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Cay Gibson
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Willa, Leonie, or anyone,
Do you have the book Teaching the Trivium by the Bluedorns?
I've often been tempted to order this book. I have seen it and it looks good. A friend of mine has it and showed it to me over a year ago. She loves it!
This morning I got a wild hair and ordered it. Finally! 
I wanted to ask...how much unschooling/CM/Real Learning theory/method is in this book? As I said in an earlier post, classical ed is not working for all members of my family but it still appeals to me and I'm still very much learning.  And I'm hoping it has enough unschooling/CM/Real Learning flavor it it to justify the cost. My initial gleaning of it said that it did.
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
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Willa
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Cay,
I've been eyeing it for a long time. THe price has made me hesitate, too. I like the Bluedorns, their approach seems quite sensible, but their theology is quite Reformed Protestant and I wondered it that would affect the book.
Someone on this forum has the book and likes it, I know -- ah, it was Rachel, that's right, maybe she will comment.
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Willa
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Willa
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Oh I see I didn't answer your question -- no coffee yet!  I will be interested in hearing what you think. The Bluedorns approach seems to be affected by that of Raymond and Dorothy Moore. Lots of commonsense parenting and work and hands on stuff in the early years, a lowkey approach to academics until age 10 or 12, then the kids are able to catch up quickly and do excellent high school work because all systems are in place.
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Willa
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~Rachel~
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Yes I have it 
Let me see... the book was very interesting in the way it approached Classical Education... it was somewhat conversant with the CM philosophy, not a great Catholic read though.
They advocate starting to 'school' a little older than most... much like CM and RL... they are very much for more 'relaxed' environment under the age of about 10.
They advocate learning Greek, Latin and Hebrew as foreign languages, that you might read the Biblical texts in their original format.
They are pretty much anti classics... because they feel there is a little too much 'unChristian' content in them.
They do promote reading to the children as much as possible... in fact recommending several hours a day.
Now the anti classic slant is the negative side of it... it does have a lot of good information and ideas in it... and used in conjunction with your own and Elizabeth's books, I think you can really make it work for you
It's like many of the books out there... nothing ends up conforming exactly to what we think or believe so we pick and choose... this has quite a bit to choose from, just taste the religious stuff with a pinch of salt 
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Leonie
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I have often looked at the book and at the articles on the web.
But it is a bit pricey for me - and I was hesitant because of their possible Reformed slant?
Let me know how you like it, Cay!
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Bookswithtea
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I followed the link that Cay listed for this book...no wonder its so expensive! Its incredibly thorough. It took me awhile to just work my way through the table of contents on the website! I'm very curious about their "suggested daily schedules" based on the ages of ALL the children in the household (as opposed to age graded suggestions like TWTM).
I have a question. Rachel, what is the ultimate goal of the Bluedorns? I mean, are they pushing entrance into classical colleges? Are they focusing on children who are Christian and who will do great things for God? Do they make distinctions between goals for girls and goals for boys?
I understand the differences in belief about Original Sin between Reformed and Catholic Christians (I have some reformed friends and we've gone round and round on this issue), but beyond that, would their scriptural foundations be useful to a Catholic, fitting in with the bigger vision of the Church, or are they a misuse of scripture because of their strong sola scriptura focus?
I'm very very tempted to order this book, despite the reformed slant. I'd like to have an idea of their overall vision, first.
~Books
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Cay Gibson
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I'm still waiting on my order... 
Hopefully this week!
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
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Mary G
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Cay -- I got it from interlibrary -- it looks much better than the website showed; I'll start it tonight and give you my rather biased opinion, shall I?
Blessings,
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Lora
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If you dont mind my butting in LOL. I got this book through inter-loan library and I am very very glad I did not buy it. It is a very think book and at least half of it is their interpretation of the Bible and why you should homeschool. Having said that though I just skimmed through the first half of the book because I dont have a question about homeschooling. THe second half is the nitty gritty which I loved. I loved their list of ten things to do before 10 - very cmish. They are more like Moores in that better late than early. They go into great detail of how the brain devolops and why you should wait to start formal Math until the child is 10. I can not remember if they had different goals for girls or boys but they seem to be more along the lines of teach your girls to be homemakers and sons to be homebuilders (but I could be reading more into them than where their emphasis lies.
I wrote notes on the book because I liked how they explained some things and I needed a better way to explain why I do homeschooling the cm way to my dh. Here is a few quotes.
AGE 6-10
FOCUS Pg 187. TTT Focus on vocabulary. Build through literature read to them, listening to adults conversations, audio tapes, reciting prose and poetry. Vocabulary will drive reading and writing, spelling and grammar.
