The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home

by Susan Wise Bauer

Crockett, Davy Parks, Eileen Wells. Davy Crockett: Young Rifleman. New York: Aladdin, 1986. $6.99. A Childhoo...

Franklin, Benjamin Cousins, Margaret. Ben Franklin in Old Philadelphia. New York: Random House, 2004. $5.99. One of the Landmark Biography series. Giblin, James Cross. The Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin, illus. Michael Dooling. New York: Scholastic, 2006. $7.99. A well-written picture-book biography with plenty of additional information about Franklin’s times. Harness, Cheryl. The Remarkable Benjamin Franklin. Washington, DC: National Geog...

Handel, George Frideric Venezia, Mike. George Handel. Chicago: Children’s Press, 1995. $6.95. Part of the readable junior series Getting ...

Henry, Patrick Adler, David A. A Picture Book of Patrick Henry. New York: Holiday House, 2001. $7.99. A simple and interesting guide to Patrick Henry’s life. From the Picture Book Biographies series. Fritz, Jean. Where Was Patrick Henry o...

Jackson, Andrew Venezia, Mike. Andrew Jackson: Seventh President, 1829–1837. Chicago: Children’s Press, 2005. $7.95. A simpler read than the Jackson biography listed below, this is part of the Getting to Know the U.S. Presidents series. Stanley, George Edward. Andrew Jackson: Young Patriot. New York: Aladdin, 2003.

Jefferson, Thomas Barrett, Marvin. Meet Thomas Jefferson. New York: Random House, 2001. $4.99. A Landmark Biography. Giblin, James Cross. Thomas Jefferson: A Picture Book Biography. New York: Holiday House, 1991.

Lafayette, Marquis de Fritz, Jean. Why Not Lafayette?, illus. Ronald Himler. New York: Putnam, 2001.

Monroe, James Venezia, Mike. James Monroe: Fifth President, 1817–1825. Chicago: Children’s Press, 2005.

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Venezia, Mike. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers). New York: Children’s Press, 1995.

Nur Jahan Bridges, Shirin Yim. Nur Jahan of India (The Thinking Girl’s Treasury of Real Princesses). Foster City, CA: Goosebottom Books, 2010.

Nzinga Havemeyer, Janie. Njinga: “The Warrior Queen” (The Thinking Girl’s Treasury of Dastardly Dames). Foster City, CA: Goosebottom Books, 2011.

Pitcher, Molly Stevenson, Augusta. Molly Pitcher: Young Patriot. New York: Aladdin, 1986.

Pocahontas Penner, Lucille Rech. The True Story of Pocahontas. New York: Random House, 1994.

Revere, Paul Stevenson, Augusta. Paul Revere: Boston Patriot. New York: Aladdin, 1986.

Ross, Betsy Greene, Stephanie. Betsy Ross and the Silver Thimble, illus. Diana Magnuson. New York: Simon Spotlight, 2002.

Sacagawea Seymour, Flora Warren. Sacagawea: American Pathfinder. New York: Aladdin, 1991.

Sitting Bull Stevenson, Augusta. Sitting Bull: Dakota Boy. New York: Aladdin, 1996.

Squanto Bulla, Clyde Robert. Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims. New York: Scholastic, 1990.

Tecumseh Mayer, Cassie. Tecumseh. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2007.

Washington, George Adler, David A. A Picture Book of George Washington. New York: Holiday House, 1990.

Harness, Cheryl. George Washington. Washington, DC: National Geographic Children’s Books, 2006.

Heilbroner, Joan. Meet George Washington.

Washington, Martha Wagoner, Jean Brown. Martha Washington: America’s First First Lady. New York: Aladdin, 1986.

Wheatley, Phillis Weidt, Maryann. Revolutionary Poet: A Story about Phillis Wheatley, illus. Mary O’Keefe Young. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books, 1997.

