Classical Home Schooling
Where We Came From, Where We're Going
By Andrew Kern
Printed in Practical Home Schooling #25, 1998.
Once upon a time, thousands of years ago, classical education
happened at home. In fact, Cicero declared that state
involvement in education was contrary to the Roman character.
When the Renaissance brought about the renewal of ancient
learning, children were frequently taught classically at home.
Since then, many of the most important minds of western culture,
such as Pascal, John Stuart Mill, and Abraham Lincoln, have been
homeschooled.
Today, the modern homeschooling movement is giving classical
education a new form. Since that statement may surprise some
readers, maybe we should back up a step and clarify what we are
talking about. What on earth is classical education?
It isn't prep school. It isn't the study of all sorts of
exclusive subjects studied in order to show the superiority of
the child who studied them, the family bloodline, or the school
he attended. Quite the contrary:
- Classical education is the application of the universally
necessary principles of education. In the final analysis, I
believe classical Christian education is the only kind of
education there is.
- It is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue through the
nourishment of the soul on truth, goodness, and beauty.
- It is an education that respects the cultural heritage in
which the student is growing.
- In order to fulfill its goals, it uses a methodology
built around the trivium (the arts for using words) and the
quadrivium (the arts for using numbers and space).
Many homeschoolers are classical without knowing it because of
their educational goals. In fact, most of the people who buy
into the classical vision don't do so because it is new and
exciting, but because it ties together and explains so many of
the things they have long desired: virtue and wisdom, skill
using words and numbers, and a heart to value and sustain their
heritage (Christian, western, American, and family).
The classical curriculum gives a form to those desires. It does
not exclude apprenticeship or training. It simply recognizes
that everybody needs wisdom and virtue, skill at using words and
numbers, and respect for their heritage while not everyone needs
to be able to use a computer or fix a tractor. Classical
education puts everything in its place and thus enables
everything to fulfill its purpose.
The war for the soul of America, contested in the realm of
educational theory, was fought fiercely around the time of World
War I. The progressives, led by John Dewey, and his school,
believed that education was a forum for experience and training.
The classicists believed that the goal was wisdom and virtue.
The progressives won all the major battles, and, frankly, most
Christians of the time, being practical Americans trained in
favoring "a good job" over "fruit for eternity," were
comfortable with the results.
A movement back to classical education began almost immediately.
Its most important leader has been Mortimer Adler, who has
written a number of brilliant books on education and founded a
movement called The Paideia Program. In addition he edited and
promoted the 52-volume Great Books of the Western World.
Dorothy Sayers fired a volley from England with her seminal
article "The Lost Tools of Learning," in which she described the
trivium as the key to an educational revival. Douglas Wilson's
Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning propelled the ideas of
Dorothy Sayers to the vanguard of popular reform theory.
As the classical ideas of Adler, Sayers, Wilson, et al., were
filtering down from the theorists, homeschooling formed into a
powerful movement. The two ideas joined hands in the pages of
The Teaching Home magazine, which published the "Lost Tools"
article by Dorothy Sayers some ten years ago. It sparked a
tremendous interest among homeschoolers, but many felt
frustrated because detailed curricula and methodology were not
yet developed.
Nonetheless, in characteristic homeschooling fashion, a number
of families stepped forward to pioneer the old path. The
Bluedorns created Trivium Pursuit. In the early 90's Canon Press
began making its materials available. Laura Behrquist published
an excellent manual (Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum,
Ignatius Press) specially written for the Catholic homeschooler,
but eminently useful for any interested in classical education.
Douglas Wilson, Doug Jones, and Wes Callihan wrote a handbook on
the classical Christian homeschool (Classical Education and the
Home School, from Canon Press). And homeschooling has always
been well-represented at the Association of Classical and
Christian Schools (ACCS) conferences.
Then classical homeschooling hit the Internet. Linda Robinson
and others began Scholars Online Academy. Fritz Hinrichs, a
graduate of St. John's College (another of Adler's great
achievements) joined them with his Escondido Tutorial Service.
Recently, David and Jennifer Hoos have published a weekly
Internet newsletter for classical schoolers, called CCS Digest.
Most of the readers are homeschoolers.
Meanwhile, Foundations Academy, where I work, pioneered the
classical school/homeschool co-op. It makes seminars available
to homeschooling high schoolers on such subjects as logic,
Latin, classical history and literature, and composition.
Finally, just this year, Veritas Press developed a full-fledged
classical curriculum catalogue, a giant step further, presenting
in its pages not only the books needed but an implicit scope and
sequence as well.
Both the power and wisdom of classical Christian education have
grown. We have reached a decisive moment. We may soon see the
fulfillment of Michael Farris's suggestion that classical
education will be the method of choice for the future of
homeschooling. Whether this happens or not depends on
developments I believe we will soon see. What should we watch
for?
- A broader and clearer understanding of what is meant by
classical Christian education, especially its universality, its
emphasis on ideas, and the application of its methodology across
the curriculum
- Increased cooperation between classical schools and homeschools, especially at the higher levels
- Forums for further discussion of classical education as
applied to the homeschool - conferences, Web sites, Internet
forums, magazine articles, and so on
- Increased variety in curriculum available
- More people who understand classical education and can explain
it to people who have to live real lives while they raise their
children
I believe we may see some other exciting developments, but they
may not take place for some time. For example, one of my great
desires is to see a classical Christian school for children with
special needs. I believe it is uniquely suited, for example, to
teach a child with Down's syndrome.
I believe that the time has come for homeschooling to fulfill
itself in the ideals and vision of classical Christian home
education.
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