This is fascinating! Thank you for diving into this subject. I actually chose not to do classical education in our homeschool for this exact reason. I tried to implement MODG for my k&1 sons last year and gave up by Christmas. We were drowning. Now we have a much more simple approach and (gasp) it's working!
Praise God that you had the courage to course-correct to meet your children's needs. I think that a lot of schools and parents feel trapped once they've chosen a curriculum. Keep me updated on how things go. I'm always interested in how parents manage multi-grade-level work at home without splitting themselves in half. Especially once there are more than 3 kids, it seems like the only way to survive is to have older kids help the younger ones, but that is only second-hand from what homeschooling parents have told me.
We currently have kids in 2nd grade, 1st grade and Pre-K and we are cultivating a lot of independent work- which is actually working! I absolutely agree with you that many people don't want to change curriculum because of costs or just the comfort of know what to expect. But if it isn't working for your kids, no matter how beautiful it is, it's not working.
I'm so glad to hear that! In future posts, I'll be introducing several similar Jesuit authors speaking on Classical education, but he's the best I've found so far.
I was always a big fan of Dr. Art Robinson’s views on home education. As a homeschooler for over 15 years now, I’ve learned less is more. Providing the materials needed and the basics: reading, writing & math including vocabulary work is pretty much all you need to provide. When the child’s natural talents & gifts begin to shine then provide the necessary resources to allow them to thrive utilizing the gifts God blessed them with. I believe education has gotten ridiculously complicated and we’ve forgotten to teach the very basics of virtue training and how to think! When we seem to be producing robots instead of individual, thinking human beings, I literally weep for the future in my heart. In my humble opinion, it seems as if we are going backwards in every sense, especially in lack of education. We’re becoming more illiterate as a society.
I am coming from the view point of public education. I remember how awful my personal education was because of a very broken system and I was realizing this in High school. I read and I read a lot! I educated myself far better than any amount of schooling has ever done minus a few exceptional teachers who provided mentorship and who believed in me.
I’ll stop myself now before this turns into a long rant as I’m quite passionate about this topic. I appreciate learning from your writings and Dr. Perrin’s work as well. It does make me wonder how my view’s might be different if I had experienced a good quality, classical education? 🤔
I completely agree, and it's a battle I have to have internally constantly to question if the work we do in schools could be done by just providing a reading list. I'm ultimately of the opinion that it is (hence this substack exists), but the nuances of education vs. a reading list are important. Please look forward to a thorough look into this in the next few weeks. Homeschool is incredible. My own children are too young for school, but my in-laws all have homeschooled and received full or near full-scholarships to college due to their superior achievements. Personally, I see it as the last option when either finances or the broken system have gone too far. There are things that homeschooling by its nature cannot provide without extensive co-op work, and they were actually the entire point of education in the Classical period. Primarily, those qualities are oratory, debate, and competition. Competition may have a bad taste now, but I will be examining it in light of the Ratio Studiorum soon.
At St. John's College we had an all-required curriculum with few classes and did just fine. Mathematics 4 years, Language 4 years, Laboratory 3 years, Music 1 year, Seminar 4 years, and two half-semesters of Preceptorial (the only elective you get). Unlike many who seem to find higher ed increasingly hollow, my college years were the most learning-dense of my life by far.
This is fascinating! Thank you for diving into this subject. I actually chose not to do classical education in our homeschool for this exact reason. I tried to implement MODG for my k&1 sons last year and gave up by Christmas. We were drowning. Now we have a much more simple approach and (gasp) it's working!
Praise God that you had the courage to course-correct to meet your children's needs. I think that a lot of schools and parents feel trapped once they've chosen a curriculum. Keep me updated on how things go. I'm always interested in how parents manage multi-grade-level work at home without splitting themselves in half. Especially once there are more than 3 kids, it seems like the only way to survive is to have older kids help the younger ones, but that is only second-hand from what homeschooling parents have told me.
We currently have kids in 2nd grade, 1st grade and Pre-K and we are cultivating a lot of independent work- which is actually working! I absolutely agree with you that many people don't want to change curriculum because of costs or just the comfort of know what to expect. But if it isn't working for your kids, no matter how beautiful it is, it's not working.
Thanks James for this post and acquainting me with Robert Schwickerath. I am off to secure his book...
I'm so glad to hear that! In future posts, I'll be introducing several similar Jesuit authors speaking on Classical education, but he's the best I've found so far.
I was always a big fan of Dr. Art Robinson’s views on home education. As a homeschooler for over 15 years now, I’ve learned less is more. Providing the materials needed and the basics: reading, writing & math including vocabulary work is pretty much all you need to provide. When the child’s natural talents & gifts begin to shine then provide the necessary resources to allow them to thrive utilizing the gifts God blessed them with. I believe education has gotten ridiculously complicated and we’ve forgotten to teach the very basics of virtue training and how to think! When we seem to be producing robots instead of individual, thinking human beings, I literally weep for the future in my heart. In my humble opinion, it seems as if we are going backwards in every sense, especially in lack of education. We’re becoming more illiterate as a society.
I am coming from the view point of public education. I remember how awful my personal education was because of a very broken system and I was realizing this in High school. I read and I read a lot! I educated myself far better than any amount of schooling has ever done minus a few exceptional teachers who provided mentorship and who believed in me.
I’ll stop myself now before this turns into a long rant as I’m quite passionate about this topic. I appreciate learning from your writings and Dr. Perrin’s work as well. It does make me wonder how my view’s might be different if I had experienced a good quality, classical education? 🤔
I completely agree, and it's a battle I have to have internally constantly to question if the work we do in schools could be done by just providing a reading list. I'm ultimately of the opinion that it is (hence this substack exists), but the nuances of education vs. a reading list are important. Please look forward to a thorough look into this in the next few weeks. Homeschool is incredible. My own children are too young for school, but my in-laws all have homeschooled and received full or near full-scholarships to college due to their superior achievements. Personally, I see it as the last option when either finances or the broken system have gone too far. There are things that homeschooling by its nature cannot provide without extensive co-op work, and they were actually the entire point of education in the Classical period. Primarily, those qualities are oratory, debate, and competition. Competition may have a bad taste now, but I will be examining it in light of the Ratio Studiorum soon.
You look forward to reading more!
Oops, maybe that should read Mr. Perrin.
I thought he had a doctorate, but I'll have to check.
At St. John's College we had an all-required curriculum with few classes and did just fine. Mathematics 4 years, Language 4 years, Laboratory 3 years, Music 1 year, Seminar 4 years, and two half-semesters of Preceptorial (the only elective you get). Unlike many who seem to find higher ed increasingly hollow, my college years were the most learning-dense of my life by far.
What a fabulous quote/ summary of the important aspects of a true education. I look forward to this series!