The "classical" method began in the Middle Ages and was the approach used by some of the greatest minds in history. The goal of the classical approach is to teach people how to learn for themselves. The five tools of learning, known as the Trivium, are reason, record, research, relate, and rhetoric. Younger children begin with the preparing stage, where they learn basic reading, writing, and arithmetic. The grammar stage is next, which emphasizes compositions and collections, and then the dialectic stage, where serious reading, study, and research take place.
Typical Classical Homeschooling Schedule
(For children under age ten)
- 5-6:30 a.m. Parents rise, children rise, showers, dressing, early morning chores
- 7:00 a.m. Breakfast, morning family meeting or worship
- 8:00 a.m. Daily chores from a predetermined list
- 8:30-9:30 a.m. General lessons, where children:
- recite memory work
- practice reading
- practice oral narration
- 9:30-10:15 a.m. Mother reads aloud to all the children (child's choice)
- 10:15-11:30 a.m.
- phonics instruction
- copy work (the student will copy verbatim a written piece, like the Constitution, that is at their level)
- history notebook and time line (For the time line the children keep a running time line where they can note names of people and events that they are currently studying. The history notebook is laid out by date, and children add information from their copy work, photos from their field trip to the Civil War reenactment, or their entry into the National History Day Competition).
- 11:30 a.m. Prepare lunch and straighten house
- Noon. Lunch and midday chores
- 1:00 p.m. Naps and quiet time
- 2-2:45 p.m. Mother reads aloud (children may do arts and crafts at the same time). Children finish up their oral narrations.
- 2:45-4:30 p.m. Finish up academic work from the morning, play time, walks, field trips, library, and volunteering
- 4:40-5:00 p.m. Prepare supper, straighten house
- 5:00 p.m. Supper and evening chores
- 6:30 p.m. Evening family worship (optional)
- 7-7:45 p.m. Father reads aloud to the family
- 7:45-8:30 p.m. Family activities (like games)
- 8:30-9:00 p.m. Prepare for bed
- 9:00 p.m. Bedtime