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HOW TO USE THE INVICTUS CLASSICAL PRESS GUIDES
Welcome to the Invictus Classical Press Memory Guide Series! This series is being written for private homeschooling families, homeschool communities, and full-time classical schools, who are interested in both classical and Charlotte Mason pedagogy. We at Invictus Classical Press believe that there is truth, goodness, and beauty to be found in both methods and this curriculum seeks to bring what people love best of each of them together into one comprehensive resource. Before we get into how to use the guides, let’s start with some background.
THE BACKGROUND
What is Classical Education?
Traditionally, classical education was centered around Latin and Greek, the two languages of the Greek and Roman world. Beyond that, it focused on the history, philosophy, literature, and art of those same worlds. Students would master the languages first, and then memorize copious amounts of ancient literature, study and debate the philosophies of men like Cicero and Marcus Aurelius, ruminate on the military and political strategies of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, and immerse themselves in the great truths of the civilization from which these people came.
It was during the Middle Ages that the classical way of learning was studied and eventually systematized. Study was divided into two parts called the Trivium and the Quadrivium. The Trivium (Latin for “three ways”), also known as “the verbal arts,” was studied first and consisted of grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric in connection to words – their meaning, their relation, and their ability to persuade toward truth. The Quadrivium (Latin for “four ways”) was recognized as “the quantitative arts,” and consisted of arithmetic (numbers), music (numbers in time), geometry (numbers in space), and astronomy (numbers in time and space). It was concerned with humanity’s understanding of and relationship to the natural world. Together, the Trivium and the Quadrivium made up the Seven Liberal Arts.
It was also during the Middle Ages that the practice of Lectio Divina, traditionally said to be founded by St. Benedict (c. 480-547), and Pope Gregory I (540-604), and later formalized by a monk named Guigo II in his book The Ladder of Monks, became a standard of practice within the monastic tradition. Lectio Divina, or Divine Reading, is a four-step method for approaching scripture. It consists of lectio (I read), meditatio (I meditate), oratio (I pray), and contemplatio (I contemplate). The goal of lectio divina is to promote communion with God and increase knowledge of God’s word so that one may go out into the world in virtuous action.
It was early in the 12th century that an Augustinian monk named Hugh of St. Victor (1096-1141), wrote The Didascalicon of Hugh of St. Victor: A Medieval Guide to the Arts that summarizes the practice of lectio divina in relation to scripture, and then applies its principles to reading texts outside of scripture. He talks about the important aspects of medieval reading, including memory, reading, and meditation. Memory was the first and most important step in a person’s education. It consisted of furnishing the mind with the entire story of salvation as revealed in scripture through its significant themes, people, events, and symbols. Students would organize the details into a kind of “memory ark” that could be accessed at will and served as a perpetual source of heart,
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soul, and mind transformation, as well as protection against pride and doctrinal error. It was only when memory training was complete that students began to read (lectio) systematically through a prescribed book list.
Lectio is diligent effort to understand the primary meaning of a text, always considering its historicity, genre, context, etc. The student would wait to analyze and criticize the text until he was confident that he first understood what the author was trying to say. When satisfied that understanding had been reached, he would begin the process of relating the author’s arguments to what was stored in the memory ark of his mind. Was the author’s argument true, good, and beautiful? Did it resonate with Scriptural truths or deny them? Had the text exposed error in his own heart and mind that now required repentance and change?
Following lectio, the student would turn to meditatio, a kind of deep rumination on any important and beautiful passages or ideas in the text. He would read aloud, read again, rethink, and re-evaluate, always in a prayerful state (oratio) and prepared for the Holy Spirit to reveal further truth leading to repentance and change, peace and delight, and wonder and worship. Compositio (I compose) was the final stage, where the long labor of learning enabled the student to create external things (texts, artworks, architecture, etc.) that were true, good, and beautiful, as well as internal mansions of the mind, the heart, and the soul that would lead him steadily toward virtuous action and love for God and his neighbor.
For centuries, through the Renaissance, Reformation, and Enlightenment, this kind of education – with some variation of course – was the norm. It wasn’t until the Modern Era of the 1800’s that education began to change. Slowly but surely the paradigm shifted from a “classical” education to a “progressive” education, so that by the 1950’s, only fragments of a classical education remained.
The Four Steps of Lectio Divina: Lectio: I read Meditatio: I meditate
Oratio: I pray Contemplatio: I contemplate
It has only been in the past forty years that a renewed interest in a classical education has risen, and it came from interaction with a brief essay written by Dorothy Sayers in 1948. In this essay, entitled The Lost Tools of Learning, Sayers laments the state of education in her time and argues persuasively for a return to a Middle Ages type of education – one centered around the Trivium and the Quadrivium – whose end goal is to produce virtuous people who can think for themselves and know how to learn. She brilliantly expands upon the three divisions of the Trivium, recognizing within them the natural stages of child development and mirroring the steps of lectio divina. Grammar level students love to memorize, sing, chant, recite, and collect things, so we should capitalize on their natural tendencies and present them with things to practice those skills on so their “memory ark” is filled. Dialectic students love to argue and back-talk and be disagreeable in general, so we should teach them to think carefully and read slowly and make important connections wisely using logic and reasoning, so at least while they drive their parents crazy they can do it well. Students at the rhetoric level desire independence and the opportunity to express themselves as they synthesize everything they have learned and compose stories and speeches and soliloquies about it, so we furnish them with freedom within a framework of knowledge and allow them to immerse themselves in avenues of interest as they humbly discover how much there is still to learn.
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Classical education a la Dorothy Sayers, commonly known as Trivium-based education, is the kind of education that most K-12 classical schools are following today, although it has been expanded and enriched over the years as organizations, schools, and individuals research more into the texts and practices of classical, medieval, and renaissance educators and experiment in the classroom. It is still grounded in the classical languages, predominantly Latin, but has expanded to encompass not only classical Greek and Roman history, literature, philosophy, and art, but that of the whole of western civilization up to the Modern Era. Study is generally, but not necessarily, focused on four chronological historical cycles (Ancients, Middle Ages/Renaissance, Early Modern, Modern) and repeated in order three times, so that by the time a student is finished high school they have tackled each cycle three times, once at the grammar stage, once at the dialectic stage, and once at the rhetoric stage. It is within this framework that the Invictus Classical Press Memory Guides fit. They are grammar level guides aimed at furnishing the minds of students between the ages of 4 and 12, though they can certainly be used by older students as well.
