farm mom Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 (edited) I am the wife of a farmer and mom to 9 farmkids. We have homeschooled 20 years this year, but as always 'something' new is always popping up. For me it is this whole "Classical Education" thing. Can someone, in a nutshell, summarize for me what this is all about? I have an 8 yob who is not reading (YET!!!), but loves to be read to and loves hands on, outdoor anything ( he's a farm kid! :001_smile:), an 11 1/2 yog who loves, loves, loves to read and write and a 15yo farm boy and a 16yo farm girl. These 2 do not do so well at the academics but love hands on work. Outdoor farm work. Cattle, tractors, growing things, cultivating the soil, riding horses.......ahem....there is still book learning to be done. Any suggestions? Edited March 19, 2011 by farm mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Welcome to the board! This "classical education" thing is best explained in "The Well Trained Mind" book. But a very very brief summary might be an education that takes advantage of the stages of learning that children go through: Grammar stage (learning by rote, learning vocabulary and basic concepts for subjects), Logic stage (learning to use basic logic and critical thinking skills to deal with the same subjects in more depth), and Rhetoric stage (learning to synthesize your knowledge so that you can use it to convince others of your opinion on the subject). Hallmarks of classical education are starting out with narration (telling back) of history and literature and then moving into written narrations and then summaries and then actual papers; learning Latin as a good exercise in logic as well as a good foundation for the English language. Hopefully others will give their summations as well as I'm not sure if I did it justice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 I'm not so good at nutshell summaries, but I wanted to say welcome! Can you get your hands on a copy of The Well Trained Mind? Our local library has a few copies. You might also want to check out some of the articles here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theYoungerMrsWarde Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Welcome to the board! This "classical education" thing is best explained in "The Well Trained Mind" book. But a very very brief summary might be an education that takes advantage of the stages of learning that children go through: Grammar stage (learning by rote, learning vocabulary and basic concepts for subjects), Logic stage (learning to use basic logic and critical thinking skills to deal with the same subjects in more depth), and Rhetoric stage (learning to synthesize your knowledge so that you can use it to convince others of your opinion on the subject). Hallmarks of classical education are starting out with narration (telling back) of history and literature and then moving into written narrations and then summaries and then actual papers; learning Latin as a good exercise in logic as well as a good foundation for the English language. Hopefully others will give their summations as well as I'm not sure if I did it justice. :iagree: I would also include an emphasis on history as well as "classical" literature. It is very diciplined, as opposed to "unschooling," which kinda sounds like what you're doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farm mom Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 :iagree: I would also include an emphasis on history as well as "classical" literature. It is very diciplined, as opposed to "unschooling," which kinda sounds like what you're doing. Oh, I am not unschooling. What I wrote just describes a little bit of what our lifestyle is like. I am relaxed in some ways, like I love living books and would just as soon read, read, read for history ...would Sonlight style suit me? I like well planned out science discovery ( again Sonlight appeals to me there ) Math is saxon, and LA I struggle with. This year it is BJU for my 11 yo, LLATL for the 15 and 16yo, and copywork and Alpha-Phonics for my 8 yo.I was thinking of ordering CLE for hiim, but I kinda like Sonlight ~ see a pattern here? :001_smile: I need structure, but NOT 8-4 in front of a dvd for a box curriculum............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theYoungerMrsWarde Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Oh, I am not unschooling. What I wrote just describes a little bit of what our lifestyle is like. I am relaxed in some ways, like I love living books and would just as soon read, read, read for history ...would Sonlight style suit me? I like well planned out science discovery ( again Sonlight appeals to me there ) Math is saxon, and LA I struggle with. This year it is BJU for my 11 yo, LLATL for the 15 and 16yo, and copywork and Alpha-Phonics for my 8 yo.I was thinking of ordering CLE for hiim, but I kinda like Sonlight ~ see a pattern here? :001_smile: I need structure, but NOT 8-4 in front of a dvd for a box curriculum............. WTM is defiantly NOT dvd or box curriculum! You should defiantly try to check out Well Trained Mind at the library. My kids are still preschool age, so I can't offer you any opinion of Sonlight, but I am sure there are plenty of moms on here that are. Have you tried searching for previous threads concerning Sonlight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katemary63 Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 I am the wife of a farmer and mom to 9 farmkids. We have homeschooled 20 years this year, but as always 'something' new is always popping up. For me it is this whole "Classical Education" thing. Can someone, in a nutshell, summarize for me what this is all about? I have an 8 yob who is not ready (YET!!!), but loves to be read to and loves hands on, outdoor anything ( he's a farm kid! :001_smile:), an 11 1/2 yog who loves, loves, loves to read and write and a 15yo farm boy and a 16yo farm girl. These 2 do not do so well at the academics but love hands on work. Outdoor farm work. Cattle, tractors, growing things, cultivating the soil, riding horses.......ahem....there is still book learning to be done. Any suggestions? Hi! Welcome. We are a farm family too! We raise beef cattle, meat goats and hay and we ride horses. There are lots of farming and/ or horse loving homeschooling moms on here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJinLOCA Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 One "in a nutshell" description of Classical Education is that it's the sort of education you would get at a good Catholic school - that is, your study is guided by a firm grounding in the classics (going back to Greek and Roman roots). It's a rigorous liberal arts education that is heavy on history and literature. WTM is a wonderful guide that gives you a framework for providing a well-rounded classical education at home. It doesn't provide specific curriculum materials, but it has great recommendations for materials to use, along with suggestions for what to study at each age level, and possible schedules. But it's also flexible enough to customize for your specific family's needs. We've loved it for our three kids! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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