During the next few weeks  I want to focus more on traditional classical education.  My posts will be few because there isn't as much information about traditional classical as there is on neo--classical.  What infomration there is,  is vague at best.  I will attempt to muddle through, though, as this side of classical is not as well-known.  I think people need to know that CE is not just limited to WTM. 

Traditional classical  education is based on the academic practises of the Ancient Greeks and similar civilizations.  The Ancient Greeks taught their children by using tutors or mentors, if you will, that went alongside the child and deconstructed  and reconstructed ideas about he various tenets of life.  They rehashed the meaning of life together.  The tutor and the child were a team.  This was the basis of education in the days long past.

Classical Education in the traditional sense was the pursuit of wisdom and virtue.  This occurs by nourishing the soul on all that is good, true and beautiful.  This is the basis of classical education.  All that follows are the ways in cultiviating that wisdom and virtue.

Education in ancient times was based on Trivium but not the way in which we think of it today.  Rather the Trivium consisted of grammar, logic and rhetoric  as subjects, not stages.  The student would study the three subjects as a way of becoming a person of great ideas who can express these ideas in an articulate and persuasive manner.  These three subjects deal with the lingual aspect of learning  The Quadrivium deals with the numbers aspect.  In neo-clasical, the Quadrivium is left behind in the dust.  In traditional classical, it goes hand in hand with the Trivium.  The  Quadrivium is arithmetic, astronomy and music.  There is a balance here between language and science.  This is a complete educational plan.

 As I said above,  classical is the pursuit of wisdom and virtue by enfolding ourselves in truth, goodness and beauty.  This is done by focusing on the great Ideas that have been handed down to us by the thinkers of the ancient world:  Plato, Archimedes and Aristotle, to name a few.  It is the job of the teacher or tutor to present these ideas to the student through literature, history, science or art and then tear apart these ideas to see if they stand up to our modern worldview.  Through discussion and Socratic questioning, the student learns whether the ideas of the Great Philosophers and Thinkers are in line with the ideas and thoughts that they themselves have.  Through discussion, the team of tutor and sudent deconstruct the student's own ideas and then builds up the ideas again in light of the thought and ideas of the past.  In tearing apart and building up,  the student is able to attain wisdom and virtue.

This is all well and good to think about wisdom and virtue but these thoughts have to be translated into action as well. This is also part of classical education.  To make these thoughts into tangible actions of service to others.

Traditional classical  is a bit vague as to how to put this all together.  There isn't a blueprint curriculum like WTM that tells us ow to teach in this manner and what to teach.  In my opinion, this is where the fun and enjoyment comes in.  This is where self-education lies.  This is where research and reading and expanding your horizons is touted.  To my way of thinking,  this is what intrigues me about traditional classical education.  There is a whole world out there to explore and I have the privilege of exploring it with my children.

Julia  Torgrimson lives with her husband on the Canadian Prairies, homeschooling their 3 children (9,7,5) and attempting to give them a Classical Education at the same time

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