Classical Education seems to be synonomous with the word rigorous. When people think of CE they automatically have visions in their head of a child being chained to their desk and only being allowed to get up for food and sleep. This vision has always bothered me. This is not how I see CE at all.
I see CE as an opportunity to show my children all that is beautiful, true, and good in the world. I use many tools to achieve this goal. I use literature, art, music, nature, etc. to show how God's Creation is brimming with all that is virtuous. I don't see this as rigorous.
I don't achieve these things through workbooks and textbooks. We don't use many workbooks in our family. I can see, though, that as my children become older, we may have to take that venue. For now, though, I am able to teach math, grammar, spelling, writing, etc. without relying on workbooks. We use literature, hands on activities, games, etc. to teach our children the basics in life. Learning does not have to be dry and boring if it is to be a Classical Education. CE can indeed be fun.
It has taken me awhile to get to this place in my thinking. As I said last week, we started out with The Well Trained Mind but I found it to be too structured for our family. Structure is a good thing, but for my kids, I wanted to leave structure until they were older.
I find that the WTM is a wonderful foundation for giving your child a Classical Education but it is not the only way to do so. I have spent the last four years trying to find how to give my children a CE without drying up their love for learning. I may not use the WTM word for word but I still use some of their ideas. I use their 4 yr. history cycle, which I really enjoy. I have also used their 4 yr. science cycle, but I think for this coming year I might just digress a little. I am seeing that doing a formal science program with a young child may not always be a profitable venture.
Now that I have said that, we don't use WTM as it is written, how can I sit here and say that we are giving our children a CE? I use the definition of a Classical Education as my plumb line as to whether we are doing CE or not. Classical Education is the pursuit of wisdom and virtue. This is done by nourishing our soul on all that is beautiful, true, and good. This is what I strive to do. My children are familiar with great works of art and beautiful musical pieces. They have read some well-known pieces of poetry. They are also learning about virtue and what is good through their favourite characters that are born through the literary classics. We also discuss virtue through every day life's happenings. My children are also studying latin. This shows them the beauty of language. My oldest is imitating the great authors' writing style so that she can write, someday, on their level. These are the things that, in my opinion, have a CE flair to them. In doing all of these things together, this makes a Classical Education.
Julia lives with her husband on the Canadian Prairies, homeschooling their 3 children (9,7,5) attempting to give them a Classical Education. You can read more at Musings of a Prairie Girl.
