Scholar Phase

Although there are some more phases in leadership education, for the most part Scholar Phase is the last one during those teen years. I will leave Depth & Mission Phases for another time

Scholar Phase is the crux of leadership education; it is what you are working toward during the love of learning and core phases. You child is allowed to now study in a mentoring fashion.

Practice Scholars spend a couple of hours each day studying. At the beginning, a student will move back and forth between scholar and love of learning phases. That's okay. Don't squelch his love for learning by forcing the scholar phase down his throat.

As he matures, and his desire for more knowledge and self-mastery increases, he will move into the Project, Self-Directed and Mentored Scholar Phases. Each of these increases the amount of independent, self-directed studying. Peer involvement and interaction will encourage growth though the Scholar Phase. Group discussion of classic works and review of original works are invaluable to expand your student's horizons. Even though this may seem lofty, remember that your young scholar should be interacting with his parent/mentor on a regular basis. The regularity of these meetings depends on where you are in the Scholar Phase.

Sometimes parents find it helpful and necessary to have their Scholar Phase student in a co-op, online course, or private school that uses the mentoring approach. In our family we have found the need at times for our kids to participate with other groups during this phase. This year my two oldest will be taking a Great Books class with Wes Callihan, of Schola Tutorials. Each week they will discuss great books from the middle ages, renaissance and reformation. In addition to the weekly discussion, they will write 5 papers throughout the year. My oldest is also taking a class where she will read about 30-50 classics. Each week she will attend a lecture and recitation. Recitation is a meeting with the prof and 2-3 other students to discuss the readings. Both of these classes are examples of outside the home opportunities of the mentoring approach.

Kerry