Susan Wise Bauer - The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home

I am grateful to Amelia and Luther MorecockMeme and Uncle Lutherfor adopting me, teaching me to read before I went to school, and requiring me to be diligent. The credit for any academic or professional success I have enjoyed begins with them. My introduction to phonics materials came from a York, Maine, first-grade teacher in whose class every child learned to read. She showed me her systematic phonics program and told me how to order it, with the result that I taught my children how to read and started down the path to home education. I am immensely thankful that, when I took my misfit children to the Henrico Mental Clinic in Henrico, Virginia, I met a perceptive and encouraging psychologist, Jeffrey C. Fracher. Dr. Fracher told me to teach my children at home, an idea that had never occurred to me. Im grateful to my children, Bob, Deborah, and Susan, for learning with me and for continuing to study and learn as adults. Working with Susan on this book has been a challenging, rewarding task. When she was a child, I nudged her beyond her intellectual comfort zone, and she is now continually doing the same for me. Finally, my husband of forty years, Jay, has been in the midst of all of this since our college years. He has encouraged and supported me at every turn.

Jessie Wise

I am immensely grateful to my husband, Peter, for educating, caring for, and parenting our three sons. His willingness to take on half the burden of home education has made it possible for me to put the necessary hours into writing this book. Douglas Wilson and Gene Edward Veith have helped me understand the theory and practice of classical education; Beth Ferguson has provided invaluable guidance in the area of mathematics; Peggy Ahern kindly shared her expertise in college application and allowed us to quote her at length. Anne Miller and the Home Educators Association of Virginia made it possible for us to present these ideas to a wide spectrum of home schoolers. The home schoolers who told us what does and doesnt work at home include Diane Montgomery, Beth Galvez, and Traci Winyard; thanks to you and to all those weve talked to at conferences, at workshops, and by e-mail. The Williamsburg Public Library reference librarians cheerfully looked up long lists of citations for us, even in the middle of an ice storm. Thanks also to my agent, Richard Henshaw, for his expert advice and stellar work on our behalf; to Starling Lawrence for giving us confidence in our own words and ideas; to Patricia Chui for seeing us through a thousand pages of manuscript and a nine-day power outage right before the final deadline; and to Carol Flechner for the suggestions that helped us clarify and present our ideas. Finally, Id like to thank my parents, Jay and Jessie Wise, for investing all the time and care it took to train my mind. I love you both, and Im more grateful than I can say.

Susan Wise Bauer

We would never have finished these revisions without the cheerful help of the Peace Hill Press staff. Thanks to Peter Buffington, Charlie Park, Sara Buffington, Sarah Park, and Sherrill Fink for their noble efforts in checking addresses, phone numbers, prices, availability, and web addresses.

Thanks also to the hundreds of dedicated and knowledgeable parents who have posted their experiences, curricula likes and dislikes, and great discoveries on the Well-Trained Mind Message Boards (www.welltrainedmind.com/forums). We have learned as much from them as they have from us.

This third edition builds on the support and encouragement of all those who helped with the first and second editionsand we remain immensely grateful to them for their assistance.

In addition, wed like to thank Kim Norton, who freed us up to research and write by taking on the administrative duties at Peace Hill Press; Suzanne Hicks, who managed our conference appearances and took care of all those annoying details; Madelaine Wheeler, who did such a wonderful job of checking phone numbers, addresses, websites, prices and all those other details; Diane Wheeler, who not only let Madelaine come and stay with us (a real sacrifice on her part) but who came out to the East Coast and helped finish up the job; Heather Hawkins Wise, who took over all the jobs Susan couldnt (or wouldnt) do; and Bob Wise, who helped overcome our technical deficiencies (there were many). Thanks as well to the kind, patient, and generous folks at W. W. Norton who have done so much to help us over the past decade: not just Starling Lawrence but also (among others) Dosier Hammond, Bill Rusin, Jenn Chan, Golda Rademacher, Deidre Dolan, and the sales reps who have so ably worked on our behalf.

I f youre fortunate, you live near an elementary school filled with excellent teachers who are dedicated to developing your childs skills in reading, writing, arithmetic, history, and science. These teachers have small classesno more than ten studentsand can give each student plenty of attention. The elementary school sits next to a middle school that is safe (no drugs, guns, or knives). This school also has small classes; the teachers train their students in logic, critical thinking, and advanced writing. Plenty of one-on-one instruction is offered, especially in writing. And in the distance (not too far away) is a high school that will take older students through world history, the classics of literature, the techniques of advanced writing, high-level mathematics and science, debate, art history, and music appreciation (not to mention vocational and technical training, rsum preparation, and job-hunting skills).