Key #2 - Mentors, Not Professors

One of the greatest examples of a mentor is our Savior, Jesus Christ. He modeled what He taught and was the highest example of a great mentor. His words are repeated and revered throughout the generations as He taught all of us with love and patience.

Professors

A professor or teacher is often presented with several students in which to teach. In the public school system, this is often 30 or more students. A central curriculum is followed regardless of ability or interest and each student is taught in the same way, at the same time.

Mentors

A mentor is an educated person, or one strongly seeking an education, who provides guidance as to a student's individual needs, education goals, and abilities. Special attention is given to the learning styles of each student, giving the student a specialized and highly motivational educational path. Challenging as this may seem, my children seem to find this more exciting and easier than a standardized curriculum. They "own" their education as it is specific to them.

How We Apply This Key

We started with having each person make their Education Goals list. This list changes throughout the year and I evaluate each person's list during my Six Month Inventory time. During my education in education (I went to school to be a teacher but did not complete the degree) I learned about learning styles and multiple intelligences (See Multiple Intellegences by Dr. Howard Gardner). I believe that children and adults have specific ways that they learn best. I have spent time determining how each of my children learn best and work to provide ways to model and teach the subjects as needed.

In learning to be a mentor I think the hardest thing for me is what we call "staying off of the Conveyor Belt". Since I was educated using the Conveyor Belt method, it is hard for me to apply a different way of educating my family. Yet I find that as I continue to study the Leadership Education book by Dr. Oliver DeMille, I am able to find ways to apply this method and find it easier and easier to stay on the right path.

Key #1 - Classics, Not Textbooks

Public School Curriculum

Curriculum is chosen by a school board in the form of a list of textbooks and basic outline or "scope" of what is to be taught. Each grade at a school is presented with this information. Some schools have a standardized curriculum handed to each teacher that they must teach, including the tests. Others allow the teachers more leeway into how they will use the textbook and scope provided. Many good teachers supplement materials and follow the scope in a way that will best suit their students in any given year. I have witnessed other schools that make it very difficult for teachers to supplement, add, or take away from the given curriculum.

Textbooks are changed virtually every year. Why? To make money. The writers are looking for a way to continue to force schools to spend money on the "new edition" of the same information. The school then spends tax dollars on this supposedly "new" information which is not new at all, just simply reformatted with maybe a new chapter here or there. Not only is this an enormous waste of resources, but the textbooks are boring and many "pure and precious truths" are often removed, paraphrased, or just plain changed from their original context.

Leadership Education Curriculum

The curriculum for a Leadership Education is much simpler and costs much less than the public school curriculum model. The curriculum standard is to read the classics. I have posted pages with lists for Classics for Young Children, Classics for Youth, and Classics for Adults. Many of the classics can be found at your local library, which is where we get most of ours except the more hard to find versions. It is a tragedy that the libraries cater more to the modern idea of entertainment rather than stocking up on the truly classic works.

What is a Classic?

Quoted from "Leadership Education" by Oliver and Rachel DeMille:

A "classic" is a work worth studying over and over again, because the student learns more each time. There are classics in each and every field from history, science and literature to computer design, gene-mapping and the digital age, and even surfing, cycling, gardening, and so forth.

Why Classics?

Classics are the original works of the great minds of history and modern times. Why read someone else's interpretation of the great books? The classics are considered classics for a reason. They are time honored works of greatness that generation after generation returns to read, quote, and make movies about.

How We Apply This Key

As I looked over the classics lists provided in "A Thomas Jefferson Education" by Oliver DeMille, I realized that I had read most of the classics for Young Children and Youth and only a few from the Adult list. I believe this had to do with the fact that once I became a teenager I turned largely to entertainment reading. How sad is that? I could have filled my time with classics rather than the romantic drivel I read as a late teen and early adult. None of that had any value, just a big time waster.

