Now, to me small children do not scream “classical education.” At the same time, I have an interest in classical education that does not always mesh well with our interest in play-based learning. I believe that learners need to learn how to create for themselves, whether this is in play or in rhetorical discussions. Perhaps it is because I am so supremely illogical that I value classics education. My husband is the step-by-step, logic-driven one in our family. I am the one who invents creative but often illogical solutions.
Inspired by The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home,” by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer, I am contemplating how classics might fit into our homelearning.
For elementary school students, a primary education in classics is based on creating a learner who is able to learn in the classical form. This involves a focus on grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Children also need the fountains of reading, writing, basic mathematical concepts, and geometry. Exposure to and understanding of Latin and Greek culture is also important, and children may learn another language in the older elementary school years. Older children can join a debating club and work to construct their debates well, understanding logical fallacies and what makes a good argument. In the elementary school years, this method involves creating and challenging arguments and working through problems in a logical and systematic way. It also involves a lot of exposure to culture in the forms of traditional art and literature, which I find both inspiring and important.
Of course, this method involves the European classics. There are so many more cultures to explore, and doing so in the traditional method of that culture is fascinating and an experience of history in and of itself.
Would you pursue classics with your child?