Are you a classical homeschooling family? Classical homeschooling is an approach that is based off of three-part process aimed at training your child’s mind. Essentially, it is taking the way our children’s brains learn and process at different stages in their developmental life and using that to our advantage in how we homeschool them. The three parts are called the trivium. The elementary grades are used as an opportunity to impart concrete facts, the foundation that our children need to continue to learn and grow. It focuses on memorization and repetition to form the building blocks for the next stage.
In the next stage children move on to analytical thinking. We start to question why things are the way they are and what the logic behind that is. Because our children are naturally learning and processing information this way, the classical homeschooling family will use this time to ask a lot of questions, to figure out how everything they have learned fits together and relates.
The last stage of the trivium in the classical model of education, is rhetoric, which is essentially using the knowledge and logic they learned up to this point and learning how to express themselves with original thought. Children begin to explore abstract thought and hypothetical situations. This would be in depth writing, papers, reports, and verbal communication using the skills that have been built upon in the earlier grades.
What might classical homeschooling look like?
Classical homeschooling can look a bit daunting to an outsider. They typically study latin grammar, they use language over pictures or video. The idea is that color, pictures, and videos allow the mind to become lazy whereas black and white words force the entire mind to be used to focus on the lesson. It is a systematic approach to learning and you will often see classical homeschoolers doing large amounts of school to go along with the different stages that their children may be in at that time. Make sure to pin this post for later!
PIN ME!
Do you use classical homeschooling or are you interested in it? What appeals to you the most in this homeschool style? Comment below!
Make sure you go back and take the homeschool style quiz if you haven’t already, and take the time to read about each of the homeschool styles. The more we can become aware of the focus of each style, the more we will find what resonates the most with us, and sometimes that is fluid and changing!
