The Classical Scholar

Today I’d like to suspend my posts on teaching the trivium in your classical homeschool to share a thoughtful article on ancient history written by my friend, Amy Barr, co-owner of The Lukeion Project, a website offering live, online classes on classical antiquity. Amy and her husband, Regan, teach Greek and Roman history, Latin, Mythology, Art, Architecture, and Greek and Latin Word Roots among other fascinating subjects. I had the privilege of taking one of their four week summer workshops on Troy, and it was superb. I know you’ll enjoy Amy’s perspective on history!

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I was at a convention speaking to a harried homeschool mom about educating high schoolers in ancient history when she shrugged and confessed, “This semester we are just going to focus on world history.” I said nothing but thought, “focus on world history?!”

I’m not unsympathetic. As a home educator of three myself, I know all about the tyranny of the urgent. By the time kids get into ninth grade, history often takes a back seat behind a stack of essential-life-skill courses like botany, algebra or creative writing. The worst case scenario? History gets crunched into a survey of the whole record of human activity in a mere 16 weeks. Our ambitions to ignite a passion in our children for learning about history are reduced to a card deck of names, dates and places plus an optional craft project.

History is so much more than surveys and flash cards. We realize this best when studying the history of our nation or of our own ancestors. We can walk battle fields, witness reenactments, grind corn like the first Americans, drive Route 66 or walk the Appalachian Trail. These things easily become real and important because they satisfy all of our senses and give us a sense of broader purpose.

At the Lukeion Project, we want to prove that the ancient world was in Technicolor ,too! We paint from a broad palette of archaeology, literature, and art. Greek and Latin add great depth. As icing, we flesh out the world of the Bible, walk with Paul or tour ancient Jerusalem. Greece and Rome begin at Troy, the site we once excavated and where Homer once celebrated heroism in the Iliad. All world literature opens up for learners who are introduced to Greek and Latin word roots, ancient tragedy, epic, rhetoric and mythology.

Thomas Jefferson prided himself on being able to write Latin with one hand, Greek with the other. Designers of our nation’s capital copied the Parthenon of Athens for the Lincoln memorial and the Pantheon of Rome for Jefferson. In Washington D.C., buildings are encrusted with symbols of two world powers so important that Hitler wrongly named his the “third.” Alexander the Great teaches tremendous lessons in genius, leadership and hubris. Julius Caesar embodies a fatal lesson about the relentless power of tradition. His heir, Augustus, taught Rome new traditions that included him as emperor. Classical Athens informs us of the strengths and weaknesses of direct democracy. Sparta illustrates the generational curse of the systematic (and legislated) destruction of the family. We learn Rome fell not because of barbarian invasions, but because of an addiction to luxury and power unequaled by any nation but our own.

We can not presume to be educated if we do not go beyond surveys. We must present Greece and Rome to our learners in 3-D and living color. The homeschool high school mind must be challenged to tackle the difficult life questions presented to us by the Classical world. Learning about the two cultures that have most shaped our own is a priceless life skill. It is well worth the time, effort and enjoyment. Let me just say: I promise that the family field trips are going to be out of this world!

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Thanks, Amy!  Authentic classical homeschool parents know that history is foundational to understanding the present because it informs and enlightens.

Have you ever started your homeschooling day with a plan only to find yourself chasing a rabbit? I recently heard a well-respected authority say that all knowledge was related, and after following a link for learning a foreign language this morning, I landed on a blog which featured this beautiful video about Bosnia Herzegovina. I’m sure the author of the blog only intended to promote her beautiful country, but I ended up pondering other ideas related to Christianity and classical education. Today I’ll show you how to take seemingly unrelated trivia and incorporate it into your classical education. Enjoy the video then continue reading…

Trivia

Bosnia Herzegovina is located in southern Europe on the Balkan Peninsula directly east of Italy. Previously part of Yugoslavia, Bosnia Herzegovina is home to Sarajevo, host city of the 1984 Winter Olympics. During the struggle for independence in 1992-1995, the people of this country experienced war in their homeland. According to Operation World, 1.3 million citizens fled their homes, and after the war only about 1/4 of them returned to the country to build new homes and start again.

Although the war officially ended in 1995, NATO maintained a stabilization force there until December 2005. The video clip portrays a countryside of beauty and tranquility, and the people appear to be at peace, but there are ongoing ethnic and religious tensions. During the 500 year Turkish occupation, many Bosnians became Muslim (38-50% of the population), and during the ’90’s, the Croats created an alliance with the Bosnians against the Christian Serbians (35% in a 50/50 split: Catholic/Orthodox.)

You may recall seeing news reports during the ’90s about ethnic cleansing, looting, destruction, and death under Serbian Milosovic’s reign of terror. Such horror has “left deep scars and abiding hatred between communities that once lived together, spoke the same language, and even intermarried.” (Operation World p.116) The Bosnian language is based on the Latin alphabet although the Cyrillic alphabet is used occasionally.

Observation

So how can you apply seemingly unrelated facts or news events to your classical home school? One of the hallmarks of a classical education is inductive reasoning which involves 3 steps: (1) observe, (2) interpret, and (3) apply. In this particular situation, I have observed (step 1) something in my world (the enticing video) which caused me to want to learn more. My first reaction was a desire to visit Bosnia Herzegovina; then I wanted to learn more about the people of the country so I did a little more research.

Interpretation

Next, I quickly catalogued my new knowledge so that I could interpret (step 2) what I had learned. What did I learn? I discovered that Bosnia Herzegovina has recently experienced war; in fact, my peers there were fleeing their homes and losing loved ones while I was adding to my family and creating a safe home for my newborns! I learned that there are more Muslims than Christians in the country, and that Protestant Christians are nearly nonexistent. I learned that these people have a long history…they were around when the Turks dominated the world during the Crusades. What is the meaning of this information that I have gathered.

Application

Finally, I apply (step 3) what I have learned to our own home school situation. Application will be unique for each family, but here are five ideas I might use in my family.

1. Currently, my teenage son is studying the American Civil War, so I could relate the Bosnian Reconstruction to the American Reconstruction period of the 1860s-70s as homes were rebuilt and ethnic divisions were examined with a view towards healing.

2. I could take a thematic approach to application by talking about grief and forgiveness. We’re studying I Kings at table in the mornings, so I could relate the Bosnian situation to family divisions in ancient Israel during David and Solomon’s reigns.

3. We could discuss what it would be like here in America if conditions allowed a foreign religion to evangelize mass numbers of citizens like the Muslim conversions that occurred during the Ottoman occupation of the Middle Ages.

4. Right now, the kids are immersed in this year’s policy debate resolution on illegal immigration, so we could talk about the refugee situation in Bosnia and how it relates to immigrants like the Somalians or Liberians seeking asylum in the U.S.

5. Or I could go back to that original rabbit trail and relate the Bosnian language to the Latin language!

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So, keep your eyes, ears, and heart open when you follow rabbit trails and come across seemingly unimportant information…the possibilities for meaningful discussion in your classical home school are endless!