Classical Learning and Classical Mistakes

Industrious little hands at work

It's hectic 'round here.  A flurry of glittery homemade ornaments and text books on Classical Education are building up in breeding piles (and library late fees) everywhere.  Whether it's due to the end of the year arriving or the fact that I'll be returning to work (Popasquash will be taking over the home school reins for a bit), I've been focused on streamlining school as much as possible.  The trouble is... I'm recently inspired and as a result altering the plan to add a classical approach to home schooling.

Dodger's Christmas bird

Now...we haven't had to change too much because it turns out that the way we live our lives actually falls in step with the classical approach (another reason to learn more about it).

My Christmas bird

The book that crops up most on this subject related to homeschooling is, The Well-Trained Mind, A Guide to Classical Education at Home, written by mother and daughter Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer.  It’s quite a read.  I have found that my assumptions are correct and that a classical education is language based, Susan Wise Bauer writes;

Kitten's Christmas bird

“Language learning and image learning require very different habits of thought.  Language requires the mind to work harder; in reading, the brain is forced to translate a symbol (words on the page) into a concept.  Images, such as those on videos and television, allow the mind to be passive.  In front of a video screen, the brain can “sit back” and relax; faced with the written page, the mind is required to roll it’s sleeves up and get to work”

Sailor's Christmas bird

I find that the classical approach makes sense to me, I can buy into the idea.  Classical Education is based on the Trivium, the three stages of learning; grammar, logic and rhetoric.  Sailor and Kitten are in the grammar stage, soaking up the world around.  Their job is to work on the fundamentals; reading, writing, math, and beginning spelling.  Dodger is at the beginning of the logic stage, he is learning how to hone the tools of language acquired during the grammar stage to make logical inferences and arguments. 

What we’ve been doing so far that fits in with the classical approach:

Including books daily and constantly

Listening to audio books from a young age including E.B. White, C.S. Lewis, Charles Dickens

Talking and explaining the world; including the children in cooking, chores, budgeting

Visiting the library

Filling our lives with a variety of experiences and ideas

Memorizing poetry

Learning about the natural world with Grandma

Sailor making bread

Math daily

What we have added to our days:

Daily grammar rules during breakfast for example; definitions and examples of nouns, pronouns, prepositions, verbs, adjectives, rules of capitalization, contractions, silent “e”, r-controlled words, vowels, consonants and  compound words. 

Spelling Workout books daily

Expecting more in terms of grammar and spelling
Dodger does logic puzzles daily

The fruits of Sailor's labor (and patience)

What we haven’t been doing but plan to:

Study history starting with the Ancients-specifically Mesopotamia (we had been looking at American history but Wise-Bauer makes the argument that history is a "story" and therefore you should begin at the beginning, at the "cradle of civilization")

Lay down the foundation of grammar-and not shy away from rote memorization

Consider learning as “hard work” and reap the benefit of putting in time and effort

Dodger will start Latin (despite my earlier fears I think this is a good move, he really loves the little tidbits of Latin he gets in his spelling book)

Diagramming sentences
Music lessons (has been on the back burner but now we have actually scheduled a piano tuning and so hope to get rolling with this!!)

Here's a nice description of what the heck I'm banging on about!

“The classical Trivium - grammar, logic, and rhetoric - describes the way in which all human beings learn. First, we begin by memorizing the fundamentals, the grammar of the subject. Next, we learn how the fundamentals fit together, the logic of the system. Finally, we grasp the true meaning and beauty of the system and begin to contribute our own ideas. This is the rhetoric, or poetic level.  Students who have been classically educated will have the skills required to excel in college or in the workplace. They will have learned how to learn.” http://www.pcastl.org/benefits-of-classical-education.html

Why study The Ancients?  Susan Wise Bauer makes the argument that, "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."

Fantastic book...caused a few nightmares though!

I feel as if Wise & Wise Bauer have formulated arguments in The Well-Trained Mind that support my “gut” feelings about education.  Initially I argued that I wanted the kids to “write more often”, I felt they were lacking the ability to write with ease.  By understanding language from the foundation I feel that the kids will be well-equipped to move into the “logic” stage of the Trivium.  

