The oldest surviving Latin text on communicating effectively, Rhetorica ad Herennium (possibly written by the ancient Roman orator Cicero), outlines five canons or principles by which all rhetoric is judged. These five canons form a template for critiquing speeches and written compositions as well as a pattern for educating your home school children in rhetoric. Adopted from classical Greek rhetors (orators) like Isocrates, Plato, and Aristotle, this definitive guide to rhetoric was studied by the most famous orator in ancient Rome, Quintilian, as well as leading Christian medieval and Renaissance orators like Saint Augustine, Desiderius Erasmus, and Sir Francis Bacon. Although our family has not read Cicero’s original text, we use a contemporary text, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, by Edward Corbett which extensively explains and illustrates this tradition that has been practiced in Western culture for over two thousand years. Over the next 5 posts, I’ll reveal the template or pattern of classical rhetoric. Canon one, INVENTION, is the subject of this post.

Determine the Topic

Discovering the main idea of the speech or essay is the first step of invention. What do you want to talk about in your speech or essay? Aristotle organized the potential topics of speeches into two categories: common and special. Common topics included definition of terms, division of the material into parts, comparison of similarities and contrast of differences, and testimonies of authorities. Common topics could be applied to any idea. Special topics were related to the three classical discourses and included justice, honor, and worthiness.

Sometimes we brainstorm for topics, but usually we simply select one of the more interesting subtopics of our homeschool academic reading (history, literature, philosophy, Scripture, science, etc). For example, Connor is reading about the battle of Gettysburg in the novel, The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara. When I gave him the book to read, I told him that I wanted a 10 paragraph paper from him on one debatable point. As he’s read the compelling narrative, he’s been struck by the honorable character of three officers: Lee, Longstreet, and Chamberlain. Now if you were heavily influenced by the stories your great grandmother told, you may not find all three men honorable because two of the men he’s chosen to write about were Confederate officers and one a Union officer. However, Connor is going to argue that their characters transcended their national loyalties. That’s a debatable point or idea; it’s not a simple declaration of objective fact, but rather, there is subjectivity in the idea which is supported by evidence.

Discover the Arguments

During invention, ask lots of questions and discover arguments to support your point of view or case. In this exercise, try to find the core conflict of the debate. What is the real issue? Ancient orators asked four types questions:

1. Is it true?

Questions of fact deal with truth which can be supported by actual objective evidence. In the example above, there are many facts to be examined such as Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet were both Confederate Generals while Joshua Chamberlain was a Union General.

2. What is it?

Questions of definition make a call about the nature of the idea. In our example, Connor would define character, the Confederacy, and the United States among other terms.

3. Is it important?

Questions of quality ask why the idea is important. Value judgments enter into these questions as each author will have differing opinions as to the importance or meaning of the idea.

4. Is this the right audience?

Questions of jurisdiction ask whether the venue for the speech or paper is the best for this issue or idea. An ancient orator would not present a deliberative speech to a judge just as the same orator would not present a forensic speech to a city council member.

The ultimate purpose of questions is to find arguments and evidence that support your point of view or case.

Develop the Thesis Statement

Once you’ve determined the topic of your speech or essay and developed the questions that support the topic, it’s time to develop a thesis statement. The word thesis often gives my writing students the quakes, probably because a good thesis statement is generally more difficult to create than a topic sentence. A topic sentence is a declarative statement which states a general fact usually followed by supporting facts. A thesis statement is a debatable point or claim. To be debatable, there must be differing opinions or conflicting facts which call into question the validity of the statement. Thus, the orator or author must prove his idea or claim with hard evidence. To distinguish between a topic sentence and thesis statement, I’ll provide an easy example from Connor’s essay:

• Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, and Joshua Chamberlain were men of character. (a topic sentence)

• Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, and Joshua Chamberlain were men of character because they allowed their decent, chivalric upbringing to transcend their nationalistic loyalties. (a thesis statement)

What’s the difference? The second sentence takes a position on each man’s upbringing that must be proven with evidence whereas the first sentence is a statement of fact which does not claim to know why they were men of character. There could be many unique reasons for why each man has character which makes the idea debatable. The debatable component of the idea is what makes invention so much fun and challenging. We think to uncover the truth which is the essential purpose of canon one of classical rhetoric, invention. Once you’ve invented your debatable idea, you can move on to canon two, arrangement, which is the subject of my next post.

