Humanities FAQ

 

Is my child ready for this class?

Most likely, YES!! The following list will help you determine if your son or daughter is ready.

1. Usually, at the onset of puberty
2. Readiness to apply a new level of effort to personal and academic achievement
3. Ready to make commitments and be accountable
4. Able to personally set up a structure or schedule for study
5. Able to commit to 1-2 hours of dedicated study on any given subject
6. Comfortable or getting comfortable speaking up in a mentored peer-discussion
7. Able to ponder, think, read, write, listen, discuss, debate, analyze, and learn
8. Able to or willing to lose their life in studying (that may seem a little over the top, but the gist is to be able to engage with the area of study

Please go here for more lists. If you want a virtual face-to-face interview with me and your child to help you determine if they are ready for this class, please contact me at narnialearning (at) gmail (dot) com. 

Your course seems a bit pricey? Why would I want to pay all that for just one class?

I know $700 per year seems pricey. 😩😩😩 A lot goes into helping mentor, grade, and personally help individuals when needed. A lot goes into this class that many do not see. I spend most of the summer preparing for the course by setting up Google Classroom, making videos, writing study guides, and communicating with parents and students. During the school year, the communication continues, the mentoring in and out of class—I read every word the students write, comment on, and give feedback when needed. It feels like a full-time job, but it is one that I love!  I have found my niche in teaching truths to students, but my favorite part is doing it in a learner-centered teaching style that gives the power of learning back to the student. The result is seeing a student increase their level of commitment, understanding, responsibility, and ability to learn independently. 

To equate prices with comparable classes (and these are prices for one single class):

Williamsburg Academy $850/year

Kepler Education $750/year

Great Books Academy $1395/year. Or College track $2999/year

None of the above provide the kind of class discussion and mentoring I do in and out of class. I feel that my $700 a year is a relief for parents who want to give their children an excellent course in the Good, the True, and the Beautiful without paying the going rate. 

Do we need to purchase the exact option you linked to on Amazon? We sometimes buy books from other sources, or we already have the book but a different version in our personal library.

The best thing is to have the exact books with the exact page numbers so that in our class discussions, we can help each other refer to the right page number when we talk and discuss. It may not seem important, but it saves time and helps students dig deeper. If they can’t find the page number, what is referred to and discussed in class will normally go out of their head because there’s no way to find the page in the time needed. Additionally, if the book happens to be translated into English, there are good, better, and best translations, and I like to choose the best translations that are nearest to what the foreign author intended. 

Do students have to mark up the books?

When students mark up their books, they can access memories and knowledge of principles. When they leave home with their little library, they’ll have the notes taken at their wonderful age today. It will be significant for them to look back and see the growth and learning they’ve done since reading them for the first time. They may not realize it now, but marking up and writing in their books can be an incredible source of learning. The biggest benefit of marking up their books is that it creates an active and thinking reader. If a person cannot express his thoughts, he may not know what he thinks. Marking a book helps the brain go through the process of actively thinking. Other benefits include being more focused on the author’s thoughts, more focused on personal thoughts, staying awake, increased memory, and ready references for future discussions. See the article by Mortimer Adler about marking up your book.

Do we have to purchase all the books, or can we borrow them from the library or others? Or can we use audiobooks instead of the books?

A wise student will increase their personal library. If the student borrows books, she cannot write in them, underline them, or argue with the author in the margin. Her learning will most likely go out of her mind and heart as quickly as it went in. The same may be said for those who rely on audiobooks. While listening to an audiobook can be enjoyable and seemingly efficient, there are better forms of study than this because it divests the student of meaningful annotation and margin notes. Additionally, those who listen usually spend more time multitasking and lessening their potential learning.