Susan Wise Bauer's Blog

I’m happy to announce that the fourth edition of The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home now has a publication date (September 13, 2016) and is available for pre-order.

For those who are familiar with the earlier editions,   here’s a list of the major changes:

 

  Completely updated book and curricula      recommendations.


  Extensive additional material on teaching children  with learning disabilities.

  (These children make up a much higher percentage   of home educated students than in previous years,     since schools often are unable to provide the        support they need. As home education has become    more visible and additional resources have become available, many more parents are reacting to these very individual needs by choosing to remove struggling children from the classroom entirely.)

An entirely new set of online resources, coordinated with the book, which will be located at welltrainedmind.com. These include:




Out of the Box: additional resources for children who don’t fit the traditional K-12 progression—because they have leapt ahead, are dealing with learning challenges, or simple process information differently.




Apps and More: a continuously updated list of popular apps, web-based learning games, and online enrichment activities, all in line with the classical principles described in the book.
More Options: alternative curricula to our top recommendations, not included in the book because they were too complicated, expensive, specialized or quirky—but all of which have enthusiastic support among many veteran home schoolers.


Brand-new maths and sciences chapters.

(Classical education has often been criticized as stronger in the humanities than in the maths and sciences. Working with highly qualified experts and experienced teachers, we have overhauled our approach to provide a much more rigorous and coherent maths and sciences education.)

Shift of quickly outdated appendices online.

(The list of suppliers and publishers, the index of home education organizations, the guide to science contests and fairs, and other constantly changing resources will be moved to welltrainedmind.com, which will allow them to be updated regularly.)

Each chapter has been separated into two sections.

(Chapters have been reorganized into how to teach a subject — methods, goals, expectations, etc.– and what resources to use — recommended texts and curricula. This makes the book even more flexible, since parents can use the principles of teaching even if they choose to use other specific texts or programs than the ones we suggest.)

Dear readers of this infrequently updated blog,

I’ll be blogging semi-regularly at Psychology Today about personalities of the past. Check it out here:

Welcome to the Past

If you’ve read my History of the World series, you’ll meet a few familiar faces…and you might also get a preview or two of the next volume of history…

By the way, I’m finding that I tend to post the things I used to post here (updates, random thoughts, etc.) on Facebook. So if you haven’t liked my page there, consider going over and doing that now.

Susan Wise Bauer on Facebook

Update: Norton has changed the title to The Story of Western Science. I had no control over this decision and am a little worried about what it will do to the book…but that’s what publishing is like.

And here’s the original post….

I just got this email from Audible.com…

Dear Susan,

This is an alert that your audiobook, The Story of [Western] Science, is now available for pre-order at Audible.com. Listeners can buy your audiobook now, and when it releases on July 28, it will be in their libraries and available for download.

Here is the link to your audiobook:

http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B00YTFUPYS&source_code=AUDGAWS0608159DTJ

Unfortunately, it still said “Narrator TBA,” so I asked who had been selected. And, just for you, here’s the answer…

Award Winning, British born, New York City actor Julian Elfer studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) and the British Academy at Oxford University with master classes in Shakespeare with John Barton and Ben Kingsley. Julian spent 3 years under the supervision of British Director Frank Hauser (founder of the Oxford Playhouse) who brought such talents to the stage as Judi Dench, Richard Burton, and Ian Mckellen. As a working actor in New York City, Julian won the prestigious New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role for his portrayal of Malvolio in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Julian studied with famed NYC Acting Coach Terry Schreiber at the T. Schreiber Studios. More recently, he starred as Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, directed by Cat Parker. New York stage credits include the role of Asher in the long running Off Broadway show Perfect Crime, the role of Moon in Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound (Gloria Maddox Theater), Austin Pendleton’s Orson’s Shadow (Midlantic Theatre Company), Poor Ophelia (New York Directors’ Guild), No Such Roses (New York International Fringe festival), and Coriolanus (ShakespeareNYC), to name a few. Other credits include roles in the film Reverie, The History Channel, several audiobooks, and the voice of Twinings Tea. In addition to being a working actor in NYC, Julian offers private acting classes in New York City’s Upper West Side. This includes one on one coaching and small groups.

So there you have it: My streak of having classically trained male Brits read the words of a home-educated female Virginian is undisturbed.

I just got this email from Audible.com…

Dear Susan,

This is an alert that your audiobook, The Story of Science, is now available for pre-order at Audible.com. Listeners can buy your audiobook now, and when it releases on July 28, it will be in their libraries and available for download.

