We had a Youth Panel for those in attendance to ask questions of a few teens who have been homeschooled mostly using TJEd principles. They were asked various things about how it was applied in their homes and affected their lives.
Kristina answering some questions
Anyone who knows us well, knows that we have been homeschooling our younger children for almost 13 years now. This was initially a VERY difficult decision; after all, aren't homeschoolers just a bunch of weird fanatics?! Well, after 13 previous years of playing the public school game, being involved in the classrooms, PTA, parent committees, school board, etc. we'd had enough and knew that even if we couldn't do any better... we certainly couldn't do worse! That thought alone gave us the courage to venture out on our own. But not alone really. We spent a LOT of time on our knees and felt His guiding hand as we pursued our new adventure in learning. We spent the first four years of our "homeschool experiment" trying out all kinds of methods and curriculums getting our feet wet and discovering what education really was. After floundering around a bit, we read a book that literally changed our lives and the way we thought about education - simple book really, full of basic principles. We had already discovered some of these principles on our own through trial and error, so when we read this book it was like coming home - an answer to prayer. That book is: A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille.
Don't be fooled by the title. It has very little to do with Thomas Jefferson. It's about how Thomas Jefferson and others like him were educated. It lays down those time-tested principles that remain as true today as ever. Principles that make it possible for us to take the education of our children into our own hands and provide the very best for them and our community.
Once we read this book, our little home school took off! We were doing reasonably well before, but now our children began to fly! We have since found a whole community of like-minded people who share these same core values and principles. It has become known as Leadership Education or TJEd for short. Sue is currently on the board of the Arizona based organization called Arizona Liber Association of Families (AzLAF). There are groups all over the U.S., Canada, and quickly spreading throughout the world - even Uganda, Africa! Look at the links on this blog for more information.
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