Philosophy for the Young, Medieval Style For Muslims, classical treatises would be abridgements and commentaries and extracts and essays of/on Imam Ghazzali's corups-auratus. Personally I feel that no Muslim should consider themself educated unless they have diligently studied some of the more accessible works of Imam Ghazzali. Literate maybe, but not educated. And by that standard, I confess myself as yet uneducated. Blessed and immensely fortunate is the youth who completes his foundational Ghazzalian education before his teenage has declined. Then he has another 20 years in which to refine and perfect his character by implementing what he has learned, so that he arrives at the threshold of 40 a well-rounded and wise man - who knows himself and his relation to this world like the back of his hand. Such then can aspire to felicity in both the worlds. But that is the Fadl of Allah. Which He grants to whomsoever He Wills.
What is Classical Education Why classical education is almost impossible today Classical Education is More Than a Method Classical education movement
The Learn Drive Quote: A good understanding of the learn drive should explain why John Locke, John Holt or Peter Green were right all along. All great educators of the past were aware that coercion in learning does not work. To figure this simple truth out, all we need is to love children more than we love what they might become. Learn drive makes kids love learning (from the day they are born). When this clashes with coercion at school, we have a war of neural networks that will result in a resolution of the conflict. For some kids, the learn drive will win and result in closing a memory gateway. A healthy kid’s memory will literally learn to reject things delivered coercively at school. At the other end of the spectrum is the submission to the system that will blunt the learn drive and produce learned helplessness. This will turn kids into learning zombies who can accept anything on input, and reproduce “knowledge” like tape recorders. Most of kids end up in the middle: unhappy, unenthusiastic about school, and making snail’s pace progress that let them advance on the educational ladder. Even an unhappy PhD is possible. However, forced PhDs do not change the world. Without a vibrant learn drive, creativity dies out. Coercive learning undermines intelligence and should be seen in terms of a violation of human rights. When we take away kid’s autonomy, we take away their dignity, love of learning, and future intelligence. By forcing kids to learn, we undermine the future of the planet! No kidding.
The biggest challenge is finding a suitable TUTOR/TEACHER and the costs thereof as the grades get advanced this challenge increases. I know of parents that interviewed over twenty applicants with nobody seriously interested in a full time commitment. The second issue is some parents go forth without a curriculum in place. Thirdly , if you hiring an educator you have to play the role of rector/principle and keep tabs on your operation.
nice find. the website he linked to in the post. however, since he is the owner of some start-up-help venture, I will advice a bit of caution about accepting everything at face value. clearly, his situation is not very common. perhaps, the results are owing to some privileges which the average parent cannot afford. the bottom-line is that we must not have too high expectations or expect miracles from home-schooling. Just treat it as a much better option than public schools and try to provide as much qualtiy as possible.
continued from here. Home-Schooled Teens Ripe for College: Myths about unsocialized home-schoolers are false, and most are well prepped for college, experts say. More than 2 million U.S. students in grades K-12 were home-schooled in 2010, accounting for nearly 4 percent of all school-aged children, according to the National Home Education Research Institute. Studies suggest that those who go on to college will outperform their peers. Students coming from a home school graduated college at a higher rate than their peers—66.7 percent compared to 57.5 percent—and earned higher grade point averages along the way, according to a study that compared students at one doctoral university from 2004-2009. They're also better socialized than most high school students, says Joe Kelly, an author and parenting expert who home-schooled his twin daughters. "The possibilities of showing all the kinds of things that colleges are looking for—curiosity, confidence, resourcefulness, ability to deal with challenges—you name it. That's a part of being a home-schooled student." ------------------------------- Our Kids Don’t Belong in School: More and more of Boston’s smartest families are opting out of the education system to homeschool their children. Is this the new model for creating elite kids? Is that a one-in-a-million shot, or have McDonald and her allies discovered a new path to the Ivy League—one that runs right through their living room? To find out what elite academic institutions think, I call Matt McGann, director of admissions at MIT. He’s entirely optimistic: “The homeschooled students in our population are a great addition to the MIT community. They are students who are more likely to have designed their own education curriculum, and they may be more ind ependently motivated to learn,” he says. “I think as the nature of homeschooling has evolved, colleges are seeing more and more homeschooling applicants who are appropriate for this environment.” --------------------------- In a Class by Themselves A wave of homeschoolers has reached the Farm--students with unconventional training and few formal credentials. What have they got that Stanford wants? Among the nation's elite universities, Stanford has been one of the most eager to embrace them. Despite the uncertainties of admitting students with no transcripts or teacher recommendations, the University welcomes at least a handful every year. Stanford has found that the brightest homeschoolers bring a mix of unusual experiences, special motivation and intellectual independence that makes them