[ High School and Self-Education Board ]
Posted by StaceyL in Canada on 16:17 May 10
I know others have mentioned his Great Books program on this board, and my oldest son and I are currently reading through The Deadliest Monster. I've been familiar with Baldwin's work for some years and have been much impressed, but it's only recently that I became aware that he had an entire four-yr high school GB program online. So, some questions....
1)Anyone already following the program as outlined? If so, why did you choose this over what SWB suggests in her books? or over another GB program? If you aren't following it as outlined,how are you adapting it? (dropping certain books,etc).
2) If so, are you doing it on your own, at home,with only one or two children; or in a {shudder!!} co-op setting?
3) Do you spend 1 1/2-2 hrs at a shot engaging in Socratic question-answer sessions, as suggested? Meeting twice a week?
4) And just how do you come up with the questions you ask (beyond the most basic, such as : tell me about the author; about the historical context; etc)?
5) More importantly: where do you find the answers?!? Okay, okay...I know that's not the point, exactly...but Jeff Baldwin seems so terribly learned about not only the GB's, but also about the right *questions* to ask about then *and* where to find the information. My degrees are in literature, and my BA was actually in a Liberal Arts program which used many GB's, but I still feel so terribly uneducated re the very *connections* amonsgst them all that Baldwin so emphasises.
I'm already deliberating what to do with my oldest for his "final year" next year...and thinking further down the line re the other boys. My second son will be 14/ gr 9 next year; this year, he was part of our "younger" co-op, wherein we studied ancient history and related historial fiction. I had been thinking just to move him on to medieval history and lit next year, moving it up a notch to actual GB's as opposed to or in conjunction with historical fiction; but now I'm wondering:
1) will he miss something "significant" if he skips ancients study at the rhetoric level? (I would not expect/ plan to cover everything in any given GB program, but some of Jeff Baldwin's looks rather different from the usual, such as incorporating sections of Sophie's World and other contemporary works).
2) Can you just plunge in at any point, or do you need to study the program in order? (thinking ahead even further to son #3....who would hit gr 9 when son #2 would be in gr 11).
3) and what about somehow having sons #1 and #2 actually working on this together? I had been planning to do a general worldview study with my oldest, along with a "survey" of the novel. I don't want to bog him down entirely in ancients, yet I can see it might be helpful for him to have at least one brother "along for the ride." Or should I have son #2 join in what I had been planning for son #1 (I know, lots of sons to keep trackof here!) and forget about the 4-yr plan? Oh, I'm so undecided....
Comments, opinions, suggestions all appreciated! (But please: *no* suggestiosn re offering this in a co-op! I've learned from experience that this is *not* what other families I know want!)