In Three Simple But Significant Steps To A Classical Education, I outlined 3 steps for transitioning to an authentic classical Christian home education. The content that follows is the initial post in an extensive series that explores the components of Step 3, Supervise the Study of Subjects. As each post is published, I’ll add the live link to the master list under the header tab called “Step 3″ so that you can access the entire series. I hope you enjoy this content and gain a fuller understanding of the argument that I am making for adopting a true classical model.

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As the sparkling lights of the symphony hall were dimmed, a hush fell over the crowd. All chattering ceased as the distinguished maestro confidently walked across the stage and silently addressed the musicians with his baton. After many years of diligent practice, the concertmaster was perfectly equipped to escort his audience on a musical journey that would quicken hearts and challenge minds.

Over the years, the maestro had mastered the language of music theory: melody, harmony, and rhythm. The longer he studied music, the more he understood the deeper mysteries of his art. Instruments, movements, and themes became his playground for critical analysis and experimentation. Finally, he learned how to interpret the unique meaning of the music and convey the composer’s intent by coaching the performers in their craft. His mastery of language, thought, and communication within his area of expertise would bless his community tonight during the concert and for many years to come as he continued to influence his culture with his passion for bringing music to life.

The maestro demonstrates four unusual qualities that we want to foster in our rising classical scholars:

• He masters the material.

• He disciplines himself.

• He interprets meaning.

• He influences his culture.

Why call these qualities unusual? Because most of today’s preteens and teenagers are captives of an educational system that breeds opposing characteristics and behaviors. Authentic classical Christian home schooling requires a profound shift in thinking about education. Think about your own public school experience.

Mastery is difficult if you only skim the surface. You went to school for 12 years. You had one textbook for each class. Every textbook had 36 chapters - one chapter for each week of the school year. You read one chapter a week. You were segregated by age into a grade. You studied the same textbook as your peers. That textbook was approved by a committee of certified educators who decided what information every child in your grade needed to know about that particular subject. If you couldn’t keep up with the instruction, you felt like an inadequate failure. If you understood the concepts, you were bored with the repetitive drills. The time restrictions of the calendar dictated the material taught, and there was no leeway for slowing down or accelerating learning.

No time for mastery.

Self-discipline is not necessary if someone tells you what to do. You were assigned a home room, and you had your own desk. You were given a timed schedule. Tardy arrivals and absences were noted on your record. You went where you were told including the bathroom and lunchroom at specific times. You read the chapters, you took the tests, you wrote the essays, and you memorized the material, but for some reason, you can’t remember much of what you learned! You were a good student who did what you were told. Good behavior was dictated not by the heart’s desire, but by the law. As soon as the teacher left the room, chaos broke loose.

No room for learning how to make informed decisions or teach yourself.

Interpretation is impossible when someone else tells you what to think. That committee of certified educators made the important decisions for you about what facts were important in literature, grammar, science, math, social studies, health, home economics, and all the other electives. Surveys, also known as secondary sources, formed the backbone of your education. The highlights of human knowledge were offered. Some might say your education was a mile wide and an inch deep. Education experts decided that you were unable to handle the heavier “classics” (other than a token play by Shakespere or novel by Dickens). Anyway, we all know that the classics are too difficult for teenagers, right? You were required to parrot back the facts that you’d memorized on multiple choice and true-false exams.

No chance for independent thinking or interpretation of meaning.

Influence is negative when your highest goal is self. Public schools no longer teach history; they teach social studies. At the center of all social studies is the individual. Next comes his family then his community then his world. In public school, motivation for action is centered around the individual and his or her vocation. You worked hard to get good grades to get a good job. In our family, we refer to this dilemma as “me is me to me.” If educators dream of shaping kids who will influence their community, these dreams are limited to the creation of “good” citizens although good is defined in a Greek sense and not necessarily a Biblical sense. References to the God of human history are non existent, and as such, young people fail to understand their purpose. Since one of the responses of faith is sacrificial service to others, a major motivation for blessing the community cannot be discussed in public schools. Service to others requires a redirection of focus from the self to the community.

No incentive to influence or share what you have learned with others.

Thankfully, you have chosen a different path for your children! You have the luxury of time to help your rising classical scholars master the three skills of the trivium. You have the luxury of gradually training them to be independent, self-directed thinkers who are responsible for their own learning. You have the luxury of determining your own content so that your kids can learn to grapple with the great ideas of Western Civilization as they read and discuss the classics, selected surveys, and biographies. Finally, you have the extreme privilege of being able to lead your children into an eternal relationship with the Living God, teach them how to use Scripture as the spectacles through which to view the world, and show them how to serve others in a way that influences and blesses. Adopt a counter-cultural stand, and experience the joy of classical Christian homeschooling today!

