Although my homeschooling methods and philosophies have changed over the years, I always seem to come back to classical homeschooling. Recently, we have implemented the methods of Susan Wise Bauer (The Well-Trained Mind) in our home with much success. I started out with her methods when Eaden, my oldest, turned 6. We strayed away from the classical style after a while and now return. Some of Bauer's ideas that I thought might be wrong or flawed turned out to be right. When this happens over and over, one learns to trust a person (Bauer) to know what is best despite doubts.
First I would like to say that the classical style may seem like a lot. However, on average, it maybe takes about 4 hours each day. And that is with Eaden doing more than one language and math lesson. If Eaden only did one math lesson (what is recommended), math would take about 10 minutes or less. On some days, we do one math lesson and on those days may only spend 3 hours doing homeschool. The same goes for language lessons. In addition, Eaden is able to wake up in the morning when her body is ready and she does not ever have any homework. This means that she still has plenty of free time, much of which she chooses to spend in gymnastics. She also spends her free time reading. I find that all of this seems more overwhelming if the TV is constantly on. TV is the biggest time suck EVER and makes life seem more rushed. Turn it off and hours are magically added to your life!
First I would like to say that the classical style may seem like a lot. However, on average, it maybe takes about 4 hours each day. And that is with Eaden doing more than one language and math lesson. If Eaden only did one math lesson (what is recommended), math would take about 10 minutes or less. On some days, we do one math lesson and on those days may only spend 3 hours doing homeschool. The same goes for language lessons. In addition, Eaden is able to wake up in the morning when her body is ready and she does not ever have any homework. This means that she still has plenty of free time, much of which she chooses to spend in gymnastics. She also spends her free time reading. I find that all of this seems more overwhelming if the TV is constantly on. TV is the biggest time suck EVER and makes life seem more rushed. Turn it off and hours are magically added to your life!
So what is a classical education?
(This is almost all taken from Susan Wise Bauer's The Well Trained Mind.)
(This is almost all taken from Susan Wise Bauer's The Well Trained Mind.)
Classical education is orderly and systematic. Systematic study allows the student to join what Mortimer J. Adler calls the "Great Conversation": the ongoing conversation of great minds down through the ages.
Classical education is organized into three stages which together are referred to as the trivium.
Classical education is organized into three stages which together are referred to as the trivium.
Grades 1-4 - Grammar Stage
Grades 5-8 - Logic Stage
Grades 9-12 - Rhetoric Stage
A classical education teaches a child how to learn.
Classical education continually asks a student to work against her
baser tendencies (laziness or the desire to watch another half hour of
TV) in order to reach a goal-mastery of a subject.
There is no formal curriculum until 1st grade. A classical education relies heavily on the written word. Your number one goal should be to have your child reading fluently when she starts first grade work.
In the elementary grades, reading, writing, grammar, and math are
prioritized. History and science are important, but they are
reading-dependent. A child who has difficulty reading and writing will
struggle with every subject.
Early writing instruction involves copywork, dictation, and the retelling of passages from history, science, or literature. The classical pupil learns to write by copying great writers. Dictation is a tool that develops a number of language skills: phonics, spelling, handwriting, grammar, and punctuation.
Early writing instruction involves copywork, dictation, and the retelling of passages from history, science, or literature. The classical pupil learns to write by copying great writers. Dictation is a tool that develops a number of language skills: phonics, spelling, handwriting, grammar, and punctuation.
The first four years of formal classical education are called the grammar stage because the student spends them learning the conventions and basic facts - the "grammar" - of each academic subject. In a way, the grammar of language is the foundation on which all other subjects rest. Until a student reads without difficulty, he can't absorb the grammar of history, literature, or science; until a student writes with ease, he can't express his growing mastery of this material. Because language skills are the cornerstone of classical education, the student will spend more time on reading and writing than on any other task.
Here is what Eaden is currently doing for her Language studies.
2nd grade Language
Spelling 20 minutes (Spelling Workout and Horizons Spelling)
Grammar 20 minutes (First Language Lessons)
Reading 30 minutes from history (stories from the Ancients and Medieval/Early Renaissance 400-1600) and 30-60 minutes free reading
Writing 30 minutes (Writing with Ease, cursive, dictation, narrations in history and science, letters to friends and family)
These times are approximate and flexible.
These times are approximate and flexible.
Do not make K-4 students dig for information. Spread knowledge out in
front of them, and let them feast. You should expect students to repeat back
the stories and facts heard (narration).
A classical education requires a student to collect, memorize, and categorize information. Although this process continues through all twelve grades, the first four grades are the most intensive for fact collecting. In the first four years of learning, you'll be filling your child's mind and imagination with as many pictures, stories, and facts as you can. Your goal is to supply mental pegs on which later information can be hung.
