If you’ve been around the homeschool world more than a few days, you’ve probably heard about something called the Classical Education model. What is it, and should Homeschoolers make use of it?
My family has chosen to follow the Classical model, and in the interests of full disclosure, you should know that my books are carried (though not published) by Veritas, one of the major Classical publishing houses. I have also written for several volumes of the Veritas Omnibus series, a Classical theology/history/literature curriculum. And one of the blurbs on the cover of my book, Talking of Dragons, was written by Douglas Wilson, considered by many to be the father of the modern Classical Christian movement. So what follows may be considered biased in some ways. But keep in mind that, like you, I had to wade through the various philosophical and methodological options available to Homeschoolers (see this post for some thoughts on the process of choosing), and all this was before I had ever met Doug Wilson, or worked with Veritas.
That said, our family’s approach has several important elements in common with Classical Christian Education, yet is also distinct in a few respects.
We can be considered classical in the sense that we believe there is much wisdom in the Medieval Trivium. For those new to Classical education, the Trivium refers to three stages of learning: Grammar (learning the facts, rules, and principles of each subject; roughly ages 5-11), Logic (learning to think through, question, and understand the facts, rules, and principles of each subject; roughly ages 12-14), and Rhetoric (learning how to speak and write in eloquent ways in defense of the facts, rules, and principles of each subject; roughly ages 15-18).
We particularly appreciate Dorothy L. Sayers’ application of the Trivium to childhood learning and development (in her essay “The Lost Tools of Learning”). Sayers points out that children develop naturally along the lines of the Trivium: from ages 5-11, they love and have a great capacity to memorize and chant facts, dates, declensions, tables, songs, and poems; in a Classical education, they are given plenty to memorize during the Grammar stage. From ages 12-14, they love to question and argue; they are given plenty of scope for this (albeit in a guided and disciplined way) during the Logic stage; and from ages 15-18, they love appearance and presentation; they are given opportunity to present their ideas in beautiful ways in speeches, essays, and debates during the Rhetoric stage.
So we love the Trivium, but we have modified it a bit using some valuable insights from theologian James Jordan. Jordan points out that there are other learning and developmental stages, both before and after the Trivium. The two stages before the Trivium he calls the Assurance stage (birth to age 2, when children need comfort, love, and assurance from their parents) and the Storytelling stage (ages 2-5, where children most love stories). This is wise and insightful, and since it has always been a concern of my wife and I to educate our children from birth (not just from “school age”), we incorporated this concept into our version of the Trivium, which we call the Quintivium, as it includes five stages (note for Latin scholars: I believe it would be more accurate to call it the Quinqueivium, but it just didn’t have the same zing) .
We can also be considered Classical in that we favor language-based learning over visual/video approaches. Not that we don’t sometimes use videos as supplements, but they are not central. Another affinity we share with Classical education is an emphasis on history; but unlike, for example, the Well-trained Mind approach (as popularized by Susan Wise Bauer), history is not central for us—the Bible is—yet it remains very important. The fact that we teach Latin is another area of common ground.
How are we different? Well, the difference depends on how you define “Classical Education.” For some, to be Classical means a heavy emphasis on the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome, the history, philosophy, and literature of those cultures. Some classical advocates view Plato, Homer, Virgil, etc, with deep reverence, and would never think of questioning anything in their works. For others within the Classical movement, these are considered great writers; yet they are to be received, not with reverence, but with a questioning eye: “should this work really have had such a huge influence on Western civilization? What’s good about it? What’s bad?” This is our approach, and the Veritas Omnibus series does a good job here, scrutinizing each work in light of Christian truth, pointing out problems, rejecting falsehood and evil.
Our family sees the great civilization of Christendom as much more important than that of Greece or Rome (though of course one cannot understand Christendom without at least some knowledge of Greece and Rome). We put off reading pagan authors (not just the Greek and Roman ones), until the children are older, better prepared to deal with them. This is not because we think there is nothing of value in these writers, but because we want our children to first be immersed in and strengthened by the literature and thinking of our own Christian culture (church fathers, Medieval writers, the magisterial Reformers, etc) before they are exposed to literature that is in many ways antithetical to the faith and doctrine of Christendom.
Yet we recognize that a thorough understanding of the New Testament (written in Greek, set in the Roman Empire) is impossible apart from understanding something of the history, language, and even literature of Greece and Rome.
Even classical critics like Gary North believe children should be taught Shakespeare; but apart from the fact that many of Shakespeare’s plays either treat on classical subjects (Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra) or are set in classical cities (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), they are also packed with classical allusions and references. A teenager with no exposure to Greece and Rome who reads the Duke of Exeter’s speech before the French court in Henry V will not understand what he means when he says,
Therefore in fierce tempest is he coming
In thunder and in earthquake, like a Jove...
Who’s Jove? Sure, you can look it up, but if the teen has read some of the Roman myths, he is more likely to appreciate the fullness of the simile. A good knowledge of Shakespeare requires some knowledge, at least, of Greek and Roman culture.
Still, this would be my word of caution to fellow Classical advocates: beware of a disproportionate influence of non-Christian writers on malleable young minds. Later, when they are stronger and wiser, they can take on Plato and Homer, not to mention Darwin, Marx, Hitler, and Dawkins. But make them strong before sending them out to the battle; or rather, set them fighting now, but in battles suitable to their strength and wisdom.
These are but basic and introductory thoughts; more later on the Classical method.