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Do you have a child who struggles with writing thesis statements? Use the following acronym to help trigger debatable points: “www.asia.” Although Andrew Pudewa teaches this as a stylistic dress up, I think you could use it for another purpose:  developing a thesis.  “www.asia” stands for:

when

while

where

as

since

if

although

If you tacked any of these words onto the end of a regular topic sentence then add a supporting phrase, you might have a thesis statement that needs proof. Try it next time!

Tags: 5 canons of rhetoric, Andrew Pudewa, Cicero, classical discourse, classical rhetoric, communicating effectively, deliberative speech, forensic speech, home school, homeschool, inventio, invention, Rhetoric, Rhetoric ad Herennium, speeches, thesis statement, topic sentence, topics for essays, topics for speeches, written compositions

Communicating effectively is not limited to classical discourse like formal speeches or written compositions. Narration is a communication skill that is used in casual conversation more than the other two combined! Think about the countless times during a day that you ask your child questions…

• How did you sleep last night?
• What did you dream about?
• What are your plans for study today?
• What was the book about?
• What would you like for dinner?
• How did you spend your free time this afternoon?
• What do you want to be when you grow up?
• What did you learn from your reading?

Moms and Dads are great at asking questions! But the risk with asking open-ended questions is that you’ll get vague responses like “okay” (how did you sleep) “I can’t remember” (what was the book about), and “I don’t know” (what did you learn today). What you want to do as a classical home educator is draw out your child’s understanding so that he or she is giving you more than one-word grunts. You know that words have the power to change the world, and you want to raise world-changers who are eloquent and persuasive! Train them in giving concise, direct answers so that when they find themselves out in the community and someone asks a question, they are prepared.

So how do you coax your reluctant child to give thoughtful responses to your questions? Socratic Dialogue is one method that we use in our home school to great effect. In this post, I’ll show you how I do it using a real-life example from Meredith’s high school biology course.

Remember that Courtroom Drama?

Unless you are a practicing attorney, you probably haven’t had a lot of experience in using Socratic Dialogue. In fact, attorneys (and some home schoolers) are the only living Westerners who still use this classical tool. Attorneys receive training in Socratic method in law school where they learn to ask leading questions of a witness.

If you have ever been to a legal deposition or watched a courtroom drama, you know that a good prosecutor asks leading questions. In preparation for the trial, the attorney “deposes” the witness. In a deposition, the attorney asks the witness pertinent questions under oath, and a court transcript is created which both the defending and prosecuting teams receive. In deposing the witness, the attorney is trying to arrive at the facts of the case. These facts are the basis for the trial, and a skillful attorney will use these facts in asking leading questions of the witness so that the witness gives him the answers that he wants. Facts are the starting point for your Socratic Dialogue preparation, too.

What are the FACTS?

Just like the attorney, you need to know the facts before you can ask useful leading questions. Unless you are already an expert on the subject matter, you need to read the material along with your child. Now I am not saying that you have to read every single word that the child reads; if you have more than one child, the task of keeping up with all of the weekly reading assignments plus all of your other family responsibilities would be overwhelming! Be selective. You might choose one subtopic from your teenage daughter’s science reading, one chapter from your preteen son’s history reading, and one picture story book to read with your youngest child. (By the way, the Socratic method works well with both fiction or nonfiction.)

