Classical education is based on the Trivium. The Trivium in Latin means ?the three fold way?. The Trivium can be broken down like this: K-6 grade, students like to memorize, grades 7-8, students are argument orientated and in grades 9-12, students become independent thinker and communicators. Children at this age are particularly concerned with their appearance to others and classical education teaches them rhetoric, the art of speaking, and writing.

Young children in grades K-6 are very good at memorizing. They love to repeat songs, rhymes, and chants. Sometimes they will even make up their own. The ?grammar? phase corresponds with this natural tendency by teaching the facts. Children in grades 7-8 start questioning and arguing. The ?logic? phase teaches children how to argue well, based on facts that have been learned. Children in grades 9-12 become independent thinkers and communicators. They are also very concerned with how others perceive them. This phase is called the ?Rhetoric? phase. They are taught in this phase how to convey their thoughts so that they are well received and understood by others. It develops a true sense of accomplishment.

The classical method encourages children to do what they naturally enjoy, during each particular phase of their life.

In your own home school you might have two definitions for classical education according to how you perceive it. The first definition could be this: Classical education is rigorous; language-history based and uses the educational stages of the Trivium as an organizing principle. The second definition could be this: Classical education focuses on classical languages, literature, history, art, and music and uses the Trivium as its organizing principle.

Classical education ?experts? would probably argue with me about the music part, but my children love music, so I put that in there too and don't forget to add math!

If you have not tried classical education, give it a try. You could do a little at a time until you get used to it. You might find that you either love it, hate it, or you just want to do a little bit of it, like I do in our home school. Just remember to keep it fun, be flexible, and keep your mind open to different ways of thinking and learning.