The Classical Historian - Modern American History

What is Classical Education?

Classical educators believe that a student's learning is divided into three stages. The early years are called the Grammar Stage. At this stage, children are sponges. They absorb information from everywhere. It is important to focus on learning facts and rules. Around age 11 or 12, students begin to express themselves more and form more of their own opinions. This is called the Dialectic or Logic Stage. This is when students should start to learn the tools of learning. They learn things like paragraph construction. They can learn WHY people fought a war as opposed to just memorizing dates and details. The final stage is called the Rhetoric Stage. This is when students really learn to dig into research, form, and defend their opinions.

The Classical Historian uses a five step program to teach history in a Classical style of education.

1. The Grammar of History
2. The Tools of the Historian
3. Research
4. The Socratic Discussion
5. Analytical Essays

What is the Socratic Discussion?

"Socrates noted that the best teacher and most intelligent philosopher is one who knows what he does not know." At the Dialectic and Rhetoric Stages, it is still important to cover the basic Who, What, When, Where, Why, How questions. However, now we must also ask the students "What evidence do you have that supports this?" Our job is to point them to the documents and research. This opens up a whole new level of thinking and discussion. To learn more, click here.

I really like the idea of Classical Education and the Socratic Discussion. Up to this point, we have had a very relaxed style of homeschooling. That actually fits, in my opinion, with the Grammar Stage. However, my oldest is now 14 (almost 15) and well beyond the Grammar Stage. Looking at The Classical Historian has helped me to see how I can direct him as we begin our high school journey.

This is the package I received here. The DVD is very thorough and really explains the program very well. I got three books along with the DVD. "The Classical Historian: The Socratic Discussion in History" is basically the nuts and bolts of the program. It covers in more detail the specifics of how to teach in the classical style. It also covers grading and the basics of writing an essay and more. The second book is the 32-week guide for Modern American History. This is your lesson plans and answer key. The third book is "Take a Stand! Modern American History, Reading, Discussing, and Writing." This is basically the student assignment book, including some mechanics on writing. It teaches students how to be historians. What this does not include is a history textbook. It encourages students to use textbooks and source documents to research and find evidence on their own. It does not tell them what facts need to be memorized, rather teaches them how to think. In the short time I had to review this, I am not able to judge whether or not this will work for us, however I am looking forward to digging into it more. I will definitely be incorporating it in with our history and literature program for the year.

But wait, there's more:

So my little one wouldn't be left out of the fun, we also got to play one of the history games from The Classical Historian. Ancient History Go Fish was the most fun we've had with school in a long time. My 10yo was so excited we were playing and learning on a Saturday. They have Go Fish and Memory games for Ancient, Medieval, and American History. I'm thinking I may order more of them. At $11.95 for the Go Fish games and $14.95 for the Memory games, they are certainly affordable.

I received these products for review in exchange for my honest opinion. I received no other compensation.

Focus on History

People complain about how messed up the world is today. They say, "It's getting so bad." Yeah, the world is messed up, but it's not a new thing. Pick up any history book and start reading. In fact, start at the beginning. Just read the book of Genesis in the Bible. Wow, that is beyond a PG13 rating there. However, there are also many good things happening today and in history. We need to appreciate the good, and learn from both the good and the bad.

I heard a rumor that my current state of residence no longer feels it is important to teach about the American Revolution in schools. That doesn't really surprise me. Why would a government trying to gain more control of the people teach about the dangers of a government with too much power?

I spent two days this week, trying to figure out our school plan. I have been so frustrated with trying to teach history. I can't find a curriculum that covers everything in a way to make it stick. I liked using Mystery of History. It was a great overview of the time period, but I don't think it went in depth enough. I was left wanting more. I like the concept of My Father's World. It lays out plans using tons of books and even living books. However, I just didn't like all of it. What to do? Create my own plans. I love the way unit studies incorporate so many different subjects and elements into them. I also love living books. I love adding movies into our studies. I haven't completed my plans, but came up with an initial plan that we will start on Monday.

It's been nearly a year since my last blog post. After hearing about the non teaching of history, and my planning days, I feel inspired to get back to it. As we go through the plan that I've created, I'd like to share it with you. Maybe it can inspire others who have been sharing my frustration with finding the right fit for our family. Let me start with my overview.

About halfway through my first planning day, I had my light bulb moment. First, I had to set a goal. What is it that I want to accomplish? My oldest is in 7th grade. I have grand thoughts of a 4 year plan of attack for high school, starting with ancient history in 9th grade. Therefore, I need to get through our current cycle by May 2013. I calculated that gives me 15 months to get through 3 centuries of history. Fifteen is fabulously divisible by three. That gives me 5 months per century. I spent the rest of my two days planning out the first segment. We are studying the 18th century (aka the 1700's). For you history buffs, you know that encompasses a ton of information. The key is narrowing down what to cover. I will post more about our specific projects and lessons as we work through them. I'll share all the good, bad and ugly of it. I'm sure, as usual, some of it will go great, and we will struggle to keep up with some, and we'll probably have some utter failures too.

To my friends: Right now, I am very excited about this and really want to share and post about everything. I give you permission to hold me accountable. When my excitement starts to wane, I need to continue to post.