The Well-Trained Mind podcast

Technology Reading List: 

• Marshall McLuhan
  • The Medium is the Message
  • The Global Village
  • The Gutenberg Galaxy
  • Understanding Media 
• Neil Postman 
  • Amusing Ourselves to Death 
  • Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology
• Ray Kurzwell
  • The Age of Spirtual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
• Kirkpatrick Sale
  • Rebels Against The Future: The Luddites And Their War On The Industrial Revolution: Lessons For The Computer Age Paperback 

Articles Mentioned in the Episode: 

• Mayo Clinic Article on Screen Time 
• Digital Literacy: 
  • Stanford Research: High School Students’ Digital Skills Paints Worrying Portrait 
  • Stanford Research: It Doesn’t Take Long to Learn to Spot Misinformation Online
  • Civic Online Reasoning Lessons

Just for fun: 

• Medieval Help Desk Sketch
• Susan’s Movie Recommendation: The Village, directed by M. Night Shyamalan

• (00:00) - Kids, Screentime, and Technology

• Jean Lee’s website and Instagram
• Midwest Homeshool Expo

Tell us about your funniest homeschool fail: https://www.speakpipe.com/MoreHomeschoolFails. We may feature it in an upcoming episode! Or email your homeschool fail to us at [email protected]. 

• (00:00) - Intro with Jean Lee

• Interview with WaPo Journalist Peter Jamison: NPR Fresh Air: Homeschooling is surging, but lax regulation can leave kids vulnerable to abuse, January 18th, 2024
• The Report Susanna Mentioned: Report on Mathew Tirado 
• Learn about becoming a Guardian Ad Litem or Child Appointed Special Advocate in Your State 

Tell us about your funniest homeschool fail! We may feature it in an upcoming episode! https://www.speakpipe.com/HomeschoolFails 

• (00:00) - Homeschool fails

In this episode, Susan Wise Bauer and Susanna Jarrett debunk some of the most popular myths about how the brain works. If you take a sip of coffee every time Susanna says “pigeon-hole” throughout this episode, you will end up well caffeinated for the day! 

We encourage you to look up these neuromyths on your own! Below are just a few articles (and a video) to start your research: 

Show Notes: 

• Research: Persistence of Neuromyths in Educational Settings

Myth 1: 

• News Article: Right brain/left brain, right? Via Harvard Health Publishing
• Full Research Study: An Evaluation of the Left-Brain vs. Right-Brain Hypothesis with Resting State Functional Connectivity Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Myth 2: 

• News Article: Debunking the Learning Style Neuromyth Via Forbes
• Round-up of Research: Learning Styles as Myth via Yale

Myth 3: 

• News Article: Why There is No Such Thing as a Normal Brain via BBC 
• Research Article: The Myth of the Normal Brain: Embracing Diversity via The AMA Journal of Ethic
• Rethinking School: How to Take Charge of Your Child’s Education by Susan Wise Bauer

Myth 4: 

• Article: Why a high IQ doesn’t mean you’re smart via Yale School of Management

Video: The Dark History of IQ Tests via TedEd

• (00:00) - Debunking Learning Myths

Guiding Principles: 

 Gretchen Ronnevik Quote We LOVE: 

“When I taught classical writing to teens, there's an element to formal rhetoric called "refutation" where you address the arguments opposed to your thesis. In refutation, it's important to present the arguments of your opponents in a way that they would feel well represented, so that you can talk about where they are wrong in their argument, point by point, instead of resorting to ad hominem attacks, or misrepresentation. In classical rhetoric, ad hominem attacks, and twisting the words of your opponent where they would say "but that's not what I said, nor how I meant it," is actually the weakest way to refute their arguments. It shows that you don't have a good case against their issue, so you resort to theatrics and distractions instead. The reason that you want your opponents to agree with your representation of them is that you are seeking to win them over and persuade them. If they feel they have been misrepresented, they will never be persuaded, they will just continue to clarify again and again, until they realize you have no intention of actually hearing them.” 

• Gretchen’s website and Twitter/X Account 

Politics

• iCivics: Susanna’s recommendation for teaching civics and government to grammar/rhetoric stage students
• The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt: Susanna’s book recommendation for rhetoric students and adults

Economics 

• Uncle Eric Books: We mention using these books to explain the Libertarian or Free Market view of economics
• Tuttle Twins: We mention this as an example of an economics/government program for kids that has a stated Libertarian slant
• Older students should read the strongest arguments for each major economic theory and/or the source material, like The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith for Free Market Economics or The General Theory of Employment by John Maynard Keynes for Keynesian economics. 
• Resources for looking for rhetoric stage economics courses (let us know your comments about potential slants!): 
  • Great Courses (a lot of course options, check the syllabus to see if the course you’re interested in covers multiple economic theories) 
  • Edx  (same as above)
  • Khan Academy (they have a section about Keynesian economics and its critics)
  • Crash Course (supplemental videos, potential Keynesian slant. They have a video about different Economics Schools of Thought)
  • Well-Trained Mind Academy

Science 

• Biologos website: Susan mentions this website in the context of teaching theology and science. 
• Extremely American Podcast: Susan mentions this podcast when positing that there is a link between creationism and Christian Nationalist political ideas. This episode specifically tackles that link.

Corrections: 

• At 31:10 Susan mentions the "Institution of Creationism Research," it should be "Institute of Creation Research." 

• (00:00) - Season of Hot Takes Intro

Here is a link to the standarized test that Susan recommended for students coming into classical education or homeschooling “late”: 

California Achievement Test (CAT)

• (00:00) - Intro

Here are all the curricula we talk about in the episode, so you can check them out for yourself:

Elemental Science 

Real Science Odyssey 

Nancy Larson Science 

Blossom and Root 

Scientific Connections Through Inquiry

Online Courses/Well-Trained Mind Academy

Elemental Science (CK12) 

Build Your Library 

CK12 Foundation

Centripetal Science 

• (00:00) - Intro with Courtney Ostaff

• What About Socialization? Via Well-Trained Mind
• VIDEO: Should I Join a Homeschool Co-Op? 
• Recommended Book: The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
• Susan's Book: Rethinking School 

• (00:00) - Intro

Check out Kate Snow's Website: https://kateshomeschoolmath.com/!

You can purchase Kate's curricula, Math with Confidence and Facts that Stick on our website, welltrainedmind.com. 

• (00:00) - Check out 4th Grade Math with Confidence!

Summary: In this episode, Susan Wise Bauer and Susanna Jarrett discuss how a classical education prepares students for university education and what adjustments may need to be made to ensure your student is a competitive applicant.

Show Notes: 

• Recommendations for transcript creators 
• A Sample High School Transcript
• Assigning High School Credit Hours by Susan Wise Bauer

Tests We Discuss: 

• SAT website 
• ACT website 
• CLT exam 
• AP exams
• CLEP exams

Timestamps:

• (00:00) - Intro