Announcement for readers
EduThirdSpace is launching a reading program for kids!
Dear readers,
EduThirdSpace is expanding! Up to this point, my focus has been on writing about education and what it means to be educated, as well as sharing what philosophers and other formative thinkers have had to say about education. This aspect of the project will continue, but I also want to put what I have learned from our great thinkers into action. And I want to practice what I preach. I can contemplate and talk about what it means to be educated and how I think one ought to go about receiving an education all day—anyone can, really—but the time has come for me to do something about it, even if that something is small.
Cue the drumroll...
Announcing: "Young Wanderers," a subscription box reading program for curious children.
The great thinkers of the past thought that reading good books, those that transcend space and time, was a crucial element of a good education. I agree. And reading classic literature is a key ingredient of a liberal arts education, an education focused on developing the mind.
If you think about education like a puzzle, with different elements, like reading philosophy and fictional literature, writing stories and persuasive essays, manipulating objects and machines in the name of exploration, and so forth, Young Wanderers is one piece of the education puzzle. The purpose being to go on an adventure via imaginative literature, become integrated in a different reality, the one the writer has created, and relish in the power of storytelling to ignite the imagination in a way that is familiar to the reader.
Young Wanderers read classic imaginative literature, such as The Jungle Book, The Secret Garden, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Black Beauty to have such experiences.
Children ages 7 to 12 who sign up to become a Young Wanderer receive a classic text nearly once a month, along with other goodies like writing materials and milestone gifts. And parents, or the caregiver who signs up the child, are granted access to an online community of other caregivers who value classic literature and a liberal arts education.
Young Wanderers is designed like a now-common monthly subscription, but unlike other subscription boxes, it's structured like a program. Children receive books in a specific order, with reading goals and prompts. No matter when a child signs up for the program, the first book they receive will be The Jungle Book, along with an introduction packet for parents, including how to access the online community, and a poster for children to track their progress through the program. The second, third, fourth, and so forth, box will also always be the same no matter when a child joins. As such, when caregivers log into the online community, they are offered opportunities to engage with a cohort of others who have children reading the same books at the same pace. The community also provides educational resources related to a liberal arts education and opportunities to discuss tips for reading good books, current trends in education, whether home or school education, and other education-related topics.
I have experience with educating young people, and I have accumulated a store of knowledge about different approaches to education, but I am not perfect and I by no means know everything. This is where you, a group dedicated to education, come in: I am starting the program with a founding member launch, and I would like you to be a founding member. Founding members start the program at a lower rate (and will pay that rate as long as they are in the program) in exchange for feedback. I want to know what founding members love about the program and what areas should be improved.
As a loyal EduThirdSpace reader, if you have children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews who you think would enjoy receiving a classic work of imaginative literature a month, along with other goodies, I invite you to be a founding member. Interested? If yes, tell me so by sending an email to samantha@eduthirdspace.com, and I will send you more information about the nuts and bolts of the program and how to sign up.
As always, thank you for your continued interest in this newsletter. You have many options for what to read each week, and I appreciate you choosing to spend time reading EduThirdSpace.
Kind regards,
Samantha