Core Phase

A Thomas Jefferson Education is a book that grabbed my attention and has significantly impacted my ideas about education. I have since read other books by the same author (DeMille) and attended several related seminars. The educational philosophies put forth by the Thomas Jefferson Education (TJ Ed) model deal more with the how and why questions of education and not directly with the what or specific content questions. I think it is easy to get too focused on the whats and neglect the weighty aspects of the hows and whys.

TJ Ed divides childhood into various phases, the first being Core Phase. Phases are not strictly related to physical age but Core is generally early childhood through age six or so. By age six a person's basic framework about life is formed - ideas about good/bad, right/wrong, true/false. TJ Ed says these core issues should be the focus of learning during early childhood and are the foundation for all else.

The acquisition of "scholarly" skills is not as important as these lessons during this phase. Ample research supports the position that later readers are life-long readers . . . . A child who plays at and practices learning through the Core Phase will approach skills acquisition at the self-appropriate time and pace with relish and self-confidence as her aptitude increases and the meaning of the tasks gains context through her experiences.

The culture and values of the family are learned through work and play together, with a parent or as a family. Good/bad, right/wrong, true/false are discussed at every real opportunity or example found in literature. Life, based upon family belief system, is lived out in the home environment authentically day in and day out. Children are a part of reading, prayers, work, everything. Culture is transmitted to the next generation "when you lie down and when you rise up."

My children are still young and Core Phase should be my current focus and it is definitely something I do not want to fail to be diligent in even as concerns about schedules, academics, and a messy house compete for my attention. As the speaker at one of the seminars I attended cautioned us, "if you haven't taught your kids Core Phase, please don't educate them. Smart evil people are worse than dumb evil people." I want my kids' hearts to be foremost. I want them to do good, love justice, and walk humbly with their God. It is in His light that we see light. This is the core; this is the beginning.

DeMille says "greatness isn't the work of a few geniuses, it is the purpose of each of us." There is great and divine purpose and potential in each life. Academic skills may be useful in carrying out God-given purposes and potentials but academics certainly will never be the cause or zest. Like I noted earlier, DeMille's model addresses the whys of education.

Our purpose is to train thinkers, leaders, entrepreneurs and statesmen - individuals with the character, competence and capacity to do the right thing and do it well in business, government, church, school, family, entertainment, research and other organizations . . . . to perpetuate freedom, to prepare people who know what freedom is, what is required to maintain it, and who exert the will to do what is required. These two goals are accomplished by the third: teaching students how to think.

I want my children to read, write, do math, and in all ways excel academically. I believe they will. I do not see them doing these things in their early years because this is not my first priority nor my starting point. My kindergartener will study letters and numbers but it is my hope that by six(-ish), it will in his his heart that a foundation has been built with the regular school skills of the mind to come alongside later. It is my hope that he will first understand that there is a mission and calling of paramount importance upon his life. That he will know he was created for a purpose and will then be compelled to prepare himself in every way, including academically, to walk out that purpose. In whatever realms my children serve in their adult lives, may they be people who serve and lead with great effort, compassion, vision, selflessness, and character because right now, before they turn six, they get straight concepts about good/bad, true/false, right/wrong.

What happens when a society does not prepare leaders? We get managers and professionals leading in areas they have no training for, such as government, and we get a nation of followers who see no problem with that because they have no experience with anything else. In a nation where the government is supposed to be the servant of the people, it is easy to see that our traditional form of government and its cultural underpinnings will deteriorate beyond repair if the citizen neglects to fit himself for leadership; eventually the result is widespread specialization complemented by arrogance, pride and general ignorance. This was the legacy of Germany in the 1930s - a highly trained but uneducated people easily swayed by Hitler.

Now how I'd love to go right into the root word liber and how liberty and learning are connected and how the voting citizens of Ancient Greece were the liber class because they were educated in the original sense of a liberal arts education and were prepared to be a free people who could govern themselves . . . . This post is already too long I am sure and it is not as cohesive as I wish. The point of my blog is to motivate ME and to make my mind re-examine things and this post may wander but it is all connected in my mind and there is so much more but the time changed this week and my kids wake-up time didn't and I am tired. I need inspiration and direction to put into practice my Core Phase aspirations. This has been a tough week at home with the kids!