Few homeschool methods elicit such strong feelings as classical homeschooling. Is it too hard? Is it intense? Isn’t classical education for the intellectual elite or “gifted students”?
Is classical education even biblical?
While unbalanced extremes exist in every educational philosophy, classical education itself is—at its very essence—a simple, time-honored tradition of teaching.
Remember, a “classic” is something that epitomizes the “best” in that category, the standard that has stood the test of time as a benchmark for success. The word classic is used this way to describe classical music, classic literature, and classic cars. We might drink Coke classic while watching our favorite classic films. Most people highly regard a “classic” as the very best.
And so with classical education.
Simply put, classical homeschooling looks to age-old methods of learning from the best of what has come before. Based on a “trivium” of three learning levels, classical education teaches children in the time-honored tradition using literature, biographies, and primary resources. Classical education emphasizes the humanities (history, literature, the arts, and philosophy) as the foundation of learning.
