I began reading all the parenting books I could in an attempt to gain the skills I needed to manage the behaviors of our youngest daughter who suffers from ADHD, Impulsive and Anxiety Disorder. My brother recommended I read A Thomas Jefferson Education, insisting that it was the source from where he gathered his knowledge of how to properly care for his family and prepare them for these Latter Days. I bought it that day. Read it. Wept.

Though it is a book about education, I found it more to be an inspiration and guide for my role as a parent in preparing my children to reach their greatness. And although it is not a book specifically proclaiming that homeschooling your children is the only right way to achieve that greatness, I could not put it down without concluding for myself that homeschooling was the answer.

Within a week Taytum was pulled from the public school system and was home with me. This was a new concept for my habitual self, since I had previously ached for the sound of the school bus brakes in the morning as the Pavlov dog salivates to his bell. But the testimony from the truths I had read was strong enough for me to overcome my previous self-centered routine.

The first day we began homeschooling, we sat at the dining room table contemplating the day and what to do for "school." Taytum was impossible to focus. I began to dread my decision and clasped my head in my hands and prayed. While I was praying, Taytum asked me what I was doing. I told her. She said to me, "I didn't know you could pray without using your voice!" A beautiful conversation ensued. I explained to her about praying in your heart, and being able to always talk to your Heavenly Father whenever you have a question or problem and He will hear you. Listening to me intently, she then rested her head in her hands and began to quietly move her lips. She suddenly blurted out with wide-eyed excitement "It really works!" Our first day of home-school was a success.

The following days were also successes, as one by one great awarenesses began to spurt from her tiny self and heal her repressed spirit. One morning as she helped me mop the Kitchen floor, she looked up at me with pure joy in her face and said "Mom, I am so happy to be alive! I get to be with you every day!" A far cry from the previous year when she tormented us with thoughts of wanting to die and feeling like she was so stupid she should just "jump into a bunch of hot lava and kill herself." Another day she exclaimed as she was happily helping me around the house, "Mom, me heart is telling me that I am choosing the right! I am so happy!" Success! Pack up the textbooks, no need for them here.

As with any pilgrimage, there are difficult paths to travel. Days filled with weariness and question. But what gets you to the end is endurance of faith. So it is with our journey. The days we are broken down and immovable we look forward and find a gentle strength that pushes us from behind. The days our fires are stomped out and we sit blindly in the cold with the shiver of regret, we press together and warm ourselves with other's lights. As each day passes we see where we have come. We continue on, one foot ahead of the other and enjoy the things we see on the way.

Quite the book review! How can you not read it now?! I know what you are thinking, "But if I read it then I will know it is true and I'll have to do something about it." So be it.

Well, I had high hopes for this after reading reviews highly praising it. Although there are some things I do agree with (read classics, children who love learning with educate themselves, etc), I cannot handle the elitist mentality of the classical method (or any one method in particular) being THE BEST way to educate your child. Fastest way to turn me off in a book on education. This idea that one must use only old methods used by historical personnages centuries ago to have truly educated children is just really annoying. Why? Why is old always better??? Have we thrown out too much from the older methods of education? Probably, but that doesn't mean that everything new is bad. It doesn't mean we have to now throw out all the newer research based learning theories. I was homeschooled without this supposedly superior method (although my mom did require us to read a lot of classic books that I ended up enjoying). I don't think you can say someone isn't truly educated if they haven't read Euclid and all of Plato (but he does apparently believe this). And is there really nothing to be gleaned from more modern or current literature? I never felt like DeMille had anything more than anecdotes to back up his theories. For instance, he states, "the stories of great mathematicians and scientists are necessary to effectively teach math and science" and that to not do this is a "serious mistake". Why???? Where is the research to back up his preferences and opinions? Statements like this appear frequently and I found it extremely frustrating.

What really killed this for me was the amount of work that I would have to subject myself to in order to be "the best" teacher. I have to read Newton and Aristotle? I have to write and rewrite papers? At the same time as my kids are doing it?? Again, why???? Why is it not enough that I did this work AT SOME POINT IN MY LIFE?

The point at which I closed the book for good (and this is hitting me the hardest because I used to be a certified French teacher) was his recommendation on the "best" and "easiest" way to learn a foreign language: "Do you want to learn Spanish? Read a great classic like Don Quixote in Spanish. If you want to learn Russian, read War and Peace in Russian...this method is the best and quickest way to learn it; when I say 'quickest,' I mean native-level, culturally rich comprehension and fluency." Oh for crying out loud! No! Totally ridiculous and undoable. That would be like expecting a baby to learn English by making them read Shakespeare. You don't learn your native language that way; why would you acquire a second language like that?? Language is social and cannot be learned solely from reading a book in an antiquated and complex form of a written language, which I think everyone would understand is different than the kind of language you actually use to interact with people.

Again, there are some ideas that are good here but I'm not sure I couldn't have read a more approachable and less elitist book about successful education and found the same ideas. Moving on...

