Classical Approach
Now we venture into the realm of the classical.
The origin of this approach hails from Ancient Greece.
The days of Socrates and Aristotle and their famous love of rhetoric.
The Classical method focuses on what is essentially the trinity of knowledge foundations: grammar, logic and rhetoric.
The intention is to foster a love of knowledge. When the child has completed their training, the desire is for them to be eloquent and effective speakers and authors.
Certainly the strength of this approach is the broad and well established foundation of knowledge it promises its devoted students.
A firm set of skills to take with them into the world after graduation makes this an attractive teaching approach.
Also, for those who love history and literature, this method may just feel like a playlist of your favorite books.
It is a time consuming discipline, however, and will require vast amounts of preparation for the average homeschool parent.
There must be enormous time set aside to read all of the required or recommended material for each subject.
Though not true of all the publishers, the focus of this approach hinges on modeling the educational approach of ancient Greece. Personally, I am not a huge fan of the pagan culture of Ancient Greece. So I find it difficult to want to model their educational model which excluded women and was available to only certain classes.
As with all that came before, each publisher is to be judged independently.
In Summary:
Positives:
- Provides the students with a solid foundation to build their future paths upon.
- Includes a unique focus on history and the "great books."
- A very enjoyable approach for parent's who love literature and history.
Negatives:
- Is very time consuming and requires years of commitment to complete.
- Perhaps an overwhelming approach, especially for first time homeschool parents.
- May include a heavy focus on a pagan culture instead of a clear focus on a Christian worldview.