The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home [Hardcover]

Jessie Wise (Author), Susan Wise Bauer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1999

Teach your child at home or supplement his or her classroom learning --this book provides you with the techniques, curriculum, and resources necessary to ensure that your child's education is the best it can be. As a parent, you worry about your child's education. With thirty students per classroom, even the most dedicated teachers often can't give each student the individual attention so urgently needed, and neither teachers nor parents can control the social environment of many schools. Is your child getting lost in the system, becoming bored, losing his or her natural eagerness to learn? Maybe it's time to take charge of your child's education --by doing it yourself. This book 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. Through a language-intensive process that organizes learning around the maturing capacity of the child's mind, your child will receive the complete education that today's overcrowded schools are often unable to provide. 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 him or her with confidence and success.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Wise, a former teacher and current home education consultant, explains that she decided to home-school her three children because the local public school "was a terrible environment socially" and ranked academically as one of the lowest in the state, and the private school she and her husband had chosen seemed unable to stimulate and challenge her children. Bauer, her older daughter and now an instructor at the College of William & Mary, adds the student's perspective. Together, they provide detailed information on a home-school curriculum for a type of classical education called the "trivium." Within each of the three stages of learning (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) are suggestions for lessons, how-to tips, and lists of resources. A common criticism of home schooling, that children have inadequate opportunity for social and emotional development, is also addressed here. For home-schooling a child or supplementing the education of one attending a public or private school, this book is a good purchase for most public libraries.ATerry A. Christner, Hutchinson P.L., KS
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Jessie Wise, a former teacher, is a home education consultant, speaker, and writer. Her daughter, Susan Wise Bauer, whom she educated at home, is a freelance writer and teaches British literature at the College of William and Mary. Both live in Virginia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 736 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (August 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393047520
• ISBN-13: 978-0393047523
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (113 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #304,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Susan was born in 1968, grew up in Virginia, and was educated at home by pioneering parents, back when home education was still unheard of. She worked as a professional musician, wore a costume at Colonial Williamsburg, toured with a travelling drama group, galloped racehorses at a Virginia racetrack, taught horseback riding, worked in radio and newspaper ad sales, learned enough Korean to teach a Korean four-year-old Sunday school, and served as librarian and reading tutor for the Rita Welsh Adult Literacy Center in Williamsburg, Virginia.

In her less haphazard adult life, she earned an M.A., M.Div., and Ph.D. She has taught at the College of William & Mary in Virginia for the last sixteen years. Susan is married and the mother of four.

Susan's most recent book for Norton, The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade (2010), is the second in a four-volume series providing a narrative world history. Look for the first volume, The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome, as well!

Her previous book, The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had (2003), is a guide to reading the classic works of fiction, poetry, history, autobiography, and drama. Norton also published The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (with co-author Jessie Wise); originally published in 1999, this bestselling guide to education in the classical tradition was revised and updated in 2004 and again in 2009.

For Peace Hill Press, Susan has written a four-volume world history series for children, The Story of the World, for Peace Hill Press. Volume 1, Ancient Times, was published in 2002 (revised edition 2006); Volume 2, The Middle Ages, in 2003 (revised edition 2007); and Volume 3, Early Modern Times, in 2004. The final volume, The Modern Age, was published in 2006. She has also written a best-selling elementary writing program, Writing With Ease.

Susan is also the author of The Art of the Public Grovel (Princeton University Press) and many articles and reviews. Visit her blog at http://www.susanwisebauer.com/blog.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

522 of 538 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Guide and Resource, February 29, 2000

By 

Waterfall2 (Rockville, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (Hardcover)

Book Review: The Well Trained Mind, A Guide to Classical Education at Home, by Jesse Wise. I enjoyed this book for it's curriculum guidelines for homeschooling using the classical style of home education. Written by a homeschooling parent and her adult homeschooled daughter, this book lays out the principles of the Trivium, the three-part process of training the mind. She says that this is diametrically opposed to the principles of unschooling, because here, the parent "supplies the mind with facts and thinking skills." This gives a clue as to the approach. It's not child-led. It's very structured.

Although I had a little trouble with the idea of teaching very formal academics to a younger child, I liked the progressive nature of the Trivium, I liked the clear structure of the curriculum, and the extensive resource lists, and I liked the emphasis on classical works. The trivium, as she states, is language-based and not image based, so there is very little hands-on and art and music mentioned. I think the problem with this approach is if you have a child with another type of learning style. There is a lot of reading and writing. It may not work well with all kids. I also note that there is little if any discussion on how to teach multiple children, or where to start if you don't do this from the beginning, and a lack of discussion in building loving family relationships. It sounds like 12 years of academics with little time for much else. I think if you use this book, you need to soften the process with good relationship building and family skills.

The principle is this: The first years, grades 1 through 4 are the "grammar" stage where the mind is supplied with facts and images (rules of grammar, math facts, phonics, poems, songs, stories in literature and history). And I was glad to see that these four years were just an introduction to facts, not a deep delving. Then, the"logic" stages, in grades 5-8 where the child is given tools to logically organize those facts (including learning outlining, paragraph constructions, organizing skills and analysis) , and the third stage is the "rhetoric" stage, grades 9-12 where the child is equipped to express conclusions forcefully.

