I have read quite a few books on home education and teaching our children.  When my first son came close to school age, and my husband hinted he may want me to teach him at home, I checked out every book in the library on the subject.  That became a yearly tradition – check out all the books in the library on homeschooling or home education methods, to mentally compare and contrast them.  By the time we moved here to Texas, where the “homeschool” shelves at the library are full to overflowing, I thought I had read it all.  And I was not happy.

Though I took away a little from some books – some encouragement, a quick way to do something, a different point of view – I never found what I was looking for.  Each volume was written from the author’s point of view and asserted his opinion on education and child rearing. Entire methods of homeschooling centered around humanism and modernism – man-centered thinking. Many had a few verses thrown in or mentioned teaching Bible, but the focus was all wrong.

No homeschool book I read taught biblical home education – what is God’s way of teaching us, how does God intend we teach our children, what would a home that followed biblical methods look like. I had begun gleaning some principles from Scripture for myself, discussing the matter frequently with my husband.  I wanted a book that told “this is how I did it God’s way.”

During a park “play date” with another homeschooling friend, I lamented this problem.  I didn’t just mention it in passing. I went on and on and on as I am sometimes wont to do.  This patient friend just smiled in her wise way and passed me her copy of Teaching the Trivium: Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style. “This is what you have been searching for,” she said.

My Favorite Things – Giveaway Day Five

My Favorite Homeschool Book – Teaching the Trivium by Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn

Every day this week, to celebrate the unveiling of WhateverStateIAm.com, I am hosting giveaways of my favorite products.  Five of my favorite companies have generously agreed to join the WhateverStateIAm festivities by giving their products to some of my subscribers.

Be sure to subscribe for your chance to win! Every email subscriber or WordPress subscriber is automatically entered THREE TIMES in each giveaway this week!

Teaching the Trivium is  my favorite homeschool book for so many reasons. Actually, if you

Teaching the Trivium: Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style

only buy one homeschool book – other than your Bible – this book is all you need.  Teaching the Trivium explains in copious detail what God says about education, the development of the three-tired academic system known as classical study, and the degradation of modern education.  It is a call to take back what God originally gave His people and continue passing it out to our children.

Teaching the Trivium begins with an explanation of classical education. The Bluedorns clearly explain the difference between “humanist classical” and “biblical classical” training. They then contrast this biblical model with state and classroom models.  Next, they flesh out, in detail, the three-pronged knowledge, understanding, and wisdom that makes up godly training.  The remainder of the book is the “how-to,” explaining each academic subject and how it is incorporated easily into the biblical classical model and family life.

I read Teaching the Trivium several times within the first year of purchasing it.  It remains my most-used homeschool resource.  I refer to the appendix articles, particularly the copious “The Trivium in Scripture” constantly.  As my children grow and change, I check the lists, guides, and explanations frequently to aid my teaching.  Ever since I bought my copy, I haven’t stopped telling my friends, “This is the book you need.”

Subscriber Giveaway!

Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn are giving away a copy of Teaching the Trivium: Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style to 5 subscribers!

~ If you are an email or WordPress subscriber to WhateverStateIAm.com, you are automatically entered three times into the giveaway for a copy of my favorite book!

~ If you have not subscribed yet, subscribe now at the button on right to be entered three times in the drawing!

~ If you subscribe in a blog reader (like Google Reader or your smarty phone), tell me in a comment below.

~ For an additional entry, facebook or tweet this post and leave me a comment.

Thanks to the Bluedorns for sponsoring this generous subscriber giveaway. Come back tomorrow to find out who won my favorite homeschool books. You can buy Teaching the Trivium on their website, Trivium Pursuit, or on Amazon.

The Winners!

I awoke this morning to find the five random winners -generated by random.org – and to read your comments.  I am touched to hear from so many of you what a need this book is filling in your lives, too.  What a blessing!

The five winners are cheryl from sweetwaterstill, catrinaneumann, christianbookworm1,

sjs-562000, and ….

Twighee (I couldn’t believe it).

You may all purchase your own copies of Teaching the Trivium from the authors’ website or from Amazon.com.