Is the classical method possible for my child?

[Guest TheBugsMom]

Can you begin a classical method of education on a child beginning High School? I have homeschooled my son since birth but mainly using textbooks. The last few years I have begun to weed out an all textbook curriculum for a more literature approach. I know what I am doing isn't what I really want for my child so I keep reading and trying to figure out what to do. I have recently begun reading The Well Trained Mind and am intrigued but at the same time I wonder if this is possible at such a late time in my sons school years. If it is possible, how would I go about getting him started? I really don't believe he is ready for the Rhetoric stage of learning, so how do I get him to this point?

 

Has anyone else started the Classical Approach in High School?

[Jean in Newcastle]

Sure, it is possible in a modified form. Re. history and literature there are two ways you could do it. You could fit in one 4 year cycle of history during the high school years with literature choices from each cycle. Or you could do a more traditional line up of American history/ world history etc. but still use source materials and/or literature choices that match up with each era you are studying.

 

Usually math and science are pretty standard sequences of learning.

 

For language, you could do Latin as your foreign language. Or you could do vocabulary work that stresses the Latin and Greek roots.