My first classic that I read after reading Oliver's book was Emma by Jane Austen. I have loved many of the movies based on her books and decided to start there. My next challenge was to begin the 5 Pillars Certification list (suggested reading for adults starting on a Leadership Education path). I have since read Laddie, Little Britches, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Great Expectations, etc. have you noticed I have not said anything about my children yet? That is because I started by focusing on Me, not Them (another key). If I want to model a great education, I better GET a great education first.

I have felt strongly that I am starting late with my kids. They are currently 16, 13, and 11 years old. There is a bit of work, or should I say work to undo in my kids. There are several misconceptions they have about education that we are trying to overcome. So we started with teaching them the Leadership Education model. They know the Four Phases of Learning and what the phases mean. They can tell you they are a Love of Learner or a Practicing Scholar.

Eight Keys of Great Teaching

This used to be Seven Keys of Great Teaching, but Dr. Oliver DeMille added a new key in his new book "Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning". I feel that these keys are useful to every family - home schooled, public schooled, or charter school.

1. Classics, not Textbooks
2. Mentors, not Professors
3. Quality, not Conformity
4. Time, not Content
5. Inspire, not Require
6. Simplicity, not Complexity
7. You, not Them
8. Secure, not Stress - NEW!

My first instinct when reading this list was, "I can do this!" and then it changed to, "HOW do I do this?" Over the next few months I will post about each KEY to Great Teaching.

Professional Conveyor Belt

The Professional Conveyor Belt is an extension of the Conveyor Belt. Typically this is college, where products of the schools turn into specialist or experts in a field of study. In the Conveyor Belt, students were taught what to think. In the Professional Conveyor Belt, students are taught WHEN to think.

This type of education is also important to society. After all, we want our pediatrician to have studied specific things; anatomy, pharmacology, etc. We want our attorney to have studied law. We want our surgeon to have had the classes and field experience necessary to successfully complete a surgery. Without these experts our society would suffer.

Leadership Education is the third type of education. The type of education that our founding fathers had, with a mentor who showed them the way.

New Website and Blog

One of the things on my personal education goals list is to continue to learn HTML and current web design practices. In the pursuit of my goal, I have learned to use (watch out! - foreign language alert!) a php database driven website using Drupal 6. Chris is also learning this method for his Some Kid's Club website. So, our blog will be moved to our new site and integrated with the design. This allows me to back-up my online journal, which is not possible using Blogger/BlogSpot.

We invite you to take a look at our new Batchelor Family website and A House of Learning Blog. This blog will still stay up for the archives of my past posts. If you currently subscribe to this blog, you will need to subscribe to our new one.

Thanks! ~ Celeste

P.S. The kids blogs will be up soon on our new website.

Conveyor Belt Education

Think of how the majority of schools present education:

• All children are treated mostly the same.
• All children of a certain age are placed together in classes.
• Children in say...third grade... all learn the same basic materials at the same time
• After 13 years of education, kindergarten through twelfth grade, the end product is given a "stamp of approval" in the form of a diploma to signify it is a finished product.
• That "product" is now ready for the job market.

Does that sound familiar at all? It does to me. It was exactly how I was educated in the public school system where I grew up in the USA.

Think about it...what do you remember from 4th grade, or 7th grade, or 12th grade, or even college? I don't know about you, but I mostly remember who my friends were and some basic information that interested me. There is not much else stored from all those years at school, including my college years! I know I obviously learned how to read and write and a little math (that seems to disappear quickly for me). But why didn't more stick?

How is a family set up?

Our Heavenly Father designed the perfect method in which to teach children...a family. There are two parents who love their children more than anyone else, other than God. There are children of a variety of ages who strengthen, challenge, and learn together. This is the central unit placed on this earth for the teaching of children. (See The Family: A Proclamation to the World)

How did our current education system start?

Until approximately the 1840's education was limited to largely the wealthy and even then only available in densely populated areas. Poor and Middle class children where taught in the home or not at all. The advent of a publicly funded system was in large part to educate the poor. Middle Class children where still taught in the home or with tutors while the wealthy afforded the private school arena.

