Because it uses real, living books and hands-on experimentation rather than relying on textbooks and canned presentations, classical education is a matter of exploration, of reading, thinking, and talking, and of discovery - not of rote memorization and regurgitation.
~ The Well-Trained Mind Blog
Classical homeschooling involves teaching based on the three stages of learning: the Grammar stage, the Logic stage, and the Rhetoric stage. The Grammar stage involves learning facts, memorization, and knowledge gathering. The Logic stage is when reasoning and logic begin to be applied to the knowledge. The Rhetoric stage completes the Trivium and is when the student learns the skills of wisdom and judgment.
Reviews of Classical Education Resources
Insight into Classical Homeschooling:
Definition For Classical Education
Classical education uses specific terminology—grammar, rhetoric, and logic—for the three stages of learning. The Trivium combines these terms with knowledge, understanding, and wisdom to create Trivium terminology. Learn more about each stage and how they fit with a child's development.
Instead of Curriculum: D'Aulaires' Mythology Books
Some of my favorite children’s books are also wonderful learning resources you can use instead of curriculum. Among these are the oversize children’s classics about mythology by the d’Aulaires. The D'Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths and the D'Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths delighted all my kids when they were pre-readers through their late elementary years, and I found that the understanding of mythology they learned from these books persisted through their middle school and high school years, when they needed to spot and comprehend literary allusions to mythology.
Suggested Reading about Classical Homeschooling:
(affiliate links)
The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had by Susan Wise BauerFrom amazon.com Based on the same classical method as Bauer's terrifically successful The Well-Trained Mind, The Well-Educated Mind provides not only a thorough grounding in the classics but also a widely applicable foundation for self-education. Read more at amazon.com
The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise BauerFrom amazon.com This educational bestseller has dominated its field for the last decade, sparking a homeschooling movement that has only continued to grow. It will instruct you, step by step, on how to give your child an academically rigorous, comprehensive education from preschool through high school. Two veteran home educators outline the classical pattern of education—the trivium—which organizes learning around the maturing capacity of the child's mind. With this model, you will be able to instruct your child in all levels of reading, writing, history, geography, mathematics, science, foreign languages, rhetoric, logic, art, and music, regardless of your own aptitude in those subjects. Read more at amazon.com
Teaching the Trivium by Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn
From amazon.com How can you give your children the tools they need to teach themselves? Long ago students were first taught how to learn. Today, students are taught an encyclopedia of subjects trivia but they are not taught the basic skills of learning: to discover, to reason, and to apply. They are not taught the trivium.Can you homeschool in a classical style without compromising your Christian principles? Classical Education must be sifted through the critical screen of the Scriptures to be transformed into a Biblical model.Can you homeschool in a classical style without buckling under the burden? There is only so much time in the day. For every subject, and for every age, we have a workable plan which leaves you free to breathe. You can continue to use other approaches to homeschooling within the framework of classical education. Is homeschooling about renewing family vision? The family is at the heart of God s plan for restoring Christian culture. Homeschooling is not alternative education. Homeschooling was here first. We want to restore Biblical order to education. Read more at amazon.com
Classical Christian Homeschooling
Classical education and its practical application in grades K-12 for homeschooling families.
The Classical Scholar
Diane Lockman created this website as an encouragement to parents homeschooling with the classical method. She now homeschools her high school students whom she has homeschooled for nine years. The site reflects Diane's Christian faith and includes such topics as: Designing Curriculum, Developing Character, Equipping Parents, Supervising High School, Teaching Reading Skills, Teaching Speaking Skills and Teaching Thinking Skills.
Trivium Pursuit
Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn's extensive Classical Homeschooling website
The Story of the World
Many homeschoolers who choose the Classical Method find The Story of the World and its accompanying activity books by Susan Wise Bauer to be invaluable:
Ancient Times
The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child; Volume 1: Ancient Times
The Story of the World: Activity Book One: Ancient Times
The Middle Ages
The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 2: The Middle Ages
The Story of the World: Activity Book Two: The Middle Ages
Early Modern Times
The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 3: Early Modern Times
The Story of the World Activity Book Three: Early Modern Times
From Victoria's Empire to the End of the USSR
The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 4: The Modern Age: From Victoria's Empire to the End of the USSR
