Cornerstone's Worldview of Western World I, II, III

[Cafelattee]

Considering for next year, would like feed back likes/dislikes Thanks

[Kendra]

I have been watching this thread to see if anyone answers. I bought WVWW I when it first came out years ago with the intent of going through it myself. My intentions were good :rolleyes: Now my junior higher and high schooler are using VP Omnibus and the WVWW sits on the shelf. I pulled it out recently and am wondering if I should incorporate it somehow into their studies.

So many things to study, so little time...

[Marcie in GA]

bump

[Suzybearybake]

Cornerstone's World View of the Western World looks like a great comprehensive curriculum. My only beef with it is that there is no type of teacher help or answer key what-so-ever. To implement such a program would require an immense amount of time on the part of the teacher to make sure that she was familiar enough with all the material ( and there is alot of it) to actually have discussions or grade exercises. We looked at this program and decided to use Omnibus I,II,III in high school. It covers as much put includes enough resources to make it doable for the teacher.

[Tokyomarie]

Cornerstone's World View of the Western World looks like a great comprehensive curriculum. My only beef with it is that there is no type of teacher help or answer key what-so-ever. To implement such a program would require an immense amount of time on the part of the teacher to make sure that she was familiar enough with all the material ( and there is alot of it) to actually have discussions or grade exercises. We looked at this program and decided to use Omnibus I,II,III in high school. It covers as much put includes enough resources to make it doable for the teacher.

I agree with this basic asssessment. I purchased it back in 2000 to use with my very bright, then 10th grader who was coming home full-time for the first time. At that time, TWTM was available as a guide to putting together a classical education, but WVWW was just about the only attempt that had been made put together a curriculum for homeschooling high school students to use. TOG was in its very beginnings but not yet available. We struggled and struggled with it but WVWW was pretty much a flop for us because of the complete lack of teacher help. I will say that my dd did get enormous benefit from it, yet it was at great cost to our relationship and her trust in me to lead her through her high school years.

If a teacher already has a solid education in the foundations of western civilization and in the classics it is possible to use it for good benefit to the student. I think that there are now curriculum resources out there that are better suited for the majority of homeschooling moms.

[Margaret in CO]

I looked at it very hard years ago as my first was headed into high school. I've also have numerous conversations with David Quine. My dd's reaction to it--yuck! What Mr. Quine did was take the Freshman Rhetoric and Great Books curr of Hillsdale College and write a high school curr for it. He started shortly after his oldest started at Hillsdale. It's a great curr IF your child is to the rhetoric stage. My dd was not, so it did not appeal to her at all. However, when she WAS 18, she loved taking it at Hillsdale... :D It grapples with the "big questions" but if your child is not there yet, it wil drive you both batty... I can't see it ever being a good fit for any of my children except possibly my ds. Be aware that it is only a 3 year curr--you will need to supplement with more Amer History.

[Tokyomarie]

I looked at it very hard years ago as my first was headed into high school. I've also have numerous conversations with David Quine. My dd's reaction to it--yuck! What Mr. Quine did was take the Freshman Rhetoric and Great Books curr of Hillsdale College and write a high school curr for it. He started shortly after his oldest started at Hillsdale.

That's interesting!


It's a great curr IF your child is to the rhetoric stage. My dd was not, so it did not appeal to her at all. However, when she WAS 18, she loved taking it at Hillsdale... :D It grapples with the "big questions" but if your child is not there yet, it wil drive you both batty... I can't see it ever being a good fit for any of my children except possibly my ds. Be aware that it is only a 3 year curr--you will need to supplement with more Amer History.

My oldest dd, the one who did 1+ years of WVWW, definitely was well into the Rhetoric stage in her level of thinking when she started in 10th grade. She was pondering the "Big Questions." However, her writing was just coming into that level which made writing the essays quite challenging. She couldn't yet express on paper, in an organized way, what she was thinking. This was one of the most frustrating parts of WVWW. She hadn't yet had the training for writing the essay, so we had trouble getting past those essay assignments.

My second dd is probably ready just now to really benefit from this kind of study and she is 19!

Though it is a 3 year curriculum, I have heard of some people choosing to spread it over 4 years to allow time to do their other studies.

[Rebirth]

It's been a little while since the last post in here, but I saw this and thought I would share my thoughts. Most of you are approaching this from the parent perspective, so I thought I would share my experiences as a student who completed the WVWW curriculum. I am 22 now, and I completed the curriculum when I was 16 (I began high school at 12), so my comments may be related to a previous edition of WVWW, I am not sure if Quine has released subsequent editions.

I began WVWW when I was a freshman in high school, and it took me four years (we decided against the 3 year approach). The work was very extensive and, for lack of a better term, it dominated me the first year. I was up to my eyeballs in work, reading classical greek literature at a very fast pace. This was the hardest time in the curriculum, fighting through to get my brain accustomed to the workload. By the end of the year I was able to survive the workload, and I really enjoyed the exposure to literature I recieved.

The second and third years were not nearly as difficult as the first, not for lack of material. In fact, the amount of work increases in the second and third years, but you get used to it. The coursework is different from anything you're kids have faced, so be prepared for a struggle that first year.

The payoff really came in college. I haven't truly had a general education course that has challenged me in any way. Writing essays is very simple, because I was very used to writing as a result of WVWW.

Despite these praises, I do have some complaints.

The Art and Music curriculum that is optional is completely unsatisfactory, as it is based on Francis Schaeffer's thoughts on Art and Music (also unsatisfactory). My concern in this area stems from the fact that I am a Music Composition major, and I feel that the curriculum does a great disservice to students and parents in its attempts to connect World Views to the Arts. While world views certainly play a role in music and art, the Quine curriculum boldly asserts that "dissonant" and "modern" music is basically atheistic and it exists outside the rules that God has placed on music. In addition to this he glorifies the music of Mozart, for its harmony and tonality, while Mozart himself was a Freemason. Dissonance in music developed as composers tried to be completely original (the only sin here is pride :001_smile:, but even Bach had that) not as a result of movement from the Biblical world view. When I write music, I pray before I put pen to paper, and ask that God will direct my hand for His glory. What I write is dissonant, and this is the talent God has given me - what He wants me to write. Both Schaeffer and Quine overstep their bounds in attempting to educate in a field they have no expertise in. In addition to this, the Music curriculum is onesided, focusing on composers from specific times rather than composers from all eras. This is academically unethical.

One of the concerns mentioned before is parent involvement, and believe me, it takes a lot of it to do this curriculum correctly. I was blessed in the fact that I had a mother who was a Ph.D. and who was able to dedicate her time to teaching me. I know some of you may think, "great, I need a Ph.D. to teach this to my kid effectively..." DON'T THINK THAT! Quine's choices of literature are good for both you and your child, and the involvement doesn't require a massive amount of higher education for you to read the books and talk to your kid about it. Ask them what they think, ask them questions based on what you read. There is no answer key here, its about reading the text and drawing conclusions from it. This brings me to the most important aspect of parental involvement - disagreement.

Don't be afraid to disagree with what Quine says in his curriculum. This is not science, there are no formulas, and though there are absolutes in this world, they are written by God, not David Quine or Francis Schaeffer. Do not be completely bound to following his interpretations of the text, because that isn't teaching your child to think for themself, its teach them to spout the views of others.

In summary, WVWW is a GREAT curriculum if you have the time for it. In a home with a lot of kids it may not work well, but if you can manage to use it, it really pays off. Go elsewhere for your Music and Art curriculum, but using WVWW provides a great foundation for college.