Over time, society migrated to the majority using the "free" (or rather tax funded) public school system. The wealthy still frequented the private school "college prep" type system. The middle class and poor filled the public schools even more once it became mandatory for children to attend school. Was this system a good thing? Yes, in many ways. All children could now attend school to learn the fundamentals needed to succeed as a society.

Read on to Professional Conveyor Belt

Three Types of Education

Leadership Education or as it is often called, Thomas Jefferson Education (TJed), is based on the principles of Eight Keys of Great Teaching and Four Phases of Learning. It is considered a "classical method" since the standards are reading classics in all subjects. The focus is on engaging in Life-long Learning and truly developing a Love of Learning.
Three Types of Education

* Conveyor Belt Education
* Professional Conveyor Belt Education
* Leadership Education

The three types of education are explained in depth in subsequent pages as are the Eight Keys of Great Teaching and the Four Phases of Learning. We firmly believe that ALL THREE are important in our society and that a society will only truly thrive when all three are in place. It is not our position to do away with any of the three types of education, rather to point out that the Leadership Education type is sadly missing in the majority of schools; public, private, and home. In an effort to bring back Leadership Education, Dr. Oliver DeMille has written two books and given countless speeches to address the resurgence of this lost type of education. We have embraced this method of education for our children and hope to share our experiences with you.

Leadership Education (TJED)

Our main method of home educating is using a Leadership Education Model based on the book A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-first Century and "Leadership Education: the Phases of Learning" by Dr. Oliver Van DeMille. This method is often called Thomas Jefferson Education or TJed. The basis is that children learn differently than adults and that the current trend in public education treats all children the same and as if they learn the same.

We firmly believe that all children are unique in every way...including the way they learn. Whether a child is gifted, learning disabled, or right in the middle, it does not matter! Each child can and will learn in the proper environment. We believe that environment is best met in the home with loving parents who can meet each child's needs and learning styles.

The "mentoring parent" is the key to this education method. I am not their teacher, teachers are for schools. I am their mentor, a person who guides and directs their education and who models life-long learning.

Now, to me this sounded very daunting! I was literally scared of modeling a love of learning and scholarship to my children. I soon realized that I already did model some aspects of scholarship in my love for reading and taking some college classes. I found that children want to do what they see their parents doing.

To learn more about the Eight Keys of Great Teaching and the Four Phases of Learning using the TJed method click here.

Six Month Purge

We are doing our six month purge this week! I used to call this "Spring Cleaning" and "Before Christmas De-Junk", but I like Dr. DeMille's term that he uses - "The 6 Month Purge." We basically go through everything we own (and I mean everything!) and decide how much it costs us in emotional and mental "storage". If we have not used it for the past 6 months then it is seriously considered for garage sale unless it has great sentimental value.

What a mess! Who said girls are cleaner than boys? In our home they are equally "piggy". My three little pigs are quite annoyed that they have to do this, but once we drudged through the filth, they feel happier about having less emotional and mental "stuff storage".

So - we are having a garage sale this weekend if you know where we live. The money we will make on our garage sale will go towards a couple of worthy causes - a bigger dresser for the girls and possibly curriculum for home school.

Leadership Education Conference

Saturday, Marly and I went to an all-day Leadership Education Conference. There was over 150 people in attendance, both adults and teens. The speakers were based upon our home school method, Thomas Jefferson Education (TJed), although it was not just for home schoolers. There were a few teachers at the conference as well who want to implement the methods taught in their classrooms. The keynote speaker, Dr. Oliver DeMille, has a new book out called "Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning". I noticed that the book covers the materials in the CD's "Core & Love of Learning: A Recipe for Success" that I have previously mentioned. It also includes "The Scholar Phase" information that I was considering buying. It is nice to have it all in one book!

