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Sunday, May 27, 2007

Evolution

Yesterday I started out reading an online edition of Dorothy Sayer's essay "The Lost Tools of Learning", an article often quoted in books I've enjoyed and respected, but one I'd never actually read in its entirety.

Then I decided to spend several hours browsing various home ed vendors and Amazon.com with the intent of purchasing a few books I wanted to continue Elle's education and supplement the books Jorge has been pulling off our shelves in preparation for his return to Australia later this week, most importantly for math as Elle and I can no longer tolerate the confusion that is the Queensland Maths workbook, and a few more picture books for our classical studies; as well as a few more reference books for my current pet project.

One link led to another and after a few "Search Inside!" surveys, the line between her school books and my research blurred. Here is what finally ended up in my shopping cart:


Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling

Learning All the Time

Instead of Education: Ways to Help People Do Things Better

The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life

A Thomas Jefferson Education supplemental materials

A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

No math books, no classically themed picture books, plenty of revolutionary ideas.

Jorge's stash from our Florida home library includes:

A Thomas Jefferson Education

Write With the Best Vol. I

The Complete Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales*

Favorite Andrew Lang Fairy Tale Books in Many Colors: Red, Green, Yellow, and Blue Fairy Tale Books*

Favorite Poems Old and New

Schoolhouse Rock! (DVD)

Chess for Kids

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess

*Because reading downloaded versions on the computer is very hard on these eyes.

From The Well Trained Mind and a Latin-centered curriculum to unschooling, it's as if we've gone from Homo habilis to H. erectus and are now on our way to H. sapiens.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That looks like a great list. I love Holt, I think everyone who homeschools should read his books.

Becky said...

Because of the boys, and the kids growing list of extracurriculars, we've slowly been moving toward classical unschooling this year.

At the moment, I'm planning -- later this summer -- to put together's next year's science program, heavy on chemistry and physics, using Mr. Wizard's World DVD series (six discs), the Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments, and a few other things I have to sort out. Not exactly WTM or Miss Mason, but I know it'll be lots of fun and the kids will learn a ton.

For how long will Jorge be back? Is this just a brief visit or...?

Fiberjoy said...

I loved the CA Fairy Tales and the Colored books of Fairy Tales when I was young.

Anonymous said...

You might be interested in following
A Thomas Jefferson Education Blog Carnival.

And maybe some day you'll have a blog post to contribute your own experiences!