Monday, September 6, 2010

Why Classical Education

As I was scouring through home school books trying to figure out which home shcooling method I wanted to use I noticed that although I liked something from each method the Classical Method seemed to touch on most of the areas that were important to me.

What is the Classical Homeschooling Method? Susan Wise Baur probably describes it best in her book the Well-Trained Mind. She says that it is a three part process called the Trivium. The first years of schooling, through about grade 4, are called the grammar stage. During this stage the child learns the facts. In other words, lots and lots of memorization. By fifth grade the child enters the Logic Stage. The question why is answered in the stage. The child is shown how the facts that were learned in the Grammar Stage fit together. Finally, during the high school years the child enters the Rhetoric Stage. The child is now able to use the lessons learned in the Grammar and Logic stage to write and speak with confidence.
Please browse to "What is Classical Education?" on the Well-Trained Mind website for an indepth look at the Classical Approach to learning.

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