In this example, I listened to a Teaching Company Biology lecture with Meredith on DNA called “The Double Helix.” We put on the 30 minute DVD, and we both took “stick and branch” notes (see image to the left - thank you, Andrew Pudewa) as the lecture progressed. We paused the DVD if there were any concepts we didn’t understand. After we watched the entire lesson and outlined the concepts, we both wrote a brief abstract or summary of the notes in paragraph form. This step ensured that we organized our thoughts and clarified any obscurities in the sticks and branches. We follow this same procedure for each lecture.

After Meredith writes her summary, she either reads it to me or lets me read it. Often there is no need for further clarification because I can see from her oral or written narration that she understands the concepts. She has effectively communicated her understanding. However, perhaps there is a concept that I think is particularly important or one that she hasn’t quite captured in her notes. That concept would serve as the subject of my leading questions. (See the blue arrows and the highlighted areas of my notes.)

This gets a little technical, but bear with me. For this example, let’s say that I want to make sure that Meredith understands how nitrogenous bases (A, T, C, G) pair up as they attach to the sugars on the two DNA strands. The sugars on DNA strand #1 have nitrogenous bases (NB) which attach to the NB on DNA strand #2. Imagine that the DNA strands are the side rails on a staircase, and the NB connections are the stair treads. (See the highlighted area in my stick and branch drawing.) Now the tricky thing is NBs are either pyrimidines or purines which means that one is larger than the other one. So the larger NB on DNA strand #1 must attach to the smaller NB on DNA strand #2 (C + G), then the smaller NB on DNA strand #1 must attach to the larger NB on DNA strand #2 (A + T), and so forth all the way down the double helix or the imaginary stair tread would be lopsided, and the double helix would not be a double helix!

Plan the Leading Questions

Now that I know where I want to end up, I can plan the questions. The easiest way to tackle this task is to break the entire concept up into short answer questions like this:

1. What are the 2 nucleic acids on each DNA strand? (sugars and phosphates)
2. What are the 2 types of nitrogenous bases? (purines and pyrimidines)
3. How are the purines different from the pyrimidines? (size - purines are smaller)
4. What are the 2 purines? (adenine: A and guanine: G)
5. What are the 2 pyrimidines? (cytosine: C and thymine: T)
6. Which of the 2 nucleic acids, sugar or phosphate, attaches to the nitrogenous base? (sugar)
7. Can a sugar attach to any of the 4 nitrogenous bases? (yes)
8. If a sugar has a purine nitrogenous base, what must the connecting nitrogenous base be? (pyrimidine)
9. What would happen if a purine attached to a purine on the DNA strand? (the “stair tread” of the double helix would be lopsided, so that it didn’t look like a double helix anymore)

If you have carefully structured your line of questions, your child should end up right where you expected and chances are good that she will understand the steps of the concept better now that she has had to think through them logically. Additionally, as the child answers the questions, you can detect any misunderstandings and discuss them right away. Yes, it would be much easier to just tell them the answers, but then she wouldn’t own her understanding, would she? Socratic Dialogue is an effective communication tool because the child learns to break the concept or idea up into components, organize the thoughts, and relate them to the parent. The conversation usually expands beyond the initial questions as a full-fledged discussion emerges, and your rising classical scholar practices the art of rhetoric through narration and Socratic Dialogue.

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Do you have any questions for me on Socratic Dialogue? Please use the comment box below, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Tags: classical discourse, classical home educators, communicating effectively, communication skill, critical thinking, high school, home school, homeschoolers, narration, questions, Rhetoric, socratic dialogue, Socratic method, speeches, think logically, written compositions

As I briefly mentioned in “Could You Define Classical Rhetoric?“, rhetoric is the art of oratory. Today we generally refer to oratory as “public speaking” or “speech;” however, I think you’ll agree that the principles of rhetoric can be appropriately applied to written communication like essays, research papers, and even journalism articles. Other than impromptu speeches, which happen on the spur of the moment with limited preparation time, most contemporary speeches start with a written script or at least an outline of the speaker’s (1) idea or claim, (2) proof or evidence, and (3) call to action. So for our purposes, I’ll define rhetoric as

a system for gathering, selecting, arranging, and expressing our material whether in oral or written form

Remember that rhetoric is one of the 7 liberal arts of ancient Rome. If you were to examine the other 6 liberal arts (language, logic, geometry, astronomy, music theory, and arithmetic), you would realize that each of these arts involves a system for gathering, selecting, arranging, and expressing the material.