The other part of this process is the repetition ever four years. The first ,5,th and 9 th grades study the Ancient times (4000 B.C - 400 AD) and the grades 2, 6, 10 study the Medieval and Early Renaissance (400 AD - 1600 AD) , and the grades 3, 7, 11 study the Late Renaissance and Early Modern (1600-1850)and the Modern to Present times is studied in grades 4, 8, 12. The science is divided also this way: The first time period is Biology and Human body and Classification (Ancients), the second is Earth Science and Astronomy (Medieval times), the third time is Chemistry (Late Renaissance), and the Modern times studies physics and computer science. History is studied with the same four time periods, as is the literature. Everything in a whole year follows the time period. After four years, you repeat the cycle, but with more emphasis on analysis and logic and creativity.

A couple of other things she says: she believes that peer socialization should not take such a precedence in children's lives. That family and neighbors should come first. She doesn't believe in dating in high school. She does throw her personal ethics in here a lot. She also says that children can learn to do more than we think. We can challenge them. She has a lot to say about the literataure and movies that most educators let our kids use for academics. She has a section on testing, transcripts, lists of resources, how to use certain books and resources, complete step by step ideas on developing notebooks, how to prepare the mind to think. I think this book is very good, BUT, like other homeschooling books, it could make you feel inadequate as a homeschooling parent. ON the other hand, if you need some guidance on classical studies, and want someone to lay out a good curriculum for you complete with resources, this is a good book to own.

320 of 333 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One blueprint for achieving academic excellence, April 2, 2000

By 

"mfshermantank" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (Hardcover)

My family long ago adopted a "so many books, so little time" approach to learning. If you and your family are also stimulated by great books, the lessons of history, the wonders of science, and the magic of learning another language, then you will discover treasures in this volume, to say nothing of superb recommendations for mastering a program of academic excellence. Jessie Wise has assembled THE reference book for people who choose to blend the best of family-centered, home-based learning with a rigorous quest for academic excellence. Her own experience is obviously Christian in perspective, but, where appropriate, she presents excellent alternatives for secular homeschoolers in her year-by-year approach to classical education, including books, schedules, and resources. So stop wandering the library, bookstores, teacher supply stores, and Internet. Save yourself time and money by referring to the meticulously researched resource lists presented in The Well-Trained Mind. (Note that movements exist within movements, and homeschooling is no exception. Unschoolers, school-at-homers, unit study devotees, John Holt fans - the list goes on and on, and the dissension among the ranks grows louder (and nastier) as each submovement asserts its preferences and points its finger at the shortcomings of the others. But while Wise's book is decidedly not one for those who subscribe to pure child-led learning and unschooling, she does not denigrate the choices these homeschoolers make.)

105 of 107 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most complete educational resource for homeschoolers!, August 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (Hardcover)

People choose to teach their children at home for many reasons. If you are running away from a formal school environment because you don't like "rigidity," then perhaps the system described in this book is not for you.

If, on the other hand, you are contemplating teaching your children at home because public (and even private) traditional schools have watered down the content of your children's academic learning, and you truly want to give your child a world-class education at home in the classical tradition, you need look no further than this remarkable resource.

The authors have compiled a complete list of what to teach, where to find the resources with which to teach it, and, if you need it, some suggestions for working out a schedule that will accomplish it all (The authors acknowledge that the schedules in the book won't work for all families, but are merely meant to be examples).

Mind you, this book describes a system of rigorous education that requires dedication on the part of both parent and student. Any parent who has chosen to homeschool their children, though, already has proven that they have the necessary dedication to follow this program. The authors do not give credence to popular notions that children need watered-down, video- and photographically-enhanced stimuli to learn. They encourage parents to teach their children to read early, read constantly, and eventually to learn to search for answers to questions on their own. Children of the video age may find it difficult at first to actively learn, but if they are to be well and truly educated, and become lifetime learners, they cannot learn any other way.

You can use this book in many ways. If you want an all-encompassing guide, complete with suggested schedules, the authors have included them. The beauty of home education, however, is that you have the freedom to modify your curriculum.

So, what if there is a fabulous exhibit at your local art museum, but doesn't fit into the historical period you're studying that year? You go! You CAN go because even the rigorous program described in this book takes far less time than children typically spend in school and doing homework. What if your child has passion for art or dinosaurs? At home, you have the freedom to allow their exploration without sacrificing any other component of their education. Because even if you do everything described in the book, you'll still be finished with time to spare for these "passions."

But if you don't give your child the education described in this book, how will they ever have enough information about their world to know what they truly are passionate about?

Jessie Wise and her daughter, Susan Wise Bauer have been living the homeschool experience for more than 25 years, first as Jessie taught Susan and her other children, and now as Susan teaches her three children. There are few families in America that have this kind of experience from which to draw. I am using this book as the core of my homeschool curriculum (in fact, have used the program for a full year already, having used Mrs. Wise as our curriculum consultant before the book came out), and highly recommend it to parents who choose to homeschool to ensure that their children receive a quality education -- one that is simply not available in public (and even good private) schools anymore.