Is it Possible to Teach Advanced Subjects at Home?
Question
“How did your parents handle when you got older and were studying harder subjects that aren’t as easy to teach?”
Teaching hard subjects isn't so hard when your teenager is motivated and learning things that interest him. You can learn along with him and he will use mentors to help guide his education. It is no longer your role to educate him, but to inspire him so that he puts in the hard work to educate himself.
Teaching Your Scholar:
Consider the possibility of being a "good student" with grades, skills, and talents that put you on track for a diploma -- without obtaining a great education. I think a lot of students -- at public, charter, private, and home schools do exactly that: get the grades (even A's) but not a great eduation.
When focusing on quality and excellence in education, students are able to learn and are driven enough to take on any subject with the aid of two important teachers: mentors and classics. This student is learning HOW TO THINK.
Consider that there are three systems of Education:
PUBLIC
what to think
PROFESSIONAL
when to think
LEADERSHIP
How to think
A Mentor
The mentor is a guide who inspires a student to reach his educational goals. The scholar is free to study whatever he is interested in (e.g. entrepreneurship, cooking, science) but it's always going to be deep and meaningful. The mentor and student hold a formal meeting every month to discuss the Five Environments of Mentoring.
"Some of these environments take place in the home, but often they are supplemented with outside experiences---great lectures by inspiring men and women, classes where classics are read and discussed among peers who are seeking the same demanding education and where teachers expect written and oral tests" (Tiffany Earl).
As a parent, you can connect your
teen with a lot of resources (a few are):
- local college professors who are willing to mentor
- neighbors or relative who have studied a topic deeply
- certain textbooks (after reading the classic reading others' analysis can be helpful to see if you agree or disagree with them)
- homeschooling groups where they can discuss ideas with peers
- local artists, musicians, vocal coaches, dancers, and athletes
Why Classics?
To prepare for his mission, a scholar almost always chooses a broad educational foundation in science, mathematics, language, history, literature, foreign language, and the arts.
Classics help you think, act, and reason like a master.
They give you a foundation to compare,
consider, analyze, and choose at the level
of world-class leadership.
"Imagine the excitement of your student as he reads about the lives, questions, discoveries and accomplishments of the scientists of history and then duplicates their experiments to experience what they knew." When you discuss what he learns, even more learning takes place.
Don't just sponge everything you read; question, ponder, and debate. Challenge the ideas that are flawed or poorly reasoned; consider how you can improve on them. Embrace and apply the ideas and principles that improve on you.
-- Oliver DeMille and Shannon Brooks
Okay, so our goal is to raise youth who are so driven and so able to learn that they can take any subject and, if they chose, get a doctorate in it. Their education is their own, and they use classics and mentors to guide their journey. They are thinkers!
