88 Areas of Mastery: An American Homeschooler's Companion

By Justin Eric Sutton

As a homeschooler’s handbook, this compendium of traditional academic courses, areas of interest, art forms and inspirational reflections is a window on the world that pays homage to the great diversity of human knowledge, experience and artistic expression.

Beginning with the foundational principles of academic education, the reader will travel on a journey through the vast potential of mankind’s greatest occupations and ambitions. Each of these 88 areas will, in a moment, give the student a new focal point that is unique to human life. With each page you turn, this book will open a virtual doorway into the past, present and future of human knowledge, craftsmanship and raw talent to inspire students and teachers of all ages.

In this book there is something for everyone... and maybe just a bit more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9781664278264

Justin Eric Sutton

Justin Eric Sutton is an American inventor, scientist, businessman and poet that grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, graduated from public high school, and attended extensive courses at community college and university in engineering and geophysics. He later specialized in computer systems integration and workflow management systems in the 1990s when the Internet was new. Having a broad interest in classical education and world history, and a powerful curiosity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, he hopes this book will help the world become a better and more prosperous place for all people.

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Copyright © 2023 Justin Eric Sutton.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-7828-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-7827-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-7826-4 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/8/2023

CONTENTS

1. Grammar

2. Rhetoric

3. Logic

4. Arithmetic

5. Music

6. Geometry

7. Astronomy

8. Astrology

9. Physics

10. Fluid Dynamics

11. Electricity and Magnetism

12. Prioritization and Lists of Objectives

13. Decisiveness

14. Say Please and Say Thankyou

15. Courteous Names and Titles of Merit

16. Leadership and Delegation

17. Maintain Regular Diaries and Essays

18. Memorize Inspirational Poetry and Story Telling

19. One’s Own Family History

20. Agriculture

21. The Culinary Arts

22. Herbology

23. Rustic Survivalism

24. Nutrition / Human Chemistry

25. Braiding and Weaving of Textiles

26. Clothing Design and Fashion

27. Whistle

28. Sing in Tune & Sing in Harmony

29. Concert Orchestra and Choir

30. The History of War and Political Upheaval

31. Monumental Construction

32. The American Revolution

33. Civic Order

34. The Political History of the World

35. The History of Philosophy, Religion and Faith

36. Principles of Usury, Interest and Currency

37. Capitalism vs Communism

38. Speak Several Languages (Bridges)

39. Morse Code

40. Master Spelling, Diction and Thesaurus

41. Penmanship

42. Cursive Writing

43. Shorthand

44. Typing

45. Memorize Multiplication Tables

46. Abacus

47. Origami

48. Billiards

49. Vector Quantities

50. Reckoning Celestial Navigation

51. Map Reading & Cartography

52. Sailing

53. Perspective Drawing

54. Mechanical Drawing

55. Engineer

56. Skilled Trades

57. Medicine

58. Masonry

59. Carpentry

60. Plumber

61. Electrician, Electrical Engineer, Electronics

62. Soldier

63. Sculpture and Statuary

64. Salesmanship

65. Public Speaking

66. Neuro Linguistic Programming

67. Lawyer

68. Legal Documentation

69. Metallurgy

70. Mineralogy

71. Crystallography

72. Chemistry

73. Biology

74. Geophysics

75. Paleontology

76. Archeology

77. Color Identification and Coordination

78. Painting

79. Jump Rope

80. Swim

81. Dance

82. Gymnastics

83. Juggling

84. Martial Arts

85. Fencing

86. Games

87. A Few Good Clean Jokes

88. Horsemanship and Animal Husbandry

USAgreatseal.psd

With full

dedication to God, Family and Country

Matthew 6:33 - But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

"The mind once stretched by a new idea never

returns to its original dimensions."

- Ralph Waldo Emmerson

INTRODUCTION

Where to begin… the question we all must ask: Where to begin...

Each morning when we wake from our slumbers, we are all greeted with another day, and the tremendous opportunity that life gives us to begin again and make a new effort to do great things with our lives. From our first bite of a marvelously prepared meal to looking for a new job or even starting a new business enterprise, getting started is not always the easy part. If you are not duly and truly prepared it can be the most difficult. Being prepared in advance of taking action is the difference between success and failure or progress by mere chance alone.

To be prepared, we need to have skills and a chance to gain experience by working in the walks of life that inspire us the most to make an effort and try our best. From deciding what school, college or university to attend, what career opportunities to consider even what hobbies to explore; the reader will find this modest volume is created to serve the purpose of both inspiration and education and help you to be better prepared for a more prosperous future.

As repetition is the mother of skill, necessity is the father of ambition. Since time immemorial children have always walked in their parent’s footsteps, day by day, learning the skills of life from them as they work to meet the necessities of daily survival. No one can choose the circumstances of their birth, yet, if we are blessed with a safe place and good parents teaching solid foundational skills, we may achieve almost anything in life. From cooking to cleaning to drawing up plans for a sky-scraper or a rocket ship, necessity and skill are inseparably united in the path to success; they are two sides to the same coin.