So the key to the first stage of the trivium (grammar stage) is content, content, content. In history, science, literature, and, to a lesser extent, art and music, the child should be accumulating masses of information: stories of people and wars; names of rivers, cities, mountains, and oceans; scientific names, properties of matter, classifications; plots, characters, and descriptions. The young writer should be memorizing the nuts and bolts of language-parts of speech, parts of a sentence, vocabulary roots. The young mathematician should be preparing for higher math by mastering the basic math facts.
So the key to the first stage of the trivium (grammar stage) is content, content, content. In history, science, literature, and, to a lesser extent, art and music, the child should be accumulating masses of information: stories of people and wars; names of rivers, cities, mountains, and oceans; scientific names, properties of matter, classifications; plots, characters, and descriptions. The young writer should be memorizing the nuts and bolts of language-parts of speech, parts of a sentence, vocabulary roots. The young mathematician should be preparing for higher math by mastering the basic math facts.
The memorization of mathematical facts - addition and subtraction facts, the multiplication and division tables - is essential in building a strong foundation.
2nd Grade Math
30-60 minutes (Horizons and Singapore)
Horizons is our primary math curriculum and Eaden completes Singapore on her own time to make sure she is understanding what she is learning and not simply figuring out how to "plug in" answers. If the child can do lessons from another program, she's understanding her work.
History is not a subject. History is the subject. It is the record of human experience, both personal and communal. It is the story of the unfolding of human achievement in every area - science, literature, art, music, and politics. A grasp of historical facts is essential to the rest of the classical curriculum. The trivium in general steers away from "texts" - predigested historical facts, analyzed and reduced by someone else - and requires the student to tackle original sources. Of course, students aren't reading at this level in first through fourth grades. But instead of limiting your elementary student to a text, you'll use a basic history survey to anchor your study. Armed with a library card, you'll study history using the fascinating, inventive, colorful history books published for young children.
Over the four years of the grammar stage, you'll progress from 5,000 B.C. to the present, accumulating facts the whole way. These four years will be an exploration of the stories of history: great men and women of all kinds; battles and wars; important inventions; world religions; details of daily life and culture; and great books.
History is not a subject. History is the subject. It is the record of human experience, both personal and communal. It is the story of the unfolding of human achievement in every area - science, literature, art, music, and politics. A grasp of historical facts is essential to the rest of the classical curriculum. The trivium in general steers away from "texts" - predigested historical facts, analyzed and reduced by someone else - and requires the student to tackle original sources. Of course, students aren't reading at this level in first through fourth grades. But instead of limiting your elementary student to a text, you'll use a basic history survey to anchor your study. Armed with a library card, you'll study history using the fascinating, inventive, colorful history books published for young children.
Over the four years of the grammar stage, you'll progress from 5,000 B.C. to the present, accumulating facts the whole way. These four years will be an exploration of the stories of history: great men and women of all kinds; battles and wars; important inventions; world religions; details of daily life and culture; and great books.
The Study of History
Ancients 5,000 B.C. - A.D. 400 Grades 1,5,9
Medieval - Early Renaissance 400 - 1600 Grades 2,6,10
Late Renaissance - Early Modern 1600 - 1850 Grades 3,7,11
Modern 1850 - Present Grades 4,8,12
For the first four years, the beginning science student gets to explore the physical world: animals and people (biology), the earth and the sky (earth science and astronomy), the way the elements work together (chemistry), and the laws that govern the universe (physics). The foundation you lay now has to do with basic facts (the differences between insects and spiders, the names of constellations, the way different chemicals interact, the parts of an atom). But it also involves enthusiasm. Have fun!
It takes time for a child to develop interest in a new subject, to understand its boundaries and its purposes, and to see what new fields of exploration it opens up. Cover the basic sciences thoroughly, one year at a time, without jumping around from subject to subject. Instead of using a single text you'll be using encyclopedia-type works or "spines" as guides and supplementing them with a number of different science books designed to make science clear and interesting for children.
Do not hurry the child along. You are not giving the child an exhaustive course in earth science and astronomy. The goal of classical education is to teach the student to enjoy investigation and learning.
We will begin to study Latin in 3rd or 4th grade. Eaden already enjoys learning different languages and spends her free time studying Spanish.
Why study Latin? Latin trains the mind to think in an orderly fashion. The Latin-trained mind becomes accustomed to paying attention to detail, a habit that will pay off especially when studying math and science. Latin improves English skills. Latin prepares the child for the study of other foreign languages. Latin guards against arrogance. The study of the language shows the young child that his world, his language, his vocabulary, and his way of expression are only one way of living and thinking in a big, tumultuous, complicated world.
