I'm grateful for many things as a homeschooler. The classical education movement is one of them. The reason is simple; it provides a way to train your child based on developmental milestones (the Trivium) in a way that utilizes the gifts and strengths of the season the child is going through.
During the Grammar Stage, the child reads, memorizes and fills their brain with amazing and astounding things about the world and life.
During the Dialectic Stage, the child begins to understand how to order their world through the study of Logic.
In the Rhetoric Stage, the young adult takes the facts and information, orders them well and shares them with others. This can take many forms; written, verbal, artistic, mathematically, scientifically....the fact of the matter is that the youth has something of import to say because they have studied and learned about things, facts, people and places that have meaning.
Being a young person today that is mature, thoughtful, polite and respectful is not that common. I've been told by complete strangers, along with those who know them well, with regularity, that my kids are polite, respectful, kind, thoughtful, caring,and smart. This, usually in response to their holding a door open, looking at someone and smiling, making a formal introduction. Nothing earth shattering; well it used to not be. Not an intelligence test, just emotional responsively at a mature level.
All of that to say, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, and the person responds and initiates. If we pour into our children things of value (the heroic stories of old) rather than superfluous drivel (Phineas and Ferb), what they'll have to contribute could be, might be, probably will be something that is world changing.
The content of the books we read affects the content of our minds, hearts and souls, and in turn, affects the world that we live in. What we have to contribute, based on what we take in, creates life or it's antithesis. How we educated defines how and what we share and teach our students. The methods and forms of what we do are every bit as important as the content.
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3 comments:
Glad I read your post today -- I must say I agree with you wholeheartedly!!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Great post. I've certainly found it true in my home. Some stories are meat and potatoes for your brain, and some are more like chocolate, which is only good for you in smaller doses.
I always enjoy reading what you write (do I always say that???) I love that verse, "out of the heart the mouth speaks." Training a child's heart is quite a task! I'm glad it's ultimately up to the Holy Spirit =) My son really enjoys TV, so we have to always be purposeful about inputting better things. Thanks for encouraging us all at Trivium Tuesdays with this last week!
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