The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home

I’m so glad I found this book! The Well-Trained Mind breaks everything down in a super clear and practical way. It helped me understand how to teach at home without feeling lost or overwhelmed. The step-by-step guidance by grade level is super helpful, and it’s full of great tips and book recommendations. Definitely a must-have if you're homeschooling or even just thinking about it!

It's been a few months since I've finished this book, but it literally took me about a year of reading it in my spare time. I was pretty squarely in the unschooling camp, but my husband has always had a thing about our kids knowing the Trivium. Throughout my reading it, I slowly moved away from unschooling - it's so great in theory, but so lacking in practice. This clarified the Trivium for me, and made me a firm believer in giving children a solid foundation in all subjects for them to truly be able to think and articulate on their own. When one of my kids spent a year at a Sudbury school, I was shocked at how inarticulate the teens were at defending their graduation theses, and how much their responses lacked depth and substance. After reading this book, I thought "those kids are severely in need of the Trivium." It has been eye-opening, and truly a wonderful experience to read this book.

This book is amazing! You could homeschool using just this book alone. It takes you through all the school years, tells what, how, and when. Gives you resources and all the info you need. An absolute must have.

The new addition is more clear on the how-to, less overwhelming. And they only recommend the curriculum that is tried and true. Less guess work. Parents do need to know that the authors mean for you to choose from among the recommendations. You are Not expected to fit in every single thing. They thought they made this clear, but they have recieved complaints about 6 or more hours of schoolwork every day. You are supposed to decide what is most important to you, or come up with a year-round schedule that balances it all. We save art and music, and science for Summer, but continue with math all year long. History and writing we do in the Fall/Winter. We use Dou-Lingo free online for Spanish. It is quick and is less involved than Rosetta Stone. My son is learning to speak Spanish from the neighbor kids he plays with, which is more a real-life application he can actually use, along with the formal word training he gets online. I also highly recommend the podcast downloaded for a small price from the authors' website. You'll see they are much more human and like the rest of us than the book makes you think they are. Its not meant to be heavy and grueling, or perfect and ideal. This is very doable if you catch the way it is intended to be used. This edition simplified it for me. The schedule recommendations, once I understood that they are just showing the different subject possibilities to choose from and I'm not actually supposed to do every one of them, are one of the most helpful features of this book. And the steps and how-to's were more clear this time around.

When I decided to home school our children I had not known anyone growing up that had been home schooled. I was met by mixed reactions from family, and very much felt nervous about the whole endeavor. Eventually I came across this book, and I am so incredibly thankful for it! The first time reading it, I was horribly overwhelmed (I can be a bit of an idealist and like to do things by-the-book, so to speak). But, after further reflection, I re-read it, and began making small changes in our home school day using as many ideas as I could. Each year I take a few days before our school year begins and go through the various chapters. As my kids get older, I appreciate all the help on the chapters that pertain to the upper grades. It truly has become a guide for me. And an inspiration. That said, it would be an excellent resource for those wishing to supplement their children's current education too. One additonal thing I found helpful was to listen to some talks the author has given (available on well trained mind's website) and also to watch some youtube videos that give examples of dictation, etc. That helped me put the book in context (real children involved) and be less idealistic in regards to my expectation of my own kids. In all, I don't think I would be homeschooling today if it weren't for this book. It has been that helpful and that inspirational for me. I don't know why all authors write books, but I feel like mailing the authors flowers every year when I crack it open and plan out our school year.

I got this book my second year of homeschooling my child. I got the ebook then got the actual book. It’s amazing. It has so many super helpful suggestions for everything. It really helps with picking the right curriculum for you and your homeschooler. It gives great resources and tips. They even list the prices of the books they have recommended and where you can find them. It goes by grade and age. They even put in a sample schedule for you. Putting together the curriculum is what I have found the hardest part of homeschooling. This book was so helpful in finding the right curriculum for my child and made it so easy for me. This book will help you every year you homeschool and even help when your child is getting ready to graduate. They go from baby/toddler all the way to getting ready for college. It is worth every single penny. I have found it to be the best resource for homeschooling. If you homeschool, and want your child to have a well rounded education, this book is for you.

Excellent book to read, reference and re-read throughout your homeschool journey!

an amazing resource for anyone looking to homeschool or learn more

Best homeschooling guide out there, such a great insight into classical education at home at different stages of your child's academic life. Great quality print. Also comes with list of helpful resources for each stage too.

Excelente

My teenage son requested that he be homeschooled recently and I turned to this book. I absolutely love it because it’s full if advice and guidance. It has excellent discussions on the three parts if the trivium and how to set up your homeschool for each part. There are text and curricula recommendations, sample schedules, advice on grading and creating transcripts, as well as detailed information about each subject, advice on how to teach the subjects and so much more. If you want your children to be classically educated at home this is the book to buy.