I had heard the rhetoric, that this book was just propaganda for homeschooling or an extended advertisement for George Wyth college. After reading it, I have to wholeheartedly disagree. This is an incredible work that inspires one to push yourself to be better. I constantly found myself challenging long held beliefs of mine and re-evaluating why I believed what I believed. It challenged my beliefs on what education is and how it can be better. This is a book I will read again and again as I am on my journey to being the best me.

I didn't realize that this book had already changed my life before I even read it. One of my BYU professors read an excerpt from A Thomas Jefferson Education that has truly stuck with me through the years. I am relieved to see the actual story in print. It has influenced my parenting as well as my views on creativity in education. Here is the story...

"The teacher handed out crayons and paper and announced that it was time to draw a picture. The little boy enthusiastically grabbed the crayons and began to imagine all the things he could draw: mountains, lakes, airplanes, his familiy, his dog, the ocean, the stars at night...
Hundreds of ideas raced through his creative little mind.
His teacher, seeing that he had started drawing, stopped him and said that today the class would be drawing flowers. The boy's mind again ran wild: daisies, daffocils, roses, carnations, violets, lilacs, pansies, mixed bouquets, green gardens full of rainbows of colors...
The teacher again interrupted, informing the class taht today they would be drawing a certain kind of flower.
Taking colored chalk, the teacher went to the board and drew a green stem, with two leaves, and four identical pink petals. The little boy, eager to please, dutifully copied her drawing.
After several attempts, his drawing looked exactly like hers. The teacher congratulated him for doing such good work.
As the school year passed, the little boy became a very good student; he learned to listen, obey instructions and get the right answers on tests. Hes parents were very proud of him, and his teacher was impressed with his excellent progress.
Whe the next schol year arrived, the boy had done so well in his classes that he was enrolled in an accelerated program. During the first week of class, the teacher handed out crayons and paper and announced that it was time to draw a picture. The little boy, still in love with art, enthusiastically picked up his crayons and waited for instructions.
After several minutes the teacher noticed taht the little boy wasn't drawing. "Why haven't you started?" she asked. "Don't you like to draw?"
"I love to draw," responded the little boy, "but I was waiting for you to tell us what the assignment is."
"Just draw whatever you want," the teacher smiled and left the little boy to his creativity.
The little boy sat for a long time, watching the minutes tick off the clock and wondering what he should draw. Nothing came to mind.
Finally, in a burst of creative inspiration, he picked up his crayons and began to draw:
A green stem, with two leaves, and four identical pink petals."

This story breaks my heart. It broke my heart enough that it changed my life.

A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-first Century by Oliver Van DeMille is a book about traditional, classics-based education. It is not a homeschool book, but a book about what has worked historically in terms of education. It is a look into how our Founding Fathers were taught and inspired and an appeal for current educational systems to return to the classics.
The book is well-written, accessible, and thought-provoking.
I recommend it to anyone who is interested in life-long learning for themselves and the young people they interact with.

Loved this book. The basics are read a lot of the classics and have conversations with your children about them. I found a lot of the negative complaints about this book from people who claim what the author is suggesting is unrealistic. There in lies the problem with how we are educating our children. Education is put on the back burner so parents can peruse there own interests, TV, Facebook ect. This book places a lot of emphasis on mentors, there are not many parents now that I would call good mentors towards their children. This is a great book to inspire parents and teachers to educate their children and not just raise their children.

TJed Captain's Log - Reached the Final Page on this day, 7/17/8.

Thomas Jefferson - now he had it tough!

Dr. Oliver Van DeMille likened coming off "the conveyor belt" of public education unto a detoxification process (as for recovering substance abusers). Here the family goes through the struggle of adjusting to being a unified family in which parents are responsible for their children and the family does activities together in the stead of public school time. I can imagine that it is only too apt a simile for some families! How do we do this? How do we individualize a classical education to our children when we are only a step ahead of our children in reading and studying? His suggestion - Get inspiration. And follow it.

This generation needs statesmen. Those statesmen need inspiring teachers, classic training, and the ability to think for themselves.

My wife and I are enjoying being here and being involved in our children's learning and we are reading the classics and studying and writing ourselves to gain our own "Classical Education" by seeking out of the best books words of wisdom and understanding. Our children are thriving and we are loving it.

A recent lesson was the importance of establishing and abiding by a national book. Sobering. Our nation switched from a national book (the Bible) to Rock Music in the 60's and is without a central text. As for me and my house, we'll take the Scriptures.

I was reminded of the importance of writing about what we've learned as an exercise in processing; so also of teaching by the "Great Job" or "You need to do it over" method. I think one of the reasons I was disappointed in my own education was that many of my teachers let me off easy and were more interested in moving me along the conveyor belt rather than having me re-do my work and bring it up to a high standard.

When I was in grade school, I LOVED learning new things. I'm so glad that now that I'm in my 30's, I've completed my formal education so I can finally get back to that - WITHOUT all the busy work getting in the way!

