Book Review: "The Republic" by Plato

The first two books of Plato's "The Republic" were very confusing for me. I struggled to follow the logic and figure out what exactly Socrates (the main character and teacher of Plato) is trying to argue. By book 4, I realized I was getting the hang of how the book reads and that I was following some of the logic. Book 5 brought me to a full halt as I was thoroughly disgusted by the whole "shared women and children" philosophy.

In all, I can see now where the Communist Manifesto and the Humanist Manifesto get a lot of their flawed logic from. I am still struggling with the fact that this book is part of the Great Books series. Why? Some of the analogies seem to be very compelling and true, while others are horrifyingly flawed and evil.

I was mislead by the title of the book to think this was an explanation of how a "Republic" government/society should be run, but I realized by the end that this is, in fact, an argument FOR an aristocracy government/society. This is, as Socrates would say, because I am basing my opinions on my prior knowledge of what a "Republic" is in our day and time. A democracy, in Socrates opinion, is one of the worst types of government because it allows too much freedom. Socrates argues that censorship in education, controlled birth populations, and choosing a person's vocation for them (among other ugly practices) brings about the perfect, just and happy society.

Some advice if you decide to read this book. Read your central cannon during the time you read this book. I felt that at times the arguments Socrates makes was in direct attack of my Christian faith! It was the same way I felt when reading the Communist and Humanist Manifestos. Yet, some of the book makes a lot of sense. It takes a lot of effort, at least for me, to pick out the truth and leave behind the false. Maybe that is the purpose of reading such a book.

What I Found to be Truth

• The Allegory of the Cave - The Cave was one of the things that I found truth in, which describes the state of an unlearned person who does not know what they do not know. It is pretty interesting and I do recommend reading this part of the book.

What I Found to be False

• Book 5 - Deals with education and the sharing of women and children. It is completely appalling. It negates the need for women and men to have separate roles in life and wipes out the family completely.
• Book 10 - The Myth of Er - Deals with reincarnation and a lot of the Greek mythology.
• There are many other things, but spread throughout the text and hard to pinpoint.

Book Review: "Ender's Game"

I have read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card twice now. The first time was about 10 years ago. I just recently re-read this book with my son. What a difference ten years can make! My perspective now is so different than it was then.

First of all, I am more appalled this time by the language and nudity than I was then. I read the book the first time with a book club in my ward. The book was chosen by a man in our ward who was attending ASU as a graduate student. He was highly insightful in all the books he chose and I loved every single one of them. I was reading this book for me and no one else. The ending was so sudden and shocking that I re-read the ending three times to make sure I understood it perfectly. His plight resonated with me, but I did not fully understand why. I was just beginning my own path to a healthier outlook on my life and the changes I need to make were just beginning to peak out.

Fast forward ten years - I read the book this time with a much deeper understanding of the evils of bad parenting, government manipulations, poor educational techniques, and harmful psychological practices. I read this with my son and felt sick as I was more personally attached to Ender and the effects of what his upbringing did to him. He was in all ways a product of his environment. An unwilling product who comes out the other side and decides to change his life. He refuses to BE that product anymore. Ender becomes "himself" and works to undo all the educational and psychological training to create a better more balanced person as an adult.

I can relate to Ender in so many ways. I am becoming the person I am meant to be, coming out the other side of some damaging practices to overcome and be better...Dr. Groft would say "virtuous". Virtue meaning to be as God intended us to be.

How often do books change us? How does reading about fictional people like Ender bring us to a deeper understanding of ourselves? How does a book bring us to our own personal truth?

Detox

One of the mistakes I made when I first brought my children home was to push them. I have found that they need some time to "detox". It takes a good six months, which scares most people away from doing it, yet it is one of the MOST IMPORTANT things you can do to switch gears from public education to home education. During detox, we had the following rules:

1. No TV, video games, or computers during school hours - 9am-1pm at our house - 30 minutes break for lunch.
2. During school hours they were to keep busy with - books, educational games (board games, card games, etc.), educational toys, and educational videos that were on the approved list (included many classic movies).
3. I encouraged them to start projects - like building models, learning to crochet, painting, coloring, etc. These projects were also considered "school".
4. The only required participation was to Mom School - which is when I teach what is mine. Mom School includes our read-a-loud book and whatever else I decide to teach that day.

During this "detox" time, I spent my "school hours" working on my own education, for myself and as an example to my children. How do you know when detox is over? Easy! They start choosing to learn on their own, they ask questions and want your feedback, and they start coming up with their own goals. You find a child with a book they can't put down or a project they HAVE to finish.

I hope this all makes sense. It is so easy to do what we did as children and so hard to change and do something else.

I Finished the 5 Pillar List! Whoo Hoo!

I started working on my 5 Pillar Certification reading list a little over 2 years ago. I am so excited that I just finished my last book, "Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers". Yippee! I have worked very hard to complete this challenge that I placed upon myself, but sometimes I struggled to read books that were not MY choice. I think this experience was one to help me over the hump of transitioning to Scholar Phase and beginning to fill in more of the holes in my education, in areas like biographies, plays, and non-fiction works. I have a lot more work to do in order to feel "well-educated".

I have come to the conclusion that a college education is not much of an education at all. Sure, I learned small amounts about literature, web-design, math, and history...but, my current readings have taught me far more than what I learned in college. I feel so blessed to have found Leadership Education (a.k.a. Thomas Jefferson Education) and to be experiencing this for myself while my children are still young to learn at home in a way that makes their education truly theirs and not some rubber-stamp education provided by the government. I hope that everyone who reads this post will continue their education by reading the good books from the great minds of history.

I have only cracked the surface!

Key #7 - You, Not Them

One of the areas that I've had the hardest time getting off the conveyor-belt is in the concept of "You, not Them." I tend to want to focus on what they (the children) need, what they are doing, how much they are learning, etc. In implementing TJED in our home, I struggled with focusing on me and not the kids.

Some helps that I found are the 1 - Education Self-Assesment, 2 - Family Vision worksheets, and 3 - Master Actualization Plan (MAP) by Donna Goff at Moor House Academy. These worksheets helped me to plan what I am going to do for my education, what I envision for our family, what I can do as the mentor of each person, etc. This turned the focus to me and what I can do in our family to bring about the end results that I hope to bring about.

Another area these worksheets helped me was to get down to the basic elements each child needs from me. Things like learning style, temperament, social needs, etc. can be addressed as I take the time to ponder each person's needs and then assess my own education to see if I have what it takes to meet those needs.

This process is an ongoing project. It is not for the faint of heart! I am still working on this and find it rewarding to see my progress and the progress of our family as we all work towards a Love of Learning and Scholarship together.

NOTE: It is important to do them in the following order: 1) Education Self-Assessment, 2) Family Vision, and then 3) MAP.

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.