When she was good,
She was very, very good,
And when she was bad she was horrid.From the poem “THERE WAS A LITTLE GIRL”
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Classical education is very popular right now. What are your opinions on this new-again fad?
“Hi Lee,
Have you ever evaluated or looked at “Classical Conversations”. friend of mine just found out about this and told me this is really taking the home schooling community by storm. Just wondered if you had any thoughts on this?”
~Tamera on Facebook
Hi Tamera,
I think it’s a good fit for some kids, and a really bad fit for others. It really depends on the child. Like your friend, I see it as a real trend – but that doesn’t mean that it’s a good fit for everyone, or even for the majority. When it’s not a good fit, it can really cause some serious burnout issues. When it’s a good fit, it’s very very good, but when it’s bad, it’s HORRID. I’ve seen the burnout with my own eyes, and it’s a very big concern, and something to really consider.
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Christianbook.com Curriculum Page
Kelly says:
Can you please explain how a classical education can be horrid?
June 5th, 2010 at 6:48 am
Karen Davis says:
Lee, I would totally agree with your assessment. The Classical Conversations communities are booming here and I help that along by creating a list for the greater Charlotte area (this includes two states and it can be confusing to navigate the CC website when looking at multiple sites). The leaders here are so very cooperative and there is a heart for giving that I see. However, it is a certain kind of approach that will not work for everyone as it is quite demanding and rigorous from what I can tell. It is also not the cheapest way to homeschool (good value for price and you can get it for less through teaching but it is still $$). It would not be suited to my students that I am currently teaching. But I do have a lot of friends who absolutely love it. What I wouldn’t want to see is someone being convinced that it is the “right” way to homeschool and thereby trying to squeeze their family into that mold when it may be a bad fit.
Karen Davis´s last blog ..Teaching Jane Austen
June 5th, 2010 at 7:40 am
Sandy says:
This is kind of how I view the Thomas Jefferson Education Fad that has been going around here in Utah. I have read the books and gleaned what I found useful to my homeschool, but it is amazing to me how the fads take over sometimes.
June 5th, 2010 at 7:43 am
Lee says:
Kelly,
Any great curriculum can be horrid if it is a mismatch with the student and/or parent. Think about math: Saxon may be a great curriculum, but it’s just not a fit for every child.
Blessings,
Lee
June 5th, 2010 at 8:04 am
Lisa Smith says:
I switched to classical this past year, after reading The Well-Trained Mind. It was our toughest year ever, but I finally felt like we were learning something. It seems to be a great fit for our family, but I do get how it would be a disaster for some – if your children were very hands-on and not as cerebral, they’d be miserable. (“Miser,” in Latin lol.) My kids loved the challenge of logic and Latin. My daugher even admitted, “Mom, even though I’ve argued about Latin all year, I’ve really loved it!” I’ve seen their self-confidence increase as they’ve mastered the harder subjects. So, it’s working for us, but I am glad not everyone has to do this anymore!
June 5th, 2010 at 9:00 am
Kristi says:
Any created tool to teach (or to do anything in life) is just that a tool. Something created that takes too high a place in our lives and we begin to “worship” it over the CREATOR GOD, then becomes an idol. This can happen with any “method” of education or basically anything in life. It can be very very good, if used to glorify God and very, very, bad if not. That said, our family has been very blessed by classical education for the last 10 years. It is an education that is strongly rooted in a “Christian Worldview” and when introduced to Classical Conversations we found it a great “tool” to use with our youngest child. Again, it is a tool, NEVER to be worshiped, but used to glorify God. Their motto is “to glorify God and make Him known”. What other over-arching goal could we want for our child’s education? I think “horrid” is a word that could be used to describe many methods of education, just not sure it is the right adjective in this instance. Obviously, what you witnessed first hand, was a wrong priority of the “tool”, not the “tool” of classical education itself.
June 5th, 2010 at 10:09 am