From: ian glendinning (psybertron@gmail.com)
Date: Wed Apr 06 2005 - 03:27:13 BST
I haven't been following this tread too closely, but my views are ...
(From the privelidged position of someone with two boys aged 18 & 19
off to university - one to do Philosophy, the other Natural Sciences -
both of whom benefitted from a non-fee-paying "public" grammar school
education, both of whom had read both Plato and Nietzsche by the age
of 15 ... )
Early pre-schooling - never underestimate what a child's brain can do
- read to them - adult stuff with real adult words (whatever you're
reading yourself) as soon as they can hold their head up and focus
attention on you and the reading materail - it goes in I promise you,
aged 18 months onwards. Before that just talk to them like a grown up
- and don't bung up their communication channel with a soother /
dummy. Don't teach your kids pidgin.
Real school - don't keep your kids out of a classroom environment -
the social and peer interaction is 80% of the value - you can
supplement the other 20% of content with home encouragement and by
providing additional intelligent materials. Find out what their school
teachers would welcome to support / fill gaps. (Look at what happened
to Pirsig - alien schooling without peers - nearly destroyed him.) -
Whatever you might think, parental and teacher education is a tiny 20%
of their peer group input.
Ian
On Apr 6, 2005 7:57 AM, max demian <oikoumenist@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Sam and all,
>
> I don't have kids yet. But, I have been thinking about it for awhile now,
> and frankly, the prospect scares me to death. I have thought a lot about it
> as we prepare for it in the best ways we know how. I don't doubt (but maybe
> I should) that my wife and I have the capacity to raise a happy, healthy
> child; however I do doubt society's ability to raise a child. I also wonder
> what schooling is best. Thinking about it has led me to some ideas about
> what is most important. Intellectual, emotional, and social parts of the
> individual kid must be nourished, as well as the ability to work
> individually and as a collective. In my composition class I stress the need
> for my students to be able to join in the conversations that surround them
> in society. My goal is to try to teach them to write, of course. I have no
> choice but to teach the class as a group with the same standards. That much
> is set in stone. I take certain pleasure in the successes of each student
> when they reach those standards, but what really makes me happy is when a
> student realizes it isn't about composition but about having a voice and
> joining the greater discussion.
>
> In James Joyce's _Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man_ Joyce develops an
> aesthetic ideal that may be worth mentioning. His "3 phases of aesthetic
> apprehension" are Integretas, Consonatia, and Claritas. Integretas is
> understanding the "is-ness" of the art. Consonatia is understanding its
> place with Art. Claritas is the "ah-ha!" It seems to me that a child needs
> to have "ah-ha!" experiences in order to live a dynamic life. While school
> provides (more or less) the student with academic knowledge, it doesn't
> necessarily provide the "ah-ha!" experience. Personally I think this is the
> most important. It seems that when this happens the rest takes care of
> itself. How often do you read how an intellectual was a poor or average
> student until someone opened their eyes at which point they were suddenly
> addicted to learning? I think that as parents we need to provide our
> children with as many possible opportunities to experience this "ah_ha!" It
> happens in small ways but it has to happen.
>
> I don't know if anyone has heard of a book called _Sophie's World_. It is a
> about the 'history of philosophy' for adolescents. It's about this 15 year
> old girl who this odd-ball philosopher takes under her under his wing. It is
> an interesting story, for its target audience of course, about how this
> philosopher who opens Sophie's World. One day she is just another young girl
> in public school and the next day this guy has her thinking for herself
> about the history of philosophy. (It has a cool plot too)
>
> Good luck making your decision
>
> Max
>
> >From: "Sam Norton" <elizaphanian@kohath.wanadoo.co.uk>
> >Reply-To: moq_discuss@moq.org
> >To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
> >Subject: MD home schooling
> >Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 21:14:14 +0100
> >
> >Hi all,
> >
> >My wife and I are considering home educating our children, and I was
> >wondering if there was anyone on the list who had gone down that route
> >already, or if anyone had particular thoughts on the matter. It would seem
> >to be a natural progression in one sense from Pirsig's arguments in ZMM.
> >
> >Sam
> >
> >
> >
> >
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