Here's to Classic Literature and Mentors!

This books is a must read for any parent! What an amazing model of education Mr. DeMille presents in this book. As I read more and more, I found more and more ways I'd like to change my homeschooling, and found myself feeling compelled to read more classics if for no other reason than to encourage my children to read them! This excerpt pretty much summed up the whole book for me
"In 1776 Thomas Jefferson Declared the independence of all humankind, but in 1764 he was just a college student trying to mend a broken heart.
In 1780 George Washington almost single-handedly brought down the greatest military force on earth, but in 1764 he was just a farmer struggling to get out of debt.
In 1787 James Madison swayed the entire course of history, but in 1764 he was just a shy twelve-year old.
It is the ordinary people in our day, just like those in 1764, who have greatness within them, if they decide to develop it.
They develop it through classics, mentors, simulations, field experience and a relationship with God. What would Jefferson have been without Locke, Washington with the experience of Cromwell, Madison with Montesquieu?"

My real rating - 3 1/2. DeMille makes a strong case for reading and teaching the classics, though I found the sections on implementation to be a bit light. Some of his theory comes off as a bit elitist, but it is tough to argue with his assertion that most public school children are taught in a manner which stifles creativity and actively works against indendent thinking. You think?! DeMille took the philosophy of John Taylor Gatto and neatly distilled it into the first chapter or two - the highlight of the book, in my opinion. Then he goes on to explain that most of the great American leaders were educated in the classic/mentor manner and that this type of education lends itself nicely to homeschooling. Nothing truly earth shattering for anyone who has been in the homeschooling community for awhile, but still a good read. It has inspired me to build more family reading time of the classics into our school day.

I'm currently on a quest to explore a number of homeschooling approaches so I picked up this book to learn a little about this "Thomas Jefferson" approach. I definitely agree with DeMille's basic tenets: classics and mentoring customized to individual students (hence the two stars). But beyond that I find this book pretty much useless.

DeMille's own educational background is shady. He has "degrees" from unaccredited Bible colleges and diploma mills. He does have a bachelors degree from a respected university (my own alma mater, I'm ashamed to say) but that's pretty much it. I definitely don't think advanced degrees are required in order to research and write a book about Thomas Jefferson's education, but all of DeMille's sources are somewhat controversial and have pretty heavy conservative and religious biases themselves. That makes it hard for me to really give a lot of weight to anything he says.

One particularly irritating passage comes after 49 pages of extolling the classics and mentors as THE most important elements of education. But then he says this on page 50: "Most importantly, read them your family history and central religious texts." MOST importantly??? That negates everything he says about classics in the preceding (and proceeding) pages. That is a fine example of the poor writing found throughout the book. There is a reason this book was self-published.

As a little side note, the "college" that DeMille founded provides fodder for further questioning of this man's legitimacy. The school is still unaccredited after 15 years, it only offers one degree (a bachelors in "Statesmanship"--what???) and he is a "professor" there with his phony PhD. This is just not a source I want to use in educating my child.

If you want a great text on classical education, read the Well-Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer. They're intelligent, legitimate, and have real accomplishments (and degrees) to validate their well-researched theories and practices.

The author argues that the best education focuses on reading and analyzing the classics. I agreed with his philosophy until he began to suggest that youth learn math by reading Newton’s writings and from the equations in Gulliver’s travels instead of a textbook. He also insists that the best way to learn Spanish is by reading Don Quixote in Spanish... Sure I believe that modern education should focus more on classics and especially on reading more primary sources, but I think it is a bit ridiculous to suggest that we should throw out math, science, and Spanish textbooks. You’ll be a lot more successful in learning Spanish if someone teaches you from the start how to conjugate verbs.

Overall I prefer the trivium approach to education, but I do appreciate the authors suggestions of thorough reading (understand the concepts, unknown words, and themes), writing, discussion, and rewriting until the document is excellent.

This book talks about the necessity of having an education (for ourselves, our children or our students) which will prepare us for the eventual time when we will be called as leaders. It might be in our home, our community, or the government. When that time comes, a mediocre education will not be enough. Leadership Education, which he refers to as a “Thomas Jefferson Education” teaches students how to think and prepares them to be leaders. This is done primarily through the use of mentors and classics both which are meant to inspire the student to educate himself.
I really enjoyed reading this book as it has help me see not only how inadequate my own “education” really was, but it has inspired me to want to take a much more active role in educating myself and that of my children. I never was a reader growing up and I rarely finished a book even if it was required reading for a class, but I have started reading books from his list of classics and recommended readings (ok, I just finished my second so far), and I can’t get enough of it. I hardly want to put the books down. I love the lessons I’m learning and the knowledge I’m gaining as I’m reading these books and I’m excited to start sharing my thoughts from these books as well.

Read this book for the first time in 2000 and it changed my life. Now I'm busy working to live my mission and educate my family.