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Author Biography: Susan Wise Bauer, author of The Well-Educated Mind, teaches literature and writing at the College of William and Mary. Jessie Wise, her mother, is a former teacher and principal; she is now an educational consultant, speaker, and writer. They live in Charles City, Virginia.
Anonymous
Posted February 12, 2003
This is a very good book and I have great respect for the authors. They are truly experienced in the homeschooling field. However, I think that the reader needs to realize that not everything and every suggestion should necessarily be followed to the "t." Each situation and each child is different. This program isn't always going to be reality for all people. For example, they strongly urge all preschoolers to learn to read and they repeatedly say that "reading is easy." But this is not always the case. Many have told me to tear those pages out! If your preschooler is not ready to learn to read (and many aren't), all the pushing in the world may only harm the child. I learnt to read (as did most of us) in the first grade, and I am one of the most voracious readers around. If anyone has read "Cathy Duffy's Christian Home Educator's Curriculum Manual," they will be aware of certain learning styles. The authors and their children seem to all be very similar in learning style - "competent carl." Not everyone fits that mold. This means they learn well with basic, no-frills approaches and like to see the big picture, strengths would be things like analysis and thinking through situations, science and math or any area where they can achieve competency (as opposed to creativity/artistic expression). It's no wonder that a classical approach, worthless trivia (which this book is filled with lists of prescribed memorization for, not necessarily bad, just you have to admit it's rather trivial in the long run unless you want to be a history major in college), and straightfoward books would appeal to them. The other problem I have with this method is that it does tend to cause a lot of burn-out and take lots of time and money to prepare (costly if you don't have access to good libraries in your area). Other than that, I love this book. I refer to it time and time again. I am glad that I got it. I respect the authors tremendously.
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Posted March 23, 2000
When we enrolled our then-five-year-old daughter in a private school in Washington, DC, we assumed that her school would teach her reading, writing and arithmetic. When it became clear, however, that we would have to do much of this ourselves, we cobbled together a program that would give her the basics. We found this book last year and it has become our bible for several reasons. First, while the authors have a very definite opinion about what your child should learn, there is no political, religious or social dogma that drives their discussions; they simply beleive that all children benefit most from a traditional education. What my husband and I found particularly helpful about this book is that it has no political agenda: when the authors believe, for example, that a Christian-based book, e.g., a Christian grammar book, is the best one out there, they endorse it, noting, however, that the book has religious overtones for those who wish not to buy it. Although they will often recommend a back-up book, they underscore that one is frankly better than the other from a pedagogical standpoint. Refreshingly, the book does not pander to or curry favor with the educational establishment by recommending what is often mediocre -- or just plain bad -- literature. Second, the authors give you every address, e-mail, 800 and fax number you will ever need for every grade (nursery through twelfth) to order the recommended materials. Because they have definite preferences on publishers,etc., you never get lost in a miasma of names and phone numbers. Whether you home-school or not, they make your life easier. It's all there, it's all well laid-out. Finally, although the book is written with home-schoolers in mind, it is so well-organized that anyone can use it, regardless of where one's child is being schooled. And given the current state of public and private education, Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer have done us all a great service.
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