Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: Even though I'm not a homeschooler, I've been looking for a way to enrich my children's education. This book is thought provoking, yet filled with a good deal of common sense on the subject of educating our children. I feel as though I were handed a clear guideline on what to do, with clear, concise reasons for doing it that way. This was immensely helpful to me.It is clear that you can modify some elements of it, but that you should resist changing others. I have already started on many of the author's suggestions and my children are eating it up. The author's refusal to "dumb down," is a great part of it's strength. I realized that I had underestimated what my children could learn and be excited about. This book also pointed out to me how much I had not been taught in my own education, so it's a little like going back to school for me as well. I can't say enough about it.
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Summary: Loved this Book!
Review: We purchased The Well-Trained Mind less than a month ago, and I have read it cover to cover three times already. It is truly an eye-opening book!
My husband and I are new parents, and plan on homeschooling. I was searching for an acadmically challenging overview of HOW to go about providing a good education to our children. This book met our needs wonderfully!
While the authors have provided very detailed schedules, there is ample encouragement to adapt them to fit your lifestyle. We found the schedules a very helpful starting place, and we have already begun working on how we will use them to fit into our personal situation.
Also, although I am a Methodist minister myself, our reasons for homeschooling are not primarily religious. Our kids will get plenty of religion in our home no matter how they go to school! I have been somewhat turned off by the overwhelming and forceful evangelism of much homeschooling literature. While the authors are Christians themselves, this book was wonderfully written to offer both religious and secular alternatives to all curricula, with an evenhanded approach to evalutating resources.
If you are homeschooling your children, or simply want your kids to "fill in the gaps" of an inadequate education at school, this is a fantastic resource!
Rating:
Summary: Positively the Best
Review: I could not possibly be more thankful that I finally found this book. It contains exactly the style, advice and guidance for the education I always had in mind for my children even before they were born. Although it is filled with ideas for schedules, lists of books to buy/borrow and agendas to follow, it's all based on suggestions. I've ended up following their schedules and plans and I must say it's made everything SO much easier for me. My days are organized, my lesson plans are quick and easy and my boys are loving it and learn even when they think they are having fun! I love this book and would have possibly given up homeschooling if it weren't for the advice and encouragement in this book. I hope you find it the same way!
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Summary: My wive lives buy this book
Review: Our family has truly benifited from this book however some of the referenced reading materials are already out-of-print
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Summary: I just regret I didn't have this book when my son was born!
Review: I do not homeschool but this book made me want to try. The 'problem' is my son loves going to school and he does quite well there. Still, I hang on to my copy of this book. It is an endless fount of ideas on all aspects of education. When my son wants to 'do some science' at home or in the summer, this is the book we turn to for ideas and suggestions for further reading. When he's in search of exciting books to read, this is the source we consult. If I had read this book before my son was school-age, I have no doubt I'd be homeschooling him now and loving it. But the book remains valuable for any parent who cares about what and how her child learns.
Rating: 
Summary: just so-so
Review: To the typical homeschooling family, with limited funds for books and other materials, I'd say, "Don't buy this book." For starters, it's much too long and hence it's overpriced. Although the introductory chapters are well written, the main thrust of the book is quite simple: put your kid's nose to the grindstone early and keep it there. If you go for that kind of strict, unrelenting and humorless "school-at-home" approach, I'd recommend checking the book out of your local library and reading the following: the prologue (with the authors' rationale for their approach) and the epilogues (which have the actual syllabi for each of the three parts of their so-called "trivium.") Much of the remainder of the book is simply lists of resources, many of which look good but which quickly become outdated. (The very first two books I searched for, for instance, were out of print.) Much of this type of homeschool resource info is also abundantly available on the web. Also, there is considerable repetition and fluff, which accounts for a good deal of the book's 764 pages. Some sections, for instance, have the same comments repeated ad nauseam: "Buy from any bookstore" (necessary?) or "Order from Rainbow Resource Center" (I began to wonder if the authors have some connection with the company.) More helpful for ordering would have been ISBN numbers. And although there are pages and pages of other helpful references, many entries only give snail mail addresses and/or phone numbers for places that should have e-mail. My suggestion to the authors: revise your work into a slimmer book, keeping the intro chapters, explanations, and basic syllabi. That info could be handled in 200 pages or less. The resources, since they go out of date, could better be handled on a web page, where they could be updated regularly, and where direct links to publishers and organizations could be given. Finally, the "going to college" section is rather superficial. Readers interested in information on homeschoolers going to college should look at Cafi Cohen's books instead.
