Workshop on Classical Education

Last night I watched one of the free workshops from the Online Great Homeschool Convention that’s running at the moment. I signed up for the free VIP registration which gives access to a number of the talks and workshops. Bear in mind that the live stream ones don’t mesh so well with NZ time however!

The workshop I watched was called “Meet the Lab Rats” with Christian authors and siblings Rachel Jankovic, ND Wilson and Rebekah Merkle. In it they discussed what classical education is, and drew on their own experiences as homeschoolers and Christian school educators to give a picture of this style of education. They were educated in America’s first classical education school which was founded by their father, Douglas Wilson.

I found their workshop not only informative and interesting, but also inspiring! They explained how the classical approach is designed to make the most of the different stages of childhood development, teaching kids the things they are most likely to appreciate at the optimum times. For example, in the ‘pert’ years of early adolescence kids are primed for arguing. Rather than try to shut that down, classical education teaches them to argue respectfully and well, without getting offended.

They also discussed the importance of training your kids at age-appropriate levels. So for example, with a teenager you shouldn’t baby them by restricting them to watching cartoons. Instead, you should be exposing them to more challenging movies and books and engaging with them about the themes and worldviews being expressed or subtly promoted. They mentioned how their dad approached media such as MTV music videos when they were growing up. Instead of either totally shielding them from these, or allowing them unfettered and unsupervised access, he deliberately showed them and asked them what the underlying messages were. This approach caused them to become disenchanted with the culture, rather than either scared of it or enticed by it.

Rachel Jankovic, ND Wilson and Rebekah Merkle are really intelligent, onto-it and wise people who have their fingers on the pulse of culture. They really get Christian worldview and how that impacts parenting and education of children. I highly recommend watching this workshop!