NeoClassical Curriculum?
I read in the LCC the warning against being pushed through so many books in NeoClassical curricula.
Which curricula are these, exactly?
I have printed out the "good books" list from the Great Books Academy. My daughter is supposed to be going on their high-school "Great Books" list soon. There are 19 books on the list for the Freshman year.
Is this what you're talking about? I am planning to do Cornerstone Curriculum's Starting Points and World Views of the Western World, if you are familiar with it. They use many of these same books but I believe they use snippets of them to prove a point rather than a full study of entire books. Because of that, I planned to have her read the books in their entirety as well. You know...in her spare time!!
I suppose your recommendation is to stick with the books you recommend in LCC. :) Even so, I'd like your opinion here. Would going through all these books be overkill or should I just have her read the entirety of the ones that Cornerstone uses for their curriculum?
Thanks!
Kelli
I appreciate
Your response.
Cornerstone has a wonderful website and they have samples online of their World Views of the Western World and Starting Points if you were interested in familiarizing yourself with them. They don't use any text books for these. They use real books, audio and visual aids. They use real whole books, not anthologies, but I am afraid that they don't go through the books in their entirety. I believe they refer to parts and passages that probably prove their point, so to speak.
But thanks, I think after 'discussing' it with you that I will probably just stick to the good books list for personal and family reading and go through the Great Books that Conrerstone addresses. I believe that most of them are part of LCC, anyway. Should we have the time or the gumption to attempt any other books on the Great List then they are always there and available to us.
Thanks so much for helping me the maze of options! Now, if some of us would just stick to the LCC...then we wouldn't get ourselves into such a pickle. Guess that would be too easy, huh? :)
Thanks,
Kelli
Thank you, Kelli!
I will definitely have a look at the Cornerstone site. Sounds like something I should know about. :)
-Drew
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"I wonder how far I shall carry any opinion with me when I plead for active effort to revive the general use of Latin?" - Hilaire Belloc
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I'd rather not name names... ;)
but I think what you're seeing is pretty typical for Great Books programs and neoclassical homeschooling curricula. Remember that these are based on book lists originally developed for colleges, and I do think that they are overkill for high school.
I've not seen the Cornerstone Curriculum programs, but I'm wary of anthologies. Snippets won't do at this stage (frankly, I don't care for them for younger kids either), nor would I rely on a textbook approach to literature. It's fine if your student wants to look at interpretive material after reading a book, or, better, if you want to use secondary materials to help talk through the book using Socratic dialogue. Those materials can certainly look at worldview. But I have to say that most of the curricula I've seen that are actively trying to inculcate worldview end up making judgments for the student rather than guiding them to make judgments themselves. (As I said, I haven't seen the Quine texts, so I can't speak to those.)
If you limit the number of books your student studies, you as the teacher will have more time to read alongside her and prepare to discuss them with her. One of the difficult parts about LCC for many homeschoolers is that it is not really geared to self-instruction. It presupposes the presence of an actively involved teacher who is, at very least, learning alongside the student. A textbook can't take the place of a live human being.
One thing you could do is have your daughter read through ("just read" as we say) some or of the books on your chosen list for free reading, but only require her to study (discuss and write about) a few key works. This would give her wide exposure without overburdening her or you. I don't really see the point in having a student "just read" difficult philosophical works, but for some fiction, it's a good compromise.
Hope that helps!
-Drew
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"I wonder how far I shall carry any opinion with me when I plead for active effort to revive the general use of Latin?" - Hilaire Belloc
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