Foe elementary students, computer time should be classified with TV watching and candy eating as treats that must be limited in order to be enjoyed.
Try to schedule an hour or two per week for Art and Music. Art projects are alternated with picture study. Music in grades 1 though 4 is a matter of accumulation - getting familiar with what's out there. Listen to classical music, take piano/recorder/violin lessons, and read about musicians (biographies).
So what does all of this look like?
For Language studies we originally were using Spelling Workout, but word is that this series is now out of print. We switched to Horizons spelling for now, but are still going to finish Spelling Workout B. I am not super excited about Horizons Phonics, but I do like some of the exercises. I get annoyed when the workbook asks the child to figure out the missing word to complete a sentence and the sentence makes zero sense. We are going to complete the beneficial exercises and then quit using this series. Writing With Ease and First Language Lessons are Susan Wise Bauer's curriculum for learning writing and grammar.
Although Bauer does give poems to memorize in First Language Lessons (about one every 2 weeks), I find that Eaden is capable of memorizing almost one per day. I give her one per week.
These are the "spines" we used for first grade science. I am still using them until we are done reviewing the ancients. Then we will move on to earth science and astronomy (which Eaden has already studied extensively) at the same time that we move on in history. When Naia begins first grade work (next September) she will start her history with Late Renaissance - Early Modern (where Eaden will be) so that I do not go insane.
Since this post is already super wordy, examples from actual lessons will be shown in upcoming posts.
It takes time for a child to develop interest in a new subject, to understand its boundaries and its purposes, and to see what new fields of exploration it opens up. Cover the basic sciences thoroughly, one year at a time, without jumping around from subject to subject. Instead of using a single text you'll be using encyclopedia-type works or "spines" as guides and supplementing them with a number of different science books designed to make science clear and interesting for children.
Do not hurry the child along. You are not giving the child an exhaustive course in earth science and astronomy. The goal of classical education is to teach the student to enjoy investigation and learning.
We will begin to study Latin in 3rd or 4th grade. Eaden already enjoys learning different languages and spends her free time studying Spanish.
Why study Latin? Latin trains the mind to think in an orderly fashion. The Latin-trained mind becomes accustomed to paying attention to detail, a habit that will pay off especially when studying math and science. Latin improves English skills. Latin prepares the child for the study of other foreign languages. Latin guards against arrogance. The study of the language shows the young child that his world, his language, his vocabulary, and his way of expression are only one way of living and thinking in a big, tumultuous, complicated world.
Foe elementary students, computer time should be classified with TV watching and candy eating as treats that must be limited in order to be enjoyed.
Try to schedule an hour or two per week for Art and Music. Art projects are alternated with picture study. Music in grades 1 though 4 is a matter of accumulation - getting familiar with what's out there. Listen to classical music, take piano/recorder/violin lessons, and read about musicians (biographies).
So what does all of this look like?
For Language studies we originally were using Spelling Workout, but word is that this series is now out of print. We switched to Horizons spelling for now, but are still going to finish Spelling Workout B. I am not super excited about Horizons Phonics, but I do like some of the exercises. I get annoyed when the workbook asks the child to figure out the missing word to complete a sentence and the sentence makes zero sense. We are going to complete the beneficial exercises and then quit using this series. Writing With Ease and First Language Lessons are Susan Wise Bauer's curriculum for learning writing and grammar.
Although Bauer does give poems to memorize in First Language Lessons (about one every 2 weeks), I find that Eaden is capable of memorizing almost one per day. I give her one per week.
For Math, we use Horizons. We love it and have never had any issues with it. Originally, we started with Singapore and did not like it. The order in which information is taught is odd and the abstract thought required was a bit advanced. However, now that Eaden has done Horizons (an advanced math program as well), she does not have a problem with Singapore. We now use both.
Susan Wise Bauer's The Story of the World curriculum is the best! Eaden loves it and if something does not interest her much we simply read the chapter from Story of the World, write our narration, maybe color a map, and then move on. If something is interesting, we check out library books, complete projects, go on field trips, etc. We are reviewing the ancients right now before starting the medieval world and Ancient Egypt has always been a favorite of Eaden's.
These are the "spines" we used for first grade science. I am still using them until we are done reviewing the ancients. Then we will move on to earth science and astronomy (which Eaden has already studied extensively) at the same time that we move on in history. When Naia begins first grade work (next September) she will start her history with Late Renaissance - Early Modern (where Eaden will be) so that I do not go insane.
Since this post is already super wordy, examples from actual lessons will be shown in upcoming posts.
good job Megan!! I'm very proud of you.
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