What is Charlotte Mason (CM) Education?
Charlotte Mason (1842-1923), was a British educator who, though she never had children of her own, helped parents raise their children into well-rounded, liberated persons. She became a teacher, and it was while she taught at the Davison School in England that the idea of a “liberal education for all” was formed. At that time, children were educated according to what class they were born into, so upper class children were exposed to literature, art, music, and philosophy, and lower-class children were taught a trade. However, Mason believed that all children deserved a liberal education – one that would make them free – and after some time established the House of Education where anyone working with children could come and be trained in her educational philosophy. She also wrote a six-volume set of books that detail her philosophy of education, wisdom concerning child training, and parenting.
The past thirty years has seen a revival of Charlotte Mason’s philosophy that has parallels to the classical education renewal. In 1987 Dean and Karen Andreola discovered Mason’s long out-of-print volumes in England and brought them home with them to the United States where they arranged for their re-publication under the name The Original Homeschooling Series. The Andreola’s homeschooled their children using CM pedagogy, researched ever further into the method, and began to write about their experiences. In 1998, Karen published A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning, which became a staple in homeschools across the nation. Since that time, numerous other CM inspired books and curriculum have been published as parents seek to give their children an “educational life.”
In the preface to Volume 6 of the series, Towards a Philosophy of Education, Mason outlines her 20 Principles. The first, and most important principle she espouses is that children are born persons. This may seem obvious, but it is sometimes too easy to forget that children are unique individuals made in God’s image and come fully equipped with an intellect, emotions, and will. This belief stands in direct contradiction to both the Aristotelian and Lockean idea that we come into this world tabula rasa – a blank slate – waiting to be written on by our experiences and by those around us. More importantly, however, this belief demands that we
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educate the whole of the child, not just the mind, hence Mason’s definition of education as tripartite: “…an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.”
By “atmosphere” Mason means that everything in a child’s natural life should contribute to their education. There is no need to create artificial “child environments,” because children learn best from the natural reality around them. Wherever a child spends the majority of time is his “natural environment,” so if you are homeschooling, then the home environment is, and should be, a powerful tool in your child’s education.
By “discipline” Mason means that children should be trained in virtuous habits, or character development, as well as in bodily self-control. Today’s modern psychology would interpret this as “You are what you think…do… eat…” Mason believed that the brain and body could be trained in virtue, so cultivating character was integral to her philosophy and played a key role in the classroom.
By “life” Mason is referring to a child’s need for “intellectual and moral as well as of physical sustenance.” By this she means that education should apply to all aspects of the person and should be rich and varied with a “generous curriculum” where facts are learned in connection with their “informing ideas.” A generous curriculum includes such things as living books, experiences, exercise, crafts, science, art, and music, which enable the child to forge “natural relations” with vast numbers of things and thoughts.
A discussion of all 20 principles is beyond the scope of this writing, but one other important aspect of a CM education we will touch upon is her principle of “single reading” narration. Narration, or “telling back” is a wonderful way to assess your student’s grasp of the material just read to them. Mason believed that “…children have naturally great power of attention; but this force is dissipated by the re-reading of passages, and also, by questioning, summarising, and the like (Mason xxxi).”1
Here is how to do simple, Charlotte Mason inspired narration:
1. Read a selection ONCE and immediately ask the student to tell you about what you just read. You may need to remind the student before you begin reading that you will only be reading it ONE time, so they need to give it their focused attention. The reason behind only reading a selection ONCE is to encourage the listening skills in the student. If they know that you will re-read it repeatedly, they will take advantage and let their mind wander. Resist the temptation to re-read during this exercise. Start off with short selections and work your way up, always being attentive to the capabilities of the student. You want to stretch them, not stress them.
2. Try not to interrupt the narration. This will be difficult at first, but resist the urge to prompt the student, or remind the student, or ask the student questions. Asking your student questions about the text later is a different kind of assessment. Narration’s goal is to improve listening and internalization of the subject matter or story within the student.
3. Narration is not about memorization. Encourage your student to tell you back what you read to them in their own words. They can, and should be encouraged to, include their opinions and any connections with other things they have read, or heard, or experienced, in their narration.
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4. Narration can take many forms! Initially, you can focus on oral narrations as the skill is being learned. Older students can, and should, progress to written narrations. All students should be encouraged to act out, draw, journal, compare, and list. There are many ways you can assess your student’s listening ability! Switch it up to prevent boredom and burn out. And don’t think that everything must be narrated back! Choose wisely according to your situation in life.
5. Do a pre-reading review and preview. Before you begin to read, ask your student if they remember what you read the last time. Feel free to add what you remember to the conversation. When they are finished, give them a little preview of what you will be reading that day. For example, if you read about Noah’s flood yesterday, ask them to tell you what they remember about the story. When they are finished, tell them that today you will be reading about what happened after the flood. This simple exercise helps the student form connections in the book and deepens long-term memory.
6. When a book is finished, wait a couple of days and then ask the student to tell you everything they can remember about it. This further deepens connections and solidifies the content into their memory. As time goes by, you can revisit books this way to keep the conversation fresh and allow the student to bring in new thoughts and ideas from other books they have been reading. Older students can use these times to practice their writing skills. When they have finished writing, instruct them to read through it and begin the editing process. Make sure they read it aloud to themselves, so they can hear how it sounds. Many mistakes are revealed and can be corrected simply by reading their work aloud! When they are satisfied they have done all they can, take it from them and read through it yourself. Depending on what your goal is for the assignment, hand it back to be filed away, or edited and handed back in again for further revision.
“Narrating is not the work of a parrot, but of absorbing into oneself the beautiful thought from the book, making it one’s own and then giving it forth again with just that little touch that comes from one’s own mind.”
~ Charlotte Mason (The Story of Charlotte Mason, pg. 125)
Since this is not a book detailing every facet and nuance of both Classical and CM education, we must move on to how we can find a harmony between the two pedagogies and move forward to a new, exciting paradigm. Please avail yourself of the many excellent resources available on both philosophies of education. It is a fascinating study and well worth the time expended. See the last page for reading suggestions.
BEYOND THE BACKGROUND
What is a Classical Charlotte Mason education?
