SherryTX

Thanks for the reply. What you wrote above has given me pause. Not so much the comments about Edith Parker directly, but I think I need to reread what you wrote when I have more time to understand exactly what you mean here. I haven't read enough of Branden's work to be able to make the difference between his work in psychology and Ayn Rand's. (Though, I have not agreed with everything Ayn Rand has written that seemed to me be more for an area of science/psychology to clarify.)

We are currently using this program for math: http://www.singaporemath.com/ After having my daughter take an assessment test (they are on the website), we decided to go with level 2A to start. Many times kids coming out of public school start with a half grade or full grade level below in Singapore. This is a full grade level below. While the first few lessons were a breeze for her, she is already into some math that she either didn't get in school (she was half way through 3rd grade when we pulled her out) or didn't yet have a complete grasp. We purchases the Home Education guide, the Textbook and Workbook as well as the Intense Practice work book. So far, it is a great choice for us. I am not "math minded" but have found that the instructions in the HE guide are great so I can handle instruction quite well. (When we get into higher math later, like geometry and algebra, most likely my husband will have to take over.) Here is a book that I ordered today to assist in Math/Science - I have read great reviews on it the past few months: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Usbor...e/9780746041680 The Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History We also have several other books we are and will be using with this. Right now, I have just a Language Arts book for Grade 3 to cover Grammar and writing - but am checking out other options. Here are some links that I don't believe have been mentioned already in this thread - these are ones recommended to me by a person that runs a private school (she is an Objectivist): Vocabulary: Wordly Wise, http://www.epsbooks.com/dynamic/catalog/se...seriesonly=428M Spelling: Phonetic Zoo, http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/?q=catalog/4/spelling Grammar: Easy Grammar, http://www.easygrammar.com/index2.html A book I read that has been extremely helpful is The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. She has home schooled and home schools her children currently, and has taught college level courses as well. While she is religious, she appears to make a point to suggest secular curricula, not just religious themed curricula. While I don't agree with all of her choices for literature (I don't think all the suggestions are actually age appropriate), this is a wonderful book and I refer to it often. It is a good reference for figuring out how to structure the day, and how often to teach certain subjects etc. She also gives some great information on the later years, when your child is in their high school years so you can keep in mind what they need in order to take tests to get into college, etc. My favorite part about the book is that she offers it as a guide - and tells the reader in the beginning that it is acceptable to take as little or as much from her method as works best for the child. Right now my daughter usually spends 45 minutes to 2 hours on math a day (anything above 45 minutes is her choice, as she loves math!). We were spending about 15 to 30 minutes on grammar per day, but have gotten a little away from that. She spends time doing a lot of free reading, as well as art. My husband and I are working on putting a more formal schedule together in the coming weeks. Since she hasn't been out of public school very long, I am not stressing too much about the fact we don't already have something in place better. I let her take the first week off, to "decompress" if you will, and since we don't have to worry about adhering to a public school schedule, I think starting slowing the first month or so is a good idea. Once I get things more formalized, I will post again. Thanks again for everyone's input - I appreciate it! If anyone has any specific novels they would suggest, please feel to chime in as well. We have a lot of books, but I am always looking for a new books to introduce all the kids to!

I have found that people that outwardly subscribe to "ignorance is bliss" are the ones that - as you have stated, want to be dependent only on others, and take no real action or responsibility for their lives. However, I have known those that at first seem to fall under this category - but then in probing deeper, find that they are overwhelmed, and so sometimes they feel like NOT knowing that there is a problem - or being afraid to find out the root cause, amounts to the same thing. Yes, they are evading - but many of these people do so because they have not learned how to deal with problems head on - or even handle the knowledge that there may be a problem. This is something that I personally had to over come as a young adult. I was raised in a "crisis mode" environment, and it was very very difficult to get out of that mode of thought. It was easier to ignore problems, and just try to "enjoy life" through shallow activities so I could continue (or try to continue) to post pone dealing with problems and ignore them. I post this not because I think it is excusable that any adult should continue in this manner. However, from personal experience, I find it understandable when people have a hard time grasping and finally accepting that no, ignorance is NOT bliss, and that they have the free will to figure out and deals with problems so that they can take responsibility for their lives. I have taken many years to get out of this mind set myself, and I am willing to admit that I am not completely out of the woods in this area. Though, I can honestly state that if I hadn't found Objectivism, I would be no where close to where I am now. I certainly think I can see the field just outside the woods now.

