It seems that in leadership education that there are some subjects that just come easily. Or at least they come easily in our house. Religion, history, literature and even writing are all easy it seems, at least you know how to do it anyway. So what about math?

A really great resource that I use in our home to help us know and understand math is the book Inteligro Math: The Holistic Approach to Math and Science for the New Millennium by Tiffany Rhoades Earl. Earl is the co-founder of the LEMI projects that many of you are aware of. I'm going to break down her key points now in hopes that it will help all of you in teaching math at your home.

1. TRUTH: The primary purpose of math and science is to discover truth. We can measure truth by comparing it against our core book. So the first great place to start your math and science quest is in daily immersing yourself in your core book. (Click here to read a post about core books). When you study your core book look for patterns and laws.

For example, "God said, Let there be light; and there was light." Here's the pattern: God's spoken work= (equals) action. Action=Light. God's Word=Light. a=b,b=c, and a=c.

2. LOGIC: In order to come to truth you must be able to reason. Being able to follow a line of logic is a necessity to keeping our freedom. We can not allow ourselves to be led down a path by others only to find out they have tricked us into their way of thinking. We need to sharpen our reasoning skills. She lists three ways:

1. Increase the difficulty of your reading material.
2. Play an instrument. She says, "Playing a musical instrument requires the association, recognition and command of patterns. Not only does playing an instrument well require both sides of the brain, but it also develops reasoning because of the patterns involved." As a student of the piano I vouch for the innumerable patterns in music.
3. Don't close your eyes to the obvious. She states that sometimes, "social mores blind us to the truth all around us." Look for the obvious that others may be missing.

3. READ ORIGINAL WORKS. In order to learn how scientists and mathematicians arrived at their discoveries it is helpful to read their own works. At the very least learn about them. In my on personal education I have found reading about scientists and mathematicians chronologically is the most logical and helpful. (This makes sense in every field. Read history and literature in the order that it unfolded). Here are links to famous scientists and mathematicians.

4. NEWTONIAN MATH. This is where Saxon Math (or Singapore, Life of Fred, Right Start, etc.) comes in. Newtonian math is how we measure and compute both the quantity and the quality of our findings.

5. THE INTELIGRO METHOD. The old way was the scientific method. Here's the new way:

1. Notice a problem or roadblock
2. The Heart: Be Interested-Care Enough to Have Initiative
3. Use Spiritual Eyes to Name the Real Problem. Notice patterns. Notice what others may be missing. Notice symptoms to the problem. Ponder, think.
4. Ask questions
5. Spiritual Creation. Brainstorm for answers
6. Choose the best options
7. Physical Creation. Implement your ideas
8. Implement
9. Evaluate
10. Make adjustments or changes. Go back to #5

6. INTELIGRO MATH AT HOME. Teach truth. Read your core book as a family. Set up environments where kids can ask questions and explore. Teach children to own and solve their own problems. Play musical instruments. Use Newtonian math helps. Lots of hands on projects.

I've included her basic ideas in hopes that it can jump start the math and science processes in your home. Don't forget to read those living math and science books! Here are some links (A and B) to math lists.

Have any of you applied Inteligro Math at your home? What as been successful?

Someone once described this key to me as YOU and THEM!! I liked the little twist they put on the principle of not getting so focused on what your kids are doing (or what you think they should be doing) that you forget that it all really starts with YOU!! Its reminds me that this journey of learning, studying, and growing is something that everyone (including mom and dad) need to be a part of!!!

A few years ago I was able to listen to a wonderful lecture Dr. DeMille was giving at George Wythe University. At the very end of his speech he said something that rocked my world. He challenged us to do something about our personal education. Then he made a statement. He said...the education you have in ten years from now will be the education your children will have ten years from now. SHOOT!!! I loved this, and hated this all at once. For me it meant I really needed to step up my game!!