Let’s modernize this concept. You could probably list a vast number of “arts” that also involve a system for accumulating, organizing, and presenting the material. For instance, the “art of cooking” involves deciding on the recipe, gathering the ingredients, combining the ingredients in a certain measure and order, cooking the mixture, arranging the final presentation, and serving the delightful dish to the audience. In a nutshell, the chef has concocted an idea, presented evidence to prove her idea, and announced a call to action: “eat and enjoy!” The art of gardening, the art sewing, and the art of singing are just three examples which follow a similar pattern of idea, proof, and call to action. Likewise, the master writer or orator develops an idea, presents the evidence, and calls the audience to action.

In other words, rhetoric for the classical home school is not a stage of educational progress, but rather a set of procedures and criteria that guide the author or orator in making strategic decisions during the composition process. During ancient and medieval times, this system was tightly defined as 3 kinds of persuasive discourse (deliberative, forensic, and epideictic oratory) which are the subjects of my next post.

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Have you watched my parent tutorial yet on “The 7 Laws of Teaching?” It’s just a little over 30 minutes in length and full of practical teaching tips that I have used in my own home school. You’ll learn a little history to put the 7 laws in context as well as assess your own expertise in the areas of teaching language, critical thinking, and communicating well. Click on parent tutorial image in the upper right corner of this page now, and the flash presentation will begin right away.

Tags: Add new tag, audience, author, classical home school, classical rhetoric, composition, deliberative oratory, epideictic oratory, essays, forensic oratory, impromptu speeches, journalism, orator, oratory, public speaking, research paper, Rhetoric, Speech, writer, written communication

According to the honorable Zell Miller, former governor of the state of Georgia and United States Senator,

“Twenty years of votes can tell you much more about a man than twenty weeks of campaign rhetoric. Campaign talk tells people who you want them to think you are. How you vote tells people who you really are deep inside.”

Although you’ve heard the word “rhetoric” used in contemporary conversations, you might not have a clear idea of what it means in terms of an authentic classical education. The two most common usages of the word rhetoric in my community of Christian home schoolers are as follows: (1) the inflated verbosity of politicians to win votes at all costs, and (2) the misuse of the original term to describe a “stage” of classical home education, generally the high school years. Our lack of understanding stems from the fact that the term rhetoric belongs to an art (remember the 7 “liberal arts” of a classical education?) that was constructed during ancient times, practiced for thousands of years, yet abruptly abandoned as a fundamental discipline in our public schools during the middle to late 1800s. In short,

Rhetoric is the art of oratory.

For thousands of years, classical rhetoric was classified as (1) verbal, (2) conciliatory, (3) persuasive requests (as opposed to coercive demands) that were (4) delivered by a single orator. More recently with the invention of the printing press, the term rhetoric was broadened to include written as well as spoken oratory. Oratory, derived from the latin infinitive “orare” which means “to pray”, is simply the art of speaking in public and writing for the public. The same principles of rhetoric are applied to both oral and written disciplines.

Classical rhetoric is the art or discipline of using written and spoken discourse to persuade, inform, or motivate an audience…the very essence of the speech or essay is meant to move the listener or reader. According to Scottish Presbyterian Minister and Master of Rhetoric, George Campbell,

“we discourse to enlighten the understanding, to please the imagination, to move the passions, or influence the will.”

Although Campbell was primarily interested in the art of rhetoric because he believed it would result in better preachers, contemporary home school parents see the application of rhetoric to a whole slew of opportunities from platform, interpretive, and limited preparation speeches and essays to books, sermons, and face-to-face encounters in the community.