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Summary: WTM Changed My Mind!!!
Review: Full Disclosure: I have always thought that homeschooling is a great option for everyone else but me & my kids!!! I respect those who choose to educate their own child(ren). I have always adamantly been opposed to pursuing this option myself. I have never desired to be a "formal" teacher in any way, shape, form. (hmmm, catching my subtle message yet?) In addition, I read Doug Wilson's book, Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning, a few years ago, and I was captured by the idea of pursuing a classical education for my kids ... in some sort of a classical, private school. Problem: no such school exists in the Bay Area. A friend recommended WTM to me; I voraciously read it cover to cover; and I am now passionately, unabashedly, happily pursuing a classical home education for my kids, as well as myself!!Besides transforming my thinking on homeschooling, the Wise/Bauers also transformed my outlook/approach regarding history. Their stance on teaching whole history (tied in with literature) chronologically, in 4 year increments (thus 3 rotations over 12 years) makes SO MUCH SENSE. I now have the opportunity to fill in the massive gaps of ignorance in my own history education, while hopefully giving my own kids a very solid, historical foundation. Ok, one last note of gushing ... the resource lists in this book are invaluable. The applications for each stage of the trivium are very helpful. Many thanks to the Wise/Bauers for showing me that I could have a classical education for my kids - yes! - in my own home.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: First, let me state that I'm not a parent; I do, however, have a near-unquenchable thirst for knowledge and learning, in whatever form they may take, I guess that's why I read this book. Second, I can say without equivocation that if I ever do have kids, I'll use this book to school the little buggers! Wise and Bauer (a mother and daughter team; both are professional educators, as well) show you what to do, when, and how, from pre-school to the end of high school, in an easy to understand and humerous way. Schedules, testing, critical thinking, phonics, source material, etc, are extremely well-covered. Names and means of contact for numerous groups that can aid the home-schooling family are also provided. While making no bones about their being Christian, the authors do so in a non-ram-it-down-your-throat fashion, and they always list both secular and non-secular source material so ANYONE can use their book. I'm an agnostic, and believe me, if these folks weren't thoroughly fair-minded and reasonable, I'd be letting you know, loud and clear. Finally, allow me to say this: I am absolutely convinced that anyone choosing to put their child through this wonderful course would end up with a young person better able to achieve and excel than 95% of publicly trained students.
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Summary: Revised homeschooling plan
Review: Even though I have been homeshooling my children for the past three years, I found the information contained in The Well Trained Mind to be enlightening. I appreciate the specific outlines and timetables contained in the book. The book may seem overwhelming in what it asks of parents, but the authors make it clear how parents can implement the curricula from the book into their individual schooling agenda. I highly recommend this book to the beginning and seasoned homeschool family, as well as to parents who desire to supplement their children's traditional education.
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Summary: Don't be intimidated by this book!
Review: I refused to read this book even though it was strongly recommended by people I trusted. I had heard it was a great book. I knew it would have lots of great ideas. I just didn't want to read it because I was afraid that it would be the kind of book that piled on the guilt for not teaching Latin to your three year olds. Or gasp...dare I say it?...not teaching Latin at all. I did not want a book that made me feel like I was doing it all wrong. I did not want to be left feeling that if I didn't do it their way, I was dooming my children to a life of fuzzy thought. Then, Jessie Wise and Susan Bauer turned up at our homeschooling conference this year and I was thrilled to discover that Susan was one of the girls!! She was smart. She was witty. And rather than making me feel inadequate, she made me feel like I was on the right track and gave me a bunch of great ideas too. I hustled out of the first keynote address and bought the book. I've read it twice in the month since I purchased it and I suspect that I will read it regularly throughout my homeschooling years. This is not just a book to read, it is a REFERENCE. Buy it. You won't regret it.
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