Wow. I just got done reading Linda Reardan's letter "To Friends of Objectivism". Not being in the mix of everything - and not knowing the other side - I just wanted to comment that in reading this letter, if everything went down the way she said they did - wow - I think she did the right (and brave) thing! Now - regarding the rest of my comments - I have only been studying Objectivism for the past 4 years or so, and I know that I haven't fully integrated it all, and know I still have a lot to learn. I know enough to know I still need to study sooooo much more! Linda Reardan made several points that I think are worthy - but the most important one to me personally: "Objectivism alone is not enough; and a student cannot even learn Objectivism properly without a real-life purpose that he is working towards." These words are so important because Objectivism is supposed to be the philosophy for living on earth. Not just learning it inside and out, not reach out to people that are not philosophy majors. This is one area - and forgive me if I am going off on a tangent or off topic here - but I have been discouraged by ARI (though I have gotten value out of the org). I think focusing on college and high school students is absolutely important- but I don't see ARI marketing Objectivism towards the "common man" if you will. Not every "producer" goes to college, or is interested in philosophy in high school - or perhaps even has the foundation educationally or maturity wise at those ages. Why isn't the reach being extended towards others? Sometimes I wonder if Objectivist intellectuals - the same ones that condemn the way public schools have been run for decades (justifiably so in most cases)- seem to forget or ignore the fact that students the last few decades usually are not getting the general educational foundation necessary to absorb a book like OPAR - or even The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrug properly? Why do we settle for for just fishing on the surface of the ocean when there are just as good fish to be found in deeper waters? Because it is harder or work - or because there are some that feel only "intellectuals" are good enough to gain an understanding of the philosophy? I do not mean water down, dilute and skip the principles of Objectivism. More of a classical education approach perhaps - or even (forgive me, as this is a biblical term) "food at the proper time" approach while respecting the whole hierarchy of knowledge needed to fully integrate the philosophy? Okay...end rant...but on that note, I just ordered "Objectivism In One Lesson" by Andrew Bernstein. I have friends that have read it that tell me it is a great intro to Objectivism that they would hand to people not familiar with this or other philosophies for a good primer. But back to Edith Packer - I would be interested in reading your criticisms on her Michael, as I hoped to have time in the near future to read what she has written as well.

It's not unusual for someone with Asperger's to be considered smart. I probably have something like it. One thing I definitely have is what I call a "left-right integration problem." The two hemispheres of my brain don't like each other and don't work together. If this is the problem, the younger the age that you fix it, the better. A good book on this is called The Other Mind's Eye. Anything on neuro-linguistic programming is valuable for someone with the problem. Get her some good books to read on the subject, and I think she could handle them at nine. She will learn to work on herself. That's really the only thing you can do. This book is a good start. Where are you? I am in Austin. I could possibly point you to some good people. We have a very active NLP in Austin. I recommend that you and your daughter read Grace Llewellyn's Teenage Liberation Handbook. Chris/Kat - thanks for the additional information! I appreciate it. We are in the Dallas area - I have been able to find an Aspie home school yahoo group and another local Aspie group, as well as a secular homeschooling meet up group. There is so much info on home schooling, but the first few weeks wading through info, at first it appeared everything was religious oriented or totally "unschooling" oriented. I am starting to find some good information that is more inline with Objectivism. I appreciate all the suggestions, and am checking them all out. Again - thank you very much!

Yes - thank you! I am working through all sorts of links I have received here and from others outside the forum. I do appreciate it!

Thank you for the link!