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think he meant that my kids education would mirror my education, but I do think he meant that the level at which I was growing spiritually, educationally, and personally WOULD mirror the level and intensity of growth my children would be experiencing. He ended the speech with a simple statement something like...the choice is yours what will you do!

Its been at least 3 or 4 years since I heard him say this...but the message has been burned into my mind. I wasn't homeschooling my kids at the time, but was seriously considering it. I had read The Thomas Jefferson Education book, and had become infected with a disease I like to call the Leadership Education Epidemic. I was beginning to see for the first time what my life really looked like...mediocre, unintentional, distracted, BLAH?!...and I wanted to change!! But, I was freaking out at the overwhelming thought of leading this ultra Intentional Leadership Education kind of life...so it wasn't until a year or so later that I finally took the plunge.

The first HUGE change I made was pulling the kids out of school. But I knew there was so much more to this new life I wanted to live. I hadn't read in so long that didn't even know where to start...so I simply started by reading books to the kids. I got a few books like Little House in the Big Woods, Little Britches, Laddie, and others and began reading them aloud. It was a start. I was at least reading again. Next we turned off our cable, and limited movie and gaming time...so we had less distractions and I found it easier to focus and find time to play and read with the kids. About 6 months later not knowing what the heck I was doing (other than I was ready to start studying more) I joined a 5 Pillar class...(2 years later I'm almost done with it...WOO-HOO!!).

Over the last few years I've noticed a HUGE increase in my kids desire to learn and read when I am pushing myself in my own studies. When I relax in my studying, and start focusing more on what I think the kids should be doing our momentum dies. I am not saying that I ignore my kids, and focus only on my studying. HECK NO!! I am constantly perfecting my custom made Martineau Family Inspiration Plan. It gets tweaked all the time, because my motto is if at first you don't inspire try try again!! But I'll have to wait and do another post about that.

Everyone needs an example to follow...especially our kids. My prayer is that my example shows my kids that I believe that living an intentional life of learning is the way to go!! Like Dr. DeMille told me years ago, the choice is yours what will you do! I choose to live an intentional life filled with learning, because I know I have a mission and I want to be prepared. You NOT them works!!!

Andee
www.themartineaucrew.blogspot.com

Core Phase. Hmmm. Yes, I'm going to discuss core phase. I think that core phase has been the phase I have least understood in Leadership Education. Here's some ways we have applied it in our home. These are only ideas. Voltaire said, "No opinion is worth burning your neighbor for." Please don't burn me!

First, let's review. There are four major phases of learning in a Leadership Education. There are more phases, but only four that will likely happen in the walls of your home with your children.

Core Phase- Roughly 0-8 years old
Love of Learning- Roughly 8-12 years old
Scholar- Roughly 12-16 years old
Depth-Roughly 16 and up

In the phases each one has a specific curriculum. Also in Leadership Education grades are thrown out the door. With grades we tend to hold them back and say they can't start that until next year. Or we push them when they are struggling to accomplish more than they are able to. I have had both early bloomers and late bloomers in my home.

In Core Phase the curriculum is clearly established and basic. It is:

Good/Bad
True/False
Right/Wrong

That doesn't mean that you don't teach them how to read or write. Far from it. But the most important thing that they learn first is that there is good and bad and that there are right choices they can make and wrong choices. In each family you establish what these things are. I think that most of us will have almost the same idea about what these are. Here are some of our core phase absolutes:

There is God and there is Satan.
God loves you.
Jesus Christ is our Savior, Healer, and Advocate.
We speak to God through prayer every day.
We read our scriptures every day to learn of Christ.
There is a living prophet and we will follow him.
Our family is our most important focus.
Each family member is valued and loved.
We each have responsibilities with in our family.
We are expected to carry out our responsibilities.
Dad's job is to provide for our physical needs and to spiritually lead our family.
Mom's job is to nurture each family member.
The children are to learn.
Learning includes life time skills. ( household management, cooking, cleaning, car care, etc...)
We don't hit people. (pinch, bite, etc.)
We are polite to others, especially the elderly.
We respect and honor women.
We learn to control our emotions.
We do not eat more than our body needs.
We go to bed early and we wake up early.
We bathe and groom our bodies.
We wear appropriate clothing.

