Monday, June 4, 2007 - Teaching the Trivium - Book Review.....

Teaching the Trivium by Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn

This book has been around for a while and has many reviews, but I wanted to take the time and give my input about it. Long story short of why I read it is a clear cut case of dreaded burnout on the curriculum I was doing. Well, that and I had read a plethora of ladies, who are newer to home schooling than I, across the net who were reading this book and were giving rave reviews themselves.

I have read all Charlotte Mason’s 6 volume set and The Well Trained Mind. I have perused Christine Miller’s site on classical home schooling. I have looked at Tapestry of Grace. All of these things interest me and I incorporate some of these into my home school teachings but I couldn’t get past some of the recommendations, especially literature.

This book was a refreshing book. I cannot believe I have waited this long to read it. It was full of Biblical insights and reasoning for schooling your child classically. But not just any old classical way, following the worlds way of classical education. The way of learning things from passing it all through the grid of God’s word. They say their meaning of classical is, “to include only what is of good form and lasting value (classical), and which conforms to a Biblical standard within a Biblical worldview (Christian).” {p. 31} That definition quickly rules out a lot of books other authors I have read suggest. *

Chapter four tells all about the Trivium. How it is applied, the definitions of the different levels. Chapter five goes into languages. The why’s, what and wherefores of studying them. It gives a general course of study also. It tells how and why to study rhetoric and logic as well. Chapter ten is Different Methods and Approaches to Homeschooling in the Light of the Trivium. This was my favorite chapter in part one because it made me realize you could incorporate the Trivium into any method of home education.

Part two tells how to do what, when. It is titled The Practical Trivium and goes into details of suggested courses of study and schedules for different age groups. It suggests reading aloud at every level. This is something I have not been good about in my years of home schooling but I will definitely incorporate it as soon as possible.

The last part of the book is full of helpful information contained in two appendices. The first appendix has 16 articles on education. It includes Dorothy Sayers Lost Tools of Learning. Comparison of ancient alphabets. Using contests in your curriculum. Pointers for public speaking. The second appendix is a resource list of nearly 40 pages on all of the subjects talked about in the book. Language arts, logic, literature, and the rest we teach every day.

They have a blog http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/LaurieBluedorn/ and webpage http://www.triviumpursuit.com/index.php where you can find loads of information and guidance.

In conclusion, I am very happy with the long interlibrary loan wait I had to go through to read this book. I ordered it in November of 2006 and finally got it at the end of April 2007! I am now looking for my own copy of this book. It will be one for my own resource collection.

~*The choices we make for our own family may not agree with your choices. I am no judge for you, I am just stating what our family chooses.