Having said all the above, I am still motivated to follow the children’s interests as well as continue to spend time on art projects, handwork, and learning through our day to day chores and life.  I don’t want it to be all blood, sweat and tears!  Actually there haven’t been any leaky body fluids …the funny part is that the kids quite happily fall into step with the required work.  

Each evening I write out their assignments on the chalk board and in the morning the kids work their way through them.  Sometimes even without prodding…what can I say?  We are creatures of habit and tasks with a clear beginning and end are appealing.  Who doesn’t love ticking things off on the list?  This set of tasks to accomplish doesn't mean that we don't follow tangents and have conversations and enjoy learning new skills.  It feels as if I've gone in a bit of a home school circle...a bit 'Pooh Bear'.  I started with a strict schedule...tossed that out...tried chilling out...and now I'm back to a strict schedule (with chill-out time scheduled in).  Madness.

There are lots of moments of grumpiness, bickering, and general sloth around here.  But on afternoons when we sit around the table sharing a pot of tea and yummy food and our conversation leads us from Scrooge to Pandora's box, I feel so lucky and it's just so cool when it flows...

Re: "Classical Mistake": The mistake I've made so far is assuming that because a book is classical that I should automatically introduce it to the kids.  Now that Dodger and I have finished Animal Farm (and Dodger has written his first compare and contrast paper, there was some blood shed over that one !) I was looking for a book to begin (to clarify; this is a book we will read and discuss together), I decided on an "age-appropriate" retelling of Homer's Odyssey.  That plan back-fired.  It turns out my hard-to-scare son was actually a little traumatized by the Cyclops squishing humans on rocks and eating them alive!  It made for a late night...History was brutal and very often disgusting!

Happy Holidays!

Merging Public and Home School...Some Thoughts

This isn’t going as smoothly as planned.  I support public education.  I plan to have our children return to public education.  I want to have the two worlds merge seamlessly.  That isn’t happening.

Today's assignments

The public school is a very sticky glue that holds our rural community together.  But now we are outsiders.  It’s kind of weird and comes up subtly, but I can see how over time the separation could become significant.

To keep in touch and continue to support our local school Dodger joined the soccer and basketball teams.  I spend Wednesdays running an after school LEGO club and I have volunteered to help with the school play again this year by painting scenery.  Sailor attends an after school yoga class with his old classmates and Dodger has joined in on the school field trips.  He wasn't invited, but I asked if he could go along.  It’s a little awkward. 

It just is.

Dodger, who has a healthy self esteem and rarely displays awkwardness or embarrassment, was nervous heading into the school for a field trip with his old class.  He wasn’t sure how to act or where to sit.  Granted this was only a few moments of hesitation and once back with the old crew things went smoothly, but still it was a little tough on him.  Kids ask him why he’s home schooled, and what he does all day.  He’s an outsider in the group now.  I didn’t imagine kids would even take much notice…but they do.

On the flip side the kids are going to home school events and classes where public school kids are absent.  They’ve joined a home school 4H group and the boys went to a monthly event at a local library where there was a book discussion on DCF and Red Clover books, again filled with home school kids. 

It turns out it’s pretty hard to merge the worlds.

They are really different.

Is one better than the other?

No.  Not in my opinion.

They are too different; it’s not a fair comparison.

Should I be forcing the merge between home school and public school in the effort to stay connected?  Maybe I should back off and not try to have the best of both worlds.  The kids didn’t even want to go to LEGO club last week.  Once they were there, preparing for the club and surrounded by kids who were packing away books into lockers and laughing and grabbing coats, Sailor turned to me and said, “I miss my friends”.  And I know that he doesn’t mean “I want to have a play date” he means, “I want to be part of it, I want to be a part of that group.  I want to belong”.  I felt as if I were rubbing it into his face that he wasn't a part of the school by dragging him there to run clubs with me.

Now, I have to add that as soon as we are home and I explain that it’s fine with me that he goes back to public school and we start to discuss how the days will be, what time he needs to get up and so on.  I find that “rejoining” the group has lost its luster for him and he’s willing to take a rain check on public school.  I’ve told the kids multiple times that they can go back, the only stipulation being that I’d like the return to be after a vacation to ease the transition.  They continue to decline and say they plan to stick out the year!

And so, we’ve been discussing the term “the grass is always greener” at the dinner table lately…