Those are just some general ideas. No child is going to have those mastered by the time they turn eight obviously! These things can take a life time to master. But what they learn in these young ages is what is right. It is wrong to not hold the door open for the elderly at church or anywhere. It is right to do our chores with out complaining. It is right to pray daily. It is right to brush my teeth everyday. Practice, practice, practice! And it's our job to teach them how.

Another fundamental part of core phase is "The Redo." Oh, how we love redo's in our home. If a child back talks me, I say, "Please redo that and say it the correct way." If a child doesn't wipe off the table to his/her ability we say, "please redo the table." If a child gets angry and hits his brother we say, "That's not appropriate. Please redo the situation and deal with it appropriately. Would you like some suggestions on how you can redo it appropriately?"

Besides chores and redo's core phase is a time for games. Use games to reinforce love, teach basic principles, and spend time with them.

Core phase is foundational for our whole lives. Everything else is built upon it. If they know they are loved, that God is available to them through prayer and that they need to get up in the morning and greet the day, they are going to be okay! I've seen adults on the other hand that do not know how to manage their house (and there house controls them), I've seen adults so selfish they won't to anything for anyone in their family (if they have a family), I've seen men who have expected their wives to provide for the family, and I've seen emotionally unstable adults who feel that they are not loved or valued. These are examples. Know one has had the perfect upbringing. But we can make sure that our children know core truths that will be the rock upon which they can build the rest of their lives.

In our home only two requirements are expected from our children to graduate from core phase. The first is that they want to move to the love of learning phase. The other is that they agree to submit to these guidelines. For example, if they refuse to pray we need to keep going over some things!

There's a lot more to core phase. Maybe I'll get on my soap box later and post more! We need to remember to not neglect core phase and run straight for the academics. In the "olden days" kids didn't start school until they were eight anyway. They were a more literate society than ours is at present. Your kids will learn all they need to, especially if you taught them to discipline themselves first!

What things have helped you have a successful core phase in your home?

In Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens Oliver De Mille and Shannon Brooks do a great job of inspiring teens to obtain an excellent Scholar Phase education. They also do a great job of guiding teens through the process, giving them plenty of concrete tools and advice that will help them gain an excellent education for themselves.

The inspiration comes especially in the first chapter, where the authors share their belief that it is up to today’s teenagers to solve the myriad problems currently facing society, and also in the last chapter where teens are invited to imagine the best day in their lives. In both cases the authors stress that preparing now, both in academic and character terms, (or becoming educated not just highly trained) is essential.

Sandwiched in between is plenty of specific advice on how to obtain an excellent education. The advantages of reading the classics, specific advice on how to read them at three different levels plus a list of over one hundred classics recommended for teens, is included in one chapter. Another discusses how teens can be mentored by the classics, their mission, and their parents and grandparents. Exercises to help them get the most out of these relationships are included. Six roles of a formal mentor are discussed and this section is very helpful for the mentor as well as the mentee. Subsequent chapters discuss falling in love with learning, the importance of choosing the right allegiance, a simple five step plan for the scholar phase and fourteen rules for achieving success and happiness in the future. An appendix contains a list of possible simulations. I especially appreciated this because my understanding of simulations was weak. Seeing such a variety of them listed together really helped me gain an understanding on how I could make use of them in my family.

De Mille and Brooks devote one chapter to the importance of teens finding their “real you” and living their lives accordingly. A series of twenty-three probing questions are included to help teens through the process. I’m sure many adults could benefit from honestly answering these questions too.

I do have some reservations about this book. A companion website www.tjedforteens.com is referred to several times, but frustratingly the site is still not available. I do wonder if some of the promised material, especially recommended Latin and math books, could and should have been included in the book itself.