Be that as it may, is totally illogical violent malevolent seething racism a side-effect of Asperger's that I'm not aware of? Did I misunderstand something? Ummm...this is interesting. I am not sure what this is about (since I am new to the forum). However, I can understand why perhaps SOME with Asperger's may seem racist - when my daughter came home from school last year and they were learning about Martin Luther King Jr., she said to me "Why do I can? I am not black!" We discussed his importance in history a bit more in depth than they did in school, and she seemed to appreciate why his an important historical figure to learn about - not just because it was Black History Month. I think perhaps it could be that some people with Asperger's that have trouble with empathy, and if they don't have logical facts, or perhaps their experience with a certain group of people of a different race may be negative, they may be more likely to form over all racist opinions about the race over all. Again - not sure if this is what you mean, but that has just been my experience. My daughter had some trouble with some kids in her school early on that just happened to be non white, and it took a little time for her to get that these particular kids punks, and not necessarily a representation of their race.

Thanks - I haven't heard of that one I will look for it! Ba'al thank you for your comments as well. It has been an interesting journey so far. As a parent, I think dealing with it would be much more difficult if we were not aware of Objectivism. Being based in reason has been a huge help to us in dealing with her, and trying to help her deal with the world in general. She has a very keen (well sometimes over sensitive) sense of justice and it would be absolutely painful, I think, if she had to deal with altruistic parents.

Wait - isn't that why they have unions? ;)

She was in a Montessori school (owned, actually by Objectivists) for a year, and she did fairly well there. I am planning pick up some books on the Montessori; but I am not sure if it would have suggestions for books for kids that may appear compatible with Objectivism. I am not seeking that EVERYTHING my children read are necessarily in the Objectivist camp - but I don't really have much in our home library that I think would fall into such a category.

Hello, all! I am new to this forum (thanks for referring me here Donovan!), and was very happy to see that there was a subforum on parenting. This is something I have not seen in other Objectivist forums I have visited, but have been searching for. Background: My husband and I have 5 kids, ages 7 to 18. Our 18 year old started college in January, and 3 of our children are in public schools. We recently pulled our 9 year old out of public school to educate her at home. While the elementary school here is pretty good (by public school standards) we felt in her case the negatives at school outweighed the positives. She was diagnosed with Asperger's several months ago, and although she has progressed in some areas (she is in speech therapy, and does fairly well academically and has been in the schools "gifted" program for a few years), the overwhelming social aspects just sucked the life out of her, and as well as some of the home work assignments. It got to a point where I was spending very little time with my other kids as I had to help her deal with the "drama" of social issues at school, and in many cases homework. There are other issues to related to her Aspeger's, but I think I have outlined the basic reasons we decided to pull her out. Anyway, we are using a math curriculum that is pretty good so far (Singapore Math) - she adores math and that and art are her strong points. I also have some decent text and work books for grammar, and we have put together a rough outline of what we will be teaching her for science and history using various books, dvds, etc. In putting together her curricula, I have used some guidelines based on a classical education, as well as trying to keep in mind the proper hierarchy (Lisa VanDamme had a good article about this I believe in the Spring 2006 issue of the Objective Standard). As we study the big bang theory, we are also reading different stories of creation based on various cultural mythologies (biblical, Greek, Egyptian, etc.) So far she has really enjoyed what she has read and is learning. Here is what I am looking for - suggestions on books you think are compatible with Objectivist philosophy for her free reading and assigned reading. Right now, she feels like she has run out of books hahah - that is because she wanted to jump ahead and read a bunch of books that we had. We have a ton of books - a lot of sci/fi - some that are appropriate for her age level, and a lot that is not. She even tried to read Animal Farm a few weeks ago, but I suggested we wait on that one. We have all the Harry Potter Books (though not sure if one could consider them Objectivist - myself and most of my other kids have enjoyed them), "The Girl Who Owned A City"....but I am looking for more suggestions. Besides math and art, my daughter is absolutely obsessed with cats. For xmas I gave her an Encyclopedia of Cat Breeds and she goes through it constantly. So - what do you buy your kids? Edited to add: While she has not read Anthem yet, she has listened to it on CD.