We at Invictus Classical Press love both the Trivium-based classical model and Charlotte Mason’s philosophy. We see the brilliance behind Sayer’s expansion of the Trivium to the developmental stages of children, and we appreciate Mason’s idea of approaching the student as a whole person and laying a feast of good things before them while cultivating virtue and discipline. The Invictus Memory Guides attempt to find the “sweet spot” of
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harmony between the two. A Classical Charlotte Mason education uses the tools of the Trivium and combines them with the Principles of CM.
Surprisingly, according to her essay, other than Latin, Dorothy Sayers didn’t think the material that grammar stage students memorized was the most important thing, only that they actively memorize, and she believed that the things memorized did not necessarily need to be understood by the student during this stage: “What the material actually is, is only of secondary importance; but it is as well that anything and everything which can usefully be committed to memory should be memorised at this period, whether it is immediately intelligible or not” (Sayers 13). She believed that children could find great joy and satisfaction in the memorization of material that was far beyond their ability to comprehend and that one of the errors of modern education was supposing that every fact, date, law, or list memorized at this level required a rational explanation be provided simultaneously. She believed that filling the memory banks of children who love to memorize but are not yet able to fully analyze was the best preparation for when their brains were developmentally prepared to find connections between those facts and argue about them, and then ultimately take a stand on one side or the other and virtuously persuade someone to the truth.
In contrast to this, Mason believed that the quality of material presented to children, and the ideas behind the material, were vitally important and should not be separated: “But we, believing that the normal child has powers of mind which fit him to deal with all knowledge proper to him, give him a full and generous curriculum; taking care only that all knowledge offered him is vital, that is, that facts are not presented without their informing ideas.”
Narrating is not the work of a parrot, but of absorbing into oneself the beautiful thought from the book, making it one’s own and then giving it forth again with just that little touch that comes from one’s own mind.
~ Charlotte Mason (The Story of Charlotte Mason, pg. 125)
So how do we balance these two conflicting ideologies? We contextualize and integrate memory work! If the student is memorizing a history prompt about Julius Caesar, after we play with it using different modalities a few times, we pull out living books about him and read them aloud and then have the student narrate. We find a great work of art depicting him and study it and then have them imitate it. We examine maps that illustrate where Julius Caesar lived and conquered and then trace them and label them. We research the different musical instruments of the Roman world and listen to interpretations of Roman music. We read a child’s version of Shakespeare’s play, as well as appropriate selections from the original, and take time to meditate on powerful words found in the funeral speeches, or we throw on some togas and dramatize the stabbing scene. We talk about honor and courage and loyalty and betrayal and ground them to the timeless truths found in scripture and the kind of life that Christ calls us to. We fit the feast to the facts and the facts to the feast and celebrate the educational life together with our children. It really is that simple.
Sayers and Mason are not as far apart as many believe, and their end goals are surprisingly similar. In fact, I think they could have been friends! Sayers desires students who can think and learn for themselves and Mason desires students who understand that their chief responsibility as persons is the acceptance or rejection of ideas.
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The way they get there may vary to some degree, but we at Invictus Classical Press believe it’s possible to utilize the best of both methods in the education of our students. To this end, we humbly present a definition for Classical Charlotte Mason Education:
A Classical Charlotte Mason education is motivated by God’s glory and utilizes beautiful and true material within the Trivium-based method. Its goal is the formation and equipping of the whole person made in God’s image, who can learn, reason, and persuade people to the enduring truths of God and act virtuously toward their neighbor.
Allow us to unpack that a little.
We fit the feast to the facts and the facts to the feast and celebrate the educational life together with our children.
A Classical Charlotte Mason Education stands on three pillars: Motive, Material, and Method. By “Motive” we mean that our educational efforts should be motivated by the idea of God’s glory. 1 Corinthians 10:31 states: “So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Likewise, in Romans 11:36 we are told: “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.” Sacrifice and death are the keys that open God’s glory (John 12:20-28), and when we take on a teaching role, it is a call to sacrifice and a daily dying to self; that is why our motivation for doing it must be grounded in something far greater than ourselves – God’s glory.
By “Material” we mean the feast we place before our students. Memory work should be carefully curated and chosen for its importance within the present and future realities of the student. Living books, art, music, nature studies, science, and physical fitness opportunities should be a homeschool staple, presented in beauty, and grounded in the Truth and Goodness of God.
Finally, by “Method” we mean the Trivium-based model of grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric, as briefly outlined by Dorothy Sayers and expanded upon by proponents in the modern-day classical movement, as well as the practice of lectio divina first with Scripture and then with the great books.
And that’s it! It’s not a comprehensive background by any means, but it’s enough, we think, to get you started and help you to understand how to use these guides.
THE GUIDES
The Invictus Guides are designed to be used in a private homeschool setting, a 1 - 3 day a week community setting, or a full-time classical school. We believe that community is vitally important to like-minded, homeschooling families, communities, and schools for numerous reasons including accountability, mentorship, and collaboration. It was in a thriving, joy-filled, iron-sharpening-iron community where the Invictus Classical Press team found each other and the vision for this curriculum began! We realized that education in community is better together than separate, and our hope is that the Invictus curriculum can be an important and beautiful way for families to connect and flourish together.
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Every guide contains 30 weeks of recitation/memory work that can be reviewed every day at home. Time spent on this, and word-for-word accuracy will vary depending on each family’s goals. All core memory work is on the front page of each week. The facts can be chanted, sung, written out (for penmanship practice), dictated, paraphrased, narrated back, cut-up word by word, phrase by phrase, or sentence by sentence, scrambled, and then put back together in order, orally answered, drawn, acted out (with costumes!), recorded for play-back later, diagrammed – there are many ways to approach it. It should be a pleasurable and joy-filled time! Resist the temptation to “drill and kill” and always attempt to bring the memory work alive and into context through living books, nature studies, conversations, field trips, and fun. However, at home, reality will dictate how much time you can actually spend on the memory work. Some days you’ve got just a few minutes to review it, so make it a sprint to the finish and don’t stress.
The recitation/memory work is a jumping off point for further studies and, in general, is not intended to be learned in isolation. If your student is memorizing a history prompt about the Israelites, their history and Bible reading for the week should relate to the Israelites; the history should inform the geography and map work studied. Additionally, read-alouds and picture studies should touch upon them in some way, and, where possible, even the music listened to should center around the culture. Will this always be possible? No, and there is never any reason to stress out about it, but if the goal of integration is in the back of the teacher’s mind, then it will happen. In the beginning it may seem forced, but as integration becomes more familiar, it will happen organically.