The 100+ book list is broken down by age level and there is a potential danger in this leading to a TJEd conveyor belt as teens and their mentors fall into the “fourteen year olds must read these books” trap. I don’t believe the authors necessarily intended this but I do believe it is a danger.

So far two of my children (K and W) have read Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens. They took diffferent things from their reading, undoubtedly reflecting their differing phases. While K is firmly in Scholar phase , W is not yet exhibiting signs of moving into Transition to Scholar. What did surprise me was that they both occasionally felt that the authors talked down to them and found the very upbeat style didn’t suit their personalities, but I wonder if this is possibly just due to cultural differences.

As a non -American I couldn’t help noticing the predominance of American titles among the political and history books included in the 100+ list, especially in the list for 15 year olds. While the premise underlying the TJEd model makes this partly understandable (and in many ways essential) it does limit the model’s transferability to other nations and possibly gives American students an unnecessarily narrow and insular focus early in their education. I fully recognise this won’t be an issue for the majority of readers . For those like me who differ from the typical TJEd follower in many ways it may be somwthing to be aware of.

Overall , I found Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens to be a positive book. It does a great job of encouraging teens to work hard to achieve great things for society rather than for purely personal gain. Once the desire for an excellent Scholar Phase is in place, the book is packed full of tips and tools to help the reader achieve it. If you have a teen in or approaching Scholar Phase the book is well worth purchasing, and I’d also recommend it for adults working on their own Scholar Phase.

My name is Karen Packer and seventeen years ago I did something crazy. I started home schooling! To be perfectly honest, I undertook it kicking and screaming. OK, not literally, but if I had not felt compelled to do it—and received an unmistakable answer to prayer—I would never have ventured. It’s not that I didn’t like kids (we ended up having seven)—I just didn’t know what to do with them all day long. And at so many levels! I’d been a business major in college, and felt sure I had no business instructing kids. I would ruin them for sure. Who knew that what I began, as a way to bless my children, would take me on a journey that would end up blessing me so much? Somewhere along the line, I learned that I was getting the best education out of the deal. One of the best kept secrets of home schooling is what it did for me. Now I’m passionate about helping other adults embrace their scholar phase.

In 2008 I received training from LEMI to be a 5 Pillar mentor. It was the way that Aneladee Milne explained it during our 5 pillar training–the way she visually drew me in that did it. Her brief description instantly brought a vivid image—almost in 3D to my mind.

As Aneladee compared the 3 phases of learning with the composition of our earth I could see in my mind’s eye a model of our planet as a cross section. There, glowing a bright yellow in the center is the core. The inner core of our planet is a ball of iron and nickel. The hottest temperatures are found there, but the ball remains solid. As the core of our earth is solid and magnetic, so is our core phase. In it we learn all the foundational ingredients of our lives—true/false, right/wrong, lasting values and moral absolutes. These “elements” are just as magnetic as iron and nickel in that we are continually being drawn toward them when a sound core phase has been cultivated.

Once a solid, healthy core has developed we naturally, usually by age 8, (but I’ve noticed some adults who could use a little more attention here) move toward the next phase. Characterized as the second layer in the cross-section of the earth drawing, by an enthusiastic red, we soon learn the true nature of the mantle, also known as Love of Learning. It’s very fluid! Ever moving, a Love of Learning child (or adult) is hard to constrain and pin down.

Using my Love of Learning child as an example, last week all he wanted to do was Olympic events, breaking every record time and again with his sibling competitors. This week it is designing and redesigning different models of hot air balloons and experimenting with air pressure. Next week? Who knows? All that excitability, bubbliness, and restlessness can be used to describe molten lava or an 11 year-old boy! Have you ever looked into a pot of boiling water? Nothing firm and solid there! What a wonderful thing for me to remember though, that he has a firm and solid core. In fact the purpose of any mantle is to wrap around and envelop—like a blanket. In this case, my little bundle of commotion has fully embraced his core and is able to confidently move through this Love of Learning phase. Not to worry, the behaviors of 8-12 year old children and the fevered geo-thermal activity of the mantle of the earth are doing exactly what they are designed to do—be alive with excitement!

