The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (Third Editition)

This educational bestseller has dominated its field for the last decade, sparking a homeschooling movement that has only continued to grow. It will instruct you, step by step, on how to give your child an academically rigorous, comprehensive education from preschool through high school. Two veteran home educators outline the classical pattern of education—the trivium—which organizes learning around the maturing capacity of the child's mind. With this model, you will be able to instruct your child 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.

Newly revised and updated, The Well-Trained Mind includes detailed book lists with complete ordering information; up-to-date listings of resources, publications, and Internet links; and useful contact information.

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.


Combines the best features of many homeschool approaches   September 1, 1999
71 out of 72 found this review helpful

If you have done any research into the field of homeschooling at all, you have probably been submerged in a philosophical quagmire, just as I was earlier this year. Hmmm, I like the idea of unit studies, but don't they sometimes end up leaving children with gaps in their education? I like living books, nature study, narration, and letting a child explore their interests, but isn't the Charlotte Mason approach a little too freeform and child-led for me? Workbooks are thorough, but what if my child is an active learner? When asked about my homeschool philosophy, I usually replied that I was eclectic, borrowing what I liked from different methods. My concern about the classical approach was that it seemed cold and rigid to me. No more! This book presents a very balanced version of the classical approach, fearlessly updated to incorporate the best of all we have learned in the homeschooling field. You can have Latin, but you can also have the benefits of unit studies, projects, and field trips. And the best part about this approach is this family's unique experience and perspective. These are real people who are living out this book daily, to the third generation. What an amazing thing to have intergenerational input to the homeschooling experience! The book is very readable, is intuitively organized, and contains meticulously researched resource lists. This book could constitute your entire homeschool how-to library, and you would be lacking nothing! If you have been looking at all the homeschool approaches, and you can't decide which one you like because they all have pluses, try this book. One caveat--if you are an "unschooler," you probably won't care for this method. However, if you think THIS method is rigid, you will choke if you read books by hard-core classicists, so save yourself now. In conclusion, this book describes a rigorous, yet flexible and child-friendly classical education method, and I highly recommend it.


Use Common Sense   April 5, 2000
Susan Ginn (Indiana)
62 out of 64 found this review helpful

This book is packed with great information! It not only explains Classical Education in terms that are easily understandable but it also has very practical ways to apply it in any homeschool situation.

But please, please, please use common sense when reading this book. Take the principles and apply it in your own way. Some of the reviewers here missed that point. For instance, don't be scared by the schedule the author recommends...it's just a recommendation! You can figure out your own schedule. The same goes for the curriculum. If you find a book that suits your family better...by all means use it. I feel certain the authors would say the same thing. They are only laying out a framework which needs to be adapted to suit your own family. I believe education is an atmosphere and this book gave me great ideas for creating an even better atmosphere for my children at home.


Rigorous AND Fun   December 11, 2004
Lit_Goddess (Seattle, WA United States)
112 out of 120 found this review helpful

Wow... some funny reviews below. I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend whose homeschooled Kindergartner loves learning and has been reading for close to two years. I've been an English teacher for ten years and have grown increasingly disenchanted with both public and private schools; I've watched bright, creative, passionate young people have the love of learning sucked out of them by a flawed and over-burdened system, or, worse, fall between the cracks because they have learning differences, despite the fact that they have amazing minds.

To the readers who assert that this book is for rigid, obsessive parents, I would urge them to read it again. It's not about rigidity, but about fostering excellence, which does take some hard work. I'm sure that this style of homeschooling is not for every child and every family, but it provides hundreds of resources, and I think there's something here for everyone. Granted, if you're not interested in a Classical approach, you may want to look elsewhere. But I would urge you to consider it, even if it sounds foreign or daunting.

And now for my snotty asides: the reviews that are rife with spelling and grammar errors, and insist that the methods in this book are too demanding for children, are a bit hard to take seriously, you know? Other reviews are clearly written by parents who are intimidated because of how little education they themselves have... but the wonderful thing about homeschooling is that you get to learn WITH your children. It should be exciting to you, and if it's scary to confront all of the science, math, history and literature that you don't know, so much the better! Don't we want to teach our children to seek knowledge, and to try things that are difficult? And what better way to do that than to model it ourselves? If you are a lifelong learner, your children will be too.

I have the greatest respect for those deeply religious Christians who indicated that while this book has much to offer, it's lacking in religious education, and they make up for on their own with Biblical study, many of whom include Biblical languages in said study.

I have less respect for the reviewers who are worried that the lessons of those evil Pagan Greeks (their words, not mine) will teach their children to question. Here's my favorite quote from a reviewer below: "I pray God will open the blind eyes of those lusting after intelectualism (note the spelling error) and lead them to True Wisdom of God! What good is Homer and Shakespeare to the soul?"

What good is Homer and Shakespeare to the soul!?! Don't you actually mean What good ARE Homer and Shakespeare to the soul? I don't even know how to begin to answer that. It's a clear case of "If you have to ask..."

I begin to see why literacy rates amongst the middle class are declining, and most high school students will never take Calculus. Buy the book if you're a homeschooler or teacher interested in educating thoughtful, interesting, interested critical thinkers.