How I found the Great Books

I love good music. When I was 12, one of my favorite tapes was Les Miserables. I hadn't seen the play or read the book, but I had the 2-cassette audio set of the Broadway show and I listed to it over and over again. At some point, I discovered that the musical was based on a book. And since I couldn't see the musical (yet!), I just had to read the book.

And that is how, at 12 or 13, I discovered French literature. I probably would not have come across it in school or anywhere else. Les Mis lead to Leroux's Phantom of the Opera (also a book! Who knew?) Phantom lead to Camus, La Fontaine, Nin, etc. I never really had anyone to discuss these readings with (though I'm sure I tried!) To my knowledge I never managed to convince my friends to read these amazing (and often scandalous and sometimes totally inappropriate) stories.

High school happened, though I'm not sure I actually learned anything in the typical classroom setting. I did, however, have one totally non-traditional class. My Honors English/Humanities class consisted of one pupil: Me. It was a small school, and only a handful of us qualified for Honors classes. I was the only one who chose Honors English, so I was stuck in the back of a Senior Humanities class by myself and given independent projects. My teacher knew what I was capable of so these were not easy projects.

She demanded more and more of me to the point where I couldn't stand her at all. We fought often and I'm sure I was awful. Looking back, I realize she was probably the best teacher in that school. Sure, she wasn't my favorite at the time, but no one else consistently put challenging work in my hands and then was thoroughly disappointed in me if I didn't pull it off. I was terribly defiant: I listened to no one. I learned from books, so books she gave me... for years.  I was given a book or stack of books, a list of expectations, and left alone (until semester review time came.) Still, I guarantee I learned more in those 5 hours a week than in the rest of the time I was in that building.

When the time came to search for colleges, I fell head over heels in love with Shimer College. It was exactly what I had wanted all along: Read books, then discuss. Period. I visited the campus (this was the old Waukegan campus of the 90's, not the urban Chicago campus of today) and it was a perfect fit for me. Shimer is one of the two main "Great Books" schools, along with St. Johns. There are no lectures, and the classes are based around the "Great Books" & "Great Discussion" and inspired by the work of Robert Hutchins and Mortimer Adler in the 1950s.

I applied and was accepted. I was offered a decent financial aid package, but it still didn't work out for me. Life changed a lot between 17 and 18. In the end, I decided to go elsewhere. However, how I viewed education was forever changed. I approached learning differently. I read the books recommended at the end of the college history texts. I read the books mentioned by my freshman biology professor. I took charge of my own education. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. But I knew that "lecture-test-forget" had not worked for me.

I want my kids to have the opportunity to have a Great Books education. If it doesn't work, if they don't love it, if they aren't thriving within it as I hoped them to, we will try something else. But it was Shimer and the Great Books that led me to thinking about alternate ways of educating/self-educating which, several years later, led me to Mortimer Adler, Dorothy Sayers's The Lost Tools of Learning, Classical home education, and the many wonderful ways to create a literature based education. This may not be the path on which we complete the journey. However, it was the path which gave us the courage and inspiration to begin.

Other links to helpful sites:
Where We Came From, Where We're Going by Andrew Kern (a good primer on classical education, this piece also discusses the newer "classical Christian education movement." However, it is an informative read for anyone interested in classical education, regardless of religion.)
The Lost Tools of Learning by Dorothy Sayers
For gifted and highly motivated high school students: Shimer College Early Entrant Program
For self-education: The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had by Susan Wise Bauer and Mortimer Adler's How to Read a Book

They All Even Out in Grade 3

"We don't do any testing before third grade because most kids level off by then."
"We don't provide any gifted programs before fourth grade because most kids level off before then."

I've been wanting to write this post for a long time, but I hate to appear critical of the public school system for a couple of reasons: 1. Some public school teachers are AMAZING. My mom is one of them. Em had another one last year. They are out there, these gems, who will deal with whatever new standards and procedures you throw at them and still have time to help every single student be the best they can be.  2. It's a bit of a non-issue at this point, and always has been. We have always planned on homeschooling them when they became old enough to accept and appreciate education. We aren't homeschooling El as a reaction to something negative, we are being proactive. Em is having fun and she went into first grade working at a second or third grade level so I'm not worried about her education at all this year. First grade was similar for El. However, he went into second grade working at a fourth grade level. He left second grade working at a fourth grade level.

Let me tell you how to "level-off" a kid. It's a two-part process involving parents and schools.

Our district gives report cards 3 times a year beginning in second grade. (In K and 1, there were "I Can Do It's" but no report cards, which I find reasonable considering the material.) On his first report, El leveled into grade 4.5 in reading. His teacher said he was actually reading much higher than that but when testing comprehension, he started to miss questions at about level 4.5. Specifically, he was missing questions regarding the author's intent. She said this was understandable since this was not usually taught until the fourth grade.

Fast forward a few months to the second grading period. El leveled into grade 4.5 in reading. His teacher said he was actually reading much higher than that but when testing comprehension, he started to miss questions at about level 4.5. Specifically, he was missing questions regarding the author's intent. She said this was understandable since this was not usually taught until the fourth grade.

Wait, did that last paragraph look like a copy and paste of the one above it? Yeah, it was. I had assumed that the school would do it (part one of leveling off.) The school wasn't the slightest bit concerned about him progressing, as long as he finished second grade at least on level (part two.)

Lesson learned: It's MY duty to be responsible for my children's education. I'm not going to send him somewhere where he could spend entire months learning next to nothing. If his entire learning process is going to take place outside of school, WHY was I sending the kid there for 7+ hours a day? Social reasons? I'm not impressed. 

"What's the hurry? Why do you want him to be so far ahead?" Nope. It has nothing to do with that. It has everything to do with my child sitting there day in and day out, doing busy work. I could have sent him to daycare. His writing composition did not improve. His math did not improve. He barely budged, yet no one was concerned because he had met the end of year goals for second grade. He always made straight A's, so why should anyone be concerned? (Update: He did learn cursive, so that was nice.)

Well, it's not his teacher's job to be concerned with kids like El. Her job was to get these 25 students on level by the end of the year. Hopefully she did that, and I wish her well. I was the one not doing my job, and I have learned my lesson. Within a week of receiving that second report card, we had made the decision not to postpone homeschooling any longer. He finished the school year and we then withdrew him from the district. I will probably start homeschooling Em in second grade instead of third. I have already started afterschooling her in math because she asked for it.

So, yeah, I'm sure a lot of kiddos do "level off" by third grade when left entirely to their own devices.