𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗽𝗵𝘆?
Children are natural philosophers. They wonder about the world around them and ask many questions.  Philosophy offers children the chance to explore ordinary yet complex concepts, to improve their reasoning and critical thinking skills, to enable them to make more sense of their world and to discover for themselves what is valuable and precious in the world around them. Children’s daily experiences are full of ethical concerns and issues.  Television, video games, the internet, and social media continually expose children to images and ideas at earlier ages then the past. This is a lot of possibilities for children to sort through and understand.  Studying philosophy helps children develop and strengthen their own critical thinking, reasoning, and argument building skills to better understand and respond to different viewpoints with empathy and for society as a whole to create the kind of world in which they want to live. 

𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲:
In this ongoing class we will use the Socratic method to explore ethical concepts through relationships - logical, social, familial, aesthetic, causal, mathematical, and more. Ethical concepts include personhood, respect for others, sibling-rivalry, , friendship, secrets, promise-keeping, parent/caregiver-child relationships, duties and obligations, teasing, and autonomy. The teacher uses the book 𝑷𝒊𝒙𝒊𝒆 by Matthew Lipman.  The chapters are used as a starting point for the discussion. The discussions will follow the ideas and thoughts of the learners. Each chapter stands alone allowing learners to enter the class at any time and be able to participate in the philosophical discussion. The teacher will share their screen when necessary for reading of the chapter.

The situations covered create mental engagement and thinking about thinking. Learners are not looking for answers. The objective is to engage in prolonged questioning and dialogue between each other. This dialogue will aid learners to make more sense of their world and to discover for themselves what is to be valued and cherished in that world.

In our circle of inquiry all ideas are worthy of examination. This class is student centered. The teacher does not impose their ideas, opinions, or perceptions.  Instead the teacher facilitates the discussion, drawing out the student's ideas into our non-judgmental environment of trust and respect for one another. This method empowers the student and allows them to gain confidence in their ideas and sharing them.

The maximum number of learners in class will be 6.  This ensures that all learners have the opportunity to share their thoughts with their peers. 

𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝙋𝙞𝙭𝙞𝙚:
Pixie is perplexed and delighted by many aspects of her experience as an elementary student. In this novel, Pixie discovers many different kinds of relationships, as well as explores the nature of reasons and rules. When her teacher assigns each student to choose a mystery creature for a field trip to the zoo, Pixie's discovers the startling consequences of particular relationships between things, ideas, and people. The focus of this novel is on the nature of relationships (logical, social, familial, aesthetic, causal, part-whole, etc.) and developing the skills to deal with such relationships. This novel touches upon the ethical concepts of: sibling-rivalry, personhood, respect for others, friendship, secrets, promise-keeping, parent-child relationships, teasing, and autonomy.

Please note that the below listed topics are a guideline. There are multiple groups with varying start dates.  Due to multiple active groups, not all groups are on the same topic. If you are looking to join in at a specific topic of discussion, please send me a message so I can let you know which group will best meet your needs. Thank you.

𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀:
Introductions/Warm up questions, such as: Think of something you are glad happened. Can you be happy and sad at the same time? Think a funny thought.
Round table discussion of the story of the day facilitated by the teacher.
Wrap up/Goodbye


Please note that below list is a guideline. Depending on the level of student engagement we may deviate and spend an extra week or two on a particular subject.

𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱:
April 2023: Stories, Names, What is Real, Making Things Up, What is True, Secrets, Friendship
May 2023: Mystery story, Problems, Kindness, Daydreaming, What makes you you, Making things up, Similarities & Differences Telling, The meaning of nice, Dreams, Inferring, Ambiguity, Sharing, Hoping
June 2023: Doing, Faking, Questions, Guessing, Excuses, Reasons, Words & Things, Figuring things out, Ideas, the Mind
July 2023: What happens when we think, Imagine, Wonder, Suppose, Talking, Communication, What does right mean?, What difference does it make?
August 2023: Irony, Silly questions, Organization of parts, Function of things, Family relationships, Understanding, Siblings, Differences and Meanings, Believing
September 2023: Thinking, Relationships, Identifying problems, Similes, Metaphors, Fact finding, Teasing, Secrets
October 2023: Expectations, Rules, Mental acts, Analogies, What goes to sleep?, What, if anything is wrong, Opposites, Arguments, Identifying good reasoning, Finding mistakes, Ambiguity, Boasts, tall tales, lies
November 2023: Analogical reasoning, Communication, Defining characteristics, Relationships, Symptoms & Causes, Flattery, Pretending, Promises
December 2023: Minds and Bodies, Names, Identifying relationships, Words & Thoughts, Functions, Understanding, Observations, Ideas, Remembering

The methodology of this course is based upon the teachings of Matthew Lipman.

𝗥𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆:
I follow Outschool's policy on refunds for ongoing classes: Parents enrolled in an ongoing class will see a “stop subscription” button instead of “withdraw” on the classroom page after the class’s first meeting. Use this button to prevent any future weekly charges, starting with the following billing period, which rolls over Sunday mornings Pacific time. You can use this to stop future charges at any time.  There will be no refunds issued for a student(s) missing class.  

𝗢𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆: If your learner misses a class meeting, you are not entitled to a refund. If your learner misses 3 consecutive class live meetings without communicating with the teacher, you forfeit the class fee and the teacher may cancel the class or withdraw your learner.” 

𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆: Please note that per Outschool policy, if there are 0 students after the first 10 minutes of the class, the class will be canceled for that day. The live meetings are scheduled for 50 minutes; however, depending upon the number of students and the amount of participation from the class, some live meetings may be shorter than 50 minutes.  If the teacher needs to cancel class a makeup class will be assigned. If the student is unable to attend the makeup class a refund will be issued after the makeup class.