Additional recitation/memory work that stretches over several weeks is located on the back page of each week. The “back-page” content is perfect for a morning basket routine, as it contains hymns, poetry or scripture, read aloud suggestions, and various lists. It is also perfect for morning Pulchra Tempore “Beautiful Time” on community and school days, when all classes gather together in the morning or meet individually in their classrooms. The back page is also where you will find integrated picture study and music listening suggestions.
The read-aloud suggestions are just that - suggestions. Start with the books on your own shelves, borrow from friends, head to the library, or if there is a beautiful book you must have, your local bookstore for purchase. Wherever you get them from, be sure to gather them before the week begins, so that there are plenty of options to choose from. Books should be read aloud to students and then time should be given for students to narrate back what they have heard. Read alouds can be fiction or non-fiction, fairy and folk tales, picture books, poems, or novels that stretch over a number of weeks.
Beyond daily recitation/memory work, read-alouds, picture study, and music listening, the guides can be expanded upon by note booking. Note booking is a fantastic way to keep organized, and it produces a beautiful, student-written, living book (or books) each year. Here are some suggestions for note booking:
By Week:
Purchase a three-inch binder and divider tabs. Label the dividers 1–30. Every week include whatever work your student did with the subjects. For example, if they copied out the history catechism for penmanship practice, file it in that week. If they traced a map, file it in the week. If they sketched and labeled a spider, file it in the week. Everything done in connection with the memory work gets filed, by week, in the binder. That includes a copy of the
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picture study, narrations, you name it – file it in the week. You can also file anything else you did like spelling lists, as well as photographs, specimens, and sketches from nature walks, and field trip mementos, in each week.
By Subject:
Follow the same procedure as above but organize by SUBJECT instead of by week.
OR:
Purchase a separate notebook for each subject. In this system you will have a “History” notebook, a “Science” notebook, an “Art” notebook, and so on. At the end of the year you have a living text for each subject! Each Memory Guide has optional, but correlated guides for fine arts (18 lessons) or science and nature study related activities (12 lessons), so there will not always be, for instance, a science activity that correlates to the memory work on a particular week, but your student can still keep a notebook page for the varying facts of each subject.
DIFFERENT WAYS TO APPROACH THE RECITATION/MEMORY GUIDES
The Invictus guides are designed to be used in a private homeschool setting, a 1 - 3 day a week hybrid/school community setting, or in a full-time classical school. Here’s how it could look:
Private Homeschool Option:
In a private homeschool setting, the parent will introduce the “back-page” memory work, also known as the Pulchre Tempore, as well as the core recitation/memory work, on the first day of the week. The work will be reviewed on subsequent days using fun and varied modalities. Integrated read aloud and narration time will be prominent aspects of each day, as will nature studies, gymnastics, math time, and language study, which can be looped in as desired. The integrated science and fine arts guides should be used during the week to “flesh out” the memory work. The Scripture focus for the week can lead to daily bible reading and if desired, a theological catechism such as New City Catechism can also be added to round out the day. Active involvement in your local church or community at large can cultivate the virtues of piety and charity.
One to Three Day Hybrid School/Community Option:
In a hybrid school/community setting (full or half-day), the leader(s) can open the day with the chosen selections from the “back-page” recitation/memory work, to be done in congregation with all students in the community, regardless of age. After Pulchre Tempore, students are dismissed to their respective classes. Grammar teachers will introduce the new memory work to the class, taking time to explain concepts and answering questions if asked, allow time for prepared presentations, lead science or fine art demonstrations or activities using the integrated guides, choose and read from applicable fiction and non-fiction selections and listen to oral narrations from students, and listen to recitations from previous weeks if time permits. On the remaining four days of the week, families can follow the same format as private homeschool families do, with the added preparation for presentation time in community the following week.
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What a 1/2 or 1 day a week schedule can look like:
9:00-9:30 Morning Time Recitation in Congregation (Opening Prayer, Scripture Reading, Poetry, Hymn, List, Announcements, etc.)
9:30-10:30 Timeline, Picture Study, Core Memory Work Introduction
10:30-11:00 Snacks, Presentations
11:00-11:20 Beautiful Time (Read Aloud/Narration & Picture Study)
11:20-12:15 Science or Fine Art hour
12:15-1:15 Lunch & Recess
***If you are only doing half day community, this is the end of your day! If you’re doing a full day, you can schedule as follows.***
1:15-1:45 Grammar (Integrate memory work by reciting grammar, or use the history sentence to diagram, teach the parts of speech, etc.)
1:45-2:15 Latin (Living Latin, Picta Dicta, Memoria Press, and Latin Alive! are all great programs. Deter mine what your goal is for language study and choose accordingly.)
2:15-3:00 Writing (Choose a writing program with the same history focus, such as IEW, or work on devel oping the art and skill of written narrations. Or alternate both!)
In a hybrid school/community, the leader can open the first day as described above, and on subsequent days either choose to do the same when opening the day, or delegate the Pulchre Tempore to the individual classroom teachers. Following that, the week’s core memory work should be reviewed before moving on to dedicated subject time. Below is a suggested schedule for an 8 am - 3 pm day. This kind of schedule can also be used in the home for the remainder of the week, especially if your children thrive on routine, but make sure to build in flexibility. In my homeschool, I found that if the mornings were scheduled pretty tightly it left more room for freedom in the afternoons. For schools where more of a framework is required, you may need to try a few different iterations before you land on the schedule that best suits your needs. Charlotte Mason suggests that lessons should last no more than 20 minutes for younger students, and up to 40 minutes for older students.
If you are block scheduling, you can break up 45-60 minute subjects into sections. For example, with math, you can spend 5-10 minutes chanting and singing and moving to the weekly math fact(s), then switch to math games for 15 minutes, then the day’s lesson for 20 minutes. Language Arts can be spread throughout the day, with 10-20 minutes spent on spelling, copywork, dictation, phonics, etc.
8:00-8:25 Morning Time Recitation (Opening Prayer, Scripture Reading, Timeline, Poetry, Hymn, List, Announcements, etc.)