Time is of the essence and we don’t want to waste a minute. We want to make the best use of our time (investing it wisely) to get the most out of the time we are given. Knowing in advance what we want to do in the future before we commit to action will help insure we will get the results we expect and save the most precious of all commodities: our time. So we ask: Where to begin…

Looking at the panorama of the modern world in brief snippets the reader is quickly introduced to a world of ideas without the overburden of more detailed reference material. Like a legend of a gigantic map of human life, this book gives only a place to start and a direction to travel, but the journey is yours. This volume is a great place to start a conversation by just saying - Pick a number from 1 to 88 and then start reading aloud to friends, family and schoolmates and see where the conversation goes from there…

To better enable the student to grasp the world of higher education; this book begins with an introduction to the original Academy and the Seven Liberal Arts, also known as academics. And where it seems of greatest value, direct scriptural references are taken from the King James Bible which has been the guiding light of American Christian Liberty since the first days of the American colonies built by Christians who just wanted to be left alone ultimately giving birth to the first Republic in human history where all people are equal in the eyes of God and man.

Map_of_Platos_Academy_fmt.jpg

A map of the ancient Academy outside of the city of Athens as reported by the Voyage of Jeune Anacharsis and drawn by cartographer M. Barbie du Bocage in 1784.

THE ACADEMY

Not far outside of the ancient city of Athens there was an olive grove, owned by a local hero named Akademos. His famous grove eventually became the traditional meeting place of the Athenian philosophers giving birth to the tradition of calling a place of higher learning an Academy. From this famous grove of olive trees sprung forth and germinated the modern western world with inestimable value for science, honest debate, and logical validation of all matters public and private.

At the Academy the students, teachers and lookers-on, would take turns speaking, listening, proposing questions, postulating answers, and citing unanimous matters of fact to be judged as true or false. These questions would range from the light of the sun, to justice, duty, honor, skill and what is good or bad about daily living. Those countless questions inevitably evolved into what we may now call ‘schools of thought’.

While countless great minds had certainly opined at that quintessential epicenter of Liberty, we may look first to the inspired thought of the most famous of these men: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. These men set the standard for civilized critical and reasonable argument 2,700 years ago. But what would we know today without the pen and parchment?

The spoken word may inspire the few that hear it, yet it is the written word that is a seed that may germinate interminously through time to inspire innumerable readers. It is the pen and the written word of countless hand crafted books in ancient times that laid the foundation for modern Academic life. We today have been gifted by generations of hard working people who were inspired to capture and record the knowledge and experience of humanity in all the books in all the libraries of the world. Invested in all those books and sewn into every word is a seed of conception waiting to be planted into the thoughtful mind of some future explorer on a quest for knowledge.

How much more do we owe our liberty to the Gutenberg printing press? The seeds that blossomed around the world by the advent of the printing press enabled thousands of people to get copies of books that were once only the province of a King’s royal library, the Convent, the Monastery, and the few wealthy merchants who had disposable income. Today what was once very few in number one thousand years ago, the Universities are now counted by the thousands serving millions of people seeking the knowledge and prosperity of a good career.

Grateful we must be for the generations of people who have dedicated the better part of their lives to the study and preservation of esoteric knowledge, basic science and traditional ways of living. Some even risking their lives to advance the sciences; so it is to these intrepid truth-seekers that we all owe an almost unpayable debt; yet we must work to pay that debt by protecting Liberty and preserving it for the future.

Mankind has always struggled to be civilized, dignified and respectful of each other and with the birth of Academic life; Reason, Logic, Ethics, Morality, Prudence, Moderation and Justice have become the heritage of every one. This vital heritage may only exist if the people have liberty to inquire, to learn and teach, and the freedom to make, copy, and keep books in the first place.

The promulgation of Academic discussion uses the ‘analogy’ that is the art of comparing one thing to another to establish a mutual understanding of the nature of things by describing ways that two otherwise different things are similar. The analogy is further enhanced by the parable that uses a symbolic comparison to illuminate a moral lesson via the telling of a generic storyline. The generation of analogies and parables are the primary tools of the teacher, while the skill of the student is in the asking and answering of the 5 primary questions: who, what, when, where and why. Academic life must fully encompass these vital questions to ask and answer them honestly with free and open discussion. It is from asking these vital questions that a professor teaches the new aspirant the knowledge that they seek, and it is by answering these vital questions over hundreds, even thousands of years that these actual tools of thought have evolved into schools of thought giving birth to Academia.

Perhaps the greatest analogy of them all is the river. A river can rage and tear the land away and carry the earth and everything with it out to sea in an overwhelming flood, and it can gently meander slowly along a peaceful course, ideal for fishing on a still summer day. The River of Life carries everyone along in its tireless current, each person having a place of origin, with destinations unknown that await our future selves only IF we are fortunate to live a long, peaceful and prosperous life. As we all navigate our individual journey in the great river, we must remember that knowledge is power and without it we are doomed hopelessly to drift along with the current of time, unable to choose our direction or learn necessary skills to navigate safely and reach safe harbor. Neigh more, with time, effort and great skill you may build both a great ship and the perfect harbor to ride the great river in style.

As the ancient philosophers and generations of educated people carried the knowledge of humanity forward to our present day, it is the almighty power of the question itself that has always reigned supreme. Asking a question is the beginning of knowledge because the answer (even the inquest to find the answer) enable both teacher and student to gain knowledge.

After all, the word ‘Quest’ is the beginning of the word question. And so