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Classical rhetoric, simply put, consists of 3 steps: (1) the idea, (2) the proof, and (3) the delivery or style. In my next post, I’ll elaborate on the three kinds of classical discourse. Please consider telling a friend about The Classical Scholar by clicking on the email envelope above this post.

Originally written in 1999 by the mother-daughter team, Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer, The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (revised in 2004) applies the “Lost Tools of Learning” educational theory of Dorothy Sayers to systematically train the child over a twelve year period. The authors are wildly popular within the classical homeschooling community, and rightly so since they satisfied the desires of the many parents who were not classically educated by providing them with a detailed road map, by grade, for the rigorous content of a classical education.

Learning is organized around 3 main stages in a child’s mental development which hypothetically correlate to the 3 stages of the trivium: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The grammar stage comprises the early elementary years when the child is absorbing facts and experiences like a sponge. Both oral and written narration is key to this stage. During the logic stage, the maturing youth begins to critically analyze information while the rhetoric stage involves the refinement of personal communication skills through public speaking and writing.

History is the foundational building block in this philosophical method and is segregated into 4 major periods: ancient, medieval, renaissance or revolutions, and modern. The family who follows this method all 12 years will rotate through each period of history 3 times.

Science and literature are coordinated with the period of history being studied. For example, when the student studies ancient history, he also studies life science which is what the people of that age would have known. Astronomy is studied with medieval history, chemistry is studied with revolutions, and physics is tackled with modern history.

Classical literature like Homer’s Iliad is read three times. During the grammar stage, the parent reads an abridged picture book version; during the logic stage, the student reads an abridged version. Finally, the student reads the original classic during the rhetoric stage. This pattern lends coherence; as the student matures, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom widens and deepens. Latin, formal logic, art, and music are also covered in this approach.

According to the authors, there are three major characteristics of this philosophy. Primarily, the “well-trained mind” classical education is language-focused; the conversion of words (symbols) into mental concepts requires different skills from those required for image-focused methods. Secondarily, skills are built over time in that knowledge is gained (grammar stage), logical tools are acquired to analyze such knowledge (logic stage) , and reasonable personal conclusions are expressed (rhetoric stage.) Finally, to the classical student, all knowledge is interrelated as evidenced by the coordination of disciplines like history, science, and literature.

Not only do the authors provide a thorough analysis of the philosophy of classical education but they also provide extensive practical application in resource lists and schedule by stage. Although rigorous and demanding on both parents and students, the challenge is beneficial. One caution, however, for the parent who is just beginning the classical education journey: don’t try to do everything that is recommended in The Well-Trained Mind; instead, use it as a reference tool and tailor the suggestions to your own family situation.

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Are you a fan of Susan Wise Bauer’s four volume, Story of the World, history for children? If so, you might want to download a few excerpts of her newest (released March 2007) adult history, The History of the Ancient World, at Susan Wise Bauer’s Blog.

(Plus, I KNOW you would love her blog! This woman is AMAZING!! She and her husband planted a church with her parents, she home schools four kids, and she writes book after book. She is a 1st generation home schooler, so imagine what your own 1st generation “well-trained mind” kids will do when they grow up!)

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If you are interested in sharing ideas with other homeschool parents who relish the home education philosophy of “the well-trained mind,” consider joining one of the following free Yahoo Discussion Groups. [The following descriptions are provided by each Yahoo group.]

WellTrainedMindDscn (2835 members)

“The participants on this list discuss the book “The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home” (TWTM or WTM) by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer. Although we have a moderator, we do not have any “experts” — we’re all trying to figure out how to apply these principles in our own home, according to our own experiences. This group is open to all homeschoolers who are interested in learning more about classical education methods. Therefore, although religion may be mentioned, it is not to become a point of contention. The focus of the discussion is to remain on-topic, with short friendly side comments allowed. We will discuss one main topic per week, along with whatever items members want to bring to the group (questions, successes, comments).”