Modern, 1850–Present (Fourth Grade) List of Historical Topics to Cover Your children’s librarian can point you to fourth-grade level books exploring these major events (listed chronologically). For U.S. state history, you can also write to your state’s Chamber of Commerce and request materials to study your state’s history, geography, and commerce. Africa under European control the Indian mutinies the Crimean War the Victorian era suffrage movement and the Seneca Falls declaration the War between the States (Civil War) exploration of the American West Euro-American conflict with the Native American tribes the Boxer Rebellion World War I the Russian Revolution the Soviet Union the Great Depression the New Deal civil war in Spain the Axis and the Allies World War II Nazi Germany/Hitler the Holocaust Zionism/the Jews’ return to Palestine apartheid/South African segregation China under Mao the Korean War the American civil rights movement the Vietnam War space race and landing on the moon List of Notable Men and Women to Cover Andrew Jackson (1767–1845) Louis Joseph Papineau (1786–1871) Samuel Morse (1791–1872) Commodore Matthew Perry (1794–1858) Santa Anna (1794–1876) Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) David Livingstone (1813–1873) Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898) Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) Karl Marx (1818–1883) Queen Victoria (1819–1901) Victor Emmanuel II (1820–1878) Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) Harriet Tubman (1820–1...

Archambault, Alan. Black Soldiers in the Civil War Coloring Book. Santa Barbara, CA: Bellerophon, 1995. $3.95. A museum-shop-quality coloring book of Civil War–era images. ________. Civil War Heroes: A Coloring Book. Santa Barbara, CA: Bellerophon, 1988. $4.95. A museum-shop-quality coloring book of contemporary Civil War portraits.

Bernhard, Annika. State Birds and Flowers Coloring Book. New York: Dover, 1990. $3.99.

Bunting, Eve. The Wall. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1992. $6.99. A little boy is taken to find his grandfather’s name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Carey, Charles W. The Emancipation Proclamation. Chanhassen, MN: Child’s World, 2014. $20.95. Part of the Journey to Freedom series, this informative book for young students is available as an ebook only. A Coloring Book of Our Presidents, Washington through Clinton. Santa Barbara, CA: Bellerophon, 1999. $4.95. Contemporary portraits of each president. Conklin, Wendy. The Cold War. Huntington Beach, CA: Teacher Created Materials, 2013. $8.99. Heavily illustrated introduction to communism, the arms race and the space race, the Berlin Wall, the Korean War, the Cuban crisis, and the Vietnam conflict, all readable on a fourth-grade level. Copeland, Peter F. Famous Women of the Civil War Coloring Book. New York: Dover, 1999. $3.99. ________. Story of the Civil War Coloring Book. New York: Dover, 1991. $3.99. Demuth, Patricia Brennan. What Was D-Day?, illus. David Grayson. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 2015. $5.99. Interesting and age-appropriate coverage of the events leading up to D-Day as well as the invasion itself. ________. What Was ...

Holling, Holling C. Minn of the Mississippi. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978. $11.95. The history of the Mississippi told through the adventures of a snapping turtle. ________. Paddle-to-the-Sea. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1980. $11.95. A Caldecott-winning story about an Indian boy’s toy canoe and its journey from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic. ________. Tree in the Trail. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. $11.95. The history of the Great Plains and Santa Fe Trail, centered on a cottonwood tree.

King, David C. Civil War Days: Discover the Past with Exciting Projects, Games, Activities, and Recipes. New York: Jossey-Bass, 1999. $16.95. Follows the lives of two families, one white and one black, through daily activities; plenty of suggestions for hands-on learning. ________. World War II Days: Discover the Past with Exciting Projects, Games, Activities, and Recipes. New York: Wiley, 2000. $12.95. Explore the culture of America in the 1930s and ’40s.

Levine, Ellen. If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King. New Yo...

Lincoln, Abraham. The Gettysburg Address, illus. Michael McCurdy. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. $7.99. Each sentence of the Gettysburg Address stands in large type above a woodcut illustration; this book will bring the famous speech to life.

Meyer, Carolyn. Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess, Russia, 1914. New York: Scholastic, 2013. $6.99. Part of the “Royal Diaries” series, this story of the Russian Revolution is told in the form of brief diary entries kept by Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra. Historical notes flesh out the picture of early twentieth-century Russian society and its conflicts.

