Classical Homeschooling Topics

With analytical thinking lacking among many of our teenagers these days, classical education is a refreshing way of learning where students intentionally learn how to think. A lot of time goes in to developing a decent epistemology (theory of knowledge).

Using Christian classical education (CCE), parents can easily teach children their biblical beliefs and give them a good framework for faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are many benefits of Classical Education. Not only are students ideas formed in CCE, but they’re also challenged through a rigorous process of debating (learn the benefits of debating here). Children learn how to develop good debating skills and techniques so they can persuasively make an argument.

Classical students learn in three stages called the trivium (some add another called the quadrivium which is the art subjects’ arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy, philosophy and/or theology). Here is a video about the trivium.

The three stages of the trivium are the grammar, logic, and rhetoric stages. Let’s look at these a little more below:

• Grammar stage – children roughly between the ages of 4 to 11 do the grammar stage and learn the foundations of education and epistemology. This stage consists of memorization and singing songs (even learning Greek or Latin) to get ideas firmly entrenched into the minds of young learners. Here’s a video about the grammar stage.
• Logic stage – children roughly between ages 7 to 11 do the logic stage. Here they develop a richer understanding of the concepts they learned about in the grammar stage. They wrestle with ideas more and are better able to discuss arguments verbally. This means they can start debating with each other. Here’s a video about the logic stage.
• Rhetoric stage – when children are around 14 to 16 years of age, they enter the last stage, the rhetoric stage. By now, teenagers are independent and owning their own thoughts which may be separate or a little different from their families’. In this stage, they do a lot of synthesizing and analysing of facts learned in the grammar and logic stages. Here they also learn how to communicate in an effective and winning manner, which is a wonderful skill they can carry their whole lives. Here’s a video about the rhetoric stage.