This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: How Oxford Style Tutorials Work with Trinity House. This post is running concurrently on the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.
How Oxford Style Tutorials Work with Trinity House
Many of us homeschoolers are fans of C.S. Lewis’ writings. For those who have followed his biographies, you know that his most impactful educational experiences were with his tutor, William Kirkpatrick. We Americans do not often have the opportunity to experience tutoring of this style. However, it still exists. That’s why we were excited to have our friend Justin McGeary of Trinity House on the podcast again.
Featured in this post:
- Justin McGeary’s story
- His time at Oxford
- Understanding the tutorial system
- Formation of Trinity House Oxford-style Tutorials
- Working with Trinity House
- Contact Trinity House Tutorials
Justin McGeary’s story
Justin McGeary founded Trinity House, where he offers Oxford-style tutorials. He is no stranger to homeschooling! His mother started homeschooling him in sixth grade. He graduated from homeschooling and headed to college.
When Justin taught at the college level, he had a number of homeschool students that came through his classrooms. He found that these students transitioned well to college because there are many similarities between the kind of education you get in high school homeschooling and at the college level.
Growing up, Justin learned to love the classics by both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. During college, he had the opportunity to study at Oxford as part of his school’s study abroad program. He was at Oxford for the Hilary Term (January through March), and loved experiencing the full tutorial experience.
His time at Oxford
Justin loved his time at Oxford. He rode my bike around the city and attended evensong with its beautiful choral evening hymns.
In the college, he met with his tutors and attended lectures. One of his favorites was a lecture series on Tolkien and Old English literature. The lecturer had not expected it to be very popular. However, on the first day of the lecture, the tiny room was jam-packed. The lecture series had to be moved to a larger lecture hall.
Justin attended lectures on modern British literature and 19th-century American literature, as well as some side courses on British culture.
Understanding the tutorial system
The tutorial system is an intensive kind of education that cultivates learners and develops critical thinking skills. There are three main features of the tutorial system:
- tutorials
- lectures
- library system
For example, C.S. Lewis would have his tutorials with a handful of assigned students. He would give lecture series that any student could attend. Then the students used Oxford’s amazing library system for reading, studying, and preparing for major exams at the end of several years of college study.
Justin’s tutor would meet with him regularly. Each meeting, the tutor would give him a sheet of paper with several questions written on it. Underneath those questions would be several resources. Justin’s responsibility was to read through those questions and decide, “Which question do I wanna tackle? Which question do I want to answer?”
Then he would go to the library and do his own independent learning using the resources list that tutor had provided. For example, in literature, he might be looking at a particular poem or a particular section of a novel. He would answer essay questions on a key section or theme in the book being discussed.
Justin would take a week or two to write an essay based on the questions his tutor had given him. He would read the completed essay out loud to the tutor. Then the tutor would give him feedback on that essay. He would then rewrite the essay. This process helped him to hone his writing and critical thinking skills.
He remembers that his first few essays were really terrible. However, his writing improved rapidly because he was getting help right away. He also liked that he was not graded on every single essay.
Formation of Trinity House
Trinity House evolved as Justin was teaching college students. A number of his students were struggling with college-level requirements. He remembered author Dorothy Sayers asking, “Where are the tools of learning? Where is the kind of careful thinking, and the ability to write well?”
One evening, when he was having a conversation about this with his wife, she asked, “What about the Oxford tutorial? Might that not be a thing that you can bring to high schoolers to help them prepare for college success?”
That’s when Trinity House Oxford-Style Tutorials was formed.
Working with Trinity House’s Oxford-style tutorials
Working with Trinity House’s Oxford-style tutorials is like educational learning coaching.
Each week, students answer questions assigned by their tutor. Then they come back with an essay and say, “Here’s how I thought about this question.”
The tutor is sort of this personal trainer coach. He does not say, “And here are all the right answers.”
Instead, he says, “This is a good argument here, here, and here. What about here? Have you thought about this? Explain to me more about this.”
In Trinity House tutorials, students engage in a conversational relationship where they are continually honing their thinking with a seasoned tutor.
Students learn how to learn and think independently. Their essays are not simply regurgitating what “so-and-so” thinks, but rather, “what do they think”?
Doesn’t that sound inspiring?
Contact Trinity House Tutorials
Sign up for their newsletter or email me for a sample tutorial: [email protected]
Thank you to Seth Tillman for editing, and we’ll see everyone next week.
Keep listening
- Have a C.S. Lewis Year
- A Full Year of C.S. Lewis Literature and Composition
- How to Plan Language Arts for Homeschool High School
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