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HOMESCHOOL REVIEWS
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The Well-Trained Mind, third edition (2009)
 The Well-Trained Mind The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home is one of the most useful books for homeschooling parents, even if they do not use a classical approach to education. The third edition features 814 pages chock full of practical advice and resource recommendations from Susan Wise Bauer and her mother, Jessie Wise. The book begins with a chapter from each of the authors about their personal experience and some thoughts on classical education. While the book primarily addresses those who choose to home educate their children, it also serves for those who want to provide after-school supplementation for their children. The book is divided into four parts. The first three address the three stages of the Trivium: the grammar stage, the logic or dialectic stage, and the rhetoric stage. The fourth section is titled, "Coming Home: How to Educate Your Child at Home." The stages of the Trivium correspond to the normal cognitive development of a child. The grammar stage is for acquisition of information and skills, often through memorization. This is generally up through about fourth grade level. In the logic stage, children begin to ask questions, compare and contrast information, make logical connections between bits of information, and learn to formulate arguments. Grades five through eight are the normal time period for the logic stage. At high school level, students move on to the rhetoric stage where the emphasis is upon learning how to express oneself thorugh speaking and writing. Obviously, each stage builds upon and incorporates earlier stages. Within each of the Trivium sections the authors first provide some background information on teaching children in that age range. Then they proceed through each area of learning (including foreign language, art, music, and computer software) with specific instructions and resource recommendations. The third edition has an appendice that discusses resources that were dropped from earlier editions of their book and replaced by something they consider even better this time around. Since both Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise have authored a number of resources in recent years, it is not surprising to see those resources highly recommended in the appropriate sections. For example Phonics Pathways has been edged out by Jessie Wise's The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. The number of resources recommended and described in the book is so vast that even this sort of bias has minimal impact on the overall value of the book. The fourth section of the book is a homeschool primer covering why you should home school, taking your child out of school, the socialization question, planning, grading, record keeping, testing, sports/athletics, helpful resources such as online courses, applying for college, and apprenticeships. Appendices include lists of homeschool organizations, national science competitions, and general sources for purchasing resources. If parents want more to read about homeschooling or classical education they can consult the selected bibliography. The book concludes with an extensive and extremely helpful index. The authors maintain a purposely non-sectarian tone through most of the book, although their Christian worldview shows through once in a while. A number of the recommendations, including Susan Wise Bauer's own Story of the World Volume 2 and the Rod and Staff English series, have a Protestant perspective. Most books recommended are secular, and the authors rarely include mention of worldview or religious perspectives in their brief resource descriptions. Whatever your perspective, The Well-Trained Mind is inspiring to read and extremely helpful for homeschooling. You might also find The Well-Trained Mind online forums a valuable resource: www.welltrainedmind.com/forums. A number of very active forums help parents help each other with their questions.
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