8:30-8:55 Core Memory Work Practice
9:00-9:30 Beautiful Time (Read Aloud and Narration)
9:30-9:45 Snack & Recess
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9:45-10:45 Math (Weekly fact(s) reviewed, games, speed drills, discussion; lesson from chosen curriculum)
10:45-11:00 Recess
11:00-11:30 Language Arts (Copywork/Dictation and Penmanship, Spelling, Phonics. Grammar Focus)
11:30-11:45 Beautiful Time (Picture Study)
11:45-12:10 Lunch and Recess
12:15-1:00 History or Science (Incorporate aspects of Language Arts here with copywork, written narrations, integrated spelling, etc. if desired)
1:00-1:15 Beautiful Time (Music Listening)
1:15-1:30 Snack and Recess
1:30-2:00 Circle or Center Time Activities (Silent Reading, Handicrafts, Free Drawing, Legos, Class Games, etc.)
2:00-2:45 Alternate each class day with Nature Study, Gymnastics*, Fine Art, etc.
2:45-2:55 Pack up
2:55-3:00 Minute of Silence and End of Day Benediction**
*Gymnastic Education is essential to a classical Charlotte Mason education. It is an umbrella term used to denote physical exercise such as Swedish Drill, Organized Sports (with accompanying drills), and athletic activities and contests requiring speed, strength, dexterity, etc. The virtues of courage, determination, humility, resourcefulness, and friendship are strengthened when students are encouraged to work hard individually and as a team during this time.
**The minute of silence, followed by the benediction at the end of the day, calms the students and the teacher and allows time for the mind and heart to center and experience closure after the day’s activities. Minutes of silence can be practiced throughout the day as needed, of course, but definitely try to incorporate it at the end. The teacher can choose a daily/weekly/monthly or even yearly benediction that will inevitably be memorized and imprinted in the hearts of everyone. Some of my favorites are: Numbers 6:24-26; Psalm 121:7-8; Ephesians 3:20-21; Jude 24-25; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Romans 15:56; and 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Hebrews 13:20-21 is also excellent, but a little longer than the others.
A Classical Charlotte Mason education is motivated by God’s glory and utilizes beautiful and true material within the Trivium-based method. Its goal is the formation and equipping of the whole person made in God’s image, who can learn, reason, and persuade people to the enduring truths of God and act virtuously toward their neighbor.
Full-time Classical School Option:
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The Invictus Memory Guides are rooted in history. Covering five eras total, from Ancients to Modern in four volumes, and a focus on Canadian or American History in the fifth volume, classical schools can use the guides from first to fifth grade, though many of the elements of the curriculum can be scaled down to be utilized by kindergarten, or up to middle and even high school. Teachers in each grade can use the Pulchre Tempore as their morning time classroom fellowship and then spend the remainder of the day and week reading through corresponding history and science texts such as Story of the World and Apologia. Adding in living books, narration, copy work, dictation, nature studies, weekly fine arts and science projects (using the integrated Invictus guides), as well as picture studies, music listening, gymnastics, mathematics, language studies, and Bible reading and theological catechesis will create a robust classical program that focuses on the whole child made in the imago dei.Scheduling of the day will vary based on the goals of each school, but could follow the one suggested for hybrid schools with some tweaks.
A WALK THROUGH THE WEEKS CORE RECITATION/MEMORY WORK
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY:
History and Geography are integrated in each guide. The history prompts are drawn from texts including The Story of the World (SOTW), by Susan Wise Bauer (SWB), The Kingfisher Encyclopedia (KE), and various timeline books and almanacs. There are approximately 30 chronological prompts per year, and approximately 30 weeks of geography locations. The history prompts have been put to professionally recorded music, so that students can enjoy beautiful, catchy music as they learn, but we also highly recommend using multiple modalities such as chanting, copy work, diagramming, narration, kinesthetics, drawing, and many other things, as well as the song, to cement the sentence! We recommend SOTW as a core elementary history text, as a thorough reading of it, coupled with the chronological history and geography facts, as well as keeping a Book of Centuries, or a timeline of people and events, will give your student an excellent grammar level knowledge of history and geography.
If you are using SOTW or KE as your history spine, you will notice that there is not a history prompt for every important person or event in the text. The Invictus Classical Press team pulled out only 30 from the plethora of options available, and so the history prompts are not comprehensive. We encourage you to stretch your upper-level grammar students to occasionally create their own “Tell Me About” (TMA) sentences to fill in those gaps. When they reach the dialectic stage, they should be able to read a text and narrate/summarize it in their own words, which is what the TMA prompts model for them. If, by the end of the grammar stage, they are able to both create a succinct TMA prompt and then answer it themselves, they are certainly ready to move forward in their studies.
You will also notice that SOTW does not follow a strict chronology of events. This is because SWB wrote the texts as a story and not a chronological walk-through of history. To keep the narrative coherent, she sometimes tells one story first and then goes back in time to tell another story. However, the Invictus Memory Guides work chronologically through history as much as possible. That means that your student may be reading in SOTW about the Anglo Saxon invasion of Britain, which occurred in 449 AD, before reading about the Gupta dynasty in
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India, which began in 320 AD, but the history prompts in the guide will place the Gupta Dynasty before the Anglo-Saxon Invasion. It all works out in the end, but this is one excellent reason to be keeping a Book of Centuries or timeline as you work through each year.
Maps accompany each week’s history and geography facts. The maps are simple and designed to encourage students in their own hand-drawn cartography efforts. We desire them to discover that their own maps do not have to be perfect to be beautiful and accurate. There are three maps/week: one colored/labeled, one colored/ blank, and one black and white/blank. Teachers can choose to use whatever maps work best for their student(s), or use all of them. Finding atlases in the library that illustrate the world at the time of history you are studying is highly recommended, and, of course, a modern atlas is invaluable as well.
As students read through SOTW and learn the history prompts, they should have the corresponding maps beside them, so they can “place” the action within the context of the world. Students can blob, trace, or free-draw their own maps through the week, color and label the B/W map, or simply label the colored map – the choice is up to the teacher!
