My heart got burdened, my mind needed to be changed.
All my plans needed to change.
Isn't it so frustrating - when we think we know what's right but God says "Nope, do things this way!"?
Here's what happened.
I visited a community day of Classical Conversations with a friend.
I learned there are different models of education - modern and classical.
The Classical model of education. What is THAT?
More research, more visiting, more praying.
- note: my husband, while less actively involved, was definitely consulted. We went to conferences together, discussed goals for our girls, etc. He knows what I'm getting our girls into and is all for it. I just did a lot of the foot work because I am the stay at home mom. Part of the job description.
- Ephesians 6:22-23
- "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
- For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body."
- Titus 2:3-5
- "The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
- That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
- To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."
The Classical model is VERY different than modern teaching.
A Classical Christian model is even more so.
I'll give a brief summary/idea for those of you not familiar with it. Then, I will give references that I have used and/or am reading if you want to look deeper.
First, Classical refers to the fact that learning takes place in three stages - grammar, logic, rhetoric.
In the first years of brain development, memorization is what it does best (grammar, the foundation of knowledge).
Then, the brain begins to ask questions to try and make sense of all the information (dialectic, the why and how).
Finally, you are able to express your own opinions and views (rhetoric, explaining and teaching).
- Think about when you learn something new. If I wanted to learn to do carpentry, I would first need to learn the terminology used (grammar), then why I would use one type of saw over another (dialectic), and then I could actually build something (rhetoric).
Another difference that stuck out to me is the fact that all subjects are connected in a Classical model. What you learn in history connects with English, science, etc. It's not separated and seemingly unrelated.
- I believe this to be soooooo important. Connecting the different aspects of life one to another is hard enough, if you aren't taught now they connect, it's so easy to compartmentalize life in destructive ways.
Classical education is different in a few other ways, so here is an article that tells you more without being and entire book.
https://welltrainedmind.com/a/classical-education/
A Christian education is, of course, Christ (therefore God) centered.
It's a worldview thing.
Ephesians 6:1-4
1
Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
2
Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)
3
That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
4
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Matthew 22:37-38
37
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38
This is the first and great commandment
No education is without some religious lean. If we try to "leave religion out of it", we are then teaching with a humanist/atheistic worldview.
Douglas Wilson said in his book "God is the Light in which we see and understand everything else. Without Him, the universe is a fragmented pile of incomprehensible particulars... Christian education must therefore present all subjects as parts of an integrated whole with the Scriptures at the center."
A few pages later, he said "The Christian educator's job is not to require the students to spend all their time gazing at the sun. Rather, we want them to examine everything else in the light the sun provides. It would be utmost folly to try to blacken the sun in order to be able to study the world around us 'objectively'."
(Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning)
Putting those two together is going to be a huge challenge for me. The Christian part in making sure all my materials either reflect the correct worldview, or I use them appropriately.
The Classical part because there is a LOT I myself am going to have to learn/relearn.
I am not comfortable >teaching< a Classical Christian model of education for one reason only - I am new to it.
I do know, however, that this is what God wants for my children. I know it, better than I have known a lot of decisions in the past.
I also know that, where God guides, He provides.
Now, maybe you want a Christian education for your child(ren), but don't want to mess with the Classical model. Go for it! You can still put God at the center of your child's education using the modern education model.
Or, perhaps you don't want a Christian education for your child, but the Classical model intrigues you. Look into it some more, I bet you can find a way.
Me, I am praying and finding a way to do what God wants for my children.
I've joined Classical Conversations. It's pretty much a curriculum and co-op put together. Like anything, you need to provide some outside learning. Reading/writing isn't included, nor basic addition/subtraction/etc.
Plus side: it provides SO much of what I've been looking for - curriculum, community, Christ-centeredness.
Down side: it's a bit on the expensive side as there is tuition.
However, there are ways to step up and off-set the cost. I'm going to tutor during the community meeting days, which is a big help. Not just financially, but it gives me (personally) an extra bit of accountability to force me to prepare each week.
Also, other than the teacher guide and tin whistle, you don't need to buy anything new unless you want to. There are some very useful extras, but I'm going to wait a year or so before spending the money.
So really, I think it is every bit worth the financial commitment. I remind myself constantly, if God wants this, He will provide for it.
And so, in about two weeks, our community meetings begin. I am still working on a complete understanding of it all, but I do have enough of a grasp to begin climbing. Mainly due to books, websites, the parent practicum, and the community group.
God always points where He wants you to go. I've been working on this post for a week, still praying and insecure with making such a big decision. Yet, this week, as I read my book about Classical Christian education, as I continue to pray and go to church, as I pay attention to other people preparing their children for the new school year - God has told me that, yes, this is what HE wants me to do.
So, we will go. We will do.
Here am I, Lord, send me. My mission field is my children, I will go where I am not comfortable.
Here are references I've either looked at or are on my list.
* Dorothy Sayers "The Lost Tools of Learning" (read, available online for free, and is also in the back of the following books)
* Classical Christian Education Made Approachable. (First one read, a great intro)
* Douglas Wilson - "Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning" (reading through this currently)
* https://www.circeinstitute.org/resources-web-features/recommended-articles
- This website has a good bit of useful info, it was one of my first sources.
* https://welltrainedmind.com/a/classical-education/
- Similar to the above website
* https://www.classicalconversations.com/
- This gives a more limited amount of introductory info, but if you decide to do with it, there's is a cheap subscription that is very worth it.
* "The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide To Classical Education at Home"
- I've read parts of this
* Leigh Bortins - "The Core"
- On my list, the author came up with Classical Conversations
* CS Lewis - "The Abolition of Man"
- It's CS Lewis! Definitely next on my list
* David Hicks - "Norms and Nobility"
- The quotes I've read from this are phenomenal.
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