a good bet to flourish on the Farm. "I don't think anyone has caught on to the fact that these are such interesting kids," Reider says. That's a tiny subgroup, just 0.2 percent of the applicant pool. So why is the University interested? Admission officers sum it up in two words: intellectual vitality. It's hard to define, but they swear they know it when they see it. It's the spark, the passion, that sets the truly exceptional student--the one driven to pursue independent research and explore difficult concepts from a very early age--apart from your typical bright kid. Stanford wants students who have it. "The distinguishing factor is intellectual vitality," says Reider. "These kids have it, and everything they do is responding to it." Among homeschoolers who end up at Stanford, "self-teaching" is a common thread. Parents usually teach in the early grades, assigning and correcting work, but later shift to a supervisory role, spending more time tracking down books and mentors. Stanford-bound homeschoolers typically take several college courses before they apply. The admission office encourages this, both to help with evaluation and to give students a taste of classroom learning before they arrive on the Farm. A few, like Becca Hall, '03, pursue a free-form, follow-your-heart sort of home education known as "unschooling." During high school, Hall did an hour of math and an hour of writing each day, but filled the rest of her time doing crafts, taking nature hikes, apprenticing with an herbalist and studying labor history through old folk songs. Along the way, she picked up enough knowledge to earn a 1,480 on the sat (including a 750 out of 800 in math, a subject she once feared). Parents say they can hear the socialization question coming before it's asked--and it clearly annoys them. (They even call it the "s" word.) "People always ask in this tone of voice that suggests they're the first to have thought of it," Baruch says. "I sometimes answer, 'Yes, I think the way schoolkids are socialized is a terrible thing; I don't know what to do about it.'" She dismisses fears that homeschoolers aren't well socialized. "I don't think [those worries] are borne out at all, in any way." He also collected previous findings by educators and psychologists suggesting that children taught at home are actually socially and emotionally healthier than those in schools. They are more comfortable interacting with adults and less likely to pin their self-esteem to the fads and whims of teenagers, Ray says. The way these youngsters learn social skills--modeling themselves after adults rather than peers--is more consistent with the way children have been socialized through most of history, Esther Baruch asserts. "Until about a hundred years ago, the rich kids learned from adult tutors, and poor kids went to work early," she says. "Now, [kids in schools] model themselves after the other kids, who model themselves after tv characters--and the results of that are clear." "It worked great for me, but I'm not going to evangelize for it," says Hensley. "The conditions have to be very specific for homeschooling to work right." Linda Dobson, author of Homeschoolers' Success Stories (Prima Publishing, 2000) and news editor and columnist for Home Education Magazine, believes the very nature of homeschooling--requiring kids to be self-driven and to handle the details of their own education--can give these students an edge as freshmen. "It's not, 'I'm free now--I'm going to go to college and party,'" Dobson says. "These kids know what it's like to handle responsibility."
You'd think homeschooling is safe , though is is substantially better than sending to public school, I find that as long as kids have unrestricted access to Internet, the world of shar' finds its way to each and everyone.
the major question is this - you want your child to learn or do you just want him to be a "degree-holder" or do you want him to make some good money in his profession? (speaking aside from deeni knowledge) the answer will ensure the track you choose, as the three are very different things.
Let down by rote learning at schools, more parents opt for homeschooling (May 17, 2015) More Parents Opting For Homeschooling (Jan 15, 2010) Alternative to homeschooling: A radically different approach to helping one's kids.
Salaam. We have discussed in some threads the drawbacks of attending today's schools/colleges (especially for girls) but at the same time lamented the absence of any viable alternatives. In india (as I am sure in other countries) home schooling is definitely an option upto higher secondary (10+2) after which one has no other option but to join university if he/she wishes to continue studies further. But I do not know how many people except dropouts and some tullaab from madaaris avail themselves of this convenience. My contentions: 1. Not all girls, especially those from conservative and well-off families, attend schools/colleges in order to become professionals. Most from this category just want to be called 'educated' and it certainly is a help when finding grooms. 2. Nowadays, schools/colleges have distractions aplenty and the standard of teaching is so low that parents have to send their wards to tutions/extra-classes anyways. Some big-brand tution-classes have even been able to attract foreign investments owning to their popularity and money churning power. 3. If parents can afford to hire a private tutor(s) or even if some parents can pool in their resources for the benefit of a group of children then a whole new culture of home schooling can be set in motion. 4. What with the internet and tens of 'Distance Education' programs - even higher education now is not limited to campus-goers. Infact, state of the art lecture series are now available on youtube as we all know. So if it's just a cosmetic-degree one wants then why not choose the study from home option? 5. Example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrix_Potter The benefits of the above will be self-evident to any able minded person. Until proper and serious Islamic institutions appear on the scene.