WellTrainedMindFamilies (556 members)

“The families on this list discuss the book “The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home” by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer. This group is open to all homeschooling families who are interested in learning more about classical education methods. This list is here to discuss how to implement TWTM into everyday life and all that goes along with it…from legal issues, to book suggestions, to discipline problems, to sleeping issues, to how to teach how to share. We believe homeschooling is 24/7, so for us, basically life is one big school.”

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Read more about the home schooling philosophies of John Holt, Charlotte Mason, and Oliver DeMille, and discover that they all encourage love of learning even though different paths are suggested to achieve such a love. Do you need some help verbalizing your own home educational philosophy? My post, “What Is Your Home Education Philosophy?,” offers 10 questions to get you started.

The third stage of the historical trivium is rhetoric…as classical Christian home school parents we want to teach our children to effectively communicate in writing and speaking. But learning the skills of effective communication alone is not enough. We need to also teach the kids to communicate meaning. Meaningless essays, speeches, or conversations might help build skills in the early years, but over time, we desire that our children will be people of influence, communicating that which is ultimately meaningful to their King.

Before your child can communicate effectively in writing or speaking, they must first understand the topic. Acquiring knowledge is the first step, and as they mature, that knowledge should become understanding and eventually (we pray) wisdom. Certainly, we want them to communicate when all they have is knowledge because they are building critical rhetorical skills, but a classical scholar strives for deeper meaning, and when he or she understands the topic, written and oral communication can be extremely powerful and life-changing. Consider this example for learning and communicating about a topic that should be meaningful to Christians.

A Meaningful Idea

In 1982, a worldwide prayer movement for the unreached people groups of the world was launched, and since its beginnings over 25 years ago, the Global Prayer Digest has helped fuel over 9400 days of prayer for an estimated 10,000 unreached people groups. What is an unreached people group?

According to the Joshua Project, there are 16,256 distinct ethnic or “people” groups in the world. Of those, 6877 people groups are considered “unreached” which means they have the least exposure to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the least Christian presence in their midst. Just to put this in perspective, of the 6.6 billion global population, the Joshua Project estimates that 2.7 billion or 41% of the world’s population are unreached! Of course, the driving purpose behind accumulating information on unreached people groups like the Najdi Bedoin people of Iraq is to ultimately assess the effectiveness of the completion of Jesus’ Great Commission to His Church (”Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations“) so that missionaries, lay persons, and resources can be mobilized for people with the greatest need for a life-changing relationship with the Living God.

Embracing The Meaningful Idea

There are many ways to research ideas - you can read, watch an instructional DVD, interview involved people, or experience the idea yourself. In my personal opinion, I think books, DVDs, or interviews function best as appetizers to the main course. In other words, researching the meaningful idea through these methods is critical, but real understanding and wisdom only come when the meaningful idea is experienced. The most passionate communicators in the world are those who have “lived” their passion!

The first step is learning about the meaningful idea. In this case, you can find books and internet sources to inform and instruct in the basic elements of the idea. For example, I mentioned the Global Prayer Digest and Joshua Project websites above which both provide lots of informative data and perspective on the big picture of unreached people groups. Books like Operation World and You Can Change The World can illuminate on specific unreached people groups. Many local churches support missionaries to unreached people groups; an email interview or free skype internet call to the missionary can add a different dimension to your child’s knowledge base. If the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course is offered in your area (over 200 U.S. locations), your high school senior could enroll in this semester course, earn dual college credit, and learn more about the people groups movement.

But don’t stop at acquiring knowledge about the topic…get involved! Once the child or youth begins to learn about the topic, have him or her experience the topic firsthand. In this particular scenario, you can participate in reaching these ethnic groups by regularly praying as a family for the needs of the people. Another idea that also teaches the concept of tithing is to pay your children for some special projects around the house then have them tithe to their people group out of their earnings. Service in the form of collecting resources for foreign missionaries or organizing prayer chains in youth group force hands-on involvement. You might even be called to travel overseas and visit your adopted unreached people group!

