Educational Philosophies

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EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES

We have gleaned what we have found to be the best from three main Educational Philosophies: Thomas Jefferson or Leadership Education, Charlotte Mason and Well-Educated Heart.

We strongly draw upon principles from A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille which outlines leadership education, or rather, the education that should produce a leader. It is the type of education that Thomas Jefferson and many of our Founding Fathers obtained.

Leadership education:

•encourages deep thinking and discussion

•advocates learning from the great classics instead of textbooks

•inspires each person to discover his or her unique gifts and talents and his or her personal life mission

Leadership education is a powerful and engaging way to learn. I have seen it produce youth that can draw connections, speak confidently, and are pursuing a life of purpose.

In alignment with Charlotte Mason’s teaching, we:

·spread a feast before the students (teach a variety of subjects) to inspire a wide range of interests

·memorize scriptures and poems to strengthen and fill the mind

·read living books that are rich in both language and ideas

·introduce them to handicrafts to help them find joy and confidence in creation and in creativity

·give age-appropriate short lessons to keep interest and attention

·encourage students to retell (narrate) lessons in speech, drawing, or writing to increase memory and retention

·join together in folk dancing, classical music study and singing to bring joy and a sense of belonging

Part of Charlotte Mason's philosophy is to inspire the student to develop many interests. Ideally, a person should know a fair amount about many things. This allows them to experience more joy, to participate in live more deeply and to connect with many subjects.

The Well-Educated Heart philosophy was developed by Marlene Peterson. A strong component of the philosophy is the idea of warming a child's heart to a subject before you teach them all the details of a subject. They must be interested and even love the subject to prepare them to want to study a subject more deeply. You warm the heart by teaching with stories, poetry, music, paintings, dancing, singing, and other heart-filled activities. This method emphasizes helping each person love learning and find great joy in it.