How did you discover classical education?

[Homeschooling Again]

I'm interesting in how folks on this board found out about this model. I'll go first.

 

In December, 2009 I decided to learn Latin, so went to my public library to browse. I found The Devil Knows Latin and came across "classical education." I looked around online and found WTM, bought it and was hooked. By the end of January I was starting SOTW 1 with ds 7 and went from there.

 

Now you guys!!! :bigear:

[angela in ohio]

I went to research homeschooling methods when I was getting ready to pull dd out of kindergarten in late 2001. I read WTM, as well as many other books on homeschooling. Within a week, I had decided on classical ed, and I started seeking out other resources to learn more about it.

 

It turned out that I had had many of the components of a neo-classical education in my public school education (Latin, Great Books, intensive grammar study, etc.) I think it resonated with me because of that.

[Laura in STL]

I found WTM at our local library while browsing the homeschooling books. I cannot say how glad I am that I checked it out! Now I own two editions. I wanted a plan for k-12 that would build an incremental yet cohesive education for my dc. That was a big fault in my own ps education. It was so disjointed. I didn't want a boxed type curriculum, so WTM was a perfect fit! Finding it when my oldest was only 4, so I could start right at the beginning, has been a blessing! Seven years later I'm still learning from it.

[Truscifi]

My MIL recommended TWTM when she found out we were thinking about homeschooling. She used it with dh and his siblings.

[newlifemom]

I read a few books about ps education, [gatto et al] decided to hs, went to the library and found WTM. The rest is history. :D

[mandymom]

My dh and I decided around November to pull our kids out of school the following school year (2011-2012). My youngest would be starting kindergarten and I have 4 more that go up to 9th grade.

 

We had originally decided to do a virtual charter school for all but the youngest because he was too young for the charter school. I had in mind the kind of education I wanted for him (and the others as well, but I was going to get to choose schooling materials for them), but I didn't have the vocabulary of education types down to put a name to it. So I just started looking at things.

 

I had been reading books about homeschooling, but still hadn't wrapped my mind around exactly what I was wanting. Around December, I ran across Tapestry of Grace and after looking at it more, I realized that it was exactly what I had in mind. Of course, from there, it had a name - "Classical", and the more I read about it, the more excited I got. This is where TWTM came in the picture. I also realized that I didn't need to have the older kids in a virtual charter....I could just do it. And so after researching all the other subjects that TOG doesn't cover, we are starting the hs'ing journey in August. Yike....that's just a few weeks away, huh? :willy_nilly:

[lea1]

My husband and I had discussed homeschooling our children before we ever got married so we knew we would. I happened across a used copy of TWTM one day before I even started researching homeschooling and, when I started reading it, I was so excited about it. It just made sense to me and I told my dh all about it. It was only later that I discovered how popular it is in homeschooling communities.

[Brenda in FL]

Anyone remember Sharon in TX (not Panama)? Back in 2001-2 (apprx), before my oldest started K, she handed me TWTM and told me everything I needed to know was in there!! I've been following a classical model since we started at K.

[ElizabethB]

It is what I wished my education had been, but wasn't.

 

I taught phonics for years, so had the strong phonics and spelling component already. I also already had taught myself a bit of Latin and Greek and had some Latin and Greek resources. (Years before having children!)

 

I also just love books and language.

 

So, I tell people only half-jokingly that I had to pick Classical Christian because I already owned most of the books I needed.

[Crimson Wife]

I read William Bennett's The Educated Child back when we were searching for an elementary school for my oldest. The "Core Knowledge" model really resonated with me, and I gradually came to realize that if I wanted my DD to have an education like that, I'd need to do it at home. I also read Mortimer J. Adler's Paideia books about the same time.

 

I didn't read TWTM until we already had decided to HS. A lady in my support group recommended that and Laura Barquist's Design Your Own Classical Catholic Curriculum when she heard that I was interested in classical education.

[KrissiK]

One of my girlfriends had just started home-educating her daughter (my kids were toddlers then) and was raving about this book she's reading about homeschooling (of course it was TWTM) and I picked it up and couldn't put it down. I knew that was how I was going to homeschool!

[Violet Crown]

My college major was an honors liberal arts program established in the 1930's in reaction to the disappearance of the "academic curriculum," or standard liberal arts program from all but specialized liberal arts colleges. This wasn't, strictly speaking, the old "classical curriculum" but its successor (but then, WTM isn't strictly speaking the "classical curriculum" either... ). Dh and I agreed that this was the model of education we wanted for our children, and were dismayed at the "education as job preparation" that was being sold in the '90's as the future of American schools.