TIMELINE:
Creating and keeping a timeline (or Book of Centuries) through the years is a common practice in classical Charlotte Mason circles. Creating a simple, chronological timeline helps students visualize when things happened in relation to each other and reinforces the fact that time is not a circle, but, like a good story, has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Timelines can be as simple or as complex as the student or teacher desires. When my kids were younger, we did family wall timelines each year, where we got a big roll of white paper, tacked it securely to the hallway wall, drew a line horizontally through the middle from one end to the other, measured off equal distances, marked the years, and added people, events, eras, book titles, pictures, etc. to it through the year. Those were always fun! As my kids got older, they wanted something more personal and compact. My technologically gifted son kept his on a fillable spreadsheet, my artistic daughter used a sketch book and drew her own pictures in it, my younger son used a lined notebook and cut out pictures from magazines or online, and my oldest daughter found a blank, vintage accordion style book at a thrift store and used it. There are many lovely ways to incorporate this into your home/school, but don’t let it overwhelm you. Start simply, be consistent, and make the project fun and enjoyable!
Invictus has created its own timeline songs, one for each era, which have been put to music to go along with the history prompts. The people and events in the song can be charted on personal or classroom timelines and added to as the weeks go by. Scientists, books read, famous quotes, and other interesting things that are discovered through read alouds, documentaries, the news, etc., can also be added, resulting in a fabulous “living text” that can be enjoyed for years to come. Listening to the timeline song regularly will cement the order of events into the brain, but do take the time to ask your student(s) questions such as: “What came first, Cyrus and the Persian Wars or the Peloponnesian Wars and Alexander the Great?” and “Did Moses come before or after Joshua?” so the form of the timeline is connected to the meaning behind it. You can also make flashcards of the timeline facts and practice mixing them up and putting them back in order. Have the students race against each other to put them in order for good old-fashioned competition!
SCIENCE:
One great thing about science is that there are innumerable resources to dig into and mine for treasure and truth! No matter what you are studying, there is a book about it in your local library (or on your own bookshelf!), a website devoted to it, a YouTube video about it, or a blog post describing it. Science is so important because it’s all around us! Everywhere we go, science is there. Each of the Invictus Memory Guides includes 25-30 science catechisms for students to interact with and learn more about. Students are encouraged to interact with the science catechism in numerous ways, including, but not limited to, nature sketching, narrations from science books, photography, investigations, and experiments.
The Invictus guides use numerous resources for the science catechisms including the Everything You Need To Know About Science series, by Scholastic, Bob Jones University texts, Apologia texts, and the internet. The guides try to reflect the latest in scientific knowledge and attempt to be un-biased toward a young or old earth creation perspective, while simultaneously championing Christ, The Word, as Creator of all things.
ENGLISH GRAMMAR:
Many moms who homeschool, and also new grammar level classical teachers, become de facto grammar and style nerds. We’re not sure why, but we’ve seen it happen too many times for it to be a coincidence! There is something simply sublime about seeking out the parts of speech in a sentence that sends us swooning! Did you see what we did there?! We, too, have become enamoured with words and their playfulness and power, and a solid grounding in grammar enables our students to play with words at will and create both precise and imaginative works. Each Invictus memory guide begins with the eight parts of speech and then branches off into specific grammar areas. We include the eight parts in every guide so that even if a student jumps in at the Modern Era, they still have the opportunity to memorize the basics - the unchanging backbones of the English language.
Like science, grammar is ubiquitous. Read this sentence. Can you identify the grammar? It’s there. Isn’t that amazing, when you really think about it? Look at the last four sentences. What do you see? Can you identify the different purposes and structure of each sentence? Can you pick out the nouns and verbs? Would you be able to diagram them? Have we used punctuation correctly? Families who are using the Invictus guides are encouraged to make the study of grammar an integral part of their curriculum and, thankfully, it’s not hard! The guides can help you! For example, in the Ancients Memory guide, in Week 2, students memorize what a noun does, but is that the end of their grammar work for the week? Heavens, no! Now that the student knows what a noun is and does, it’s time to go on a noun hunt! They’re everywhere - even in your history prompts. If you’re reading a book together, ask them what nouns they heard. If you’re on a nature hike, point out the trees (noun, plural), the river (noun, singular), the flock of geese [noun, collective (flock), and plural (geese)]. Now, don't do that everytime, but when the opportunity presents itself - use it. See how easy that is? Using the Invictus guides will not only make moms grammar nerds, they may just make the students grammar nerds!
MATH:
Georg Cantor, the late German mathematician, once said, “The mathematician does not study pure mathematics because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it and he delights in it because it is beautiful.” Ah,
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to delight in math and wonder at its beauty! Could it be that so many of us struggle to find math’s beauty because we are stuck at the grammar level, never having risen through the dialectic to the rhetoric stage where math becomes a voice in the great conversation? Is it possible for us to breathe beauty into our student’s math studies so that they, too, can one day wax eloquent about it? It is our dearest hope!
To that end, the Invictus guides seek to, through fun and fact and function, immerse the students in the amazing world of arithmetic, so that one day they may plunge into the marvelous world of mathematics. As Dorothy Sayers says in her essay, The Lost Tools of Learning, “The grammar of mathematics begins, of course, with the multiplication table, which, if not learnt now, will never be learnt with pleasure (Sayers 13)…” Yes, amazingly, young children can learn multiplication facts with pleasure! How do we facilitate math as pleasure? We chant. We drill. We look for patterns. We practice. We do multiplication jumping jacks and division kicks. We squat to the addition facts and punch the subtraction. We draw squares and rectangles and triangles while we talk about how to find perimeter and area. We count ladybugs by ones, ants by twos, flowers by fives, and leaves by tens. We pour ounces and cups and pints and gallons into our gardens as we water, and then we measure our garden in centimeters, decimeters, and meters to find out how much we can plant. We make math an everyday practice of beauty and truth, because God wrote the universe in math, and to know even just a small part of it is to know Him and His beauty and His awesomeness and His power.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE:
We make math an everyday practice of beauty and truth, because God wrote the universe in math, and to know even just a small part of it is to know Him and His beauty and His awesomeness and His power.
Teaching students classical languages today is a hard sell. “No one speaks Latin anymore!” people say. “Why does a child need to know Greek? Wouldn’t they be better served learning a modern language?” These are important questions that deserve a thoughtful response, because, as with every “subject” we teach our children, we need to examine why we are doing it. Why study a so-called dead language like Latin? There have been, and are, many voices speaking into these questions, and they each have something relevant to contribute. The importance of foreign language study is argued persuasively by Andrew Kern, founder of Circe, who states:
The human mind is like a fountain in the top of a hill, but it flows without channels or purpose, so it becomes a swampy hillside. Learning a language cuts grooves into the hillside and enables the user to direct more of the water where he intends. Learning a second language turns these grooves into channels and gives even more control to the thinker. Learning an inflected language that is ancient and rich in a wide variety of expressions and a unique depth of ideas over a long period of time and through many cultures (Latin and/or Greek) enables the thinker to turn the hillside into a network of groves and fields and fountains. This is the real purpose of classical language study, not power and pretense (Kern).