I am blown away with how much we learned. We were both taking a lot of notes. I felt like my spiritual and emotional cups were filled! I nearly came to tears during one speech where I realized how much the spirit has led my thoughts and the Lord has guided my hand to come to the choices we have made. I know that for us, this it the RIGHT choice.

Here are a few quotes that I would like to share:

• "Reading is viewed as laziness in the modern society."
• "Education occurs when students STUDY." - (not through rote memorization or reading textbooks that are watered down and not the real work of the great minds of history and our modern time)
• "You are the expert of your family."

Two Myths of Education:

1. "It is possible for one person to educate another."
2. "It is the job of teachers to educate."

Real education comes when a person studies material for their own reason and purpose. This was evident in many classes I took when I was taking classes at Northern Arizona University to become a teacher. One book called "Learning and the Brain" talked a great deal about connecting learning to a NEED the student has. The questions our brain goes through are: Why do I need to know this? Who decided I need to know this? Do I want to know this? Our traditional education method at both public, charter, and private schools teaches that students need to know the information for the "test". The brain says, "Oh, I need to know this for the test, but I can forget it after that."

Think about it...what do you remember from 4th grade, or 7th grade, or 12th grade, or even college? I don't know about you, but I mostly remember who my friends were and some basic information that interested me. There is not much else stored from all those years at school, including my college years! I know I obviously learned how to read and write and a little math (that seems to disappear quickly for me). But why didn't more stick?

There are some reasons mentioned in the books that I have studied, including this new book from Dr. Oliver DeMille. I hope to continue to study this subject to make my children's education memorable and necessary to them.

Book of Mormon Lapbook - lesson 4

The 4th installment, "The Tree of Life", for our Book of Mormon Lapbook was uploaded today. The rest should be coming out soon with pictures and instructions on assembling the 1st completed lapbook.

There is also a Yahoo! Group called LDS-HFS (for homeschool form share) that is cooperatively compiling activities together for more Book of Mormon Lapbooks. If you would like to take part, they are looking for more people to contribute.

We LOVE John Bytheway!

For the past couple of years I have been collecting John Bytheway (a motivational youth speaker) CD's to listen to in the van, since we drive so far to get to town this is a nice way to pass the time without listening to the worldy junk on the radio. We discovered that BYU TV has been airing John Bytheway specials. We have recorded them and the kids are watching them over and over! Almost like they did when they were little and a new Disney movie came out. (I can still sing every single Lion King song by heart).

Our favorites are:

• "What's in Your Backpack?" (His Barney Fife impression is repeated often in our home)
  
• "Standards Night"
• "The Best Three Hours of the Week"
  

You can also listen to his talks online at BYU broadcasting.

Spring is for Science!

While most of the country is still pretty cold, we have had 80 degree temperatures this week. We have taken advantage of this fantastic weather and been enjoying the great outdoors. The bikes are getting used frequently, the dog is ecstatic getting so many walks, and the windows are thrown open to receive the gentle breeze. I love this time of year and hope the desert heat stays away for quite a while. My Fibromyalgia pain decreases during this time as the cold leaves. My joints feel better already!

Marly's Project

Last year we started using the Square Foot Garden method. We were successful with our radishes and strawberries, but not our carrots or lettuce. We are starting again. Marly has chosen this as her project. She tenderly cares for the boxes we made last year and we are clearly another section for two more 4' x 4' boxes. She researched and found planting guides for our area and has created a plan for the planting seasons this year.

Chris's Project

Chris has been progressively working on learning about electricity. Last year he made a complete circuit and this year he has been building several types of circuits using an Electronics Snap Kit. We purchased a kit called Crystal Radio, but have been unable to get it to work well (I do not recommend this kit). His project of game programming and HTML is still ongoing.

Sam's Project

Our stake is preparing for a Pioneer Trek. Sam is making most of her own clothing for this event that will take place this summer. We are starting with her apron. She has been on a trek previously and is very sure about what she wants this time. I'm happy to see her geared up to be an experienced trekker!