The well-trained mind

About this book

This book will instruct you, step by step, on how to give your child an 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. 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. This edition contains updated curricula and book lists, links to an entirely new set of online resources, new material on teaching children with learning challenges, 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.