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Further, Dr. Christopher Perrin, cofounder and CEO of Classical Academic Press, argues that one great reason to study it is because “Latin prepares students for several important professions that are steeped in Latin or English words derived from Latin. These include law, medicine, science, theology, philosophy, art, and literature” (Perrin).
Additionally, Cheryl Swope of Memoria Press, states: “…the mind of the student that has been educated in Latin takes on the qualities of Latin: logic, order, discipline, structure. Latin requires and teaches attention to detail, accuracy, patience, precision, and thorough, honest work. Latin will form the minds of your students. Think of the mind like the body. Latin is a mental workout, and Latin is your mental trainer” (Swope).
Finally, in Volume 2 of her education series, Charlotte Mason connects second language acquisition to the duty of cultivating universal brotherhood between nations, using it as a bridge between cultures and a gesture of kindness to our fellow man: “It is the duty of the nation to maintain relations of brotherly kindness with other nations; therefore it is the duty of every family, as an integral part of the nation, to be able to hold brotherly speech with the families of other nations as opportunities arise; therefore to acquire the speech of neighbouring nations is not only to secure an inlet of knowledge and a means of culture, but is a duty of that higher morality (the morality of the family) which aims at universal brotherhood; therefore every family would do well to cultivate two languages besides the mother tongue, even in the nursery” (Mason).
If we enthusiastically
include foreign language in the feast,
someone will taste
it,
the flavor will explode on their tongue, and one more door will be opened to antiquity.
As you can see, there are many great reasons to study a foreign language - especially Latin! There are equally persuasive arguments for why we should study Hebrew and Greek also. For me, though, the greatest reason we should have our children study ancient languages goes beyond the pragmatic. Sure, knowing some vocabulary can help you score higher on the SAT, and yes, several important professions are steeped in it, and of course we should seek to discipline our minds through vigorous syntax workouts, and disciple our neighbors in their own tongue, but those are not the most important things, in my opinion. What matters most is that the ancient languages are priceless keys that open the doors to the ancient and medieval heart and mind.
The ones who wrote in Latin and Greek and Hebrew are the ones that experienced the birth of civilization! They walked the earth not so long after the Flood and the Tower of Babel. They faithfully followed the pillar of fire through the desert, and fought valiantly at Jericho, Troy, and Actium. They wrote the first songs, poems, plays, and adventures. They penned histories, biographies, gospels, and speeches that we are still reading today! Can we read them in our own language? Of course - thankfully! But knowing their language allows us to connect to them without the barrier of a translator in the way. Instead of communicating with a bridge between us, we can meet face to face. In this way, the dreams and despair and laughter and love of millenia of people reach us on a visceral level, and we cannot remain unchanged.
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Will every student who studies the ancient languages get to the point where they can read the law of Moses in Hebrew, the epics of Homer in Greek, and the histories of Livy in Latin? No. But will one or two - maybe even a handful - not only come to appreciate, but perhaps even come to love the study and be a new bridge that connects those of us that can’t quite get there? That is my hope. If we enthusiastically include foreign language in the feast, someone will taste it, the flavor will explode on their tongue, and one more door will be opened to antiquity.
Because of the importance of language study in a classical and Charlotte Mason education, the Invictus Memory Guides teach three languages over four years. Ancients: Basic Greek, and Middle Ages to Modern: Latin, French, or Spanish. Our hope is that this early, fun, and beautiful exposure to these languages will equip students for formal study beginning in fourth grade through the dialectic and rhetoric years.
PRESENTATIONS:
Every week of the Invictus guide has a presentation suggestion. Parents and teachers are in no way obligated to use the suggestion, it is simply there as a help for busy moms and the “I have no idea what I want to do my presentation on and I don’t care” student. While we know that the preparation and presentation time can be painful for some students and parents, it is a vital component in a classical grammar curriculum. Getting up and speaking in front of peers week after week builds confidence and public speaking skills that will reap tremendous benefits in the future. Audience members also learn the challenging skill of active listening and respectful behavior as they keep quiet and practice eye contact and attention to the topic. Younger students can simply bring in an object to show and tell about, while older students can use the prep time to integrate and contextualize subjects dialectically, and then practice their rhetorical skills in a safe, non judgmental environment. Presentations should only be a couple of minutes long and should include at least a minute for questions.
MORNING TIME RECITATION and MORE
The back page of each week contains suggested scripture reading, a stanza from a poem, a verse from a hymn, a list, read aloud and narration titles, and picture study and music listening suggestions that work perfectly for your morning time. Everything on the back page is optional and should not be a source of stress. It can all be found in the appendix.
SCRIPTURE FOCUS:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 states that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” There are many other scriptures that speak of the importance and power of the word of God, and why we should study it. Here are just a few:
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
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Romans 15:4 “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
Psalm 119:11 “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
The Word of God is the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink. We cannot sustain our lives without it, and that is why every Invictus Classical Guide begins each week with a Scripture Focus. The selections are chosen carefully, and when possible, especially in the Ancients guide, correlate to the memory work in some way. You do not have to use the suggested scripture reading if you are already on a family reading schedule, but we strongly encourage you to include daily reading of the Word in your home/school. Beyond the practice of basic hermeneutics (Bible study methods), and narration exercises, remember to practice lectio divina to further enrich your time in the Word. Similarly, home/school communities can choose to read aloud a portion of the suggested reading during Pulchre Tempore or choose their own passage.
LISTS
The more you exercise your memory muscle, the stronger it becomes. Memorizing lists, or memorizing anything for that matter, improves neural plasticity, aides in the ability to see patterns, frees up brain power, helps to focus the mind, and boosts creativity.
Why do we have our students memorize lists of things? Well, first of all, it’s fun! There’s nothing like rhyming off an impressive list of complex names or events in record-smashing time! Beyond fun, though, memorizing lists of things is exercise for the brain. The more you exercise your memory muscle, the stronger it becomes. Memorizing lists, or memorizing anything for that matter, improves neural plasticity, aides in the ability to see patterns, frees up brain power, helps to focus the mind, and boosts creativity. The lists in the Invictus guides are correlated to the memory work and serve as fun, factual connections to the student’s learning.