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Over the next four posts, I’ll explore these qualities (mastery, self-discipline, interpretation, and influence) in detail. Before you can release your kids to the study of subjects, you need to make sure they have mastered the skills of the trivium. But how do we know when they have substantially mastered language, thought, and communication? When is it time to move on to Step 3, Supervise the Study of Subjects? In my next post, we need to answer two questions about Step 2, Teach the Skills of the Trivium: (1) what is to be learned, and (2) how will it be evaluated?

Reviewing content to increase understanding is a critical component of a classical education. So, before we start the next homeschooling series on the classical trivium, “Thinking Critically,” here’s a short primer on classical education.

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Western Civilization was built on the classical education model, and the majority of history’s leaders were trained under this method. Classical education dates back to Ancient Israel, Greece, and Rome. Medieval Europeans, especially leaders of the Christian Church, were classically educated as were the founders of the American Republic. During the 19^th century, the U. S. immigration population soared, and the common school movement was born which effectively obliterated classical education in the United States by the beginning of the 20^th century. With the exception of a minute group of Christian home schoolers, our nation’s leaders are now being trained on the public school conveyor-belt which teaches children what to think and not how to think. (See “The World is Waiting” for a detailed chronology of the history of classical education.)

The classical home education renewal movement is still in its infancy, and many variations in practice exist like the classical model of Charlotte Mason, Susan Wise Bauer, and Oliver Van DeMille. In their excitement to embrace a classical home education, many parents jump right in without really thinking about what distinguishes classical education from other viable homeschooling methods. For example, some would tell you that classical languages like Latin are a critical component of a classical education (more on my opinion of this in a later post!), but the content of the classical education is not nearly as important as the methods by which the content is taught. The trivium and quadrivium provide structure for organizing content while Socratic dialogue and inductive reasoning provide the tools by which to understand the content.

A classical Christian home education is not as difficult as many people believe it to be. In fact, when you know your main objectives, classical homeschooling can be extremely freeing and relaxing while still rigorously challenging both parents and children. There are Three Simple but Significant Steps to a Classical Education:

1. Discard the public school paradigm

2. Teach the Skills of the Trivium

a. Learning the Language

b. Thinking Critically

c. Communicating Effectively

3. Supervise the Study of Subjects

Unlike some proponents of classical homeschooling, I do not view the trivium as distinct phases in the child’s life; rather, I see the trivium as three necessary skill sets that should be substantially mastered before moving on to the deeper study of subjects. Think of these three skills as a continuum of increasing competence. The more the child works on the skill, the better the child becomes at the skill. All three skills begin developing at birth but are not mastered for many years. In fact, you are probably still working on these skills just as I am! There does come a day, however, when you know your child is ready to go deeper into subjects, and it is at that point that you can tailor the study of subjects to the individual tastes and interests of the child.

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“Thinking Critically,” step two of “Teach the Skills of the Trivium,” is the topic of the next series.

In Teach the Skills of the Trivium, I explained how the three components of the Ancient Roman and Medieval trivium are skills sets that take time to teach as opposed to discrete subjects that can be learned in an academic home school year. I also emphasized that these three skills should be substantially mastered before allowing the child to pursue the study of discrete subjects. The analogy of the horse and the cart comes to mind: you cannot effectively drive a cart if the horse is behind the cart. You must first master the horse so that you can attach any variety of extras like a cart, a plow, a chariot, a pallet, or other horses. Think of the trivium as the horse and the quadrivium (or in our case “subjects”) as the cart.

The Ancient Romans called this first skill set “grammar.” The dictionary defines grammar as the system of rules governing the language which includes syntax (how sentences are put together), pronunciation (how letters and words are pronounced), semantics (what words mean), etymology (where words originated), and orthography (how words are spelled.) Over the next few posts, I’ll explore different methods for learning the primary (native) language. Today, I’ll explore learning the language through listening.

Hearing the Language

Your children have been acquiring the language ever since the day they were born. When they were young, you probably carried them on your hip and talked to them as you completed your daily tasks. You read picture books to them. You taught them the lyrics to silly songs (I still remember a favorite: “If you wake up in the morning at a quarter to two, and you don’t know just what to do…go brush your teeth!“) You taught them nursery rhymes. You corrected their pronunciation when their first attempts were adorable misses. Hearing the language is the first step to proper pronunciation, pitch, rhythm, accentuation, and inflection.