 

Our first thought was to simply teach our children ourselves; we'd never heard of homeschooling, and it didn't even occur to us that it might be regulated--our children are our own, we were well-educated, how could anyone have the right to say no? (We were having this conversation in New York state, where dh was employed at the time; I'm glad we didn't just refrain from enrolling oldest dd in school without checking out the laws! Fortunately we moved to Texas before she was of school age.) It was a great surprise to find that others had already come up with this idea, with support groups and everything.

 

When I began to meet homeschoolers, I was given many books to read, most of them by a fellow named Holt. These were valuable, as they confirmed for us exactly what the progressive model of education was that had destroyed the academic/liberal arts model in American schools. Then a friend gave me a copy of The Well-Trained Mind, which was the first homeschooling resource I'd ever seen that was not entirely wrong; I was amazed to find myself agreeing with at least half of it. :D And we were off.

[prairiegirl]

I found it through Google. I was interested in hsing when my oldest was 3 so I googled it and WTM came up in the search. I checked out the site and the forum then ordered the book and was immediately hooked.

[Mama Geek]

I worked with several people for years that home schooled their children. One of the guys I worked with told me about the classical education. I came across this forum and TWTM when I was pregnant with dd.

[Mrs Mungo]

I started looking into homeschooling in 1999. Eldest was 4 and reading, but was not allowed to start K. TWTM had just come out. I read it, and the rest is history.

[Mommy22alyns]

I started to consider homeschooling when my oldest DD neared K age. Someone on another board recommended TWTM. I ordered it from Amazon and the rest is history!

[tntgoodwin]

I think it was from the Cathy Duffy curriculum book. That and just googling about homeschooling.

[*Lulu*]

TWTM was shelved next to another homeschool book I was looking for and I flipped through it. I quickly realized that many of the principles SWB had listed were things we were already doing or ideals we already held, but much more nicely organized and accessible than the jumble of thoughts in my head.

 

After reading TWTM I went on a researching binge that led to refining our scope and sequence as well as really and truly embracing our groove as an eclectic homeschooling family.

[Peela]

I had started homeschooling and had researched Waldorf homeschooling and Natural Learning...found my way to Charlotte Mason homeschooling and I kept seeing these negative references to Classical Homeschooling as being dry and extreme. But it made me curious and one day I ventured into the world of TWTM and never looked back.

[july19]

Pioneer Woman. Specifically, one of her contributors - Heather Sanders (aka OMSH).

 

She recommended the WTM book and I was sold. Hook, line, sinker, all that jazz. It made sense to me and basically spelled out what my scatterbrained head wanted to do.

[JenniferLynn]

In 2004, after finishing grad school and assuming I was done with formal education, I started thinking about the idea of the Renaissance Man which had always appealed to me. I found Dorothy Sayers' Lost Tools of Learning and then discovered TWTM. Classical education described what I had long been interested in for myself, and definitely for my children. I grew up reading a lot of pre-20th century books and the people in them were always quoting or studying Latin, reading Great Books type classics, etc. I wondered why I never did in school.

[Renee in NC]

I went to a classical high school in 7th grade. In 2001, I found TWTM in my library. It fit what I wanted.

 

FTR, we are *not* following TWTM in totality next year, but circumstances dictate it.

[HomeschoolingMy4]

I had a friend who was telling me about The Well Trained Mind and how good it was. I had wanted to read it for a while and finally, it was sitting out at my library and I grabbed it.. WOW! WHAT A GREAT IDEA!! LOL The idea of having a long term plan to your homeschool?! I love it!

[mom2a&z]

We had heard good things about a Christian School that was close to where we were moving to. They just happened to use a classical model and after researching it, I decided that was the way to go.

 

After four years, we could no longer afford the tuition, so I started looking into homeschooling and another mom told me about TWTM. I was already sold on the classical method, and after reading TWTM and a year of ps for both kids, I was convinced that I could homeschool. We haven't looked back.

[usetoschool]

Researching homeschooling materials and methods in the old Mary Pride books and on the Elijah Co. website back in the dark ages (1991). They used to have an article in all of their catalogs that explained all the different methods of homeschooling - unit studies, traditional, classical, Charlotte Mason, principle approach etc. Classical was the only method that ever really resonated with me.