HYMNS
Thirty weeks to work with leaves some awesome time for hymn study and appreciation! Approximately six great hymns of the faith are included in each Invictus guide. Students can sing or listen together at home, and during Pulchre Tempore on community and school days and it is a beautiful thing to hear! One verse is added each week, so that by the last verse the entire thing is sung together, though you can of course sing it completely as desired. Parents are encouraged to play the hymn around the house organically through the week. While some of us are singers and some of us are not, we encourage everyone to sing no matter what! Not only does raising our voice in song lift our mood, Scripture encourages us that “it is good to sing praises to our God.” Psalm 147:1. As with everything in the guide, integration is attempted, but does not always happen. Sometimes we just study and sing a hymn because it’s beautiful and full of truth.
POETRY & SCRIPTURE
Students using the Invictus guides learn approximately four poems and two multi-verse sections of scripture every year. We believe that memorizing poetry and scripture is one of the easiest ways to fill the mind and heart
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with truth, goodness, and beauty. Where possible, poems are integrated with the memory work, but that is not necessarily true for the scripture selections, which we believe transcend all man made memory work and should be memorized for their own merit. After all, we are directed many times in scripture to “hide” the words of God in our heart so that we may call on them for comfort, direction, admonition, and correction. Poems and scripture are divided up into one stanza or verse(s) per week, but as with the hymns, feel free to recite the whole thing as desired. Selections should be reviewed frequently through the year. We suggest recording each poem and scripture text for posterity, as well as critique of performance. Recitation of poems and scriptures can be done in community during Pulchre Tempore and every morning at home, and used for copy-work if desired.
READ ALOUDS
We believe that memorizing poetry and scripture is one of the easiest ways to fill the mind and heart with truth, goodness, and beauty.
In keeping with what we love about CM education, each week of the Invictus guide contains read aloud suggestions. Where possible, these are integrated with the recitation/memory work. Directions for read aloud time have already been given under the “What is Charlotte Mason Education?” section. As stated before, please do not think that every single book you read to your children has to be narrated back. Pick and choose the ones you utilize for that purpose. Further, the read alouds can also be read silently by students during quiet times, or listened to with audio books. Also allow time for re-reading and meditation. The books suggested have been carefully chosen for their timelessness, beauty, truth, and content. Many of the read alouds can be completed during the week they are suggested, but there are also many that can stretch over numerous weeks, which are noted with an asterix. You decide the books you want to read and how much time you want to spend on them.
For older students, read aloud and silent reading time presents students with the opportunity to collect quotes, thoughts, or ideas and write them down in a commonplace book. Commonplace books have been kept by people for ages and serve as a beautiful testimony to growth over time. Sarah Mackenzie of Read Aloud Revival says: “In my Commonplace book, I jot down snippets, quotes, stanzas. They can be words from a novel, from a poem, from a picture book, from the side of a cereal box. Anything I read that causes me to pause and read again - to stop and savor the words or ponder the message - it all belongs in my book.” Picture smart people should be encouraged to add sketches to the content of the book, which can add to its beauty.
PICTURE STUDY
Every week of the guide has a picture study suggestion that is connected to the history prompt to make it easy for parents and teachers to include this important aspect of education. Simply place it in a protective sleeve, or in an inexpensive frame, and post it where it can be seen often through the week. Tell the name of the piece, the artist, and the date if desired. Picture Study can start by simply asking: "What do you see today?" and progress to more complex inquiry and extended observation time and even imitation. Beyond, “What do you see today?”, here are three questions to get you started:
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1. What’s going on in this picture/sculpture/piece?
2. What do you see that makes you say that?
3. What more can you find?
MUSIC SELECTIONS
Plato argued that “Music gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” We agree with Plato! We at Invictus Classical Press, many of us music lovers and dreamers, have included one musical selection for you to look up and listen to with your children through the week. Where possible, music selections are integrated with the history promts. The Ancients Guides include many interpretations of how people think music used to sound to the people living in ancient times, but Middle Ages – Modern will more accurately reflect the music of the time. Music selections can be played organically throughout the day and students are encouraged to identify the instruments they hear if possible. Further integration can be done by studying instruments of the time using the Fine Arts Guide or Music Appreciation Guide, and going on field trips to musical events.
WORKS CITED
Kern, Andrew. How Learning a Language Cultivates the Mind. Facebook, 30, May, 2020, 9:50 a.m., www.facebook.com/andrew.kern. Accessed 31, May, 2020.
Mackenzie, Sarah. “What I Keep in my Commonplace Book.” Read-Aloud Revival, https://readaloudrevival.com/what-i-keep-in-my-commonplace-book/. Accessed May 14, 2019.
Mason, Charlotte. Towards a Philosophy of Education. Living Book Press, 2017.
Perrin, Christopher. “10 Reasons to Study Latin.” Classical Academic Press, https://classicalacademicpress.com/10-reasons-to-study-latin/. Accessed April 10, 2019.
Sayers, Dorothy. “The Lost Tools of Learning.” ACCS, https://classicalchristian.org/the-lost-tools-of-learning-dorothy-sayers/. Accessed March 15, 2019.
Simmons, Tracy Lee. Climbing Parnassas. ISI Books, 2002.
Swope, Cheryl. “Top 10 Reasons for Studying Latin.” Memoria Press, https://www.memoriapress.com/articles/ top-10-reasons-studying-latin/. Accessed April 11, 2019.
RECOMMENDED READING
The Liberal Arts Tradition, 2nd Ed., by Kevin Wayne Clark and Ravi Scott
An Introduction to Classical Education, by Christopher Perrin
Consider This; Know and Tell, by Karen Glass
Simply Classical, by Cheryl Swope
The Read-Aloud Family; Teaching from Rest, by Sarah Mackenzie
The Well-Trained Mind; The Well-Educated Mind, by Susan Wise Bauer
Climbing Parnassus, by Tracy Lee Simmons
Teaching the Trivium, by Harvey Bluedorn
Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning, by Douglas Wilson
Poetic Knowledge, The Recovery of Education, by James Taylor
10 Ways to Destroy the Imagination of your Child, by Anthony Esolen