How Our Family Embraces The Meaningful Idea

Throughout the years, my family has “adopted” various unreached people groups. When David was teaching in India a few years ago, the kids and I chose 12 Indian people groups to pray for while he was gone. We chose people groups in the geographical area of the country that he would be visiting. We read about each group and prayed for a different one each day. At other times (like the Muslim holiday of Ramadan), we prayed nightly using the facts on a website like Frontiers or a prayer guide like the one published by Global Prayer Digest (daily email guide is free.) Each day we read a little bit about the culture of the unreached people group and included them in our nightly family prayers.

When the kids were doing elementary level work, we read a great book by Jill Johnstone called You Can Change The World. Now that the kids are older, we frequently consult a terrific reference book that I believe every Christian family should have in their library called Operation World when we want to learn more about specific people groups like the percentages of Christians by denomination, number of missionaries, and the top 10 prayer needs for effective evangelism.

Currently, we partner with missionaries in three unreached people groups in Southwest Asia, South America, and Central Africa (represented by the mission agencies: Frontiers, Wycliffe, and International Leadership Institute, respectively) through monthly financial support. Of course, we pray for those people all the time because we hear first hand through regular emails what’s going on with the communities so we can pray as immediate needs arise.

In addition to our family giving, the kids each select a people group to support with their personal tithe. Meredith has been sending her tithe to Lebanese orphan girls through Partners International for several years; in fact, one year she got so involved with her adopted little sisters that she asked her local friends to give the money that they would have spent on her birthday present to the orphanage. At her birthday party, they created a card that they all signed to send to Lebanon. Now that is experiencing the meaningful idea!

Communicating the Meaningful Idea

Once your child has acquired knowledge about the meaningful idea, it is time to incorporate written and oral communication. You might start with assigning an essay or short expository speech with visual aids. Younger kids can give their speech to family members or “publish” the essay by posting it to the refrigerator for all to read! For an older teen, you might arrange some public speaking engagements like the local retirement home or youth group where your child can practice persuasion skills and field questions from the audience. If you have immersed the kids in knowledge and given them a chance to personally experience the meaningful idea then it is very likely that they will have generated some true passion, understanding, and maybe even wisdom that will certainly be conveyed when they write or speak about the subject!

Take the Plunge

You can apply these concepts to any meaningful idea. As classical scholars, we should be encouraging our kids to do more than simply memorize useless facts to parrot back on true/false quizzes. Take them deeper, and explore real meaning. Start with ideas that you and your husband are passionate about then move on to ideas you as a family want to learn more about. Each of your children has a significant calling on their lives, or you wouldn’t be investing such time and energy into raising classical scholars who can communicate effectively as they influence their culture. Recognize that calling, and do all that you can to help them get ready. The rewards of such preparation will yield profound results now and for generations to come!

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Do you have examples to share about how your family has explored or communicated meaningful ideas? Your stories are welcome!

In my last post, Shaky Speculation: The Lost Tools of Learning, I examined the history of classical Christian education and why the current renewal movement is based on the following faulty premise: the psychological development of children (poll-parrot, pert, then poet) roughly follows the chronological pattern of the medieval trivium (grammar, logic, then rhetoric.) I explained how the current “classical” education model regularly recommended in homeschool circles is really just a 12 year public school paradigm with classical subjects tacked on for enrichment. Now if you accept my position, the next question is this:

Where do you go from here if you want to give your kids a true classical Christian education?

Well, in my family, first we strip away the idea of a 12 year, subject-driven schedule and all the trappings of a public school model including start and finish times, standard holiday and vacation dates, textbooks, and dedicated school rooms. Then we go back to the content of the original trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and establish that we will master these skills (the “lost tools of learning”) over several years. [Note: In order to help you resist the temptation to think of the trivium as 3 subjects, I will refer to the 3 stages as (1) language acquisition, (2) critical thinking, and (3) effective communication.] Finally, during the final stages of the trivium, we then begin to delve deeper into discrete “subjects” (historically called the quadrivium) based upon each child’s gifts, abilities, and interests.