Here is the link to your audiobook:

http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B00YTFUPYS&source_code=AUDGAWS0608159DTJ

Unfortunately, it still said “Narrator TBA,” so I asked who had been selected. And, just for you, here’s the answer…

Award Winning, British born, New York City actor Julian Elfer studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) and the British Academy at Oxford University with master classes in Shakespeare with John Barton and Ben Kingsley. Julian spent 3 years under the supervision of British Director Frank Hauser (founder of the Oxford Playhouse) who brought such talents to the stage as Judi Dench, Richard Burton, and Ian Mckellen. As a working actor in New York City, Julian won the prestigious New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role for his portrayal of Malvolio in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Julian studied with famed NYC Acting Coach Terry Schreiber at the T. Schreiber Studios. More recently, he starred as Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, directed by Cat Parker. New York stage credits include the role of Asher in the long running Off Broadway show Perfect Crime, the role of Moon in Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound (Gloria Maddox Theater), Austin Pendleton’s Orson’s Shadow (Midlantic Theatre Company), Poor Ophelia (New York Directors’ Guild), No Such Roses (New York International Fringe festival), and Coriolanus (ShakespeareNYC), to name a few. Other credits include roles in the film Reverie, The History Channel, several audiobooks, and the voice of Twinings Tea. In addition to being a working actor in NYC, Julian offers private acting classes in New York City’s Upper West Side. This includes one on one coaching and small groups.

So there you have it: My streak of having classically trained male Brits read the words of a home-educated female Virginian is undisturbed.

Booklist Reviews 2015 May #1

When Lucretius pondered the “ceaseless motion” of atoms, he inscribed ancient science in lapidary poetry. But Bauer identifies Lucretius as but one link in a long chain of gifted writers who have explored scientific horizons, even if they have not themselves done science. Beginning with Hippocrates’ distillation of Thales’ theorizing about water, Bauer introduces readers to the early Greek writers—including Aristotle and Archimedes—who first ventured rational accounts of natural phenomena. She then turns to the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century writers (including Bacon, Galileo, and Newton) who laid out their revolutionary investigative methodology. Finally, readers visit writers who have invited readers into the modern science explaining geology, biology, and the cosmos. To be sure, a world where scientists such as Lyell and Darwin could write for their colleagues in a language understood by a broader audience is gone. But so long as writers such as Hoyle, Weinberg, and even Einstein can still translate their work into the vernacular, general readers will share the intellectual adventure of science. An engaging compendium for serious science students.

The official publication date for The Story of Science: From the Writings of Aristotle to the Big Bang is May 11, but copies already seem to be floating around/shipping from online retailers/generally available. (Read this to find out why publication date doesn’t matter.)

In any case, the “late pre-publication” reactions (i.e., not really early enough to be “industry” reviews, but still early enough to be classified as “pre-pub”…kind of like “No’-as-big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock”…OK, I got lost in that parenthetical observation, but now I’m digging out) are starting to appear.

So, here are a few…

A Pick of the Month from Alan Caruba of the National Book Critics Circle. “This book connects the dots, positioning important scientific texts in both their historical and scientific contexts.”

A recommended title in Scientific American.

A Discover Magazine: Science for the Curious “What to Read in June” selection. “Bauer dumbs nothing down but makes complex topics comprehensible in just a few pages apiece.”

Library Journal says, “Bauer does an especially good job of reminding the reader which biological and geological theories were contemporaries of one another.” (Thank you, I worked hard on that.)

And Barnes & Noble calls the book “Science that refreshes.”

In my ongoing effort to stay home and write more/travel less (and as part of my continual unhappiness with home education conferences), I’m trying out the online conference scene.

This summer, I’ll be giving three sets of mini-sessions (three workshops each) as part of the Well-Trained Mind Online Conference series. Have a look: This Isn’t as Easy as I Thought, Beyond Elementary School, and A Plan for Teaching Writing.

These conferences, which are sponsored by the Well-Trained Mind Academy, are an effort to give parents solid academic training without any other agenda. I’m delighted that so many fantastic speakers have joined in this initial effort, and am looking forward to future years with an even broader agenda.

Please visit the site and join us!

The first big industry review of The Story of Science: From the Writings of Aristotle to the Big Bang Theory, just came out from Kirkus! “A bright, informative resource for readers seeking to understand science through the eyes of the men and women who shaped its history.”

Read the entire review here: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/susan-wise-bauer/the-story-of-science/

And, in case you didn’t know, the Well-Trained Mind Academy is offering a one year history and philosophy of science course, based on the book!

And here it is.

If you’ve have had, or now have, your student(s) part- or full-time in a classroom situation. were you able to use any resources/techniques/ideas from home schooling to help you customize your child’s situation? In what ways did the idea of a parent-directed education make you able to take charge of the classroom setting? Or the reverse–did you decide to take a more hands-off approach?

For a long time, I’ve heard from “afterschoolers” who use the Well-Trained Mind approach to do one or more subject at home in addition to a traditional school curriculum, and I’m also interested in hearing from you.

I have a theory that the home schooling movement is having a “ripple” effect that stretches far beyond the realm of traditional home educators. I’m curious to see whether I’m right.

You can post your stories here, or at our message boards (see the thread here) or, (if you’d rather be more private), you can email your thoughts to books@welltrainedmind.com.

Thanks, gentle readers!

Julie from Trinity, NC, home schooling this year for the first time and using classical methods

Debbie from Florida, mother of two girls, aged ten and eleven

Tabitha from Florida, a reader of The Well-Trained Mind

Jennifer from Alabama, home schooling mom of three

Janie from Texas, a “decade-long fangirl”

Sheila from Victoria, who blogs at Greenridge Chronicles

Susie and John, “adjunct faculty and former homeschoolers, classical education fans and wannabe homesteaders”

Congratulations! You should see those galleys early next week. And thanks for playing, everyone.