But learning the language through hearing doesn’t end with toddlers. I’m still learning the language at 46 years old! How do I learn the language through hearing? I listen to intelligent, challenging teaching CDs, watch quality movies or news programs, and engage in regular conversations with people who use good language like my husband and friends. It is through hearing that I learn how to pronounce new vocabulary words and how to pace my conversations for maximum effect.

So what steps can you take to help your children learn the language through listening?

Read to them daily

If they are still young, make reading out loud a daily tradition. Pick a time of day for all the kids to gather on the couch for a snuggle and a good picture or chapter book. If they are older and want to read the book on their own then read interesting newspaper articles to them around the table, or read a passage from the book that you are currently reading and share with them what you are learning!

If you have children of all ages, have the big brother or sister read daily to the little ones. One friend of mine has two girls: a teenager and an 8 year old; they both really enjoyed their special “sister time” when the older daughter read the American Girls series to her little sister, and it gave Mom time to spend teaching their son.

Listen to quality audio regularly

We like to listen to books when we are traveling long distances in the car. G. A. Henty, a popular author of historical fiction, is particularly appealing to boys (probably because he always includes battles), and the vocabulary and sentence structure is always challenging. Lamplighter Books carries several audio versions of Henty by Jim Hodges.

Focus on the Family Radio Theatre classics like Les Miserables, The Secret Garden, and The Chronicles of Narnia are good choices that will engage your children’s attention. My teens have also listened to sermons on CD (Doug Phillips of Vision Forum) and online (John Piper of Desiring God Ministries.)

For older teens, The Teaching Company offers countless opportunities to learn the specialized language of various disciplines like Biology, Advanced Mathematics, or Psychology.

Include them in conversations

My kids learn more sophisticated language by eavesdropping! When David and I talk, we usually try to throw in a new vocabulary word or two just to keep the kids asking questions. They hear the way we structure our sentences and the way we pronounce those new words, and they naturally imitate what they hear. Socialize with other like-minded families who care about using proper language. The positive peer pressure will cause all the kids to speak with style.

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One leading literacy expert states that 10 year olds have a vocabulary ranging from 3,000 to 40,000 words! Do you know which kids have the largest vocabulary? Of course you do! The kids with the greatest vocabulary are the ones who are regularly exposed to the spoken word through great literature and adult conversations. So if you want to raise classical scholars who have mastered the language, read to them and include them in conversations every day!

Next in this series on Acquiring the Language, Skill Set Number 1 of the Trivium is “Reading Aloud: the Key to Language Development in your Homeschooler.“

Although a classical Christian home education is academically rigorous, you should still make time for meaningful extracurricular activities like sports. In the early childhood years, experiment with a variety of activities so that you can be more intentional in the high school years as you are preparing the transcript. We tried lots of different sports before settling in on their favorites.

My kids have been involved in sports from the preschool years. Meredith started swimming on the local summer swim team, and Connor began playing baseball when they were very young. Not surprisingly, those 2 sports, swimming and baseball, have turned out to be their favorite athletic events. They also tried gymnastics (too tall), volleyball (not tall enough), basketball (really not tall enough), and golf (I’m still hoping they’ll acquire a passion one day…Connor seems more interested than Meredith…she thinks it’s boring.)

Our culture is obsessed with sports, and although I think sports need to take a back seat to academics, I do see the value of:

• maintaining a fit and healthy body
• learning discipline and patience as skills are gained
• participating with team members
• serving on the sidelines or on the field
• improving mental concentration and physical endurance
• accomplishing difficult goals
• learning how to lose graciously

Both of my kids are athletically confident and competitive, but my greatest joy over the years have been the times when the coaches and parents took me aside and complimented me on how kind, helpful, or mannerly my kids were. My face just beams when I hear these words of praise because I know they are becoming people of influence by living righteously. They are both gifted athletes, but the competition victories are not what is most important — it is their actual day-to-day responses to the challenges of the sport — on the field, in the natatorium, in the dugout, in the locker room — in community — that really matters and has an eternal impact on the lives the Lord has allowed them to influence.

David and I have made an effort to be involved in their sports, too, so that they see us serving. David loves coaching baseball and keeping score while I have been team mom and regularly volunteer to time races and collect admissions at swim meets.

Opportunities for sports involvement can be found by canvasing your local churches (many host Upward activities), municipal recreational leagues, and homeschool cooperatives. Make time in your homeschool schedule for some athletic activities and watch your kids grow in character and skill while influencing the kids and coaches around them.

