There are many different types of methods used by homeschool families. The school-at home-approach is where they usually begin and end up exploring many other methods such as Unschooling, Unit Studies, Charlotte Mason, Waldorf and Montessori to mention a few of the more popular ones. A system of studies which has been around since the middle ages is called the Classical Method.
What is the Classical Method?
The aim of the Classical method of learning was to teach the student how to learn for themselves. This is very much in alignment with the aim of homeschooling. The five tools of the Classical method were called the Trivium. They are Reason, Record, Research, Relate and Rhetoric. As you can see the system has a lot in common with the scientific method. Each tool comes in handy when the student needs to teach himself something new.
What are the Stages of the Classical Method?
There are three main stages of the Classical Method. These are the Grammar stage, the Logic stage and the Rhetoric stage. In the Grammar stage the homeschool student learns facts, memorizes data and gains new knowledge. In the Logic stage the reasoning and logic is used on the knowledge that has been accumulated so far. Finally in the Rhetoric stage the Trivium is completed as the student learns the skills of wisdom and judgment. For instance consider learning the multiplication tables part of the Grammar stage. Then using the knowledge to solve sums is the Logic stage. Using these two together to solve word problems would be the final Rhetoric stage.
Can Classical Method Be Used By Homeschool Teachers?
Yes, of course it can. While the original method was used to teach adults how to accumulate more knowledge, the tools of teaching in this method are still very good. They can be easily adapted to help homeschool teachers make their homeschool students more self reliant in the homeschool classroom. The idea of education is to ensure that the child being educated is able to handle the knowledge that is being bestowed on him. This is easily done via the Classical Method.
