How to Find the Right Classical Education Curriculum
Kayley Kenzie
The Trivium is the basis of the classical education curriculum. As its name suggests, the curriculum is separated into three phases. The grammar stage is the first, and it corresponds with grades one through six.
Because children's physical brain development and cognitive thinking skills are not yet mature, it is important to focus on concrete information. In other words, kids at this age should just learn facts.
Although some kids this young like to know the whys and hows of everything, their minds are really just equipped to absorb the whats. You can of course explains whys and hows to your child, but the focus is elsewhere in the grammar stage.
The whats create the foundation for the whys and hows later one. These are the tools your children will need to answer philosophical questions and develop higher thinking. For the most part, children in the first stage can't grasp or process reason.
This is due to the fact that they don't have the skills to reason, or the background knowledge to process it.
This is what makes the first stage in the classical education curriculum so convenient. Although the grammar stage is grounded only in the facts, it creates a foundation for all other forms of learning to take place in the following stages.
All the work in the other two phases requires this firm foundation.
The next phase in classical education curriculum is the dialect stage. Children can start this phase usually between grade 5 and grade 7.
A child's mind at this stage develops noticeably, exhibiting cognitive skills that allow him or her to mature to analytical learning.
When a child moves from stage to stage, the previous methods are not abandoned. The classical education curriculum is cumulative. Analytical though is simply added and developed side by side with concrete learning.
The first stage is where the child learns facts and concrete information. It is in the dialect stage that he or she is also introduced to whys and hows. The dialect stage emphasizes the importance of understanding "why things are the way they are."
In this stage, a child begins to test the facts that he/she has learned in the grammar stage to determine if they were in reality true. This self-examination of determining truth is a very important step in the development of thinking skills.
In this stage of classical education curriculum, children are introduced to the importance and the need to ask questions, analyze, judge, and examine in a respectful way. There is no need to be disrespectful when asking questions.
not getting defensive when children ask questions, parents and teachers can encourage a positive atmosphere. Setting a good example helps children learn that you can be respectful and disagree.
The rhetoric stage, or last phase in classical education curriculum, usually begins somewhere around 9th grade and ends with 12th.
Language, literature, math, history, music, philosophy, oratory, writing, and science are subjects that are all commonly taught. This is the arena where all the phases join as one, putting everything into practice.
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