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Want to learn more about how to incorporate extracurricular activities in your home school? Subscribe to The Classical Scholar today and have posts delivered to your email the day that I write them. You’ll also receive my free ebook on the history of classical Christian home education.

The classical Christian education model of medieval Europe migrated to the American Colonies after the Protestant Reformation, and the majority of our Founding Fathers received this type of education. However, around the turn of the 20th Century, European Enlightenment thinking was applied to the challenges of educating a growing immigrant population, and the classical Christian education model was eliminated from public schools.

The nature of man is such that he will continue to search for meaning, but for most Americans, the historically proven classical Christian education method has been removed from their reach. One tragedy of this turn of events is that the majority of Americans don’t even know what they are missing, and history generally teaches ignorance leads to a repetition of past mistakes. Another even graver tragedy for our culture lies in the fact that the classical Christian education regularly generated national leaders. Will we soon find our nation in bondage because we have abandoned the tried and true principles of the past? Thankfully, a renewal movement is beginning within the Christian home schooling community as a few brave families venture into classical Christian home schooling which is, to them, a new frontier, but in fact, is as old as antiquity.

The contemporary classical Christian home schooling model was born in antiquity. Nearly 3500 years ago, Yahweh (The Great “I Am” of Exodus 3:14) chose a special people, Israel, and commanded the fathers to teach their children His Law in both morning and evening, whether they were at home or away. Torah was their primary text of study. As they memorized, recited, narrated, and discussed His Word, they interpreted meaning and applied His Word to their lives. Memorization, recitation, narration, discussion, interpretation, and application (tools of the modern classical Christian home education model) originated in ancient Mesopotamia.

Soon thereafter, the Greek and Roman civilizations arose, and like their predecessors, the Hebrews, they too searched for meaning and purpose in life. They wrote epics, philosophies, histories, and legislation that still impacts us today. The Greeks borrowed the Hebrew method of inductive reasoning (observe, interpret, and apply) which Plato immortalized in the dialogues of the philosopher Socrates. The Romans read the Greek classics and organized education into 7 Liberal Arts.

After the resurrection of Jesus and the birth of His Church, medieval Europeans rediscovered these Hebrew, Greek, and Latin classics and began studying them in depth. They organized their education into two phases: the trivium and the quadrivium. Christian texts were added to the ancient classics as the search for meaning and purpose continued. The 7 Liberal Arts were studied, and around 1300 A.D. three advanced areas of study were added: theology, law, and medicine. It was this “new and improved” classical Christian education paradigm that was carried by colonists across a vast ocean to a young nation, and it is on the shoulders of these past giants that we now gratefully stand.

Welcome to The Classical Scholar! I’m Diane Lockman, your moderator, and I have over 9 years of hands-on experience in raising classical Christian scholars. Now I’m experiencing the dreaded but delightful high school years! My best friend and husband, David, and I spent the first 12 years of our marriage living the high life as yuppies (I’m a CPA; he’s an engineer and patent attorney), but soon after turning 30, I began to yearn for children. Tragically, our first son, Davis, was born with a congenital birth defect that doomed his precious life during infancy, but the good news is that Davis’ death served as a “wake-up call” for us which eventually resulted in two more healthy babies, Meredith in 1992 and Connor in 1994, and an unforgettable encounter with the Risen Lord in October 1997 that changed my life forever!

During 1999, we seriously considered moving overseas so that David could teach in some sort of mission role. Enrolled in a global missions course, I had been reading about American expatriots who sent their kids away to boarding school, and I cried out to the Lord because I couldn’t bear to part with them after waiting so long for children. Little did I know that the Lord who knew my deepest longings was about to reveal a new call on my life: classical Christian homeschooling. Soon thereafter, I read The Well-Trained Mind by Jesse Wise and Susan Wise Bauer, and David and I took the plunge!

During the early years, I carried most of the academic load, but as the kids have gotten older, David has assumed more and more responsibility. He has always taught them Scripture around the kitchen table every morning, but now that they’re doing high school work, he is leading them in Debate, Algebra, and Biology. David is the one who first mentioned the idea of a website where I could minister to other parents who were either already trying a classical Christian home education or were thinking about it. I was seriously hesitant because of the time commitment, but soon the vision began to take shape, and The Classical Scholar was born. It is our greatest hope that every guest who visits this website will be profoundly blessed. We are praying that you will experience life-changing insights and receive encouragement for the difficult journey ahead as you raise your own classical scholars!