The Well-Trained Mind will instruct you, step by step, on how to give
your child an academically rigorous, comprehensive education from
preschool through high school--one that will train him or her to read,
to think, to understand, to be well-rounded and curious about
learning. Veteran home educators Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise
outline the classical pattern of education called the trivium, which
organizes learning around the maturing capacity of the child's mind and
comprises three stages: the elementary school "grammar stage," when the
building blocks of information are absorbed through memorization and
rules; the middle school "logic stage," in which the student begins to
think more analytically; and the high-school "rhetoric stage," where the
student learns to write and speak with force and originality. Using this
theory as your model, you'll be able to instruct your child--whether
full-time or as a supplement to classroom education--in all levels of
reading, writing, history, geography, mathematics, science, foreign
languages, rhetoric, logic, art, and music, regardless of your own
aptitude in those subjects.
Thousands of parents and teachers have already used the detailed book
lists and methods described in The Well-Trained Mind to create a truly
superior education for the children in their care. This extensively
revised fourth edition contains completely updated curricula and book
lists, links to an entirely new set of online resources, new material on
teaching children with learning challenges, cutting-edge math and
sciences recommendations, answers to common questions about home
education, and advice on practical matters such as standardized testing,
working with your local school board, designing a high-school program,
preparing transcripts, and applying to colleges.
You do have control over what and how your child learns. The
Well-Trained Mind will give you the tools you'll need to teach your
child with confidence and success.