The knowledge level (grammer stage)age:10-12
GOAL: To develop competence in the tools of inquiry: Reading, writing, observing, measuring, Listening. Teach the skill of comprehension- to accurately receive information, to gather the facts
and I think this is from them
"The goal of a classical education is to form the mind and character of the student so that he will use the power of knowledge for good ends."
From what I remember I dont think they encouraged college. I think their main goal was character, and the child's eternal salvation.
I would like to check this out again. And if I had every book I ever wanted then I would buy it, but I am satisfied with just getting it from the library.
HTH
Lora
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Bookswithtea
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Thank you Lora, for joining the conversation! I really appreciate your review.
My brain has been drifting back to this book ever since I read this thread, yesterday. I have NEVER read a book that claims to be classical that supports the better late than early philosophy (I'm a big fan of this type of education but kind of chicken to do it!  ). I went to a seminar (Carole Joy Seid) in 2004 that talked a lot about brain and eye development and I found it to be very interesting and informative.
Sigh...I see it coming...I think I'm going to have to have this book (interlibrary loan is not an option for me).
Please keep the reviews coming as y'all read it?
Thanks so much!
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Cay Gibson
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Got it...delivered by mail today at 1 P.M.
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
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Willa
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Let us know what you think, Cay!
I think A Thomas Jefferson Education advocates a bit slower start in the early years, too, and it has a classical "Great Books" emphasis
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Willa
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cctabb
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Cay - Have you had a chance to read any of the book? I've got it ordered through ILL but haven't heard anything yet. Just wondering what you thought of it.
Charlene
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Mary G
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I'm not Cay, but I got it from the library and have to second what Lora said. It's a great book but spends way too many pages validating why you should homeschool. It's heavily, evangelical protestant, but they do have some valid info (as Lora noted above).
I don't know if I'd spend the money to buy the book (and I buy LOTS of books) but I'd probably check it out from the library occasionally to refresh my mind about what they suggest. They do have some great lists that I copied, etc.
Hope this helps!
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~Rachel~
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Do what I did and stick it on your Christmas lists
I have also got A Thomas Jefferson Education by Demille... both of these (TJEd and TtT) are advcates for 'wait until they are ready'.
They both have really good suggestions, although with TJed you really need to get the supplements to get the full benefit.
I'm going to post a new topic with my TJEd notes for all who have not read it
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Leonie
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Thanks, Rachel - I am especially interested in hearing about the supplements you mentioned above.
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The supplements are A Thomas Jefferson education in our home by Oliver and Rachel Demille and Core and Love of Learning: A Recipe for Success. They also have another supplement for the older group called Scholar Phase or something like that. Obviously I am not dealing in that phase so I don't have the book . I posted all the information in the TJEd thread.
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Cay Gibson
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cctabb wrote:
| Cay - Have you had a chance to read any of the book? |
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Dear Friends,
I have not forgotten this thread or this book. I just haven't had time to read much of it (at the moment I'm unsure of where I last placed it  ).
The heavy reading would do me in at the moment. I'm reading Emily Dickinson instead, lots of children books, and blog entries.
I will come back to this. In the meantime, I found that the Bluedorns have a blog you might want to check out: Trivium Pursuit Blog
Now I need to go inspect down the hallway. I smell a rush of Kayleigh's perfume vaporing into the kitchen area and she isn't here. She has two little sisters, ya know.
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Cay Gibson
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Willa
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Thanks Cay! You are my resource on blogs!
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I've met the Bluedorns and heard them speak several times, because they live fairly close to us. Their website expresses much of their theology, philosophy, and homeschooling tips. Their book is a compilation of all their past talks and writings done over a long time. It is fairly redundant in nature to their website. The Bluedorns had a few pearls of wisdom regarding homeschooling....at least I thought they were pearls because I met them early on in my homeschool journey. I would recommend an interlibrary loan for anyone interested in this book ( or just Google Bluedorn) vs. spending the money.
One pearl I appreciated as a newbie was this, "If you do nothing else all day, but read aloud for 2 hours, you are likely accomplishing more with your children than most government school". We did this for years and I lived with great comfort from Laurie Bluedorn's words.
It is timely I write this post. As the kids are all avid readers independently, we don't read aloud as much as we used to....our tastes are more varied. I DO read aloud for history and science topics we are studying together, but we haven't read a good classic together in a long time.
Maybe I need to ask this in another topic area, but any suggestions for a read aloud classic for a family mix of boys and girls in 6th/7th grade?
Thanks,
Maureen
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4Real Forums : Philosophy of Education
Topic: Teaching the Trivium
