Question posted by: Jan on August 03, 2003

I am looking into trying to incorporate the classical style of education into our homeschool education. Has anyone here tried/accomplished this and how did you find it?

Thanks in advance.
 

Answer:  Which classical?
Bauer's version (The Well-Trained Mind=WTM)?
or
Veritas Press?
or
Trivium Pursuit (see book) style?
or
Calvert (which is called classical, but doesn't use the trivium-based formula introduced by Dorothy Sayers)

We did some of Bauer's version, though, some of it we were doing prior to her book coming out. If you've got her book handy, this will make sense. You can buy it from bookstores or Amazon. We do (have done) some history notebooking. Instead of the outlines as suggested in the WTM, we've done condensing of a world history book. We do (have done) some outlining workbooks. We have done some of the Logic Stage science stuff with the Reader's Digest books. It was the fifth grade book we worked in for a while--How Nature Works. It's a good system, imo.

Most classical programs incorporate "real books" into history and literature studies. We've done that for over 10 years and have enjoyed it.

I think what concerns many folks about this type of study is the chance of "holes" in an education. Since I earned reasonably good grades up through university and still emerged with "holes" in my education, the possibility of "holes" doesn't bother me. "Holes" are inevitable.

If classical appeals/excites you, do try it out. When a parent is excited, often (not always) it is translated to the student who also becomes excited.

When I decided to switch, I just dropped the science we were doing and started with the system in the WTM book. There's not much more to it than that. I think it's easiest to start with one subject at a time, giving maybe 2-4 weeks to adjust before adding another subject. But not all families need to get into a groove like we seem to. We never did use traditional curriculum ala buy-it-all-from A Beka or Alpha Omega, so your switch might be a different switch from ours.

There's no real, simple equation to switching over a few subjects; it takes a bit of trial and error with a plodding doggedness and gentle perseverance, with a heavy portion of consistent work. Also, just using the classical model for history or adding Latin may be all that really works for your family.

If you've not seen Bauer's The Well-Trained Mind, here's a link to a review I wrote of it a number of years ago.

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