The outer layer of our earth is the crust. To relate it to the 3rd phase of learning—the Scholar Phase, it’s where I live. It’s where I breathe; it’s where I’m sustained. With a solid, magnetic core of values in place that I’m always being drawn to, my excitement and bubbly enthusiasm for learning developed and practiced, I’m now in a perfect place to become a serious student.

As I mature in my study habits and interests I will naturally be drawn to some of my favorite subjects and feel a longing to dig deeper. As Kerbouchard tells his host, ibn-Tuwais, in The Walking Drum, “My mind asks questions for which I have no answers. Within me there is a loneliness for knowledge….I would open the dark and empty avenues of my mind to the brightness of a new sun and populate it with ideas.”

The sun shines on the earth’s crust and the Scholar Phase alike. It’s a place where I can be content to live the rest of my life, exploring in detail the varied geography and landscapes that surround me. Rather than feeling that these phases are somehow linear and that there is a graduation from one to the next, I can clearly see again in my mind’s eye that the wonders of the crust, the Scholar Phase, are only made possible because of the other layers, and that together they make for a beautiful world.

I'm Sandra and I home school my four - R (Depth), K, (Scholar), W (LoL) and G (LoL) in an eclectic style, increasingly underpinned by my interpretation of the principles of Thomas Jefferson/Leadership Education.

Since we're in the southern hemisphere it is currently summer and, academically, we are in a low tide phase. (This post - http://melissawiley.com/blog/2006/01/11/tidal-homeschooling/ - by children's author and home schooler Melissa Wiley explains the concept.) This year I'm more inclined to look at our summer activities through a Leadership Education lens which lets me see and emphasise things I might not have previously. For instance W has taken on a couple of part-time, short-term jobs. He needed the money for a course he wished to attend. This provided a natural opportunity to learn the value of money. I'm also trying to use the experience to highlight one of the benefits of putting in the effort to obtain a superb education. People who have a great education are less likely to be forced into jobs (like the one he currently has) that do not contribute greatly to society and that have poor pay and conditions than a person who does not.

"Summers are for family, especially work projects, evening work and family activities." (Leadership Education, p.94). Despite our small suburban section we have several small vegetable plots. My two Love of Learners each have responsibility for a plot and are happily putting in the work to provide us with some of our vegetable needs. To ensure we make the most of the opportunities summer provides, we've compiled a list of family activities we want to undertake before the season ends. Many are pure fun - a visit to the local berry farm for some of their delicious berry ice cream - but I'm amazed how many involve meaningful educational content. Formal learning may be on the back burner, but learning happens just the same.

While formal learning isn't the top priority just now, it is still happening. K, for instance, has just finished reading Othello for fun and is diligently reviewing all her pesky French verb conjugations so they don't slip from her memory. I have a binder full of activities for my two Love of Learners to choose from if they wish. There's real variety in there - art projects I meant to introduce during the year and didn't get to, book marks with discussion questions, summer math calendars, questions and activities to inspire and focus nature walks, scavenger hunts for libraries, art galleries and dictionaries among other things. It has been interesting to see when they look through the binder and which activities they choose to pursue.

Finally, I've been taking advantage of summer' s more relaxed pace to do six month inventories for all four children, in preparation for a return to some high tide learning. I have completed the process for R, K and G but am struggling with the fourth inventory so I have been re-reading the relevant section in Leadership Education. Surprise, surprise it's not all about them! While the idea is to think about each child's interests, strengths and needs, the next step, the crucial step, the one I had forgotten or was fudging on, was to ask questions like , "What should I do to help fulfill those needs?" and "What else should I do?". I' m hoping this new insight into the process of compiling inventories will help me complete one for W. He is the child I find most difficult to inspire so I'll be putting in some hard work over the next couple of weeks, as well as finding plenty of time for picnics, bird spotting and berry picking .

