Musings: Classical Stages-A Perspective

I've been involved with classical education for a few years now....I should say I've done a fair amount of READING about it, and apply the general philosphies to my own homeschool without becoming overly concerned with anyone's particular methodology in using it.

So let me first give an brief synopsis or working definition of what classical is for me, and how it is helping me make sense of the realities in my life at present.

Classical Education affirms three stages of learning growing children pass thru as they aquire an education. The first is the Grammar Stage. The experts and practitioners disagree a bit about what specific ages this includes, but generally it is the elementary years. It is during this time they are learning the 'grammar' of reading, of arithmetic, of English (nouns, verbs, etc.) They aquire bits of information that become tools to further learning. They are the basics. They don't really relate to each other in the child's mind at this point. It's simply storing knowledge bits in their little sponge-like brains to be drawn upon at a later stage of learning, which is why memory work is stressed and fairly painless during these years.

For example, my 5 and 7 year olds are learning by rote memorization and daily recitation the helping verbs. They don't have a flippin' clue as to what a verb is, and why they help. But when they do learn this info (3rd grade-ish), they will be able to draw on that memorized list and apply what they know. In just 5 weeks, the boys have memorized 4 poems, 5 nursery rhymes, a Latin prayer, the Star Spangled Banner, the continents and oceans, the first 5 presidents, 4 famous paintings, their address/phone/birthdays, 5 scripture verses, 25 Latin vocabulary words, Spanish colors and words of greeting, and the days of the week. We just work our way thru all of it at the start of each day.

I don't share to brag (except for Gramma's sake!), but to illustrate how easily things are committed to memory at this age. We just recite every day. I like that I'm filling their brains with wonderful words and information that will be pertinent to life later on.


The second phase is called the Logic Stage. At this point, (roughly, the middle school years) kids are beginning to make some logical connections between all the sound bits of information they've accumulated over the elementary years. Classical educators will begin to use props such as timelines to connect the dots of events in a congruent manner, or will diagram sentences to show the logic of sentence structure. Studies in Mathematics begins to be more abstract as the basic functions of arithmetic stretch their muscles.

Here's an example from our homeschool. When my daughter was an 8th grader, she studied not only the facts about the Civil War, but began making observations about the very grey areas of this war.....who was right? who was wrong? who won? did the end justify the means? was slavery the 'cause' of this war? and so forth. She began to engage her logical brain to see the whole picture, not just the individual 'facts' or parts (Union wore blue, Confederates had slaves). It is a stretching time, and a time of frustration and disillusionment at times. (What do you mean some people in the North owned slaves? What are States Rights?) It's a transitional period that often shoves the child past old comfort zones of believing everything she's read in simplistic black and white terms, and then regurgitating these terms for a test. She begins to ask 'why?' and many times bristles over the very few definitive answers. It often takes unpleasant work to push past the frustration. On the positive side, it can also be a tremendous time of 'light bulb moments' when things begin to make sense, or seem FINALLY to have a purpose. It can be exhilarating to engage mental faculties just beginning to open wide the gate to incredible discovery! Due to all these factors, I think this may be the most tumultuous stage. And, of course, infamous hormones of puberty begin exerting themselves just to stir the pot.

The Rhetoric Stage is the final stop and is coorelated with the high school years. It is at this time that all the information and connections made previously are assimilated into the student's life. They begin to show command of this knowledge by manipulating the information/connections into written forms. The rhetoric student will begin to sort and sift incoming knowledge as they make critical desicions on how it affects their values, beliefs, point-of-view. Students in this stage are supposed to fine tune all their skills, learn to write eloquently, coherently, and truthfully about life. And these articulate findings should inform their behavior and life decisions. (In a perfect world!)

So....I went thru all that to articulate the following thoughts bumbling around in my brain. I'm still wrestling with becoming a full-fledged student of rhetoric myself. *grin*

Each of us go thru all three stages as we attempt to learn new information. We always start with the grammar stage, move to the logic stage, then (hopefully) arrive at the rhetoric stage. For instance, if as an adult you decide to learn to play an instrument, you should probably begin by learning the 'grammar' of the particular instrument that interests you. You learn the parts of it, how to care for it, how to tune it, what notes are, where they are found and how to play them, etc. You learn scales or chords or strums and you practice them over and over and over, and you listen to others (hopefully the masters) and try to copy them.....soon you are ready to make some connections. You play songs! Welcome to the logic stage. Here there is purpose to the hard work of learning the 'grammar' of which notes are what, how to hold your hands, playing endless scales. You begin to really enjoy playing other's music. If you stick with it, you begin to write your own music, try new techniques, and coherently express all the knowledge you've acquired to SAY something in an original way. In other words, you own it.

As adults we can move thru the stages much more quickly than our kids, but we still follow the same process. And the stages often overlap, or sometimes we'll start using techniques better suited for logic learning, and have to backtrack to the grammar stage eventually to pick up items that are necessary for the demands of the rhetoric stage. We generally don't like the grammar stage, probably because it's where the greatest learning curve is felt.

For example, in my life I learned to play guitar as an adult. I didn't take time to learn scales or theory of music. I just had friends teach me chords and strums and started right in with playing songs. I wrote songs and enjoyed playing with and for friends. But I've never been able to really 'own' that instrument, and have had many frustrating moments trying to write or play songs that require knowledge that is generally learned and mastered in the grammar phase.....So I will stay 'stuck' in that frustrating transitional stage called 'logic', writing mediocre songs and struggling with chord progressions until I go back and learn the grammar of guitar playing. As adults, we may learn faster, but children tend to learn better in the grammar stage as their little brains absorb information so easily. Learning the grammar of a thing is tedious, but children generally don't struggle as often or as much as adults.

So, what stages do you find yourself in these days, and in what areas of learning? Are you just gathering information, or have you begun to make connections in your brain? Is there any area you feel you have completely assimilated, made your own in such a way that you can articulate either in words or lifestyle?

I'll share my current process on my other blog in the next few days.