Murphy, Jim. The Boys’ War. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. $8.95. Boys as young as eleven and twelve fought in the Civil War; this book tells their stories in their own words. Pascal, Janet. What Was the Great Depression?, illus. Dede Putra. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 2015. $5.99. Eighty illustrations and kid-friendly text. Presidents of the United States Pocket Flash Cards. $2.99. All the U. S. presidents on cards: portraits, signatures, brief biographies, and trivia. The Presidents Song. Animaniacs, 1995. The catchiest memory aid around; Wakko and friends sing the first forty-three presidents. The song can be purchased as part of the Animaniacs series, Season 3, Episode 75; first aired on November 11, 1995. You can also find it on YouTube.com. Rasmussen, R. Kent. World War I for Kids: A History with 21 Activities. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2014. $17.95. Clear text about the conflict, good illustrations, and plenty of activities explaining how trench warfare worked. Rickman, David. Cowboys of the Old West Coloring Book. New York: Dover, 1985. $4.99. Smith, A. G. Easy-to-Make Plains Indians Teepee Village. New York: Dover, 1990. $6.99. A modeling project that needs no scissors! ________. Union Army Paper Soldiers. New York: Dover, 1995. $6.95. Twenty-four large soldiers. States and Capitals Songs. Newport Beach, CA: AudioMemory, 1998. $12.95 for CD and kit. The kit includes the CD with states and capitals songs, plus a map to color. Wyk, Chris van, ed. Nelson Mandel...

Biographies Alcott, Louisa May Meigs, Cornelia. Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women.Boston: Little, Brown, 1995. $9. A 1937 Newbery winner. Anthony, Susan B. Monsell, Helen Albee. Susan B. Anthony: Champion of Women’s Rights. New York: Aladdin, 1986. $6.99. One of the Childhood of Famous Americans series, imaginative biographies written on a third- to fifth-grade level that focus on the childhood of each subject. Highly recommended. Barton, Clara. Stevenson, Augusta. Clara Barton: Founder of the American Red Cross. New York: Aladdin, 1986. $6.99. One of the Childhood of Famous Americans series. Bethune, Mary McLeod Greenfield, Eloise. Mary McLeod Bethune, illus. Jerry Pinkney. New York: HarperCollins, 1994. $6.99. A simple biography of the famous educator born the fifteenth child of former slaves. Blackwell, Elizabeth Henry, Joanne Landers. Elizabeth Blackwell: Girl Doctor. New York: Aladdin, 1996. $6.99. One of the Childhood of Famous Americans series. Carver, George Washington Moore, Eva. The Story of George Washington Carver, illus. Alexander Anderson. New York: Scholastic, 1990. $5.99. This Scholastic Biography is written for good third- to fifth-grade readers. Chavez, Cesar Krull, Kathleen. Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez, illus. Yuji Morales. New York: Harcourt, 2003. $17.95. A fascinating picture-book account of Cesar Chavez’s childhood and his rise to activism. Churchill, Winston Labracque, Ellen. Who Was Winston Churchill?, illus....

SUBJECT: Beginning science TIME REQUIRED: An average of 2 to 3 hours per week, 60–90 minutes twice per week

Think of science as divided into five major fields of study: biology/natural science (the study of animals, plants, and people), astronomy, earth science, chemistry, and physics. You could choose to add a sixth area of investigation, which we could call technology—how and why machines, electronics, robots, digital players, and Lego creations work the way they do.*

First grade Biology Animal kingdom (18 weeks) Human body (10 weeks) Plant kingdom (8 weeks) Second grade Earth and sky science Earth science (18 weeks) Astronomy (18 weeks) Third grade Chemistry Basic chemistry (36 weeks) Fourth grade Physics & technology Basic physics (18 weeks) Technology & engineering (18 weeks) OR First grade The basic sciences of nature Earth science (8 weeks) Astronomy (8 weeks) Animal kingdom (8 weeks) Human body (8 weeks) Plant kingdom (4 weeks) Second grade Looking below the surfaces Basic chemistry (12 weeks) Basic physics (12 weeks) Technology & engineering (12 weeks) Third grade Repeat first grade topics: review and go deeper Fourth grade: Review second grade topics: review and go deeper OR First grade All sciences Earth science (5 weeks) Astronomy (5 weeks) Animal kingdom (6 weeks) Human body (5 weeks) Plant kingdom (5 weeks) Chemical reactions (5 weeks) Physics (5 weeks) Second grade Same topics with more depth Third grade Same topics with more depth Fourth grade Same topics with more depth

