The rest of the "keys"

The last three keys to Thomas Jefferson Education for me to cover are: structure time, not content; quality, not conformity; and simplicity, not complexity.

How does one "structure time, not content" you may ask? Well, the way we do it at our house is probably different than at others. When I first started trying to implement TJed I would just say to the boys that it was "structure time, not content" time. When they gave me the glazed look I told them they could study whatever they wanted, they just had to learn something. If they could prove to me that they learned something they could do it, so Legos sometimes worked. Watching videos sometimes worked. Playing video games, maybe. We don't do it that formally anymore. My three older ones are moving out of the "Love of Learning" Phase and into the "Scholar" phase (more on that later) so we do it in different ways. For example, I love history and feel it is really important that the boys learn it chronologically. Last year we finished one rotation of history so we are back on Ancient History again. This week we have been talking about Egyptian Gods. With all the information out there on this subject I just asked my 12 year olds to find something that interested them about the subject and write about it. Now, technically, yes, I did structure some of the content, but it was a very broad structure and within that structure I gave them a lot of freedom. My 9 year old decided to do a family tree of the gods using a computer program he has been wanting to learn to use. I had to sit with him and teach him how to use it but he was able to get a really neat family tree and learn a ton in the process. He also was so excited about learning the new program that the next day he thought up a project for himself to do using it. This is how it is working for us.

The "quality, not conformity" key goes back to core values that I want to instill in my kids, not just in their school work, but in their daily lives. I try to apply this to everything... even washing dishes! The boys occasionally try to get out of washing some of the dishes on their nights. They might try to say that there wasn't room in the drainer, or their brother didn't do some of it the night before. Doing the best you can and taking responsibility for your individual actions is the absolute most important lessons a child must learn.

In looking for a business that my kids could participate in and that followed the keys I found it hard to keep things simple. I bought a bunch of kits thinking the boys could help me bead and make ornaments to sell. Too complex. I finally sat down with them and asked them what they love to do. They all love to read. We came up with the idea of starting a blog that reviews boys' books. I then hooked up with Amazon and found that we could get a "commission" if we send people to their site and they buy things. Now, I know that this is not going to make the boys rich, but it is simple, features quality opinions, and I give them the time but they can review any book they have read. It is a start. We are all excited about it. Check it out! Home Boys' Book Reviews