Collegium Study
Grammar Level
Core Components:
History and
Literature : Because we are made in the image of God, we humans
tend to see our lives in terms of stories. We love to hear of the
works of our great God, we recite the poetry of the heroes of the Bible and
antiquity, and we even create our own dramas to reenact their
great feats when we play pretend. The Classical Christian
Core studies are designed to work with that natural bent towards story in
us. Boys and girls at this level read, in chronological order, the stories
of the West with particular attention to virtue and
character in the main players on that stage. To develop
historical awareness, the Classical Christian Core studies also take full
advantage of another natural tendency in the young--the ability to memorize
easily. Through song and recitation, students learn the important dates,
events, and people of Western Civilization.
Grammar and
Writing: As in the Christian life, the word, both spoken
and written, is central to classical Christian education. After all, even
our God is called the Word. Because of this centrality, every
Christian needs to develop skill in handling language, and the Classical
Christian Core studies provide a strong foundation that works, again, with our
natural tendencies. With song and rhyme students memorize
the parts of speech, learn to parse English sentences with dexterity,
and learn to punctuate properly. Through analysis and imitation of
narratives told by master storytellers, students learn to write and
tell their own stories.
Latin: Latin, traditionally, has been
at the heart of classical Christian studies, and even though many have
abandoned it as irrelevant for modern people, we see great value in maintaining
this tradition. Latin studies are essentially about language study,
and while other languages might work as well, they cannot connect us to our
past the way Latin can. Latin is also difficult, and like all worthwhile things,
it comes to us only with great labor. That hard work sharpens
our learning skills in the process. We learn from that
experience, not just Latin itself, but what we're made of. If we conquer
it, we know we can learn difficult things; if we fail, we know we can
survive defeat and keep learning. This is what the tools of learning are
all about: learning how to learn anything.
For
our Latin program we build in small increments, and as with the other two parts
of the core, we work with a child's natural tendencies. Chants and songs
are perfect tools for memorizing Latin conjunctions and declensions and for
honing learning skills.
The Sequence of
Courses:
Grammar Level 1
(typically 2nd-3rd grade age): Old Testament/Ancient
Egypt, full scope and sequence coming soon for
each!
Grammar Level
2 (typically 3rd-4th grade
age):
Grammar Level 3 (typically 4th-5th grade age): Medieval, Renaissance
and Reformation,
Grammar Level 4 (typically 5th-6th grade age): Explorers to
1815
Grammar Level 5
(typically 6th-7th grade age): 1815 to Present
Dialectic Level Core
Components:
History and Literature:
We never lose that love for story as we mature, so we continue the
dialectic studies with more stories, stories that cause us to ask big questions,
normative questions about how we should live. And we read old books--the
books that "keep the clean sea-breeze of the centuries blowing through our
minds" and prevent us from the blindness to errors of our own age that
occurs with reading only contemporary literature, as C.S. Lewis has pointed
out. Old books give us the distance we need to think about where mankind
has come from. Our objective is not merely to critique, (though we reject
what is false and recognize sin and evil for what they are), rather, we become
acquainted with these fellow travelers and hear what they had to say about
life. Since all truth is God's truth, we accept that truth wherever we
find it, and "plunder the Egyptians" in confidence that our
faith is not threatened by reading pagan literature. The history and the
literature from antiquity to the modern world is included with a sensitivity to
selecting material that is the right "weight" for the emotional maturity level
of this age student. Nota bene: it is crucial that students in
this level are very familiar with the Bible and basic Christian doctrine, a task
we think is best handled in the home.
Grammar and
Writing
In the dialectic stage we move from the simple narrative
essays begun in the grammar stage to deliberative and judicial essays
that are more expository and persuasive in nature. In ancient
times students followed a series of preliminary exercises that prepared them for
rhetoric proper. These preliminary exercises, the progymnasmata, are
building blocks for excellent writing. The existence of truth,
beauty and goodness was a fact recognized by both the ancients and
the early Christians, and they also knew that art, which
includes writing and speaking, is only great to the extent that it
reaches for these ideals. We do not adhere to the modern nonsense which
believes that only gifted people can learn to write well, but, instead, we
seek the old paths and proven tools that hone skill in every student
for crafting good writing.
Logic: As the
name suggests, dialectic studies require clear thinking skills. Logic
is a tool to sharpen our thinking. We study it formally in the
dialectic stage so that we can practice it in our other studies. We begin
with a study of informal fallacies, and progress to a study of the form
of valid syllogistic argument. Those skills are put to work in service
of our all our studies as we ponder the ideas of those who've
gone before us.
Latin: For all the reasons to
study Latin, we refer you back to the grammar stage Latin description. In
the dialectic stage, Latin study continues as students work to acquire the
necessary vocabulary and grammatical knowledge to read and
translate Latin. Students with a grammar stage knowledge of
Latin should find a bit of review at this level, but it is also possible
for the older student to just begin their study of Latin at this
stage.
The Sequence of
Courses
Dialectic Level
1 (typically
7th-12th grades): Western Civilization 1:
Ancients
Dialectic
Level 2 (typically 7th-12th grades): Western Civilization
2: Medieval through
Reformation
Dialectic Level 3 (typically 7th-12th grades): Western Civilization 3:
Enlightenment to Modernity
Rhetoric Level Core Components
History and Literature : The conversation with old books and their authors, begun in the dialectic stage, continues as rhetoric level students mine for treasure all that they read. Again, their goal is not primarily judgment but acquisition of truth and appreciation for their fellow man--both the believer and the non-believer. At this level that appreciation will extend beyond mere ideas to the beauty of their expression as well. Students will become well acquainted with Plato and Plutarch, Aristotle and Augustine, Machiavelli and Mallory, just to name a few. As with the other levels, we divide up the study into chronological eras.
Writing/Speaking: We continue what we've begun in the earlier years with excellent models to analyze and imitate using the ancient tools of the progymnasmata, but our focus changes slightly at this point. Students learn the tools of rhetoric proper, the ethos of the audience, the figures of speech, the common topics, etc. Propriety of expression becomes our main focus as students begin to use their skills with more creativity.
Speech and Debate: coming in the near future
Rhetoric Level 1 (typically 10th-12th grades): Western Civilization 4: Ancients
Rhetoric Level 2 (typically 10th-12th grades): Western Civilization 5: Medieval through Reformation
Rhetoric Level 3 (typically 10th-12th grades): Western Civilization 6: Modernity