In a nutshell, there are 3 simple but significant steps to a classical Christian home education:

1. Discard the old public school paradigm
2. Teach the skills of the trivium (language acquisition, critical thinking, effective communication)
3. Supervise the study of subjects after the skills of the trivium are substantially mastered

This doesn’t begin to explain the entire process, but I hope it helps you get your mind around the simplicity of the system. Each family will uniquely tailor the three steps. Look for my next post on step one, “Discard The Public School Paradigm.”

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Let’s get a dialogue going on this topic…it was a real stretch for me that took a few years and lots of reflection to realize that our classical home school didn’t have to be so rigid. Have you found yourself tied to a schedule or concerned because your had fallen behind in completing the tasks? Let’s talk! Leave a comment below.

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The Well-Trained Mind (TWTM), by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer, was THE very first book that captured my attention when we began to consider giving our kids an education at home. I was smitten with the concept of classical home schooling right away! I loved the vision and conversational style that Jessie and Susan offered, but 8 years after trying to fully implement their suggestions, I am convinced that the “trivium” as they teach it is impossible to achieve.

Overly ambitious, TWTM feels a lot like traditional school with harder subjects. Twelve years of math…twelve years of science…twelve years of grammar…argh! Add the “classical” subjects that I never had as a student (logic, latin, and rhetoric), and all of a sudden, “classical” home schooling felt like a huge task. At first, I tried to do everything they recommended, but over the years, I began to eliminate as many of their ideas as I embraced because they didn’t work for our kids, or they were just too tedious. I spent way too much money in the first few years purchasing various curricula that enslaved us (Abeka Grammar, Canon Press Logic II), and I felt such a burden because I was trying to follow TWTM and always fell short! I have talked to so many moms who were excited about classical homeschooling only to give up in frustration. Today, I use The Well-Trained Mind as a resource and not as a blueprint; read more about their educational philosophy.

Perhaps you are one of those parents who was initially excited about the concept of classical education, but somewhere along the way you lost your drive. Maybe you felt discouraged or wondered how you would get it all done! If so, you’ll want to read this entire series. Through no fault of your own you have been operating under a false understanding of a classical Christian education which positioned you and your children for failure. Now please don’t think I am suggesting that the leaders of the renewal movement are intentionally conspiring to deceive; that is NOT what I am saying. I am merely suggesting that the current classical education renewal movement is operating under a faulty premise because the historical trivium was never meant to be taught the way we do it today. In the next post, I’ll give a little background on the current classical education renewal movement so we’re all on the same page.

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Tags: classical education renewal movement, Classical Home Schooling, Jessie Wise, latin, Logic, Rhetoric, Susan Wise Bauer, The Well-Trained Mind, trivium

As with any renaissance, the new generation tinkers with the old ideas, and in the case of classical Christian home schooling, the new generation is adjusting for contemporary needs. In fact, the renewal movement is still so young that some of the authors advocating the classical model are issuing revised editions as they tweak the model in response to reader suggestions. In our family’s own extensive tinkering, we have settled on seven fundamental characteristics of classical Christian homeschooling. We believe each element is consistent with the historical model. Here is our list of essentials:

1. Scripture is at the center of all learning and illuminates meaning.
2. Both Dad and Mom are active participants.
3. The integrated study of classical literature and western world history leads to understanding of culture and values.
4. Critical thinking skills are built through Socratic Dialogue and subjects like latin, logic, debate, math, and science.
5. Written and oral rhetoric teaches effective organizational and communication skills.
6. Rigorous content and flexible schedules prepare for undergraduate studies.
7. Leadership skills are developed by regular practice through service to community and family.

I’ll examine each of the essential elements like the centrality of Scripture in future posts. When you combine all the elements over time, you’ll soon discover that you are living in a time of extreme importance…you might even catch your breath sometimes when it dawns on you that you are raising your own classical Christian scholars who are being equipped spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally to lead their generation all because your family decided to join the renewal movement and embrace a classical Christian home education!