application will be unique for each family, but here are five ideas I might use in my family.

1. Currently, my teenage son is studying the American Civil War, so I could relate the Bosnian Reconstruction to the American Reconstruction period of the 1860s-70s as homes were rebuilt and ethnic divisions were examined with a view towards healing.

2. I could take a thematic approach to application by talking about grief and forgiveness. We’re studying I Kings at table in the mornings, so I could relate the Bosnian situation to family divisions in ancient Israel during David and Solomon’s reigns.

3. We could discuss what it would be like here in America if conditions allowed a foreign religion to evangelize mass numbers of citizens like the Muslim conversions that occurred during the Ottoman occupation of the Middle Ages.

4. Right now, the kids are immersed in this year’s policy debate resolution on illegal immigration, so we could talk about the refugee situation in Bosnia and how it relates to immigrants like the Somalians or Liberians seeking asylum in the U.S.

5. Or I could go back to that original rabbit trail and relate the Bosnian language to the Latin language!

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So, keep your eyes, ears, and heart open when you follow rabbit trails and come across seemingly unimportant information…the possibilities for meaningful discussion in your classical home school are endless!

Composing a good impromptu speech in your home school takes some practice. Under most circumstances, you only have a little bit of time to think of what to say. Use this list of ideas to generate content for your impromptu speeches or high school SAT practice essays:

history

literature

Bible stories

current events

personal stories

movies

fairy tales

nature

hobbies

sports

In Andrew Pudewa’s High School Essay Intensive, he teaches the student to know one piece of content REALLY well. For instance, if your son loves The Lord of the Rings Trilogy like my son does, have him pull from that one piece of literature or set of movies to structure the illustrations for his impromptu speech or SAT essay. If your daughter loves Jane Austen, have her pull her illustrations from Pride and Prejudice or Emma. A young man who is a baseball fanatic could use his knowledge of the sport through time on the recreational team, biographies of great players like Willie Mays, or the Major League Baseball World Series to inform his impromptu speech. Current events like immigration and health care reform can fuel the speech of a savvy, informed student.

The point is this: don’t try to pull illustrations from your entire knowledge base. You only have a short amount of time to organize your thoughts for the impromptu speech or the SAT essay, so use knowledge with which you are VERY familiar! To illustrate, let’s say 3 students were given the same topic, “bondage,” for the impromptu. The LOTR devotee could talk about how the ring represented bondage to several characters like Gollum, Aragorn, and Frodo. Jane Austen fans could discuss marriage as desirable bondage in both Emma and Pride and Prejudice. The baseball fan could get creative and talk about how MLB players are bound by a contract to the team until it expires and little league players are bound to follow certain rules of play.

Use the knowledge that you already have mastered in an area of interest like history, literature, sports, current events, or hobbies to make your homeschooling impromptu or SAT essay writing experience easier! Also, if you aren’t already using the TRIAC method for organizing your impromptu speech or essay, give it a shot.

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Want to read more teaching tips for effective written and oral communication? Read my post on using prompts in homeschool essays and speeches.

Our home schooling philosophy is based on 24/7 learning, so it won’t surprise you to find that we use time in the car to learn! This weekend my family traveled to middle Tennessee for a family gathering in the Smokey Mountains. During the car trip down, David and I practiced impromptu speeches with a new technique called TRIAC that I learned last week from Andrew Pudewa. I’m used to preparing impromptu speeches from a 3 point mental outline (intro, 3 points, conclusion), but after a few rounds of impromptu with David (the kids declined our invitation to try it!), I’ve decided that I really like the TRIAC method better than the traditional method. Here’s what TRIAC stands for:

Topic

Restriction

Illustration

Analysis

Clincher

Ok, here’s how we “played” the impromptu game. I gave David a topic (birds), then he had 2 minutes to organize his thoughts using TRIAC. He thought my choice of topic was boring and wanted to talk about a more unconventional aspect of birds, so he restricted his topic to extinct birds. To illustrate, he chose 3 extinct birds (the carrier pigeon, the dodo, and the dinosaur); next he analyzed the reasons behind each bird’s extinction. Finally, he clinched the impromptu speech back to his “attention-getting” opening by rephrasing what he had said in the beginning.

As we played the game, we found that we that we gave a better impromptu speech if we started our organizing with the analysis step…we tried to decide on the meaning of our restricted topic first. This made the speech more purposeful. It was tough but a great exercise in organizing your thoughts without pen and paper. Later, I’m going to practice writing using TRIAC in my blog posts, and I’ll be assigning the kids a few essay prompts as part of their homeschooling…have you ever used this method? I’d love to hear your comments!