Classical Education

The school our girls will be attending starting next week is a "Classical Education" school.  It's also a "University Model" school.  Some people have expressed concern that we're not taking our kids education seriously enough, that this school isn't good enough- not as good as a public school or Catholic school (which we don't have reasonable access to, anyway).  Some have even gone so far as to say straight homeschooling with an "approved curriculum" would be better.

I've been holding my tongue.  But, here's some information for those of you who are concerned.

From Dr. Peter Kreeft (an amazing philosopher and incredibly intellegent man)

And the educational establishment feels deeply threatened by [Classical Education], and offers at least eight silly objections to it that are really advertisements for it.

1. It’s “divisive.” It’s not what everyone else is doing. It marches to a different drummer. It cultivates excellence rather than conformity. Yes it does. And this is actually sometimes used as an objection rather than as a selling point!
2. It’s old, outdated, unfashionable. Yes it is, like honor, courage, integrity, and honesty. It doesn’t try to tell the truth with a clock; it doesn’t practice chronological snobbery. In an age which has embraced every novelty, the true rebel is the traditionalist.
3. It’s not in line with modern philosophies: skepticism, cynicism, subjectivism, relativism, naturalism, materialism, reductionism, positivism, scientism, socialism. That’s exactly right. It’s not. It’s countercultural. It harnesses teenagers’ natural proclivity to rebel and turns that force against “the bad guys” who are now the “establishment” instead of against “the good guys.”
4. It’s “judgmental.” It believes there really is good and bad, true and false. The typical modern education is judgmental only against being judgmental, and skeptical of everything except skepticism.
5. It’s small. It’s private. It’s grassroots. It’s implemented mainly in small schools, not big ones. This is true, and it’s another plus rather than a minus. “Small is beautiful.” The bigger the school, the more standardized it has to be and the more the person tends to get lost in the system and get identified with his or her race, economic class, gender, sexual orientation, or political party.
6. It seeks the truth for its own sake, not primarily for pragmatic uses. It aims at wisdom, not wealth. It makes its graduates philosophers instead of millionaires. This is also true. But it’s not a fault. As Chesterton says, “Man’s most practical need is to be more than a pragmatist.”
7. It’s not specialized. It doesn’t include courses on underwater basket weaving or pickling and fermentation (which was actually a major at Ohio State). It doesn’t teach you clever ways to outguess Microsoft word, or the government, or lawyers, or your professor, or the standardized tests. It just teaches you how to think and how to live. But businesses, law schools, and government agencies don’t want specialist drudges and drones; they want people who can read and write and think logically and creatively.
8. It’s religious. It’s Christian. It doesn’t pretend that the most important man who ever lived never lived, as our public education now does. It assumes that the supernatural is not the enemy to the natural, that “grace perfects nature rather than demeaning it,” as light perfects all colors.

So what is a "University Model" school and why is it good?  From the National Association of University Model Schools:

What is a University-Model® school?

A University-Model® school (UMS) is the solution for many parents seeking an educational alternative for their children. This model of education takes the best attributes of home schooling and combines them with the best attributes of traditional, Christian education. In so doing, the University-Model® school preserves and maintains the God-ordained family relationship, while offering students the opportunity to achieve a high degree of academic excellence.

The immediate goal of the UMS is quality, cost-effective, college-preparatory education accomplished in a way that gives parents more time for imparting the faith and values they hold precious.  The ultimate goal is that of producing wholesome, competent men and women of character who make a positive difference for Christ in the next generation.
In most University-Model® schools, elementary students attend school (central classroom) two days a week and are in their home (satellite classroom) three days a week. In some schools, elementary students are in the satellite classroom two days a week. Beginning with middle school or junior high (sixth or seventh grade), students attend school three days a week and are in their home two days a week. While in the satellite classroom, elementary and middle school students follow teacher-designed assignment sheets under the direct supervision of their parents. By the junior and senior years, students should follow a college-simulated schedule, attending school whenever classes are offered any given day of the week. Following this schedule will provide upper classmen the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities or part-time jobs. This type of schedule will also eliminate the adjustment to college. Secondary students are responsible for accomplishing teacher-designed, out-of-class assignments on their own time, under the counsel and supervision of parents. This methodology provides excellent preparation for college.

We love our kids and want the best for them.  The public schools here are good (Joey works for them, they better be!).  But we can't guarantee that the kids our kids would be introduced to would be from decent family backgrounds, would know things like modesty and manners, would be examples of good behavior....in fact we can almost guarentee, based on our current culture, that most would be the opposite unfortuntatly.  Not that they are "bad kids"- no kid is bad.  But we want the best for our kids, not just good.  And last year in public preschool, although it was an amazing program, the culture they were exposed to caused major issues at home.  

So why not just home school?  

Our kids LOVED preschool.  They love being with other kids.  Plus we don't know very many people here still.  If we were in Denver, we could be visiting other home school families every week, having plenty of time to play and make friends.  But here, we need that structure to get to know new families, make new friends with kids who are from backgrounds like theirs, morals like ours, traditions like ours, to help support us and grow our children in faith.  

A lot of you will probably be pulling your hair out right now- "But what about diversity!  what about getting to know new cultures and new people?  What about helping them learn to explore other people's points of view?!"

That's incredibly important to us- so important that I want them to learn it from me and Joey, not from just anybody.  Already our kids are are so good with kids from all sorts of backgrounds, special needs, different races and cultures.  And we will make sure they are constantly exposed to new things and different people.  And being home 3 days a week will help us to do that!  

The final concern that has been expressed is that the kindergarten teacher at the girls' school isn't licensed and doesn't hold a 4 year degree from a university.

But she's taught for 20 years.  

She's spent the last 20 years of her life with children of this age, teaching them to read, teaching them math, teaching them about life.  She knows a kindergartener better than any 21 year old coming straight out of college with a degree and a license.  She KNOWS what she's doing better than I do even.  And part of her job is to help ME learn how to teach my kids.  By the way, I don't have a license.  I might have a degree, but it's not in literacy. Or early childhood education.  It's in research Psychology.  I do stats.  They're not going to learn that until at least 8th grade.  Joey does have a license.  It's even k-12.  in art.  None of that means we can't teach our kids math or writing or reading or science or history or anything else for that matter.  We can and we will, just like every parent does.  Even if they send their kids to school, they're still the primary teachers.  

This is definitely the best school for our kids.  Maybe there could be a better school somewhere else, but we don't live somewhere else.  Maybe later there will be a better school for our kids, or maybe home schooling them full time will be right.  That is not now.