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What makes an Engagement
so unique?

Below is a detailed outline of our Engagements. Trust us, you will love them. On second thought, don't trust us. After looking over this outline, go check out some excerpts we've provided for you.  Maybe view them together with your child, and decide for yourself.

Engagements have a very specific purpose. They are not meant to teach an entire topic. The goal of each Engagement is to take one specific piece of content from a larger topic, teach that content thoroughly, and use it as a vehicle to instill our national shared values and principles in the learner.

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Engagements guide the learner through rigorous examination of primary source material, and explicit instruction advancing a knowledge-rich curriculum. (Hirsch, Cultural Literacy, 1987).

Homeschool and school curriculum that helps parents and teachers instill our shared values and principles, and fight radical indoctrination

Engagements are written to fit right into a child's in-school or homeschool instruction, like an add-on, enhancing and strengthening that curriculum to achieve the above goals.

 

For example, while you are teaching American Expansion, use our Engagement on Texas becoming a state as one of your lessons in that unit.  Or assign it as homework, enrichment, etc.  It doesn't matter how you use it, it just works.

Take Standard Curricula  →  Inject Founding Principles  →  Grow Patriots​

It is impossible to simply explain how Engagements do their work.  You have to see them in action.  Subscribe here for only $10, experience Engagements for yourself, and you will see.  If you don’t love it, you can cancel immediately.

Engagements are not just for students.  Even if you received a top-of-the-line education as a child, our Engagements go over and above everyday classroom instruction, in both scope and depth.  They get down to the very core of a topic through primary documents and careful analysis of evidence.  

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This makes Engagements perfect for anyone who wants to learn more about the issues and ideologies being pushed in our society, and how to push back against them.  That's what we are all trying to do.  That's why you're here.  

ENGAGEMENT OUTLINE

Every Engagement has the exact same 5-part format that make up the instructional sequence.  All five parts are meant to be used a whole.

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PART 1: INTRODUCTION

Introduces the topic and the argument, why this particular topic is important, and how it affects the learner and their society. Do not skip the Introduction. Each part of an Engagement is important; slowly building on one another to guide the student to an understanding of the underlying truths in that topic. 

PART 2: THE HOOK

In education, the hook is known more formally as an Anticipatory Set.  It is designed to grab the student's attention, activate prior knowledge, and lay the foundation for the lesson.  Hooks are common in our everyday lives.  We see them in books, movies, sales pitches, YouTube videos, news articles, etc.  Our Hooks are almost always something that isn't immediately clear how it relates to the topic of the Engagement. Rest assured, it will all come together in the end. 

PART 3: HISTORICAL CONTEXT

It is very important that the learner know the context of the information they are studying. What is the current situation at the time of the event? Who are the relevant players? What significant events led up to it?  The learner needs to know how the topic fits into the larger story. This is essential for them to be able to apply what they are learning to other situations. Knowledge without application is often lost.  

PART 4: DID YOU KNOW?

This is the evidence portion of an Engagement. It is the longest and most intense portion of an Engagement.  It is full of primary sources, investigation, and analysis.  There are often multiple Did You Know sections in one Engagement, each one developing a different piece of evidence. We don't just drop the evidence and run.  We teach students how to analyze and evaluate it.  We read through documents together, often parsing them line by line. We model the skills needed to understand and properly utilize evidence in their lives.  

PART 5: THE BIG PICTURE

Here is where we discuss what conclusions we can draw from the evidence presented in the Engagement.  At The True Corrective, we consider evidence to be like puzzle pieces.  When you look at puzzle pieces individually, you can only see a small portion of what those pieces are meant to show you, and that is easily misunderstood. But when those pieces are properly put together, they reveal the full picture.  We like to call that picture...truth.  

You may have recognized something very important.

 

The structure of an Engagement mirrors that of an argumentative academic essay. 

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  1. introduce the topic

  2. hook the reader

  3. provide context

  4. present your evidence

  5. draw conclusions

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THIS IS NOT AN ACCIDENT.  This process of rhetorical persuasion goes as far back as Aristotle.  It's in the Classical tradition.  

DISCUSSION GUIDE

Don't overlook this final piece of every Engagement; the Discussion Guide. This is one of the many things that sets us apart from other instructional providers. This guide is tailored specifically for each Engagement. It contains discussion questions, detailed explanations of the kinds of responses you should expect to hear, additional historical context, real world examples, and ways to use these conversations to advance the values and principles that will enable the child to thrive in their society. Click here to get much more information and view a complete Discussion Guide from one of our Engagements. 

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