Exploring Classical Curriculum

If you have any involvement in education, it’s likely that you’ve heard of the classical curriculum movement. There are a number of different people who have really started to push this sort of education as being important to the educational process.

 

Classical curriculum uses three levels of education – primary education, secondary education, and tertiary education. 

Primary education is for younger students, secondary education is for older students, and tertiary education is what many of us refer to as college. 

-          Primary education focuses on grammar (language), rhetoric (the ability to argue and debate with others), and logic (the ability to process information and make sense of it). Since many curricula now focus on testing requirements, primary students do not get as many of these elements and most schools don’t explore some of them until secondary education has begun. 

-          Secondary education used to be referred to as the “quadrivium", focusing on four main areas of thought – geometry, music, arithmetic, and astronomy. These areas of thought are much more abstract, which helps to challenge students that were used to working with tangible objects and ideas. Students that are in secondary education learn how to manipulate ideas better, and to utilize those ideas in order to discover how the world around them came to be.

-          Tertiary education is what has developed into university or college for many of us. This is where a student would learn the specific skills that they would need in order to succeed in a particular field. Classical curriculum is where the modern idea of “majors” and “minors” have come into play at universities. In some schools that work with classical curriculum, they will also start this sort of teaching methodology during their high school years, in places such as tech schools or by working with colleges to do early start programs for some general education courses. 

If you’re looking for a school that uses a primary Classical curriculum as part of their educational system, then you will want to check out East Lake Academy, a private, Roman Catholic school that is supported by the Chicago Archdiocese. Check out their website at http://eastlakeacademy.org, or, call them at 847.247.0035.  

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What Are the Benefits of Classical Curriculum?

Classical curriculum is a form of education where the classical forms of education are used in order to develop a curriculum that helps children to reach their fullest potential as a part of their educational process. That being said, what is the advantage of this sort of curriculum? How can it help our children to get a better rounded education? That’s what we’re going to look at here.

First, classical curriculum helps later generations to keep passing on the information and the history that we have been granted from those who came before us. We don’t want to forget the art, the literature, and the other great things that have been brought about from our forefathers. Classical curriculum brings all of those things into focus and gives students easy access to such things. You’ll see students reading classical literature, discussing ideas from philosophers, and learning about historical events. All of these are taught in an engaging manner, so to help students feel how relevant this information is to our modern day. 

Another advantage to a Classical Curriculum preschools is that it helps students to get the broadest education that they can get. Many parents complain that their students are only getting taught how to take tests, which makes it difficult for them to learn how to think and how to develop logical arguments in a variety of ways. Classical curriculum focuses on those traits so that students can grasp those ideas and succeed in the best ways possible. Students take a variety of subjects, from the fine and performing arts, to history, to abstract thinking, and more. This helps them prepare for their university education or any other type of higher education that they may want to pursue later on in life. 

 Last, but not least, Classical Curriculum helps students to realize that, yes, they can be in charge of what they are learning and they can learn information throughout the rest of their lives. They don’t necessarily need to have a teacher in order to learn new information. Teachers can be incredibly helpful, but ultimately, it’s important that a student understand how to teach themselves skills, information, or whatever else that they may need in order to succeed in their lifetime. Teachers in a classical curriculum work with students in order to help them learn how to learn, instead of teaching them to take some sort of assessment tool or test.

If a classical curriculum is something that you’d like your student to be involved in, you will want to check out what they have to offer at East Lake Academy in Lake Forest, Illinois (website: http://eastlakeacademy.org). East Lake Academy is a Roman Catholic institution that is privately run, and supported by the Archdiocese of Chicago. You can take a look at their website in order to learn more about the school, or you can contact them directly at 847.247.0035, and a staff member will answer any questions that you may have about the school and their curriculum. 

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