One of the first things that a person soon hears about a Thomas Jefferson Education (or Leadership Education) is that you need to get off the conveyor belt. So what is that and why do you need to get off?

The conveyor belt as described by DeMille is a the method of education given in the public school system. He said,

"{The public school} is set up like a factory: everyone in the class gets the same education at the same age from the same textbooks, and they are tested the same and graded based upon the same scale regardless of their individual interests, talents, goals, personal mission. The goal is to give them the same ideas, and to grade and rank them according to their conformity with these ideas. In this system you go down the factory line, first grade, second grade, third grade, with a factory worker at each station, being assembled with certain parts (the curriculum) at a certain point in a certain way from a common book or manual. And of course all of the products (students) are fitted with the same parts (called "education") as everyone else on the conveyor belt. Then you finish twelfth grade, you get a stamp (diploma) on your forehead signifying that you are a finished product ready to be sold to the job market." (see a Thomas Jefferson Education chapter 2)

A Leadership Education seeks to raise up a generation of free-thinkers. Free-thinkers that are aware of their own mission and the things they need to accomplish to keep our country free. This necessitates an individual curriculum tailor-made for each child. With a public school education "approved" textbooks are pushed as curriculum not only dumbing down our youth, but preventing free-thinking and personal leadership. Who approves this curriculum? We loose our freedom when we are told what to think and why to think it.

We need to step off the conveyor belt. We need to stop being told what to learn. We need to personalize the education of our youth. We need to inspire them to be the patriots of freedom this country needs.

Not only is this concept of detaching ourselves from the conveyor belt radical, it's also scary! What will everyone say? It won't even look like we are having "school" (That's kind of the point). We have to get to where we can say that the future is more important than what our neighbor, mother-in-law, sister, etc. has to say about how we raise the next generation of leaders.

For me personally getting off the conveyor belt has been a five year process. That's right, I've been applying the basic principles of a TJEd for over five years. Somehow through it all I've still managed to straddle the two lines. One foot still firmly rooted in a public school, conveyor belt mentality (and appeasing all my family) and another foot trying desperately to balance a leadership education mentality. Through out the month of December after a series of situations and further reading I decided that it was time. Frankly, I'm scared to death. But it's time to put it all to the test. No more fencepost sitting. The time has come for a decision. Instead of gingerly stepping off, I've jumped off. (In the picture is one of my sons. Sometimes we just have to hold our breath and do hard things!)

During my studying I came across a thought from the DeMille's Leadership Education book that sounded just like my situation. They said,

"Parent's must get off the conveyor belt twice: once, mentally/emotionally and the other time, physically/behaviorally. Unfortunately, many people attempt to do the second one first, and then wonder why their results are not what they hoped. In other words, they teach the concepts to their children but fail to fully live and exemplify them. They say and do things that undermine the phases and other important principles of Leadership Education because they do not intrinsically trust the process and are not fully implementing it." (page55-56)

So now what do I do?

After lots of pondering I've realized the answers have been there all along. The first is that I need to make sure that my children (and all members of my family) have a firmly established core phase. Then I need to apply the 7 Keys of Great Teaching more fully now and make sure I have the 5 Environments of Great Teaching in my home.

Staying off the conveyor belt requires more discipline, faith, patience, and tenacity that doing anything on the conveyor belt. It's scary and it's hard, but what's at stake with our youth is to great to be worried about our fears. I think that if we just get out of the way of our children and provide the keys to great teaching and the environment they can do the rest. We have to take a deep breath and trust the process. I believe our youth with be like Shakespeare described when he said, "Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, others achieve greatness and others have greatness thrust upon them." (Twelve Night)

God Speed you on your journey to a leadership education.

Stay tuned for posts specifically aimed at the 7 Keys of Great Teaching.