Tennessee Student Speaks Out Against Common Core
When you're right, you're right. Out of the mouths of babes...
The Captivity of Ignorance: The Weekly Mentor, Eliza DeMille
A Student’s Paper by Oliver DeMille This week I want to share a paper turned in by one of my students. I’ve read a lot of commentary recently about The Hunger Games series, pros and cons of youth reading it. Some people lump it in [...]
The Easy Way to Inspire: The Weekly Mentor by Oliver DeMille
by Oliver DeMille Inspire Recently our married daughter got involved in a discussion we were having online with some friends about the meaning of "Inspire". She commented that in her experience (and being raised in the heart of TJEd, she has a really unique and [...]
Hack-ademics. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A recent TEdx talk was given by 11 year old homeschooler Logan LaPlante. He argues (among many, many other wonderful points) that "education" too often asks kids to define "what they want be when they grow up," without abilifying them to be happy. Logan likens [...]
The Four Choices – A TJEd Creed: The Weekly Mentor by Oliver DeMille
The longer Rachel and I apply the 7 Keys and other principles of TJEd, the clearer it becomes to us that modern society has made four dangerous mistakes. Since I prefer to emphasize the positive, I consider them four opportunities to do things better than [...]
Small and Simple Ways to Greatly Improve Your Family’s Education: The Weekly Mentor by Oliver DeMille
Mortimer Adler, who assembled the Great Books of the Western World collection, wrote a great deal about education. One of his most important contributions is his discussion about the three kinds of teaching. Three Systems of Teaching 1) First is what he calls “Didactic Instruction.” [...]
Why Are We Lying to the Kids?: The Weekly Mentor
by Oliver DeMille The subtitle to our book A Thomas Jefferson Education is: “Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-First Century.” I really believe in this. It matters. The leaders of the 21st Century live in our homes. And we can truly help them [...]
Two Kinds of Education (Plus One): The Weekly Mentor
By Oliver DeMille There is an excellent book by John F. Heath entitled, When Bright Kids Can’t Learn: How New Brain Research Can Help Your Child. I highly recommend it. Perhaps the most significant contribution of the book, at least for me, is the idea [...]
“What About Their Careers?” the Father Asked
By Oliver DeMille “How will math ever help me in real life?” Every math teacher and a lot of parents have heard this question—more than once! And what homeschooler hasn’t heard the familiar query: “But what about your kids’ social development?” A new question in [...]
Relax, Let Go, and Learn More: The Weekly Mentor
by Oliver DeMille Bestselling author Grant Cardone taught a very important principle that applies to parents and teachers. He wrote that you “need new problems. They’re signs that you’re making progress and heading in the right direction. “If you’re not creating new problems for yourself, [...]