The process is simple: Read aloud to the child from the science encyclopedia or “spine.” Ask her to narrate—to tell back to you in her own words two or three important facts that she’s learned (see Chapter 5 for a description of the narration process). Write this narration down (or ask the child to write it, if her skills permit). If the child shows interest, go find additional library books on the topic. Read the books together. And if not, move on to the next topic. Don’t forget that you can stop at any time and dig deeper into a subject.

For third and fourth grade, have the student complete a Project Page with brief answers to the following questions: What Did We Use? What Did We Do? What Happened? What Did We Learn?

Note: The best way to prompt a science narration at this level is to say, “Can you tell me two things that you learned about this animal?” or “What was the most interesting thing we read about this plant?”

The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia, 3rd ed. New York: Kingfisher, 2011. $34.99. The most detailed and useful of the encyclopedias, written for fourth grade and above (too difficult for first- and second-grade students).

Grow-A-Frog Kit. $24.95. Order from Young Explorers. Raise a live hybrid frog with transparent skin (so that you can see its internal organs)!

O_O Not sure how I feel about this...

My First Skeleton (Tiny Tim). Baltimore, MD: Anatomical Chart Company (Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins). $24.96. A fully assembled 16½-inch plastic human skeleton on a stand with a moveable jaw and detachable limbs.

SUBJECT: Latin and other foreign languages TIME REQUIRED: 2 ½–4 hours per week, beginning in third or fourth grade.

Latin trains the mind to think in an orderly fashion. Latin (being dead) is the most systematic language around. The discipline of assembling endings and arranging syntax (grammar patterns) according to sets of rules is the mental equivalent of a daily two-mile jog. And because Latin demands precision, the Latin-trained mind becomes accustomed to paying attention to detail, a habit that will pay off—especially when studying math and science. Latin improves English skills. The grammatical structure of English is based on Latin, as is about 50 percent of English vocabulary. The student who understands how Latin works is rarely tripped up by complicated English syntax or obscure English words. And for decades, critical studies have confirmed that children who are taught Latin consistently score higher than their peers in reading comprehension, vocabulary, and even critical thinking and problem solving.† Latin prepares the child for the study of other foreign languages: French, Spanish, and Italian are all related to Latin. Even non-Latinate languages can be more easily learned if Latin has already been studied.

A foreign language, as Neil Postman writes in The End of Education, “provides one with entry into a worldview different from one’s own. . . . If it is important that our young value diversity of point of view, there is no better way to achieve it than to have them learn a foreign language.”‡

New York Times reporter Nick Bilton: So, your kids must love the iPad? Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc. and Pixar Animation: They haven’t used it. We limit how much technology our kids use at home.

You’ll notice that, so far, we haven’t recommended online instruction, or very much in the way of computer-based learning, in our Resources lists. Yes, we know they exist (and we’ll suggest various ways to use technology with your middle- and upper-grade students in the sections to come). We just don’t think this should be your preferred method of teaching grammar-stage students. Reading is mentally active and forces the student to use a brand-new and difficult set of skills. Watching a presentation online is mentally passive. Writing is labor intensive. Clicking icons is effortless.

“In print culture,” Neil Postman writes in The End of Education, “we are apt to say of people who are not intelligent that we must ‘draw them pictures’ so that they may understand. Intelligence implies that one can dwell comfortably without pictures, in a field of concepts and generalizations.”† Indeed, the higher stages of classical education require the child to think without pictures—to be so comfortable with nonvisual concepts such as responsibility, morality, and liberty that she can ponder their meanings in widely different circumstances. Word-centered education requires the student to interact with the material—to comprehend it, interpret it, and talk about it. A student must be actively involved in the learning process in order to benefit; this is why we lay such stress on reading history and science and then writing about the knowledge gained.