What does it mean to be human?
This is a question we humans have been asking for millennia, it is also the question I’ll be asking my son as he enters high school. I’m currently in the process of pulling together my soon to be 9th grade son’s freshman curriculum. At it’s core every single class he’ll be taking asks this same question. I’m excited to see what he learns and how he answers this timeless question for himself.
My soon to be 9th grader is a voracious reader who I’ve discovered learns best using a Charlotte Mason style approach to education. Last week I shared the 25 books he’ll be reading for his world literature language arts class. He will also be taking a overview of world history course, a Geography and World Cultures elective, and for science he’s taking an Earth Science and Geologic history course that will conclude with a study of the evolution of man.
These four courses will require my son to read more than 60 books next year. All of these titles blend together and overlap into a glimpse of the human experience. Even reading thousands of books, nobody can truly understand all human experience. Humanity is far to diverse for a scholar at any age to grasp it’s full breadth.
I am still excited for my son to take this path in his high school education. So much of school is focused on facts. Next year, my son will learn some facts, but I’m hoping he’ll also learn to look beyond the facts and see the bigger questions hidden behind them.
Do you ask big questions in your home school? What questions do the curriculum you use or create seek to answer?
New Schooling 